1 JOTHAM was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Jerushah, the daughter of Zadok.
2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Uzziah did: howbeit he entered not into the temple of the Lord. And the people did yet corruptly.
3 He built the high gate of the house of the Lord, and on the wall of Ophel he built much.
4 Moreover he built cities in the mountains of Judah, and in the forests he built castles and towers.
5 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.
6 So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the Lord his God.
7 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.
8 He was five and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem.
9 And Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David: and Ahaz his son reigned in his stead.

1Iotham was twenty and fiue yeeres olde, when hee began to reigne, and hee reigned sixteene yeeres in Ierusalem: his mothers name also was Ierushah, the daughter of Zadok.

2And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Uzziah did: howbeit hee entred not into the temple of the Lord. And the people did yet corruptly.

3He built the high gate of the house of the Lord, and on the wall of Ophel, he built much.

4Moreouer hee built cities in the mountaines of Iudah, and in the forrests he built castles and towers.

5 He fought also with the king of the Ammonites, and preuailed against them. And the children of Ammon gaue him the same yeere an hundred talents of siluer, and ten thousand measures of wheate, and tenne thousand of barley. So much did the children of Ammon pay vnto him, both the second yeere, and the third.

6So Iotham became mightie, because he prepared his wayes before the Lord his God.

7 Now the rest of the actes of Iotham and all his warres, and his wayes, lo, they are written in the booke of the Kings of Israel and Iudah.

8Hee was fiue and twentie yeeres olde when he began to reigne, and reigned sixteene yeeres in Ierusalem.

9 And Iotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of Dauid: and Ahaz his sonne reigned in his stead.

I == 2nd Kings 15:32

 

II == 2nd Kings 15:35

 

 

 

III == 2nd Chr 33:14 ; Neh 3:26

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IX == 2nd Kings 15:38

 

 

1 Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother was named Jerusa, daughter of Zadok.

 

2 He pleased the LORD just as his father Uzziah had done, though he did not enter the temple of the LORD; the people, however, continued to act sinfully.

3 He built the upper gate of the LORD'S house and had much construction done on the wall of Ophel.

4 Moreover, he built cities in the hill country of Judah, and in the forest land he set up fortresses and towers.

5 He fought with the king of the Ammonites and conquered them. That year the Ammonites paid him one hundred talents of silver, together with ten thousand kors of wheat and ten thousand of barley. They brought the same to him also in the second and in the third year.

6 Thus Jotham continued to grow strong because he lived resolutely in the presence of the LORD, his God.

7 The rest of the acts of Jotham, his wars and his activities, can be found written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

8 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem.

