Jotham

AI summary: Jotham matters because the cross references portray a king of Judah whose rule is broadly sound without being spectacularly dramatic. He governs in continuity with Uzziah's strength, builds and fortifies, and is remembered favorably by the biblical historians. His place in the line is also significant because he stands between a strong but humbled father and a deeply compromised son. Taken together, the material presents Jotham as a stabilizing Davidic ruler whose quiet faithfulness helps hold Judah together during a transitional generation.¹

The son and successor of Uzziah on the throne of Judah. As during his last years Uzziah was excluded from public life on account of his leprosy, his son, then twenty-five years of age, administered for seven years the affairs of the kingdom in his father’s stead (2 Chr. 26:21, 23; 27:1). After his father’s death he became sole monarch, and reigned for sixteen years (B.C. 759-743). He ruled in the fear of God, and his reign was prosperous. He was contemporary with the prophets Isaiah, Hosea, and Micah, by whose ministrations he profited. He was buried in the sepulchre of the kings, greatly lamented by the people (2 Kings 15:38; 2 Chr. 27:7-9). ³