מלכים ב ט״ו:א׳-ז׳

בשנת עשרים ושבע שנה לירבעם וגו'. אפשר לומר כן, והלא עוזיה וירבעם מלכו כאחת, כמו שפירש בסמוך, אלא מה תלמוד לומר בשנת עשרים ושבע לירבעם מלך עזריה, שמלך מלכות מנוגעת, למדנו שנתנגע בשנת עשרים ושבע למלכותו:

In the twenty-seventh year of Yorovom, etc. Is it possible to say so? Did not Uzziyoh¹Azaryoh and Uzziyohu refer to the same person. See below verses 13 and 32. and Yorovom reign simultaneously, as was explained just before? What, then, is the meaning of the verse, ”In the twenty-seventh year of Yorovom … Azaryoh … became king”? That [from that year] he reigned a plagued kingship, [i.e.,] that he was stricken with tzora'as in the twenty-seventh year of his reign.

וינגע ה' את המלך. מפורש בדברי הימים (ב כו טז-כא) שנכנס להיכל להקטיר על המזבח הקטורת:

Adonoy brought a plague upon the king. It is explained in Divrei Hayomim²II Divrei Hayomim 26:16-21. that he entered the Temple to burn incense on the Incense Altar.³He was punished with tzora'as for attempting to assume the role of the kohein gadol and burn incense on the altar. See II Divrei Hayomim 26-16:21 and Rashi in Bamidbar 17:5.

בבית החפשית. עשה לו בית בבית הקברות, כמה דאת אמר (תהלים פח ו): במתים חפשי. בירושלמי:

In a retirement house. He made himself a house in the cemetery,⁴The word חפשי means freedom. The Gemara in Maseches Horiyos 10a explains that Uzziyohu became “free” of the duties of being king. Targum indicates that he lived outside the walls of Yerusholayim. The reason is because a metzora is forced to live in isolation. He was therefore unable to attend to his royal duties and was thus “freed” from his responsibilities. ⁵The house was in the cemetery because our Rabbis taught in Maseches Nedarim 12b that a metzora is accounted as dead. And like the dead who is free from the many toils of life, as it states in Tehilim 88:6, “I am [considered] among the dead who are free,” so is a metzora. as it is stated, ”I am [considered] among the dead who are free.”⁶Tehilim 88:6. In [Talmud] Yerushalmi.