The Righteous Kings of Judah: Jehoshaphat and Uzziah
While the north slid toward Baal, Judah had kings who sent teachers of Torah through the towns and rebuilt the courts. Even the best of them had their fall.
Jehoshaphat son of Asa did something no king had done before: he sent his officers together with Levites and priests through the towns of Judah, "and the book of the Torah of the Lord was with them," and they taught the people. He appointed judges in every fortified city and told them, "See what you are doing, for you judge not for man but for the Lord." When Moab and Ammon marched against him he put singers before the army — "Give thanks to the Lord, for His kindness is forever" — and the invaders destroyed each other.
His weakness lay elsewhere: he married his son to Athaliah of Ahab's house. A generation later she slaughtered nearly the whole royal seed, and David's line survived only because the infant Joash was hidden in the Temple for six years.
Uzziah reigned fifty-two years, built towers and cisterns and beat back the Philistines — "and his name spread far." Then strength went to his head: he entered the Sanctuary to offer incense himself. Eighty priests blocked him, and as he raged, leprosy broke out on his forehead. He lived apart until his death. In the year he died, the young Isaiah saw the Throne.