Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 15:32
In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel began Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah to reign.
The writer here resumes the history of Judah from 2Ki 15:7, to resume and conclude the history of Israel in 2 Kings 17.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
In the second year of Pekah, the son of Remaliah king of Israel, began Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah to reign. Pekah began to reign in the fifty second year of Azariah, or Uzziah, which was his last year, 2Ki 15:27, and which was the first of Pekah; Uzziah reigned full fifty two, and then Jotham succeeded, which was the beginning of the second of Pekah.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Reign of Jotham of Judah (cf. 2Ch 27:1-9). – 2Ki 15:32. “In the second year of Pekah Jotham began to reign.” This agrees with the statement in 2Ki 15:27, that Pekah became king in the last year of Uzziah, supposing that it occurred at the commencement of the year. Jotham’s sixteen years therefore came to a close in the seventeenth year of Pekah’s reign (2Ki 16:1). His reign was like that of his father Uzziah (compare 2Ki 15:34, 2Ki 15:35 with 2Ki 15:3, 2Ki 15:4), except, as is added in Chr. 2Ki 15:2, that he did not force himself into the temple of the Lord, as Uzziah had done (2Ch 26:16). All that is mentioned of his enterprises in the account before us is that he built the upper gate of the house of Jehovah, that is to say, that he restored it, or perhaps added to its beauty. The upper gate, according to Eze 9:2 compared with 2Ki 8:3, 2Ki 8:5, 2Ki 8:14 and 2Ki 8:16, is the gate at the north side of the inner or upper court, where all the sacrifices were slaughtered, according to Eze 40:38-43. We also find from 2Ch 27:3. that he built against the wall of Ophel, and several cities in the mountains of Judah, and castles and towers in the forests, and subdued the Ammonites, so that they paid him tribute for three years. Jotham carried on with great vigour, therefore, the work which his father had began, to increase the material prosperity of his subjects.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Reign of Jotham. | B. C. 742. |
32 In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel began Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah to reign. 33 Five and twenty years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok. 34 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD: he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done. 35 Howbeit the high places were not removed: the people sacrificed and burned incense still in the high places. He built the higher gate of the house of the LORD. 36 Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 37 In those days the LORD began to send against Judah Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah. 38 And Jotham slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father: and Ahaz his son reigned in his stead.
We have here a short account of the reign of Jotham king of Judah, of whom we are told, 1. That he reigned very well, did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, v. 34. Josephus gives him a very high character, stating that he was pious towards God, just towards men, and laid out himself for the public good,–that, whatever was amiss, he took care to have it rectified,–and, in short, wanted no virtue that became a good prince. Though the high places were not taken away, yet to draw people from them, and keep them close to God’s holy place, he showed great respect to the temple, and built the higher gate which he went through to the temple. If magistrates cannot do all they would for the suppressing of vice and profaneness, let them do so much the more for the support and advancement of piety and virtue, and the bringing of them into reputation. If they cannot pull down the high places of sin, yet let them build and beautify the high gate of God’s house. 2. That he died in the midst of his days, v. 33. Of most of the kings of Judah we are told how old they were when they began their reign, and by that may compute how old they were when they died; but no account is kept of the age of any of the kings of Israel that I remember, only of the years of their reigns. This honour God would put upon the kings of the house of David above those of other families. And by these accounts it appears that there was none of all the kings of Judah that reached David’s age, seventy, the common age of man. Asa’s age I do not find. Uzziah lived to be sixty-eight, Manasseh sixty-seven, and Jehoshaphat sixty; and these were the three oldest; many of those that were of note did not reach fifty. This Jotham died at forty-one. He was too great a blessing to be continued long to such an unworthy people. His death was a judgment, especially considering the character of his son and successor. 3. That in his days the confederacy was formed against Judah by Rezin and Remaliah’s son, the king of Syria and the king of Israel, which appeared so very formidable in the beginning of the reign of Ahaz that, upon notice of it, the heart of that prince was moved and the heart of the people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind, Isa. vii. 2. The confederates were unjust in the attempt, yet it is here said (v. 37), The Lord began to send them against Judah, as he bade Shimei curse David, and took away from Job what the Sabeans robbed him of. Men are God’s hand–the sword, the rod in his hand–which he makes use of as he pleases to serve his own righteous counsels, though men be unrighteous in their intentions. This storm gathered in the reign of pious Jotham, but he came to his grave in peace and it fell upon his degenerate son.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Jotham s Reign Commentary on 2Ki 15:32-38 AND 2Ch 27:1-9
Jotham ruled the kingdom of Judah during the incapacity of his father, Uzziah, due to his leprosy, an indefinite period. At his father’s death he became king in his own right. Commendable things are said of Jotham, although not much is told of his reign. He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, much as had Uzziah his father before his temple trespass. In fact, Jotham followed the example of his father in much that he did, though it is expressly stated that he did not trespass into the temple. Jotham learned the lesson so disastrously taught by his father’s judgment. He seems also to have had a good example in his mother, who was a daughter of Zadok, likely a priest. He therefore shows the result of good parental upbringing (Eph 6:1-4).
Jotham reigned sixteen years in his own right and, like his father, allowed the continuation of worship in the high places. He also continued the good work of strengthening his country. He repaired temple gates, built the wall of Ophel (an eastern quarter of Jerusalem, next to the Kidron Valley), won a war with the Ammonites and exacted tribute from them. For three years they were compelled to pay a hundred talents of silver, ten thousand measures of wheat, and the same amount of barley.
In his relatively short reign Jotham became a mighty man with his people. It was because “he prepared his ways before the Lord”, in direct contrast to the kings of Israel (1Ti 4:8). There was one ominous portent rising, however, for Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah, the king of Israel, were threatening the kingdom of Judah, probably in an effort to force a coalition of the three small nations against the Assyrian advance. At his death Jotham was succeeded by his son Ahaz.
More lessons to learn: 1) God’s promises are absolutely reliable; 2) persons without respect for the Lord also have no respect for their fellow men; 3) God is able to extract from the rich that which they have evilly taken from the poor; 4) respect for the Lord begets the respect of people around one; 5) parental example is one of the greatest influences children have; it should always be good.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
AZARIAH AND JOTHAM IN JUDAH, AND THE LAST SIX KINGS IN ISRAEL
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.
