Chapter Twenty-Seven

Jotham, the 11th king of Judah

(Cf. 2 Kgs 15:32-38)

1–2. The time of Jotham’s accession; the length and righteous character of his reign. 3–4. His building projects in the temple, Jerusalem, and other parts of Judah. A successful war with the Ammonites. 7–9. Concluding remarks on Jotham’s reign and his death.

2 Chronicles 27:1. Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; the name of his mother was Jerusha, daughter of Zadok. 2 Chronicles 27:2. And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, just as his father Uzziah had done, except he did not enter the temple of the Lord; and the people still acted corruptly. Cf. (2 Kgs 15:32-34), “Tolkovaya Bibliya”, vol. II, p. 528. In the characterization of Jotham’s piety in (2 Chr 27:2) there is a remark: “except he did not enter the temple of the Lord”, that is, he did not imitate his father Uzziah (2 Chr 26:16-20) in his criminal attempt to perform priestly service in the temple. Some rabbis (Kimchi and others) completely misunderstood this expression to mean that Jotham, frightened by the terrible punishment his father received in the temple, did not dare to enter the temple at all and performed his offerings on the high places; meanwhile in the text of v. 2 the sin of serving on the high places is attributed only to the people, not to the king.

2 Chronicles 27:3. He built the upper gate of the house of the Lord, and did much building on the wall of Ophel; 2 Chronicles 27:4. and he built cities in the hill country of Judah, and he built fortresses and towers in the forests. Jotham’s building activity first affected Jerusalem and the temple itself: he built (v. 3) the so-called “upper” (Heb. elyon, LXX: τὴν ὑψηλὴν, Vulgate: excelsam, Slavonic: “high”) gate of the house of the Lord, lying, according to the prevailing understanding in scholarship, on the northern side and identical with the Gate of Benjamin (Jer 20:2), see in Professor Olesnitsky, “The Old Testament Temple”, p. 669 8. In addition, Jotham reinforced Ophel (v. 3), cf. (2 Chr 33:14; Neh 3:26; Isa 32:14). By the name Ophel (properly: “hill”; see (2 Kgs 5:24; Mic 4:8)), as researchers of biblical antiquities believe, the eastern or southeastern part of the wall surrounding the temple and the tower standing upon it was called. This name may have derived from a suburb of Jerusalem, located on the eastern slope of Mount Moriah (see A.S. Norova, “Journey to the Holy Places”, edition 3, 1854, part III, p. 310; Professor Gulyaev, “Historical Books”, p. 561; Professor Olesnitsky, “The Old Testament Temple”, p. 572,642 and others; cf. Josephus, “Jewish War”, VI, 6, 2). Besides Jerusalem, Jotham, like Jehoshaphat (2 Chr 17:12), fortified the former and built new cities throughout the land (v. 4).

2 Chronicles 27:5. And he fought with the king of the Ammonites and defeated them. And the Ammonites gave him that year a hundred talents of silver and ten thousand measures of wheat and ten thousand measures of barley. This the Ammonites paid to him also in the second year and in the third. 2 Chronicles 27:6. So Jotham became strong, because he ordered his ways before the Lord his God. Similarly to Jehoshaphat (2 Chr 20:1-25), Jotham had a favorable war with the Ammonites, who again, as in Uzziah’s time (2 Chr 26:8) were forced to pay tribute to the king of Judah. The amount of tribute approximately: about 150,000 rubles and about 14,000 quarters of wheat and barley (Gulyaev, “Historical Books”, p. 561). However, this influx of rich tribute to the country had a harmful effect on the morality of its inhabitants, as is evident from the prophetic speeches of Isaiah (Isa 1-3) and others relating to this time.

2 Chronicles 27:7. The rest of the acts of Jotham and all his wars and his conduct are written in the book of the Kings of Israel and Judah: 2 Chronicles 27:8. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. 2 Chronicles 27:9. And Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Ahaz his son reigned in his place. Concerning the war of Jotham with the kings of Syria and Israel mentioned in (2 Kgs 15:37), 2 Chronicles does not speak directly, reporting only of the war with the Ammonites (v. 5), unknown from the 4th Book of Kings: evidently, both books in this case, as in many others, mutually supplement each other. However, that the sacred writer of 2 Chronicles also knew of other wars of Jotham besides the Ammonite one can be seen from the expression (v. 7): “all his wars... are written in the book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.” Although both sources mentioned here after the destruction of the kingdom of Israel, during the captivity or soon after it, could have been united and formed as it were a single historical document, yet the mention of the activity and wars of Jotham, king of Judah, in the chronicles of the kings of Israel was only possible if Jotham waged war with the king of Israel; consequently, the acquaintance of the sacred writer of 2 Chronicles with the Syro-Israelite war against Judah is beyond question. * * * In the second Jerusalem temple there were upper gates on the western wall in the women’s court (Mishnah, Sukkah V, 5), in Josephus these gates are called Corinthian (that is, made of Corinthian bronze – an alloy of gold, silver and copper, “Jewish War”, V, 5, 3, see in Professor A.A. Olesnitsky, “The Old Testament Temple”, p. 470–471).