For the most part, King Uzziah was a capable, fair ruler. One of his accomplishments was that on the city wall he set up “machines, invented by skilled workers, on the towers and the corners for shooting arrows and large stones” at approaching enemies. Uzziah grew prideful with his many successes. He tried to take on the duties of a temple priest by making a sacrifice on the altar of incense. For this sacrilegious action, Uzziah was stricken immediately with leprosy. He spent the rest of his life in a house separate from the palace. (NRSV, II Chronicles 26)