2 Chronicles 27:6

2Ch 27:6 So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the LORD his God.

Ver. 6. So Jotham became mighty.] The Hebrews think that he was perfect and without blame, as his name signifieth; like as Valerian the emperor said of his successor Probus, that he was vere probus very honest, and had not his name for nought: he was kind to the Christians, and therefore blessed by God with many victories against the barbarians.

Because he prepared his ways before the Lord.] Or, He established, i.e., he was constant in a good course; so was neither his father nor grandfather.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ch_27:6

So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the Lord his God.

Jothams epitaph

I. Every man is under Gods inspection. How truly did the ancients realise this (Psa_139:1-24.; Jer_23:23-24; 2Ch_16:9; Job_34:22). We little consider this in the present day.

II. Every man should live as under Gods inspection. A mans conduct will be very different if he realises that Gods eye is on him. He will avoid sin. He will bear in mind the love of his Father who is in heaven. He will try to please Him in thought as well as in deed.

III. The recognition of Gods presence is the foundation-stone of all prosperity. It renders a man great, for--

1. It makes him careful not to do that which will disgrace him.

2. It entitles him to Divine protection and help.

3. It fills him with a consciousness of rectitude, which in itself is a panoply of defence. (Homilist.)

Jotham, king and saint

This is the key-note of Jothams biography: He prepared his ways before the Lord his God. This may be applied like a key put into the lock of each of these verses of the record of his life.

I. He went right where his father went wrong (2Ch_27:2). Even on the pinnacle of success and popularity, his head was cool, and his heart was clear, and his nerves were steady, for he prepared his ways before the Lord his God.

II. He covered the country with fortifications (2Ch_27:3-4). The man who is spiritual to the core will not be a weakling in the city, and he will not be easily turned aside. This disposes of the idea that to be a praying man and to be a business man do not go together.

III. He prevailed against his enemies (2Ch_27:5). Because, before he fought he prayed.

IV. His wealth increased (2Ch_27:5). Prayer to God brought him his fortune.

V. His humility exalted him (2Ch_27:6). Conclusion: What was Jotham after all but a dim, distant, foreshadowing of Jesus Christ? If ever the text was true of any one, it was true of Him. (John McNeill.)

Godwardness; or the might of an ancient

The Bible is the good mans chart: to warn away from danger it points out the places where some good men have gone down; while to encourage, it holds up to view the principles as illustrated by the life of others who have been successful. Jothams life teaches--

I. Godwardness: the true might and majesty of kings. Godwardness is the continuous shaping of our thoughts and deeds as under the immediate inspection of God. Let God be first in every consideration, consulted in every transaction, recognised and deferred to on all occasions and under all circumstances.

II. Godwardness: the true strength of empires. An empires strength does not depend upon--

1. Riches. Ancient Tyre was rich.

2. Political ability and astute statesmanship. Sparta.

3. Learning. Greece.

4. Legions. Rome. Napoleon Bonaparte. The strength of an empire is in God. Also, the true strength of the souls empire--the Empire of Self--is Godwardness.

III. Godwardness: the secret of success. The true cause of failure and weakness is often moral delinquency. Jotham became mighty because he prepared his ways before the Lord. (Enoch Hall.)

Stimulating effect of Gods presence

It is said that the air of a famous Kentucky cave has a peculiar power of stimulating the senses. After the visitor has been in its strange and silent labyrinths for an hour or two, and comes back into the open air, he can discern the very scents of the flowers, trees, and grasses. New perceptions of spiritual things will come to us if we get away into the quiet of Gods presence, and suffer ourselves to be absorbed by His Word. (T. G. Selby.)

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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2 Chronicles

JOTHAM

2Ch 27:6.

This King Jotham is one of the obscurer of the Jewish monarchs, and we know next to nothing about him. The most memorable event in his reign is that ‘in the year when King Uzziah,’ his father, ‘died,’ and consequently in Jotham’s first year, Isaiah saw the Lord sitting in the Temple on the empty throne, and had the lips which were to utter so many immortal words touched with fire from the altar. Whether it were the effect of the prophet’s words, or from other causes, the little that is told of him is good, and he is eulogised as having imitated his father’s God-pleasing acts, and not having stained himself by repeating his father’s sin. The rest that we hear of him in Chronicles is a mere sketch of campaigns, buildings, and victories, and then he and his reign are summed up in the words of our text, which is the analysis of the man and the disclosure of the secret of his prosperity: ‘He became mighty, because he prepared his ways’-and, more than that, ‘he prepared them before the Lord his God.’

