2 Chronicles 27

2 Chronicles 27:1–9 (NIV)✞: Jotham King of Judah

Passage

In the last passage we looked at Uzziah, and now we look at his son Jotham. This is a short chapter, just nine verses, even though Jotham seems to have been a good king! He only reigned for sixteen years – however, while his father Uzziah was unable to rule (because of his leprosy), Jotham had been ruling in his stead, so I think his real reign was longer than just the sixteen years he was technically king. (Unless the sixteen years includes the years he was ruling in his father’s place, but I’m reading it as sixteen years after his father’s death, when Jotham was officially king.)

Some highlights of Jotham’s reign :

• He did some renovations on the Temple
• He built up some towns
• He conquered the Ammonites, who ended up bringing Judah tribute (I don’t know if this is an outright conquer or if he just won some battles, but it does mean Judah was in a position of power over the Ammonites, at least for a while)

All in all, verse 6✞ tells us that he grew powerful “because he walked steadfastly before the LORD his God,” which is a good summary. Verse 2✞ tells us, however, that even though Jotham was a good king, who followed the LORD, the people “continued their corrupt practices,” which is something we often see in the Old Testament: even very good kings—by which I mean kings who were faithful to God—were sometimes unable to get the people to follow them in that path.

Thoughts

One potentially confusing verse in this passage is verse 2:

He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father Uzziah had done, but unlike him he did not enter the temple of the LORD. The people, however, continued their corrupt practices.

verse 2✞, emphasis added

This probably doesn’t need to be said, but I don’t believe that means he didn’t ever enter the Temple, it just means Jotham never foolishly and arrogantly tried to enter the Temple the wrong way, or perform the duties that are only supposed to be performed by priests.