2Ki. 15:1.Azariah, son of Amaziah, king of JudahThis king is the Uzziah of 2 Chronicles 26. See there the more extended explanation of his leprosy. His act was the assumption of sacerdotal functions, which the Lord had restricted to the Levitical priesthood. He arrogated the office of Sovereign Pontiff, and God rebuked his arrogance and impiety. His heart was lifted up to his destruction (2Ch. 26:16).
2Ki. 15:5. Leper unto the day of his deathIn his pride he aspired to be more than king, usurped the functions of Gods consecrated priests; would have seized the holy crown of the high priesthood, and added that to his own royal crown. Therefore God took away what was rightly his, and might have enjoyed till his death, debased him to a leper, and thus he died. So covetousness beggars, not ennobles men, and profanity ensures overthrow and contempt. Dwelt in a several houseAn array of authorities regard as meaning house of sickness, a hospital, from , which (without any Scriptural analogy in the use of the word) they render to be prostrate, weak, or sick. The natural meaning of the verb is to be loosed, set free, as (in Pual form) Lev. 19:20, the release of a slave. A separate house, therefore, is the best rendering, and fulfils the law of Lev. 13:46, that lepers should dwell apart, outside the camp or city. He was thus an outcast Even in burial (2Ki. 15:7) he was only interred in the field of the burial of the kings (2Ch. 26:23), not in the royal vaults, as being a leper. As the record stands, it marks Gods displeasure against presumption, for the Lord smote the king; and this Divine judgment denotes guilt. Even though his rushing to the altar might have been through too much zeal rather than too little, as is suggested, zeal must not violate law. To go beyond Gods direction is guilty as to fall behind. To add to what is written is denounced equally as to take from (Rev. 22:18-19).
2Ki. 15:37. The Lord began to send against Judah, &c.This was the beginning of a confederacy by the Israelites with the Syrians against Judah, an alliance which shows, for the first time in the history of the divided kingdoms, that hostility had grown so intense between Israel and Judah that a foreign force was called in to make violent attack upon Judahs borders. So, when such fellowship and affection as are hallowed and Divinely sanctioned are violated, evil confederacies are sure to be sought, and antagonism grows rife where unity and love should have ruled.W. H. J.
HOMILETICS OF 2Ki. 15:1-7; 2Ki. 15:32-38
THE BIBLICAL ESTIMATE OF NATIONAL AFFAIRS
THE reigns of Azariah and Jotham, here referred to with such marked brevity, covered a most eventful period in the history of Judah and Israel, extending over nearly seventy years. The prophets Hosea, Amos, Joel, Jonah, and the sublime Isaiah, flourished during the period, and uttered their faithful protest against the national apostacy. Under the vigorous administration of Azariah and Jotham the kingdom of Judah was placed in a condition of great strength and prosperity. The success of Azariah in all departments seemed to correspond to his double name: Azariah, the strength of Jehovah, and Uzziah, the help of Jehovah. But prosperity, as in other periods and nations, was not without its baleful effects. With the increase of wealth, the nobles of Judah rose into importance, and their luxury, indolence, drunkenness, and oppressive exactions, were in a high degree scandalous: They skinned the poor to the very quick, they picked their bones and ground them to powder. The haughty ladies of Zion, decked in gayest apparel and covered with tinkling ornaments, forgot the modesty of their sex as they mincingly tripped along the streets. The licentiousness and irreligion of the times were interrupted and perhaps punished by two great calamitiesthe awful, dearthful visitation of locusts, who found a garden of Eden, and left it an empty, desolate wilderness; and the ever-memorable earthquake which shook the solid building of the Temple, and moved through the land like a mighty wave of the sea (vide Joe. 2:1-20; Amo. 4:6-9; Amo. 1:1-2; Zec. 14:5). The paragraph before us is a suggestive illustration of the Biblical estimate of national affairs.
I. It views the nation in its relation to the claims of Jehovah.
1. Commands obedience to the Divine purpose (2Ki. 15:34). So far as Azariah and Jotham imitated the theocratic kings, they had the approbation of all lovers of Zion. The highest exercise of kingly power is to use it in furthering the ends of Divine government.
2. Is careful to record the monarchs interest in the House of God (2Ki. 15:33; 2Ki. 15:35). The history emphasises the fact that the name of Jothams mother was Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok, who was probably a priest, and would thus show the close association of the king with the religious order. Special reference is also made to his building the higher gate of the House of the Lord. He the sought to induce the worshippers to bring their offerings to the temple of the true Jehovah, and forsake the forbidden high places where many were accustomed to sacrifice. The king does himself honour in all he does for the house of God.
3. Exposes the defects of religious duty (2Ki. 15:4; 2Ki. 15:35). Both Azariah and Jotham were favourable to the worship of Jehovah, but they showed no great zeal in it. Their government was not remarkable for any decided religious reform, or the quickening of new religious life. The false worship was allowed to exist side by side with the true. The word of God notices this, and while it commends what is good, it faithfully denounces the evil.
II. It takes note of any signal instance of Divine judgment. And the Lord smote the king, so that he was a leper (2Ki. 15:5). The writer of Kings is silent as to the circumstances under which the king was thus afflicted. He simply records the fact, and regards it as a judgment of Jehovah. (For particulars read 2Ch. 26:16-21). The Bible abounds in examples of Divine judgments on nations and individuals (e.g., Sodom and Gomorrha, Genesis 19; Egyptians, Exodus 9; Amalek, 1 Samuel 15; Cain, Genesis 4; Saul, 1 Samuel 28; Jezebel, 2 Kings 9; Ananias and Sapphira, Acts 5). These examples might be multiplied indefinitely. Every story, says Feltham, is a chronicle of this truth, and the whole world but the practice. We live not long enough to observe how the judgments of God walk their rounds in striking. Neither always are we able. Some of Gods corrections are in the night, and closeted. Every offence meets not with a market lash.
Accuse not heavens delay; if loth to strike,
Its judgments, like the thunder-gathered storm,
Are but the greater.
Webster.
III. It dismisses with briefest notice the public acts of a great and victorious monarch (2Ki. 15:6). The successful wars of the king, his elaborate defences, his public buildings, his encouragement of agriculture and commerceall these are passed over with the brief formulathe rest of the acts of Azariah, and all that he did. The sacred writer was more concerned to show how the king served God and exalted His worship than how he aggrandized himself and his people. External prosperity is delusive and evanescent: growth in piety is a permanent blessing to the nation.
