Chapter XXVII
1–6 (compare 2 Kings xv. 32–35).
Jotham Succeeds.
¹Jotham was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: and his mother’s name was Jerushah the daughter of Zadok.
1. he reigned sixteen years] The years during which he acted as regent in place of his father (see above xxvi. 21) are included in the sixteen. Jotham’s independent reign was probably very brief.
²And he did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his father Uzziah had done: howbeit he entered not into the temple of the Lord. And the people did yet corruptly.
2. according to all that... howbeit he entered not into the temple of the Lord] i.e. he imitated Uzziah in all his virtues, but not in his sin against the ritual of the Temple (xxvi. 16 ff.). The clause howbeit, etc., is not in Kings, since Kings makes no reference to Uzziah’s transgression.
did yet corruptly] In Kings, “Howbeit the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.”
³He built the upper gate of the house of the Lord, and on the wall of Ophel he built much.
3. the upper gate] Compare the note on xxiii. 20.
and on the wall of Ophel he built much] The statement is made only in Chronicles Like similar notices of building activity, etc.—a subject of great interest to the Chronicler—it may possibly have some basis in fact; compare xxvi. 9 f., xxxii. 30, xxxiii. 14.
Ophel] compare xxxiii. 14; Nehemiah iii. 26, 27. It was a southern spur of the Temple Hill. Bädeker, Palestine⁵, p. 31; and Smith, Jerusalem, i. 152 ff.
⁴Moreover he built cities in the hill country of Judah, and in the forests he built castles and towers.
4. castles] compare xvii. 12 (note).
⁵He fought also with the king of the children of Ammon, and prevailed against them. And the children of Ammon gave him the same year an hundred talents of silver, and ten thousand measures¹ of wheat, and ten thousand of barley. So much did the children of Ammon render unto him, in the second year also, and in the third.
¹ Hebrew cors.
5. the children of Ammon] Compare xx. 1 ff., xxvi. 8.
an hundred talents of silver] Compare 2 Kings xxiii. 33.
measures] Hebrew kōrīm. A kōr (= a ḥōmer, Ezekiel xlv. 14, Revised Version) was a dry measure holding about 11 bushels.
⁶So Jotham became mighty, because he ordered his ways before the Lord his God.
6. became mighty] The same Hebrew word as in i. 1 (see note).
7–9 (= 2 Kings xv. 36–38).
The Summary of Jotham’s Reign.
⁷Now 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. ⁸He was five and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. ⁹And Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David: and Ahaz his son reigned in his stead.
7. all his wars] Only a war with Ammon is mentioned above, but according to 2 Kings xv. 37 the Syro-Ephraimite war also began in Jotham’s reign. The notices in Kings and Chronicles may be regarded as supplementary. Ammon was a natural ally of the Syrians, and perhaps the wording of verse 5 (end) hints that after the third year Ammon was able to refuse to pay tribute. The information of Chronicles is therefore plausible; but it is curious that Chronicles preserves the one incident and Kings the other. The point is highly significant. Not only does it illustrate very forcibly the comparative independence of the Chronicler’s narrative, which is so marked a feature in these later reigns; but also it adds to the evidence in favour of the view that the Chronicler had traditions before him other than those of Kings. Clearly he had no motive for suppressing the statement of Kings and inventing instead a war with Ammon. We must suppose that he followed some authority independent of Kings.
the book of the kings, etc.] Compare xxv. 26, and see Introduction, § 5.