Jotham, Who Ordered His Ways
1 Jotham was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jerushah the daughter of Zadok. 2 He did that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes, according to all that his father Uzziah had done. However he didn’t enter into Yahweh’s temple. The people still acted corruptly. 3 He built the upper gate of Yahweh’s house, and he built much on the wall of Ophel. 4 Moreover he built cities in the hill country of Judah, and in the forests he built fortresses and towers. 5 He also fought with the king of the children of Ammon, and prevailed against them. The children of Ammon gave him the same year one hundred talents of silver, ten thousand cors of wheat, and ten thousand cors of barley. The children of Ammon also gave that much to him in the second year, and in the third. 6 So Jotham became mighty, because he ordered his ways before Yahweh his God. 7 Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all his wars and his ways, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. 8 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. 9 Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in David’s city; and Ahaz his son reigned in his place.
The shortest good reign in the book is summed up by a man who learned one thing from his father's disaster.
Nine verses, and one of them carries the reign. He did right according to all that his father Uzziah had done. However he didn't enter into Yahweh's temple 2 Chronicles 27:2.
The sentence is built to be read twice. He copied his father — and then the exception, which is precisely the act that destroyed his father. He had watched it happen and had governed the country for years while the leprous king lived apart 2 Chronicles 26:21. Whatever else he inherited, he did not inherit that.
The writer adds one clause that keeps the reign from being read as a national success: the people still acted corruptly. The same finding was entered against Jehoshaphat 2 Chronicles 20:33. A good king is not the same thing as a good country, and this book will not let the two be confused.
What he did is ordinary and useful. A gate of the temple, work on the city wall, towns in the hill country, forts and towers in the forests 2 Chronicles 27:3–4. He fought Ammon and won, and the tribute is itemized for three consecutive years — silver, wheat and barley in large quantities 2 Chronicles 27:5.
The verdict is then given in a form used of nobody else: Jotham became mighty, because he ordered his ways before Yahweh his God 2 Chronicles 27:6.
The phrase is about arrangement rather than about zeal. He put his ways in order, in God's presence, and the strength followed from that. No prophet visits him. No crisis tests him. There is no reform, because nothing needed reforming, and no rebuke, because there is nothing recorded to rebuke.
It makes for the least memorable chapter in the book, and the least memorable is worth noticing for what it is. A reign with no story is what the whole machinery of seeking, warning and returning is aimed at producing. Sixteen years pass, the walls get built, the gate goes up, and nothing happens.
His son is Ahaz.
settled What this mark means