IV. It reveals the combination of powers by which Jehovah would punish the nation for its sins (2Ki. 15:37). When the Arctic voyager penetrates the northern seas, the first indication of his approach to the great ice region is a white streak of light seen in the stratum of air nearest the horizon called the ice-blink. He then observes loose pieces of ice floating on both sides of his vesselthe modest vanguard of the terrible army of ice-giants with which the stout-timbered ship has to do battle, and by which it is ultimately crushed and vanquished. So this alliance of Rezin and Pekah was the beginning of a series of attacks on Judah which ended in its utter overthrow. Thus Jehovah punished the nation for its idolatry. It is a mercy when the first signs of coming calamity are noted, and its severities avoided by timely repentance and reform. Jehovah can disconcert and scatter the most potent combinations of men, or use them as his instruments for avenging wrong.
LESSONS:
1. The sacred writers are more careful to depict the moral condition than the external magnificence of the nation.
2. We learn that the great object of revelation is to give prominence, not to merely historical details, but to the development of the Divine purpose in redeeming the race.
3. The fidelity and impartiality of the sacred writings should command our reverence and belief.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
2Ki. 15:1-7; 2Ki. 15:32-38. At this time the people turned their attention to money-getting not so much, as had formerly been the case, in particular provinces and districts, but throughout the country, even in Judah; and not so much because a single king like Solomon favoured commercial undertakings, as because the love of trade and gain, and the desire for the easy enjoyment of the greatest possible amount of wealth, had taken possession of all classes. All the scorn poured out by the prophets upon this haste to be rich, and all the rebuke of their tendency to cheat, which was one of the fruits of it, no longer availed to restore the ancient simplicity and contentment (Hos. 12:8; Isa. 2:7). The long and fortunate reign of Uzziah in Judah was very favourable to the growth of this love of gain and enjoyment. Many were the complaints in Judah of the injustice of the judges and of the oppression of the helpless (Amo. 3:1; Amo. 6:1; Hos. 5:10). There was a perverse and mocking disposition prevalent which led men to throw doubt upon everything, and to raise objections to everything (Amo. 6:3; Amo. 9:10; Hos. 4:4). It made them treat with harsh contempt the rebukes and exhortations of the best prophets, as we feel distinctly from the tone of the writings of Amos, Hosea, and Isaiah. It led them to desire to know heathen religions and to introduce foreign divinities, even when the king himself held aloof from any such movement (Amo. 2:4; Hos. 4:15; Hos. 6:11; Hos. 12:1; Isa. 2:8).Ewald.
2Ki. 15:3. Azariah not only maintained the worship of Jehovah, but was a good and religious monarch during the greater portions of his reign. See 2Ch. 26:4-5. Becoming puffed up, however, with his military successes, he attempted to invade the high priests office, and forfeited Gods favour for this sin.Speakers Comm.
2Ki. 15:5. The Judgment of God.I. Is never inflicted but on the gross violation of His law (comp. 2Ch. 26:16-21). II. Knows no distinction of person or rankThe Lord smote the king. III. Involves terrible sufferingHe was a leper unto the day of his death. IV. Isolates the sufferer from all he loved and prizedHe dwelt in a several house.
The only incident which is mentioned during the long reign of Uzziah is that God touched him, and that he was a leper until his death. It follows that this fact must have seemed to the author to be important before all others. Leprosy is not for him an accidental disease, but a Divine judgment for guilt, as it is often described (Num. 12:10; Deu. 24:8-9; 2Sa. 3:29; 2Ki. 5:27). He does not tell more particularly what the sin of the king was; perhaps it was hateful to the king alone, and personally, and not to the whole people, like the sin of Jeroboam.Lange.
We should not be over bold to undertake duties which do not devolve upon us. He who covets more than he has any right to have, loses even what he has. We cannot break over the bounds which God has set, without incurring punishment. Think no man blessed until thou hast seen his end.Ibid.
2Ki. 15:6. These acts were recorded by Isaiah, and have come down to us in Chronicles. They comprised, besides the re-establishment of Elath
1. Successful wars (a) with the Philistines, which resulted in the capture and dismantling of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod, and in the planting of a number of Jewish colonies in the Philistine country; (b) with the Arabians of Gur-baal; and (c) with the Mehunim or Maonites.
2. Extension of the power of Judah over Ammon.
3. Fortification of Jerusalem.
4. Extension of pasture and of agriculture towards the East and South, and protection of the agricultural and pastoral population by means of towers.
5. Reorganisation of the army. And
6. Construction of numerous engines for the attack and defence of towns (see 2Ch. 26:6-15). Compare for the flourishing condition of Judea at this time, Isa. 2:7-16.Speakers Comm.
2Ki. 15:7 compared with Isa. 6:1-3. Isaiahs vision of the majesty and glory of Jehovah.Special work needs special training. This is a principle recognized in all Gods dealings. He prepares His servants for special work by a special course of training and discipline, and by special and striking displays of His glory. As Moses was prepared for his work by his Egyptian experience and by splendid revelations of Jehovah; as the disciples were prepared for their mission by the teachings of Christ and the extraordinary endowments of the Spirit, so Isaiah was qualified for his work by the teachings of this glorious vision. His commission as a prophet was renewed, his faith confirmed, his religious fervour intensified, and his soul braced up for the important duties before him. I. This vision was a revelation of the universal government of Jehovah. In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne. The throne of God is the centre and source of universal government, including in its conception the two leading ideas of dominion and power.
1. Dominion. This extends over the whole universe of existing thingsgreat and smallreaching and acting upon the most distant with the same ease and comprehensiveness as is shown in the management of those nearest the central throne.
2. Power. It is by the exercise of this attribute that Jehovah makes His dominion felt, and accomplishes His gracious and righteous purposes. That power is infinite and absolute, but its exercise is ever limited by His will, and controlled and regulated by His wisdom: it is constantly operating for our good, both in the material and spiritual realms. II. This vision was a revelation of the adorable holiness of Jehovah. And one cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The holiness of God is the beauty and glory of all other perfections. If it were possible for one attribute to have any excellency over another, that preeminency must be given to His holiness. Power is the hand or arm of God, Omniscience His eye, Mercy His heart, Eternity His duration, but holiness is His beauty. He is called the Holy One, the Holy One of Israel, and is said to be glorious in holiness. This glimpse of the surpassing holiness of Jehovah overwhelmed the prophet. He was smitten with the sense of his own vileness, and cried, Woe is me, because I am a man of unclean lips! It was a picture of conscious sin, cowed and shrinking before the presence of infinite purity. Tis ever so. Nothing humbles us more than the contrast of our own insignificence and sin with the majesty and ineffable perfections of God. III. This vision was a revelation of the higher order of beings engaged in the service and worship of Jehovah.