9 Jotham rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David, and his son Ahaz succeeded him as king

v 1-9. As in 14:21,22, Azariah, who was Uzziah, began to reign at sixteen when his father was taken captive, and after his death, he had sole reign. With 2 Chr. 26:1-5 we see that Jechiliah was his mother’s name, and he was a good king like his father, but neither was he able to remove the high places. As long as he followed the counsel of Zechariah, the Lord caused him to prosper. He reigned 52 years, which was longer than any of the kings of Israel and Judah to this date (Manasseh 55). Later in this chapter we will see that Israel had seven kings during the time of his reign. Building Elath on the coast of the Gulf of Aqaba was significant because Edom had taken it in rebellion against his great, great grandfather, Jehoram, 2 Chr. 21:8-10 .
2 Chr. 26:6-15 Tells of his other achievements. Verses 6-8 tell of capturing some Philistine cities and rebuilding others. He had victories over Arabians, Ammonites gave him tribute, and his fame went as far as Egypt. Within the country he built fortified towers including some in Jerusalem, probably in connection with rebuilding the wall torn down by Jehoash of Israel, 25:23. He had agricultural exploits, having wells dug for his many cattle, and vineyards which were his special hobby. Militarily, he had a large army with 2600 officers and 307,500 men. In addition to the usual and latest fighting equipment, he had slings to cast stones. In Jerusalem he had skillful men invent new devices to have on the walls and bulwarks to shoot arrows and great stones. This was modern warfare for that day and he increased in fame and power.
Engines were devices or inventions. Stones thrown were 50-300 pounds. Arrows were from small beams to large, and had a range of over a quarter of a mile. Battering rams had a metal head on a beam long enough to require 100-200 men to impel it. Heavier ones were on a movable tower and would really break down a wall.
The Lord smote Uzziah with leprosy for intruding into the priest’s office, and he had to dwell in a separate house from others, as required of a leper, till he died. Probably this was just outside the city wall. His son, Jotham, acted as his father’s executor over all the affairs of the land, then became king at Uzziah’s death.
2 Chr. 26:16-21 adds. With power, described in came pride, and he entered the temple to burn incense. Azariah the priest and 80 other priests rushed after him into the temple, told him only the sons of Aaron were to do that, and ordered him to leave. They warned that this would displease the Lord. He might have been spared if he had repented and quickly left, but he remained with the censer in his hand and became angry at them. While he stood in anger before them, leprosy broke out on his forehead. This made him ceremonially unclean, and though they would have thrust him out, he hastened out on his own. God no doubt forgave him, but his was a grave offense and he was cut off from the house of the Lord, which in many cases meant death. Ostracism as a leper continued after his death, and he was buried in the field near the kings, but not with them. Reference is made to Uzziah in Isaiah 1:1 and 6:1.
Zechariah only reigned over Israel 6 months before being murdered in public by Shallum, thus ending Jehu’s four descendant dynasty.
Shallum reigned one month and was murdered by Menahem.
Menahem was evil, knifed open pregnant women and reigned 10 years.
He extracted money from wealthy men to pay off Assyria with 37 tons of silver.
After he died, Pekahiah his son reigned for two years, doing evil.
Pekah apparently opposed Menahem’s conciliatory action with the king of Assyria, and while serving as a captain east of the Jordan, actually set up his own government there, overlapping the reign of Pekahiah. When the time was right he conspired with 50 men from Gilead and killed Pekahiah and two others, possibly princes, in the most secure part of the palace, and continued his reign another 18 years, for a total of 20. He was another wicked king,
It seems that in Pekah’s get tough policy he made a treaty with Rezin, king of Damascus against Assyria. So Tiglath-Pileazar 3rd led a campaign against Israel. He took all of Gilead east of the Jordan and all of Galilee in northern Israel. He also deported many of the people to Assyria. This first deportation for the wickedness of Israel was about 733 B C, and the second was eleven years later, 722 B C. As a result of Pekah’s defeat, Hoshea conspired and murdered him and became king. On an Assyrian inscription, Tiglath-Pileazar 3rd claims to have helped Hoshea get the throne, so we assume he cooperated with Assyria like Menahem and Pekahiah had.
Jotham was sole ruler of Judah for 16 years after his father, Uzziah, died. (The 16 years Jotham ruled did not include 11 years he reigned with his father or 4 years he reigned with his son.) He was good like Uzziah was before he entered the temple, but did not remove the high places. The only one of his accomplishments mentioned here is building the north gate of the temple. This was probably to make it convenient and encourage people to worship the Lord.
2 Chronicles 27 adds:  He did not make the mistake of entering the temple as his father had, but the people were corrupt. In addition to the north gate, he fortified the Ophel, or hilly, part of the old wall of Jerusalem. He also continued his father’s projects of rural fortifications. He overcame the Ammonites and they made him large payments of silver, wheat and barley for each of three years. His greatness was because he followed the Lord.
In the latter years of his reign, Jotham and his co regent, Ahaz, were harassed by Pekah of Israel and Rezin, king of Syria. This was at the time of Pekah’s alliance with Rezin mentioned in comments on and they were trying to get him to make an alliance with them against Assyria. To their credit, their faith in the Lord held firm and they did not make an alliance with the wicked. Ahaz replaced Jotham, and for his failures due to sin, see 2 Ki. 16.