General Notes

BIOGRAPHY: jo'-tham (yotham, "Yahweh is perfect"; Ioatham):   (2) Twelfth king of Judah, son of Uzziah and Jerusha, daughter of Zadok (2 Kings 15:32-38 ; 2 Chronicles 27:1-9).   1. Accession and Regency:   Jotham was 25 years of age at the time of his father's attack of leprosy, and was at once cal led upon to take the administration of the kingdom (2 Kings 15:5; 2 Chronicles 26:21). In doi ng this he not only judged the people of the land by presiding at the administration of justi ce, but also was over the household of the king, showing how complete was the isolation of hi s father. He was thus king in all but name, and is invariably spoken of as reigning in Jerusa lem. His reign lasted for 16 years (2 Kings 15:33; 2 Chronicles 27:1), 759-744 (others put la ter). While the father loved husbandry and had much cattle (2 Chronicles 26:10)--external aff airs with which he could occupy himself in his retirement--to the son fell the sterner dutie s and heavier responsibilities of the state.   2. The War with Ammon:   The relation between father and son is well brought out in the Chronicler's account of the Am monite war. In 2 Chronicles 26:8 we are told that "the Ammonites gave tribute (the King Jame s Version "gifts") to Uzziah," such gifts being compulsory, and of the nature of tribute. I n 2 Chronicles 27:5 we are told that the actual conquest of Ammon was made by Jotham, and tha t for 3 successive years he compelled them to pay an annual subsidy of 100 talents of silve r and 10,000 "cors" each of wheat and barley (the cor (Hebrew kor) was about 10 bushels). Th e campaign on the East of the Jordan was the only one in which Jotham took part, but as the s tate suffered no loss of territory during his regency, the external provinces must have bee n strongly held and well governed.   3. Jotham's Building Operations:   It is probable that before attempting to win any extension of territory, Jotham had spent som e years in completing the unfinished building schemes in which his father was engaged at th e time of his affliction. Like him, he became an enthusiastic builder (2 Chronicles 27:3,4) . He is recorded to have built towers, castles and cities, and specifically to have complete d the Ophel wall in Jerusalem, which is still standing to the South of the Haram area. But th e crowning architectural glory of his reign was the completion of the temple court by erectin g, or setting up, "the upper gate of the house of Yahweh" (2 Chronicles 27:3; 2 Kings 15:35) . This particular gate was the entrance to, and exit from, the upper or new court of the temp le, which had been begun so long ago as the time of Asa (compare the writer's Solomon's Templ e, Part II, chapter viii). Its situation is perfectly known, as it bore the same name and pla ce in the Herodian temple as in each of its predecessors. It stood facing the South, and wa s on higher ground than any other of the temple gates. Hence, its name. It gave entrance to t hat upper court of the temple, mentioned in Jeremiah 36:10, where it is spoken of as "the ne w gate of Yahweh's house." As Jeremiah began his ministry about a century after Jotham's deat h, Jeremiah's use of the name commemorates the fact that the gate was not built till long aft er the other parts of the structure.   4. The Syrian League:   During Jotham's regency, a formidable combination of the Northern Kingdom and the Syrian stat e, with Damascus as capital, began to show signs of hostility to Judah. For 4 years before Jo tham's death, Pekah occupied the throne of Samaria. The Assyrian king, Tiglath-pileser III, w as then pushing his arms westward, and a Syrian league was formed to oppose them. Jotham ma y have refused to join this league. The political situation at his death is thus described:   "In those days Yahweh began to send against Judah Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the so n of Remaliah" (2 Kings 15:37).   5. Condition of Judah:   Jotham's character is represented in a moderately favorable light, it being put to his credi t that he did not enter the temple (2 Chronicles 27:2). The wisdom and vigor of his administr ation, and of his policy for the defense of the country, are recognized. It was owing to hi s completion of his father's plans for the protection of Jerusalem, and of the building of co untry fortresses, that Hezekiah, a few years afterward, was able to show so stout a resistanc e to Sennacherib. But within the state itself corruption and oppression were rife. The grea t prophets, Isaiah, Hosea and Micah, exercised their ministries in Jotham's days, and in thei r pages we have graphic picture of the moral condition of the time. Isa does not name Jotham , except in the title (Isaiah 1:1; compare 7:1), but Isaiah 1-5 of his book were probably wri tten in this reign. Hosea's writings go back to the last years of Jeroboam II, who died the y ear Jotham came to the throne. Micah's evidence is valuable, telling us that Omri had formula ted and published rules for the cult of the Zidonian Baal, and that these "statutes" were kep t by some of the citizens of Samaria, and, possibly, of Jerusalem (Micah 6:16).   Jotham's name appears in the royal genealogical list of 1 Chronicles 3:12, and in the genealo gy of Jesus (Matthew 1:9).  The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia  <http://www.studylight.org/enc/isb/view.cgi?word=Jotham&action=Lookup&x=19&y=9>