So then, if we begin, as it were, at the bottom, as we ought to do, in studying a character, taking the deepest thing first, and laying hold upon the seminal and germinal principle of the whole, this text reminds us that-The secret of true strength lies in the continual recognition that life is lived ‘Before the Lord our God.’

Now to say, ‘Walk thou before Me,’ the command given to Abraham, suggests a somewhat different modification of the idea from the apparently parallel phrase, ‘to walk with God’ which is declared to have been the life’s habit of Enoch. The one expression suggests simple companionship and communion; the other suggests rather the vivid and continual realisation of the thought that we are ‘ever in the great Taskmaster’s eye.’ To walk before God is to feel thrillingly and continually, and yet without being abased or crushed or discomposed, but rather being encouraged and quickened and calmed and ennobled and gladdened thereby: ‘Thou God seest me.’ It seems to me that one of the plainest pieces of Christian duty, and, alas! one of the most neglected of them, is the cultivation, definitely and consciously, by effort and by self-discipline, of that consciousness as a present factor in all our lives, and an influencing motive in everything that we do. If once we could bring before the eye of our minds that great, blazing, white throne, and Him that sits upon it, we should want nothing else to burn up the commonplaces of life, and to flash its insignificance into splendour and awfulness. We should want nothing else to lift us to a ‘solemn scorn of ills,’ and to deliver us from the false sweetnesses and fading delights that grow on the low levels of a sense-bound life! Brethren! our whole life would be transformed and glorified, and we should be different men and women if we ordered our ways as ‘before the Lord our God.’ What meanness could live when we knew that it was seen by those pure Eyes? How we should be ashamed of ourselves, of our complaints, of our murmurings, of our reluctance to do our duty, of our puerile regrets for vanished blessings, and of all the low cares and desires that beset and spoil our lives, if once this thought, ‘before God,’ were habitual with us, and we walked in it as in an atmosphere!

Why is it not? and might it not be? and if it might not, ought it not to be? And what are we to say to Him whom we profess to love as our Supreme Good, if all the day long the thought of Him seldom comes into our minds, and if any triviality, held near the eye, is large enough and bright enough to shut Him out from our sight? With deep ethical significance and accuracy was the command given to Abraham as the sole, all-sufficient direction for both inward and outward life: ‘Walk before Me and {so} be thou perfect.’ For indeed the full realisation-adequate and constant and solid enough to be a motive-of ‘Thou God seest me,’ would be found to contain practical directions in regard to all moral difficulties, and would unfailingly detect the evil, howsoever wrapped up, and would carry in itself not only motive but impulse, not only law but power to fulfil it. The Master’s eye makes diligent servants. How schoolboys bend themselves over their slates and quicken their effort when the teacher is walking behind the benches! And how a gang of idle labourers will buckle to the spade and tax their muscles in an altogether different fashion when the overseer appears upon the field! If we realised, as we should do, the presence in all our little daily life of that great, sovereign Lord, there would be less skulking, less superficially performed tasks, less jerry work put into our building; more of our strength cast into all our work, and less of ourselves in any of it.

Remember, too, how connected with this is another piece of effort needful in the religious life, and suggested by the last words of this text, ‘Before the Lord his God.’ Cultivate the habit of narrowing down the general truths of religion to their relation to yourselves. Do not be content with ‘the Lord our God,’ or ‘the Lord the God of the whole earth,’ but put a ‘my’ in, and realise not only the presence of a divine Inspector, but the closeness of the personal bond that unites to Him; and the individual responsibility, in all its width and depth and unshiftableness-if I may use such a word-which results therefrom. You cannot shake off or step out of the tasks that ‘the Lord your God’ lays upon you. You and He are as if alone in the world. Make Him your God by choice, by your own personal acceptance of His authority and dependence upon His power, and try to translate into daily life the great truth, ‘Thou God seest me,’ and bring it to bear upon the veriest trifles and smallest details.

Now the text follows the order of observation, so to speak, and mentions the outward facts of Jotham’s success before it goes deeper and accounts for them. We have reversed the process and dealt first with the cause. The spring of all lay in his conscious recognition of his relation to God and God’s to him. From that, of course, followed that he ‘prepared,’ according to the Authorised Version, or ‘ordered,’ according to the Revised Version, ‘his ways.’ There is an alternative rendering of the word rendered ‘prepared’ or ‘ordered’ given in the margin of the Authorised Version, which reads, ‘established his ways.’ Both the ideas of ordering and establishing are contained in the word.

