But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the LORD his God and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense. But Azariah the priest went in after him, with eighty priests of the LORD who were men of valor, and they withstood King Uzziah and said to him, "It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have done wrong, and it will bring you no honor from the LORD God." Then Uzziah was angry. Now he had a censer in his hand to burn incense, and when he became angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priests in the house of the LORD, by the altar of incense. And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead! And they rushed him out quickly, and he himself hurried to go out, because the LORD had struck him.
Uzziah was the King, but not every square inch of his Kingdom was his per se. The real estate on which the temple was built fell within his boundaries, but the responsibilities and authority within its wall were not within his jurisdiction. The King was not a priest and as such was not permitted to act in that capacity. While the priest would fall under the king's dominion as a citizen of his kingdom, the king was under his jurisdiction when in the temple as a member of his congregation. There, the priests were the king's superiors. The king was their charge and they were his champion.
Uzziah made the mistake of assuming his sway in one sphere of governance granted him access to the same sway in another. Rather than acknowledging the harmony of the spheres God created, he attempted to create for himself a world played on one string -- presuming, of course, that he was to be the one pulling and plucking it.
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