2 Chronicles 27:1 – 9 Jotham Reigns in Judah (2 Kings 15:32-38)
“Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. His mother’s name was Jerushah daughter of Zadok. And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father Uzziah had done. In addition, he did not enter the temple of the LORD. But the people still behaved corruptly.
Jotham rebuilt the Upper Gate of the house of the LORD, and he worked extensively on the wall at Ophel. He also built cities in the hill country of Judah and fortresses and towers in the forests.
Jotham waged war against the king of the Ammonites and defeated them, and that year they gave him a hundred talents of silver, ten thousand cors of wheat, and ten thousand cors of barley. They paid him the same in the second and third years. So Jotham grew powerful because he ordered his ways before the LORD his God.
As for the rest of the acts of Jotham, along with all his wars and his ways, they are indeed written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. And Jotham rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David. And his son Ahaz reigned in his place.” (100 talents is approximately 3.77 tons or 3.42 metric tons of silver. 10,000 cors is approximately 62,400 bushels or 2.2 million liters (probably about 1,920 tons or 1,740 metric tons of wheat). 10,000 cors is approximately 62,400 bushels or 2.2 million liters (probably about 1,450 tons or 1,315 metric tons of barley.)
King Jotham was a good man and careful to follow the Lord in everything he did. 2 Kings 15:34 – 35 tells us, “He did right in the Lord’s sight, according to all his father Uzziah had done. Yet the high places were not removed; the people sacrificed and burned incense still on the high places.” Once more, those high places are drawing fetish worshipers to them!
Jehoshaphat did away with the Asherah poles and high places devoted to Asherah; however, he left many other high places alone. Jehoshaphat’s son, wicked King Jehoram, built new high places and involved the Judeans in every kind of idolatry. Subsequent kings compromised themselves spiritually. Uzziah made a promising start; however, his life ended in tragedy and disgrace when God struck him with leprosy for violating the temple. While Jotham personally honored the Lord, evidently, he left the high places alone.
APPICATION: Why didn’t Jotham do anything about the high places? Perhaps Jotham was unsure of himself, fearing that if he tackled the high places, his subjects would depose him and even assassinate him. Perhaps Jotham hoped that if he set a good example, the citizens of Judah would follow his lead. But the citizens of Judah weren’t paying any attention to King Jotham. Evil must always be confronted! When we fail to confront evil, it simply multiplies. Jotham never confronted the evil in his kingdom, but left it alone, allowing it to grow.
I follow some of the comics on an on – line web site. Recently, several comics have attempted to portray witches as cute and entertaining. But a disturbing number of comics have made graphic references to witches eating children, as if this practice was humorous. It appears that Satan is trying to gradually numb us spiritually so that we will accept this horrific practice. People are already accepting zombies and vampires as entertaining and funny, never mind their actual natures. For those of us who have witnessed the results of full – bore witchcraft first – hand, there is nothing cute or humorous about evil!
We used to live in a part of Northern Ghana where Christian parents had to carefully guard what their children ate. Why? In that area, it was common for witches and wizards to attempt to steal a child’s future by feeding them specially cursed food. In that town children roamed freely, making it simple for unscrupulous evil doers to practice enchantments on them. In that same town, fetish worshipers would put out food for the “gods” twice a week. We could tell when the food had been offered because the vultures could be seen swarming over the offering site.
Today, evil is everywhere. Video games, videos, online websites – never before have there been so many different ways to access evil. How can we prepare to confront evil? Ephesians 6:10 – 17 gives us the answer. “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can make your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world’s darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Therefore take up the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you will be able to stand your ground, and having done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness arrayed, and with your feet fitted with the readiness of the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Pray in the Spirit at all times, with every kind of prayer and petition. To this end, stay alert with all perseverance in your prayers for all the saints.”
King Jotham was a righteous man, but he was not an influential one. Jotham’s failure to tackle the evil in the kingdom of Judah left his kingdom worse off spiritually. And as we will learn in 2 Chronicles 28, Jotham also filed to teach his son Ahaz to fear the Lord, guaranteeing that Judah would continue to slide spiritually. May we take courage from the Lord to confront the evil surrounding us, trusting that God will guide us!
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, the evil surrounding us seems nearly overwhelming, but You have promised that “when the Enemy comes in like a flood, You will raise up a standard.” (Isaiah 54:17) Help us to trust in You and to confront the evil in our situations, knowing that You are always with us to help us. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
Burunche's Blog 
Leave a comment