Now that fact, that the same word means both these, conveys a piece of practical wisdom, which it will do us all good to note clearly and take to heart. For it teaches us that whatever is ‘ordered’ is firm, and whatever is disorderly, haphazard, done without the exercise of one’s mind on the act, being chaotic, is necessarily short-lived.

The ordered life is the established life. The life of impulse, chance, passion, the life that is lived without choice and plan, without reflection and consideration of consequences, the following of nature, which some people tell us is the highest law, and which is woefully likely to degenerate into following the lower nature, which ought not to be followed, but covered and kept under hatches-such a life is sure to be a topsy-turvy life, which, being based upon the narrowest point, must, by the laws of equilibrium, topple over sooner or later. If you would have your lives established, they must be ordered. You must bring your brains to bear upon them, and you must bring more than brain, you must bring to bear on every part of them the spiritual instincts that are quickened by contact with the thought of the All-seeing God, and let these have the ordering of them. Such lives, and only such, will endure ‘when all that seems shall suffer shock.’ ‘He that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.’

But the lesson that is pressed upon us by this word, understood in the other meanings of ‘prepared’ or ‘ordered,’ is that all our ‘ways,’ that is, our practical life, our acts, direction of mind, habits, should be regulated by continual consciousness of, and reference to, the All-discerning Eye that looks down upon us, and ‘the God in whose hands our breath is, and whose are’-whether we make them so or not-’all our ways.’ To translate that into less picturesque, and less forcible, but more modern words, it is just this: You Christian people ought to make it a point of duty to cultivate the habit of referring everything that you do to the will and judgment of God. Take Him into account in everything great or small, and in nothing say, ‘Thus I will, thus I command. My will shall stand instead of all other reasons’; but say, ‘Lord! by Thee and for Thee I try to do this’; and having done it, say, ‘Lord! the seed is sown in Thy name; bless Thou the springing thereof.’ Works thus begun, continued and ended, will never be put to confusion, and ‘ways’ thus ordered will be established. A path of righteousness like that can no more fail to be a way of peace than can God’s throne ever totter or fall. An ordered life in which He is consulted, and which is all shaped at His bidding, and by His strength, and for His dear name, will ‘stand four-square to all the winds that blow,’ and, being founded upon a rock, will never fall.

But we may also note that in the strength of that thought, that we are before the Lord our God, we shall best establish our ways in the sense that we shall keep on steadily and doggedly on the path. Well begun may be half ended, but there is often a long dreary grind before it is wholly ended, and the last half of the march is the wearisome half. The Bible has a great deal to say about the need of obstinate persistence on the right road. ‘Ye did run well, what did hinder you?’ ‘Cast not away your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward.’ ‘We are made partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end.’ ‘He that overcometh and keepeth My words unto the end, to him will I give authority.’ Lives which derive their impulse from communion with God will not come to a dead stop half-way on their road, like a motor the fuel of which fails; and it will be impossible for any man to ‘endure unto the end’ and so to be heir of the promise-’the same shall be saved,’ unless he draws his persistency from Him who ‘fainteth not, neither is weary’ and who ‘reneweth strength to them that have no might’ so that in all the monotonous levels they shall ‘walk and not faint,’ and in all the crises, demanding brief spurts of energy, ‘they shall run and not be weary,’ and at last ‘shall mount up with wings as eagles.’ A path ordered and a path persisted in ought to be the path of every Christian man.

The text finally tells of the prosperity and growing power which attends such a course. ‘Jotham became mighty.’ That was simple outward blessing. His kingdom prospered, and, according to the theocratic constitution of Judah, faithfulness to God and material well-being went together. You cannot apply these words, of course, to the outward lives of Christians. It is no doubt true that ‘Godliness is profitable for all things,’ but there are a great many other things besides the godliness of the man that does them which determine whether a man’s undertakings shall prosper in the world’s sense or not. It would be a pitiable thing if the full revelation of God in Christ did not teach us Christians more about the meaning and the worth of outward success and inward prosperity than the Old Testament could teach. I hope we have learned that lesson; at least, it is not the fault of our lesson book if we have not. Although it is true that religion does make the best of both worlds, it does not do so by taking the world’s estimate of what its best for to-day is, and giving a religious man that. Sometimes it does, and sometimes it does not, and whether it does or no depends on other considerations than the reality of the man’s devotion. Good men are often made better by being made sad and unsuccessful. And if they are not bettered by adversity, it is not the fault of the discipline but of the people who undergo it.

