Jerusalem, the capital (1 Kings 14:2121And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. And his mother's name was Naamah an Ammonitess. (1 Kings 14:21)), distant from the Mediterranean about thirty miles. The kingdom, which consisted of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, existed nearly 400 years under twenty sovereigns, and was finally destroyed by the Chaldeans, under Nebuchadnezzar, 588 B.C.
. REHOBOAM (enlargement of the people), reigned seventeen years.-For the first three years of this monarch's reign, both prince and people walked in the ways of David and Solomon; afterward, however, the land became filled with Sodomite wickedness and idolatry (2 Chron. 12).
2. ABIJAM, or ABIJAH (signification doubtful), reigned three years.-This king trod closely in the steps of his father, but for David's sake the lamp continued to burn at Jerusalem (2 Chron. 13).
3. ASA (physician), reigned forty-one years.-A pious king and zealous uprooter of idolatry; in his old age diseased in his feet (2 Chron. 16).
4. JEHOSHAPHAT [whom] (the Lord Judges), reigned twenty-five years.- Under the reign of this pious monarch, who walked in the godly ways of his father, the kingdom was greatly blessed. The commandments of the Lord, and not the ways of Judah, were the guide of his conduct and ways (2 Chron. 20).
5. JEHORAM (the Lord is exalted), reigned eight years.-This was a wicked king, a murderer and an idolater, walked in the ways of wicked Israel, and died unlamented, besides being denied a grave in the sepulcher of the kings (2 Chron. 21).
6. AHAZIAH [whom] (whom Jehovah sustained), reigned one year.-A wicked king, and who walked in the wickedness of the house of Ahab, according to their and his idolatrous mother's counsel. Slain by Jehu (2 Chron. 22).
7. ATHALIAH [whom] (the Lord afflicts), reigned six years. -A cruel woman, who murdered all the seed royal of Judah, save Joash, who was almost miraculously preserved. Athaliah was slain by her captains and officers (2 Chron. 23).
8, JEHOASH [whom] (the Lord has given), reigned forty years.-This youthful monarch walked well when counseled by Jehoiada, the priest, but on his death, the princes of Judah aided the king in the affairs of the state, and both king and kingdom thereby suffered. Slain by his servants (2 Chron. 24).
9. AMAZIAH [whom] (Jah - a form of the Divine title "Jehovah"—has strengthened), reigned twenty-nine years. -This king was very unsteady in his conduct. For a time he walked well, but very soon forsook the Lord, and brought a violent death upon himself, and war and distress upon the kingdom (2 Chron. 25).
10. AZARIAH or UZZIAH (help of the Lord), reigned fifty-two years.- For a considerable time this king earnestly sought the Lord and walked according to Divine counsel. Hence God prospered him in battle, and caused his name to be widely spread abroad. But when thus exalted his heart became filled with pride, and impiously usurping priestly functions, he was struck with leprosy, and continued a leper in a separate house assigned him till the day of his death (2 Chron. 26).
11. JOTHAM (the Lord is perfect), reigned sixteen years.- This good king "became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the Lord his God." Beautiful testimony! (2 Chron. 27)
12. AHAZ (possessor), reigned sixteen years.-This was probably the most wicked and idolatrous of all Judah's kings, and almost brought the kingdom to ruin. The more he was afflicted, the more he sinned. He was buried in Jerusalem, but not in the sepulchers of the kings (2 Chron. 28).
13. HEZEKIAH (strength of the Lord), reigned twenty-nine years.-This godly and devout king was next to Solomon, the most honored of all the Judean monarchs; his zeal and earnestness were remarkable (2 Chron. 32).
14. MANASSEH (forgetting), reigned fifty-five years.-This long-lived monarch, spite of faithful warnings and earnest remonstrances, did more evil than any of his predecessors. He filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the temple with the vilest forms of idolatry; he instigated Judah to work wickedness of a character worse than the very heathen, and thus greatly hastened the ruin of all Israel. In his old age he turned to the Lord (2 Chron. 33).
15. AMON (artificer), reigned two years.-Amon trod closely in the wicked ways of his father, but not in the after repentance, and was slain in his own house (2 Chron. 33).
16. JOSIAH (may the Lord heal) [him], reigned thirty-one years.- In the eighth year of his reign, Josiah sought and found the Lord, and four years afterward began to extirpate idolatry out of the land—root and branch. This godly king's reign was signalized by close attention to the written word of God (2 Chron. 35).
17. JEHOAHAZ [whom] (the Lord holdeth), reigned three months.-This bad king's reign was brought to an abrupt termination by the king of Egypt, who deposed him, sending him in chains to Egypt, and making Judea a tributary province (2 Chron. 36).
18. JEHOIAKIM (may the Lord establish) [him], reigned eleven years.-A wicked king, seated on the throne by the king of Egypt, and deposed by the king of Babylon (2 Chron. 36).
19. JEHOIACHIN (may the Lord establish) [him], reigned three months and ten days.-A wicked king, deposed and taken captive to Babylon for thirty-seven years; afterward released from his long imprisonment and raised to dignity (2 Chron. 36).
20. ZEDEKIAH (righteousness of the Lord), reigned eleven years.-The third son of the godly Josiah, and last king of Judah, who perfidiously broke his oath to Nebuchadnezzar, and hardened himself against the faithful ministry of Jeremiah the prophet; he was carried captive to Babylon where he died (2 Chron. 36).
NOTES.
About the half of those sovereigns were good; hence the long continuance of the kingdom over that of Israel.
It will be observed that, as a rule, the mothers of the Judah kings are specially named, but not so in the case of the kings of Israel.
There is only one female sovereign amongst those of Judah, and not one amongst the sovereigns of Israel.
The fathers of the godly kings, Hezekiah and Josiah, were bad men, thus illustrating the sovereign goodness and choice of God.
It is worthy of careful observation that, according to the personal piety and faithfulness of the monarch, Judah was blest, and the country enjoyed peace and prosperity.
The longest reign was that of Manasseh's, fifty-five years; while the shortest was that of Jehoahaz, which lasted only three months.
The books of the Chronicles specially detail the doings of these kings.