1. Observe their exalted station. Above, or around the throne stood the seraphim. This indicates their superiority over the heavenly hosts. Jehovah has legions of angels, varying in ability and rank; highest in the innumerable grades stand the seraphim.
2. Observe their extraordinary endowments. Each one had six rings; with twain he covered his facea token of deep reverence and adoring awe, as though unable to bear the insufferable blaze of the Divine glory, or to fathom the incomprehensible mysteries of the Divine nature. With twain he covered his feeta token of profound respect and humility, as if he would fain hide the humblest instrumentalities by which he might accomplish the Divine purposes. With twain he did flyan emblem of the willingness and speed with which he would execute the Divine commands.
3. Observe their delightful employment. One cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory. They chant in responsive strains the praises of Jehovah. What a lofty example of worship and service have we here! Burning with holy and unquenchable love, we may well strive to emulate the adoration of the glowing seraphim.
The church of to-day has special work to do, and to do it successfully needs special help and instruction. The age in which we live demands the exercise of every kind of power the church can legitimately wield. To meet the multiform aspects of the active thought of our time, to sympathise with all that is true, and denounce wisely and boldly all that is false and misleading; to soothe the worlds deep sorrow and lessen its distracting woes; to conduct the troubled heart of humanity to the satisfying rest for which it daily groansthis is a work demanding superhuman aid. We never feel so weak as when we come to grapple with the difficulties of earnest Christian work. It is then we touch the furthermost point of human limitation, and, conscious of our powerlessness, we cry out, like one of oldI beseech thee, show me thy glory. And as the vision dawns and pours its splendours on our stricken spirits, we feel the throb of a new ecstatic life, and, with the glow of an intenser love, and sustained by an invincible resolution, we press on to grander achievements!
We have been hearing of a vision. Does that word sound as if it belonged to times which we have left far behind, as if it pointed to something fantastical and incredible? Oh! if there were no such visions, what an utterly dark and weary and unintelligible place this world would be! How completely we should be given up to the emptiest phantoms, to the base worship of phantoms! What mere shows and mockeries would the state and ceremonial of kings, the debates of legislators, the yearnings and struggles of people become! How truly would the earth be what it seemed to the worn-out misanthropical libertineA stage, and all the men and women merely players. A thousand times we have been all tempted to think it so. The same painted scenery, the same shifting pageants, the same unreal words spoken through different masks by counterfeit voices, the same plots which seem never to be unravelled, what does it all mean? How do men endure the ceaseless change, the dull monotony? Satirists and keen observers of the worlds follies have asked this question again and again. The best man may often doubt what he should reply. But he hears a voice saying to him, Try to be true to thyself; resist the powers which are tempting thee to go through thy acts, common or sacred, as if thou wert a mere machine; hold fast thy faith that God is, and is working when thou seest least of His working, and when the world seems most to be going on without Him; assure thyself that there is an order in the universe when all its movements seem most disorderly. So will the things around thee by degrees acquire a meaning and a purpose. And when Divine love has kindled thy flagging and perishing thoughts and hopes, thou mayest learn that God can use thee to bearing the tidings of His love and righteousness to a sense-bound land that is bowing to silver and gold, to horses and chariots. And if there should come a convulsion in that land, such as neither thou nor thy fathers have known, be sure that it signifies the removal of such things as can be shaken, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.Maurice.
2Ki. 15:34. Josephus gives Jotham a very high character, that he was pious towards God, just towards men, and laid himself out for the public good; that whatever was amiss he took care to have it rectified; and, in short, wanted no virtue that became a good prince.
2Ki. 15:35. He built the higher gate of the house of the Lord. The love of Divine worship.I. Shown in reverence for Gods house. II. In cheerful sacrifice and labour for the improvement of that house. III. In making the house and worship of God attractive to others.
It is a glorious thing for a prince, instead of beautifying his palaces and building ivory houses (Amo. 3:15), to restore the temple gates, and so say to his people, Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise.
2Ki. 15:37. It appears by this that the alliance between Pekah and Rezin was made in the reign of Jotham. It had for its object in all probability the consolidation of a power in Syria which might be strong enough to resist the further progress of the Assyrian arms. The recent invasions of Pul and Ziglath-Pileser had effectually alarmed the two northern monarchs, and had induced them to put aside the traditional jealousies which naturally kept them apart, and to make a league offensive and defensive. Into this league they were anxious that Judea should enter; but they distrusted the house of David, which had been so long hostile both to Damascus and to Samaria. They consequently formed the design of transferring the Jewish crown to a certain Ben-Tabeal (Isa. 7:6), probably a Jewish noble, perhaps a refugee at one of their courts, whom they could trust to join heartily in their schemes. Hostilities apparently broke out before the death of Jotham; but nothing of importance was effected until the first year of his successorSpeakers Comm.
National troublesI. Cast their shadows before as a warning to prepare. II. Are sent to rectify the abuse of prosperity. III. Are aggravated by the active opposition of envious neighbours.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
II. JUDAH SUBMITS TO ASSYRIA 15:32-16:20
Under military pressure to join an anti-Assyrian coalition, Judah appealed to Tiglath-pileser for assistance. This brought the Southern Kingdom under the domination of Assyria. The events leading to this submission began during the reign of Jotham (2Ki. 15:32-38), and culminated in the reign of Ahaz (2Ki. 16:1-20).
A. THE REIGN OF JOTHAM 15:3238
TRANSLATION
(32) In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel, Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah began to reign. (33) He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and twenty-six years he ruled in Jerusalem; and the name of his mother was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok. (34) And he did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD according to all which Uzziah his father had done. (35) Only the high places he did not remove; yet the people were sacrificing and offering incense in the high places. He built the higher gate of the house of the LORD. (36) Now the rest of the acts of Jotham and all which he did; are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? (37) In those days the LORD began to send against Judah Rezin the king of Aram and Pekah the son of Remaliah. (38) And Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David his father; and Ahaz his son ruled in his place.
Tenth King of Judah
JOTHAM BEN AZARIAH
739732 B.C.*
(Yahweb-perfect)
2Ki. 15:32-38; 2Ch. 27:1-4
Synchronism
Jotham 1 = Pekah 2
Contemporary Prophets
Isaiah; Micah
Mother: Jerusha
Appraisal: Good
Mercy and truth preserve the king: and his throne is upholden by mercy.