But though the husk of my text falls away-and we should thank God that it has fallen away-the kernel of it is ever true. Whosoever will thus root his life in the living thought of a loving, divine Eye being perpetually upon him, and make that thought a motive for holiness and loving obedience and effort after service, will find that the true success, the only success and the only strength that are worth a man’s ambition to desire or his effort to secure, will assuredly be his. He may be voted a failure as regards the world’s prizes. But a man that ‘orders his ways,’ and perseveres in ways thus ordered, ‘before the Lord’ will for reward get more power to order his ways, and a purer and more thrilling, less interrupted and more childlike vision of the Face that looks upon him. God’s ‘eyes behold the upright,’ and the upright behold His eyes, and in the interchange of glances there is power; and in that power is the highest reward for ordered lives. We shall get power to do, power to bear, power to think aright, power to love, power to will, power to behold, power to deny ourselves, ‘power to become sons of God.’ This is the success of life, when out of all its changes, and by reason of all its efforts, we realise more fully our filial possession of our Father, and our Father’s changeless love to us. We shall become mighty with the might that is born of obedience and faith if we order our ways before the Lord our God. ‘The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more until the noontide of the day.’

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He showeth that all prosperity cometh of God, who never faileth when we put our trust in him.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(6) So Jotham became mighty.—The chronicler’s customary phrase. “Strengthened himself,” “gained strength” (2Ch_13:21).

Because he prepared.—For he directed his ways (Pro_21:29; comp. also 2Ch_12:14; 2Ch_20:33). Jotham directed his ways “before,” i.e., in the chronicler’s usage, “to meet,” “towards” Jehovah his God. (Comp. 1Ch_12:17; 1Sa_7:3.) “Direct your heart towards Jehovah.” Perhaps, however, “before” simply means “as in the sight of” Jehovah. (Comp. Gen_17:1, “walk before me.”)

The verse is a moral reflection of the writer on the preceding facts.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. became mighty] The same Heb. word as in 2Ch_1:1 (see note). prepared] R.V. ordered.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all his wars,.... Not only with the Ammonites, but with the Syrians, and ten tribes, see Kg2 15:37.

and his ways, lo, they are written in the books of the kings of Israel and Judah; not in the canonical books of Kings, but in the Chronicles of the kings of both nations, see Kg2 15:36.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Or, directed his ways, i.e. his counsels and actions, by the rule of God’s law.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The virtue of the reflection of this verse is apparent. Prepared; Hebrew, ykihe; Revised Version, ordered; with some others (such as "set straight," etc.), a good rendering in keeping with other Old Testament renderings of words betokening moral habitude.

The accumulation of spiritual power.

Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the Lord his God;" or, because "he made his ways firm before Jahveh." Whatever may be the exact rendering of the passage, and whatever may be the precise shade of thought intended to be conveyed, it is clear that Jotham"s might or his strength in the kingdom is referred to his continuance in the service of the Lord. And thence we gain the truth that true power is to be sought and found in permanent piety, in walking with an unfaltering step in the ways of Divine wisdom and of human obedience. Power of the truest and highest kind is not the endowment of a moment; it is not a suddenly acquired possession; it is a growth, an accumulation; it is the "long result" of a faithful service. It is

I THE COMBINATION OF MANY CHRISTIAN VIRTUES. AS the "mighty" swordsman is the man who is strong at all points of attack and defence; as the "mighty" speaker is he who has all possible qualifications for interesting, convincing, and persuading men; so the "mighty" man of God is he who has acquired all the various excellences which we are able to secure. "Giving all diligence," we are "to add to our faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance," etc.. (2Pe_1:5, 2Pe_1:6) "Whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report," we are to think upon and, of course, to pursue and to acquire. We are to "build ourselves up on our holy faith." And building up is a work that is not done in a day nor in a year. It is a Work of time. And the strong character thus formed is the accumulated result of many spiritual activities, protracted over many years.

II THE WORK OF TIME IN MANY PARTICULARS. No man can be a mighty man, in a spiritual sense, who is not:

1. A large possessor of Divine wisdom. A superficial. knowledge of Divine truth may serve for a while in simpler and subordinate positions; but he who occupies an important post, to which large responsibilities and delicate duties belong, must be furnished with a large measure of spiritual sagacity. And this can only be gained by serving the Lord for many years and in many ways. It is the acquisition of one whose "ways have been firm before Jehovah;" who has been living before God, and learning of him from year to year, from period to period.

