Jehovah-perfect
Contemporary Prophets: Isaiah, Micah, Hosea
“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 Chron. 27:11Jotham 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 Chronicles 27:1)). Jotham was regent over the kingdom after the judgment of God fell upon his father: “And Jotham his son was over the king’s house, judging the people of the land” (2 Chron. 26:2121And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house, being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the Lord: and Jotham his son was over the king's house, judging the people of the land. (2 Chronicles 26:21)).This would indicate that Uzziah was guilty of his irreverent trespass in the very last part of his long reign, as Jotham was only a young man of twenty-five at his father’s death, and he could not have been judging the people of the land many years before this. His mother’s name jerushah (“possessed”), daughter of Zadok (“just”), would seem to imply that she belonged to the Lord, and was considered just before Him. She, like every true mother, would influence her son considerably 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: howbeit he entered not into the temple of the LORD” (italics added). He avoided the folly of his headstrong father, and did not “rush in where angels fear to tread.”
“And the people did yet corruptly” (27:2). 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 Uzziah’s 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” (2 Kings 14:44Howbeit the high places were not taken away: as yet the people did sacrifice and burnt incense on the high places. (2 Kings 14:4)). True, the sacrifices and incense were offered to Jehovah, but Scripture said that Jerusalem was “the place where men ought to worship.” This departure, though probably considered unimportant by many godly Israelites, paved the way for greater and more serious violations of the law. God’s 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 God’s will as revealed in His Word. The beginning of sin is, like strife, “as when one letteth out water” (Prov. 17:1414The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water: therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with. (Proverbs 17:14)).
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 king’s house to the temple (see 2 Chron. 23:2020And he took the captains of hundreds, and the nobles, and the governors of the people, and all the people of the land, and brought down the king from the house of the Lord: and they came through the high gate into the king's house, and set the king upon the throne of the kingdom. (2 Chronicles 23:20)), and Jotham’s 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 (27:5-6, italics added).
That high gate between the palace and the temple was better than a Chinese wall around his kingdom. All real prosperity and power is found in communion with God.
“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. God’s saints are called to walk, as well as to war. “I have fought a good fight,” said Paul the apostle, “I have finished my course,” he also added. This last was his “ways.” Ours, like king Jotham’s, “are written in the book.” May we then take heed to our ways! 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 have sinned,” God says. But in his public life, Jotham, like Daniel, was perfect or blameless. Daniel’s enemies said, “We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.” Yet this same Daniel said, “I was... confessing my sin” (Dan. 6:5; 9:205Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God. (Daniel 6:5)
20And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God; (Daniel 9:20)). Man saw nothing to condemn: Daniel knew God’s eye saw much. And, like the honest man that he was, he put 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.” Did Micah have Jotham’s death in mind when he wrote, “The good man is perished out of the earth” (Mic. 7:22The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net. (Micah 7:2))? From what follows in that chapter, down to the seventh verse, it would appear so. The violence, fraud, bribery, treachery, and other forms of wickedness described in those verses, 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 Jotham’s reign is brief, but full of brightness. His memory, like that of all the just, is blessed (Prov. 10:77The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot. (Proverbs 10:7)). He was the tenth of Judah’s kings, and God always claims His tithe; in Jotham, the “Jehovah-perfect,” it was found.