Pro. 20:28
*coregent from 750 B.C.
emeritus king from 735 B.C.
COMMENTS
The chronology of Jothams reign is problematic. He is said to have commenced to reign in the second year of Pekah of Israel. This probably refers to the absolute or sole reign of both kings. Pekah began his sole reign over Israel in 740 and Jotham in 739 B.C. (2Ki. 15:32). Jotham is said to have reigned sixteen years (2Ki. 15:33), which are probably counted from the time Jotham was appointed regent in 750 B.C. Jotham actually lived four more years and in some sense continued to reign as is indicated in 2Ki. 15:30.
Jotham is evaluated as a good king. He is said to have done according to all that his father did (2Ki. 15:34) except that he did not repeat the tragic mistake of attempting to enter the Temple (2Ch. 27:2). Yet Jotham made no effort to destroy the high places which were so offensive to the Lord. He did, however, build the high gate of the Temple which probably was on the north side of that structure. This gate was probably intended to serve as further fortification against possible attack from the north. The Chronicler relates that Jotham also restored other fortifications (2Ch. 27:3) and built cities in the mountains of Judah, and in the forests he built castles and towers.
The author of Kings passes over in silence the principal event of Jothams reign, his war with Ammon. The Chronicler relates: He fought also with the king of the Ammonites, and prevailed against them. And the children of Ammon gave him the same year an hundred talents of silver and ten thousand measures of wheat and ten thousand of barley. So much did the children of Ammon pay unto him, both the second year and the third (2Ch. 27:5).
The account of Jotham here ends with the note that the pressure of the Pekah-Rezin coalition began to exert itself during those days (2Ki. 15:37). When Rezin and Pekah launched their invasion of Judah in 733 B.C., Jotham was still alive, but Ahaz seems to have been handling the affairs of state. The conspiracy against Pekah is said to have taken place in the twentieth year of Jotham of Judah. However 2Ki. 15:33 declares that Jotham reigned but sixteen years. Both the twenty and the sixteen years are to be counted from the time when Jotham assumed the reins of government from his leprous father. This would appear to be in the year 750 B.C. However during the last four years of Jothams reign he seems to have virtually relinquished control of the government to his son Ahaz. Thus the total length of Jothams reign was twenty-one years; but the effective period of his ruling power was but sixteen.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(32-38) THE REIGN OF JOTHAM IN JERUSALEM.
(Comp. 2 Chronicles 27)
(32) In the second year of Pekah.Who came to the throne in the last year of Uzziah (Azariah, 2Ki. 15:27).
(34) According to all that his father Uzziah had done.The chronicler qualifies this general statement by adding that Jotham did not, like his father, invade the Holy Place. (Comp. 2Ch. 27:2, with 2Ch. 26:16.)
(35) Howbeit the high places.The chronicler generalises this statement: And the people did yet corruptly.
He built.Rather, He it was who built For the higher gate, see Note on 2Ch. 27:3. Thenius considers that the term higher denotes rank rather than local position. (See Jer. 20:2; Eze. 8:3; Eze. 8:5; Eze. 8:14; Eze. 8:16; Eze. 9:2; Eze. 40:38-43; and comp. 2Ki. 12:9.)
(36) Now the rest of the acts of Jotham.Some of these are related in 2Ch. 27:4-6. We read there how Jotham built towns and castles, and towers of refuge, and how he fought victoriously against Ammon, and exacted from that nation a heavy tribute three years running. Ewald and Thenius admit the historical value of this brief narrative, which is indeed evident on the face of it.
(37) In those daysi.e., in the last year of Jotham. The attacks of the allies at first took the form of isolated raids. In the next reign the country was invaded by them in full force. (See 2Ki. 16:5, seq., and the Notes there.)
Rezin.Comp. Rezon, Heb., Rzn (1Ki. 11:23), the founder of the dynasty. The present name is spelt in the Hebrew of Kings and Isaiah (Isa. 7:1) Rn. The Assyrian spelling in the records of Tiglath Pileser, who conquered and slew Rezin, suggests that the right spelling was Ran (Assyrian, Bagunnu). The first and last kings of the Syrian monarchy thus bore similar names, both, perhaps, meaning prince.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
The Reign Of Jotham King Of Judah c. 740/39-732/1 BC. Co-regency Began c. 750 BC ( 2Ki 15:32-38 ).
Prior to much of the above activity Jotham came to the throne of Judah, first as co-regent with his father Uzziah, and then as sole ruler. At his accession all was still quiet and peace reigned. Judah’s prosperity continued for a time. But towards the end of his reign the threat of Assyria began to loom on the horizon. Judah, however, in their mountain fastness, had never really been bothered by Assyria, except possibly on their western borders as Assyria dealt with the cities of the Philistines, and when he was probably pressed to join with Israel and Aram in an alliance against Assyria he refused. He saw no point in what he saw as unnecessary interference, and did not want to get involved.
Jotham was in fact an effective king (see 2Ch 27:1-9), however, the sole achievement mentioned by the prophetic author connected with his reign is that of repairing one of the Temple gateways, which demonstrated his concern for YHWH. To the author only what we do for God counts for anything.
But towards the end of his reign his peace was shattered when Israel and Aram began to make preparations to attack Judah. This may have been simply because Judah, having refused to enter into an alliance were seen as an enemy, but the fact that it was also with the purpose of replacing the king of Judah with an already chosen Aramaean puppet king (Isa 7:6), suggests that a large part of the aim was to bring Judah within their alliance. Judah could not be left to do their own thing. It was either with them or against them. Note that they are depicted as sent by YHWH. It was a reminder that He was not satisfied with the state of things in Judah. In some ways fortunately for Jotham he died before things came to a head.
Analysis.
a
b He was twenty five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and his mother’s name was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok (2Ki 15:33).
c And he did what was right in the eyes of YHWH, he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done. However, the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places (2Ki 15:34-35 a).
d He built the upper gate of the house of YHWH (2Ki 15:35 b).
c Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? (2Ki 15:36).
b In those days YHWH began to send against Judah Rezin the king of Aram, and Pekah the son of Remaliah (2Ki 15:37).
a And Jotham slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father, and Ahaz his son reigned instead of him (2Ki 15:38).
Note that in ‘a’ Jotham began to reign, and in the parallel he ceased reigning. In ‘b’ he reigned for sixteen years and in the parallel it was in those days that YHWH sent Rezin and Pekah against Judah. In ‘c’ His general behaviour is described and in the parallel we are reminded that we can find details of more of his acts in the official annals of the kings of Judah. Centrally in ‘d’ he demonstrated his concern for YHWH by carrying out repairs on the Temple.
2Ki 15:32
‘In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah began to reign.’
This would be the second year of Pekah’s reign over all Israel. That was when Jotham began his sole rule in Judah, on the death of Uzziah. In some ways it was a momentous year for Judah because during it Isaiah began his long ministry (Isa 1:1; Isa 6:1).
2Ki 15:33
He was twenty five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and his mother’s name was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok.’
Jotham (YHWH is perfect) was twenty five years old when he began to reign, although he had already been acting as co-regent along with his father for ten years. His reign lasted for sixteen years. The fact that he ruled ‘in Jerusalem’ was an indication that he was a son of David ruling under YHWH’s favour. The name of the new queen mother was Jerusha, who was the daughter of Zadok. The fact that her place of origin is not mentioned suggests that Zadok was well enough known for it to be considered unnecessary, possibly because he was descended from Zadok the high priest and part of the Zadokite clan in Jerusalem.
2Ki 15:34
‘And he did what was right in the eyes of YHWH, he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done.’
He continued in the ways of his father by doing what was right in the eyes of YHWH, supporting the cult and maintaining its purity, and encouraging Judah to worship in accordance with the law of Moses. But, as Isaiah would bring out, that worship was on the whole too formalistic and not sufficiently from the heart, with the result that it did not result in righteous living (Isa 1:11-18). It was therefore necessary for them to recognise their uncleanness and come to Him for cleansing and mercy (Isa 6:5).
2Ki 15:35
‘However, the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.’
And that was the trouble. The worship of so many was either formal or perverted. They still to some extent saw YHWH in terms of the nature gods which had always been worshipped in the high places in the land. And the king did little to remove these high places and bring the people back to true Yahwism. The worship of YHWH was being diluted.
2Ki 15:35
‘He built the upper gate of the house of YHWH.’
But one thing that he did do which demonstrated his love towards YHWH and that was to rebuild the upper gate of the house of YHWH. he had a concern for the integrity of the house of YHWH.
2Ki 15:36
‘Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?’
For further of his acts we are referred to the official annals of the kings of Judah.
2Ki 15:37
‘In those days YHWH began to send against Judah Rezin the king of Aram, and Pekah the son of Remaliah.’
Apart from the building work carried out on the Temple the most notable feature of his reign from the author’s point of view was that YHWH demonstrated His discontent with the spiritual condition of Judah by sending against them Rezin the king of Aram and Pekah the son of Remaliah, the king of Israel. As we have already seen this was because they wanted to pressurise Judah into joining an alliance against the king of Assyria by establishing a puppet king over them, but the author recognised in it the hand of YHWH. It was a sign that He did not see all as right with Judah. Jotham died before their action began in earnest (‘they began to –’). It was his son Ahaz therefore who would bear the full brunt of the attack.
Rezin the king of Aram is mentioned in the Assyrian annals as Ra-hi-ia-nu in a list in which Menahem of Israel was also mentioned. Rezin may well have been a throne name, compare the variant Rezon in 1Ki 11:23-25.
2Ki 15:38
‘And Jotham slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father, and Ahaz his son reigned instead of him.’
Jotham died peacefully in his bed, and was buried with his fathers in the City of David as a true Davidide. And his son Ahaz ascended the throne.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jotham in Judah
v. 32. In the second year of Pekah, the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, began Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, to reign.
v. 33. Five and twenty years old was he when he began to reign, v. 34. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord; he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done, v. 35. Howbeit, the high places were not removed; the people sacrificed and burned incense still in the high places. He built the higher, v. 36. Now, the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? v. 37. In those days the Lord began to send against Judah Rezin, the king of Syria, and Pekah, the son of Remaliah. v. 38. And Jotham,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
2Ki 15:32 In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel began Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah to reign.
Ver. 32. Began Jotham, ] viz., After his father Uzziah’s death. About this time, the prophet Isaiah saw that glorious vision. Isa 6:1 In the fourteenth jubilee.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jotham
(Jehovah-perfect)
(2Ki 15:32-38; 2Ch 27:1-4)
Contemporary Prophets: Isaiah; Micah; Hosea.
Mercy and truth preserve the king: and his throne is upholden by mercy.-Pro 20:28
Jotham was twenty and five years old when he I began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mothers name also was Jerushah, the daughter of Zadok. Jotham was regent over the kingdom after the judgment of God had fallen upon his father. And Jotham his son was over the kings house, judging the people of the land (2Ch 26:21). This would indicate that Uzziah was guilty of his impious trespass in the very latter part of his long reign, as Jotham was only a young man of twenty-five at his fathers death, and he could not have been judging the people of the land many years before this. His mothers name, Jerushah (possessed), daughter of Zadok (just), would seem to imply that she was really the Lords, and just before Him. She, like every true mother, would have considerable influence over her son, in the formation of his character. So we read, And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Uzziah did: how beit he entered not into the temple of the Lord. He avoided the folly of his headstrong father, and did not rush in where angels fear to tread.
And the people did yet corruptly. The prophecies of Isaiah and Micah contain much detail of the manner of their wickedness, which was indeed great. It probably increased rapidly toward the close of Uzziahs reign, though from the beginning of his rule the high places were not taken away: as yet the people did sacrifice and burnt incense on the high places (2Ki 14:4). True, the sacrifices and incense were offered to Jehovah; but Jerusalem, Scripture said, was the place where men ought to worship; and this departure, though considered unimportant, probably, by many godly Israelites, only paved the way for greater and more serious violations of the law. Gods people are only safe as they adhere carefully and closely to the very letter of the word of God. The slightest digressions are often the prelude of wide and grave departures from obedience to Gods will as revealed in His Word. The beginning of sin is, like strife, as when one letteth out water.
And he built the high gate of the house of the Lord, and on the wall of Ophel he built much. The high gate led from the kings house to the temple (see 2Ch 23:20), and Jothams building it (rebuilding, or repairing) is very significant. He wished free access from his own house to that of the Lord. He would strengthen the link between the two houses- keep his line of communication open (to use a military figure) with the source of his supplies of strength and wisdom. This is one of the secrets of his prosperity and power.
Moreover he built cities in the mountains of Judah, and in the forests he built castles and towers. He built where most men would have thought it unnecessary, or too much trouble-in the mountains and forests. He neglected no part of his kingdom, but sought to strengthen and fortify it everywhere. And as a result, he prospered. He fought also with the king of the Ammonites, and prevailed against them. And the children of Ammon gave him the same year a hundred talents of silver, and ten thousand measures of wheat, and ten thousand of barley. So much did the children of Ammon pay unto him, both the second year and the third. So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the Lord his God. That high gate between the palace and the temple was better than a Chinese wall around his kingdom. It is in communion with God that all real prosperity and power is found.
Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all his wars, and his ways, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. All his wars implies that during his sixteen years reign he was actively engaged in conflict with enemies, subduing some, like the Ammonites, and repelling the invasions of others (Rezin king of Syria, and Pekah king of Israel). His ways too were written. Gods saints are called to walk, as well as to war. I have fought a good fight, said one; I have finished my course, he also adds. This last was his ways. Ours, like king Jothams, are written in the book. May we say then, like another Hebrew king, I will take heed to my ways! (Psa 37:1). Jotham is the only one of all the Hebrew kings, from Saul down, against whom God has nothing to record. In this his character is in beautiful accord with his name, Jehovah-perfect. All the world, we know, is guilty before God. All have sinned, God says. But in his public life, Jotham, like Daniel, was perfect, or blameless. We-Daniels enemies say-shall not find anything against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God. Yet this same Daniel says, I was confessing my sin (Dan 6:5; 9:20). Man saw nothing to condemn: Daniel knew Gods eye saw much. And, like the honest man that he was, he puts it on record with his own hand that he had sins to be confessed to God.
And Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David: and Ahaz his son reigned in his stead. Had Micah Jothams death in mind when he wrote, The godly [man] hath perished out of the land? (Mic 7:2, New Tr.) From what follows in the chapter, down to the 7th verse, it would appear so. The violence, fraud, bribery, treachery, and other forms of wickedness described here, is just what prevailed after Jotham, under Ahaz infamous rule. Jotham was indeed a godly man, and well might the righteous say on his death, Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth! or, is gone.
The record of his reign is brief, but full of brightness. His memory, like that of all the just, is blessed. He was the tenth of Judahs kings, and God always claims His tithe; and in Jotham, the Jehovah-perfect, it was found.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
am 3246, bc 758
Jotham: 2Ki 15:7, 1Ch 3:12, 2Ch 27:1-9, Mat 1:9
Jotham: Uzziah, 2Ki 15:1, 2Ki 15:7, 2Ki 15:13, 2Ki 15:17, 2Ki 15:23, 2Ki 15:27, 2Ki 14:21, 1Ch 3:12, Azariah
Reciprocal: 2Ki 15:6 – Azariah 2Ki 15:30 – in the twentieth 2Ki 16:1 – seventeenth 1Ch 5:17 – Jotham Hos 1:1 – Uzziah
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Ki 15:32. Began Jotham the son of Uzziah to reign Why he should be called all along Azariah, and here, and 2Ki 15:34, Uzziah, no account can be given, unless it was to show that he had two names. And it appears by the book of Chronicles, that the name Uzziah was as much used, when that book was written, as the other.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
14. Jotham’s good reign in Judah 15:32-38
Jotham’s 16-year reign over Judah (750-735 B.C.) began while Pekah was in power in Gilead. He shared the last four of these years with his coregent son Ahaz.
Jotham added the upper gate of the temple (2Ki 15:35), an opening between the outer and inner courts on the north side of the temple near the altar of burnt offerings. Other names for it were the upper Benjamin gate (Jer 20:2), the new gate (Jer 26:10; Jer 36:10), the north gate (Eze 8:3), and the altar gate (Eze 8:5). This shows his concern for Yahweh’s reputation in Judah (cf. 2Ch 27:3-6).
The Syro-Ephraimitic alliance, to which the writer referred briefly in 2Ki 15:37, features significantly in 2Ki 16:5-8 and Isa 7:1-17. Judah’s neighbors to the north and east were eager to secure Judah’s help in combating the growing Assyrian threat. They turned against Judah because Judah did not join them (2Ki 15:37). The reasons for this will follow in the discussion of Ahaz, Judah’s king (ch. 16). [Note: See B. Oded, "The Historical Background of the Syro-Ephraimitic War Reconsidered," Catholic Biblical Quarterly 34:2 (April 1972):153-65.]
15. Ahaz’s evil reign in Judah ch. 16
Ahaz reigned for 16 years (732-715 B.C.). Before that he was his father Jotham’s coregent for four years (735-732 B.C.). [Note: For explanation of the complexities of dating Ahaz’s vice-regency under Jotham (744-735 B.C.) and his coregency with Jotham (735-732 B.C.), see Merrill, Kingdom of . . ., pp. 402-5. See also Hubbard, p. 201.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
elete_me 2Ki 15:32-38
AZARIAH-UZZIAH
B.C. 783 (?)- 737
JOTHAM
B.C. 737-735
2Ki 15:1-7; 2Ki 15:32-38
“This is vanity, and it is a sore sickness.”
– Ecc 6:2.
BEFORE we watch the last “glimmerings and decays” of the Northern Kingdom, we must once more revert to the fortunes of the House of David. Judah partook of the better fortunes of Israel. She, too, enjoyed the respite caused by the crippling of the power of Syria, and the cessation from aggression of the Assyrian kings, who, for a century, were either unambitious monarchs like Assurdan, or were engaged in fighting on their own northern and eastern frontiers. Judah, too, like Israel, was happy in the long and wise governance of a faithful king.
This king was Azariah (“My strength is Jehovah”), the son of Amaziah. He is called Uzziah by the Chronicles, and in some verses of the brief references to his long reign in the Book of Kings. It is not certain that he was the eldest son of Amaziah; but he was so distinctly the ablest, that, at the age of sixteen, he was chosen king by “all the people.” His official title to the world must have been Azariah, for in that form his name occurs in the Assyrian records. Uzziah seems to have been the more familiar title which he bore among his people. There seems to be an allusion to both names-Jehovah-his-helper, and Jehovah-his-strength-in the Chronicles: “God helped him, and made him to prosper; and his name spread far abroad, and he was marvelously helped, till he was strong.”
The Book of Kings only devotes a few verses to him; but from the Chronicler we learn much more about his prosperous activity. His first achievement was to recover and fortify the port of Elath, on the Red Sea, {2Ch 26:2-15} and to reduce the Edomites to the position they had held in the earlier days of his fathers reign. This gave security to his commerce, and at once “his name spread far abroad, even to the entering in of Egypt.”
He next subdued the Philistines; took Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod; dismantled their fortifications, filled them with Hebrew colonists, and “smote all Palestine with a rod.”
He then chastised the roving Arabs of the Negeb or south country in Gur-Baal and Maon, and suppressed their plundering incursions.
His next achievement was to reduce the Ammonite Emirs to the position of tributaries, and to enforce from them rights of pasturage for the large flocks, not only in the low country (shephelah), but in the southern wilderness (midbar), and in the carmels or fertile grounds among the Trans-Jordanic hills.
Having thus subdued his enemies on all sides, he turned his attention to home affairs-built towers, strengthened the walls of Jerusalem at its most assailable points, provided catapults and other instruments of war, and rendered a permanent benefit to Jerusalem by irrigation and the storing of rain-water in tanks.
All these improvements so greatly increased his wealth and importance that he was able to renew Davids old force of heroes (Gibborim), and to increase their number from six hundred to two thousand six hundred, whom he carefully enrolled, equipped with armor, and trained in the use of engines of war. And he not only extended his boundaries southwards and eastwards, but appears to have been strong enough, after the death of Jeroboam II, to make an expedition northwards, and to have headed a Syrian coalition against Tiglath-Pileser III, in B.C. 738. He is mentioned in two notable fragments of the annals of the eighth year of this Assyrian king. He is there called Azrijahu, and both his forces and those of Hamath seem to have suffered a defeat.
It is distressing to find that a King so good and so great ended his days in overwhelming and irretrievable misfortune. The glorious reign had a ghastly conclusion. All that the historian tells us is that “the Lord smote the king, so that he was a leper, and dwelt in a several [i.e., a separate] house.” The word rendered “a several house” may perhaps mean (as in the margin of the A.V) “a lazar house,” like the Belt el Massakin or “house of the unfortunate,” the hospital or abode of lepers, outside the walls of Jerusalem. The rendering is uncertain, but it is by no means impossible that the prevalence of the affliction had, even in those early days, created a retreat for those thus smitten, especially as they formed a numerous class. Obviously the king could no more fulfill his royal duties. A leper becomes a horrible object, and no one would have been more anxious than the unhappy Azariah himself to conceal his aspect from the eyes of his people. His son Jotham was set over the household; and though he is not called a regent or joint-king-for this institution does not seem to have existed among the ancient Hebrews-he acted as judge over the people of the land.
We are told that Isaiah wrote the annals of this kings reign, but we do not know whether it was from Isaiahs biography that the Chronicler took the story of the manner in which Uzziah was smitten with leprosy. The Chronicler says that his heart was puffed up with his successes and his prosperity, and that he was consequently led to thrust himself into the priests office by burning incense in the Temple. Solomon appears to have done the same without the least question of opposition; but now the times were changed, and Azariah, the high priest, and eighty of his colleagues went in a body to prevent Uzziah, to rebuke him, and to order him out of the Holy Place. The opposition kindled him into the fiercest anger, and at this moment of hot altercation the red spot of leprosy suddenly rose and burned upon his forehead. The priests looked with horror on the fatal sign; and the stricken king, himself horrified at this awful visitation of God, ceased to resist the priests, and rushed forth to relieve the Temple of his unclean presence, and to linger out the sad remnant of his days in the living death of that most dishonoring disease. Surely no man was ever smitten down from the summits of splendor to a lower abyss of unspeakable calamity! We can but trust that the misery only laid waste the few last years of his reign; for Jotham was twenty-five when he began to reign, and he must have been more than a mere boy when he was set to perform his fathers duties.
So the glory of Uzziah faded into dust and darkness. At the age of sixty-eight death came as the welcome release from his miseries, and “they buried him with his fathers in the City of David.” The Levitically scrupulous Chronicler adds that he was not laid in the actual sepulcher of his fathers, but in a field of burial which belonged to them-“for they said, He is a leper.” The general outline of his reign resembled that of his fathers. It began well; it fell by pride; it closed in misery.
The annals of his son Jotham were not eventful, and he died at the age of forty-one or earlier. He is said to have reigned sixteen years, but there are insuperable difficulties about the chronology of his reign, which can only be solved by hazardous conjectures. He was a good king, “howbeit the high places were not removed.” The Chronicler speaks of him chiefly as a builder. He built or restored the northern gate of the Temple, and defended Judah with fortresses and towns. But the glory and strength of his fathers reign faded away under his rule. He did indeed suppress a revolt of the Ammonites, and exacted from them a heavy indemnity; but shortly afterwards the inaction of Assyria led to an alliance between Pekah, King of Israel, and Rezin, King of Damascus; and these kings harassed Jotham-perhaps because he refused to become a member of their coalition. The good king must also have been pained by the signs of moral degeneracy all around him in the customs of his own people. It was in the year that King Uzziah died that Isaiah saw his first vision, and he gives us a deplorable picture of contemporary laxity. Whatever the king may have been, the princes were no better than “rulers of Sodom,” and the people were “people of Gomorrah.” There was abundance of lip-worship, but little security; plentiful religionism, but no godliness. Superstition went hand in hand with formalism, and the scrupulosity of outward service was “made a substitute for righteousness and true holiness. This was the deadliest characteristic of this epoch, as we find it portrayed in the first chapter of Isaiah. The faithful city had become a harlot-but not in outward semblance. She “reflected heaven on her surface, and hid Gomorrah in her heart.” Righteousness had dwelt in her-but now murderers; but the murderers wore phylacteries, and for a pretence made long prayers. It was this deep-seated hypocrisy, this pretence of religion without the reality, which called forth the loudest crashes of Isaiahs thunder. There is more hope for a country avowedly guilty and irreligious than for one which makes its scrupulous ceremonialism a cloak of maliciousness. And thus there lay at the heart of Isaiahs message that protest for bare morality, as constituting the end and the essence of religion, which we find in all the earliest and greatest prophets:-
“Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; Give ear unto the Law of our God, ye people Of Gomorrah! To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord. I am full of the burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; And I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats. When ye come to see My face, who hath required this at your hands, to trample My courts? Bring no more vain oblations! Incense is an abomination unto Me: New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies-I cannot away with iniquity and the solemn meeting Wash you! make you clean!” {Isa 1:10-17}
Of Jotham we hear nothing more. He died a natural death at an early age. If the years of his reign are counted from the time when his fathers affliction developed on him the responsibilities of office, it is probable that he did not long survive the illustrious leper, but was buried soon after him in the City of David his father.