2. A man of much self-command. A hasty or impulsive man is necessarily a weak man. Only those who can control themselves can command their fellows or direct affairs. Patience, self-possession, the ruling of our own spirit this is an essential condition of all real strength; and this, again, is the work of long-continued struggle and discipline. It is the harvest of strenuous effort and of earnest prayer; it is a steady, spiritual accumulation.

3. One that has acquired skill and strength in exercise and activity. No man can do a thing really well till he has first done it imperfectly and tentatively. Excellency is always the fruit of practice, of patient, continuous endeavour. And here, again, is gradual acquisition or accumulation.

4. One that enjoys a good measure of esteem. It is the man of whom we say, "We know the proof of him;" the man who has approved himself in many a field of labour and in many a flood of trial; to whose words we listen, whose will we obey, whom we permit to guide and rule us. And, of all things, esteem is the product of consistency and beauty in life, of much walking "in the ways of Jehovah.

III A GOAL TO BE PURSUED AND ATTAINED. It is true that power, or might, is, to some extent, an endowment; it is a direct gift of God. But it is far from being wholly so. In the kingdom, large or small, over which we are placed, we may "become mighty;" we may rise to influence; we may make our mark, which will not soon, if ever, be erased.

(1) By a thorough consecration of ourselves to Jesus Christ and his cause;

(2) by consistency and excellency by blamelessness and beauty of life and spirit;

(3) by earnestness of purpose and endeavour;

(4) by prayer for Divine communications we (Eph_3:16; Col_1:11) also may "become mighty" to bear our witness, to overcome our foes, to do our work before we die. C.

HOMILIES BY T. WHITELAW Vers. 1-9.

A brief record of a bright reign.

I JOTHAM, A GOOD MAN.

1. Of honourable parentage.

(1) His father Uzziah, though guilty in his lifetime of a great sin, (2Ch_26:16) and dying under a cloud, (2Ch_26:21) was essentially a sincere worshipper of Jehovah. Good men may commit acts of wickedness, from the temporal consequences of which they cannot, in their lifetime, shake themselves free, (e.g. Moses, Jacob, David); yet are their characters and standing before God not to be judged by these, but by the whole course of their earthly careers.

(2) His mother Jerushah, a native of Jerusalem (Josephus, "Ant.," 9:11. 2), and the daughter of Zadok if this was the high priest mentioned in 1Ch_6:53 (Bertheau) was probably a woman of piety. Incalculable is the influence of mothers in determining the characters of sons (e.g. Jochebed, Eunice, Monica, Susanna Wesley).

2. Of excellent character.

(1) He followed in his father"s steps in so far as these were good (ver. 2), which was all he was warranted to do. (Act_4:19) Religion doubly influential upon the young when recommended by the example of devout fathers and mothers. Who would make others good, himself must be good. Irreligious parents not likely to succeed in the godly upbringing of their children.

(2) He avoided the mistake his father had committed (ver. 2). Mistakes of ourselves or others not actions to be repeated or patterns to be copied, but beacons to be observed and paths to be shunned. Whether, had Uzziah not been "stricken of the Lord," but permitted to assume the priest"s office, Jotham would have discontinued the practice as an unwarrantable intrusion into a province that belonged not to kings, may be doubtful; it was to his credit that he was able to interpret the lesson of God"s judgment on his parent, and meekly acquiesce in the same. (Psa_119:75, Psa_119:120)

(3) He persevered in the right way in spite of the sinful practices of his people. These "did corruptly" (ver. 2), i.e. worshipped idols, sacrificed, and burnt incense in the high places; (2Ki_15:32) and if the representations of the prophets may be credited, were sunk in deplorable immorality (Isa_2:5, etc.; Isa_5:7, etc.; Mic_1:5 Mic_2:1, etc.) Cf. the phrase used of the Babylonian tower-builders on the monuments: "Babylon corruptly to sin went" ("Records," etc., 7:131). Jotham stood alone, or nearly so, in an extremely degenerate age; like Noah in the antediluvian, (Gen_7:1) Lot in Sodom, (2Pe_2:8) and Daniel in Babylon; (Dan_6:13) which heightens one"s idea of both the nobility of his character and the strength of his piety. It requires a strong man, intellectually and morally, to be singular, and especially to be good, when goodness is unpopular and immorality with irreligion holds the field. "This king was not defective in any virtue, but was religious towards God and righteous towards men" (Josephus).

II JOTHAM SUCCESSFUL KING.

1. The duration of his success. Throughout his entire reign of sixteen years. If his father"s reign was longer and more brilliant, his was more symmetrical and complete. If he was a more obscure monarch than his father, he was probably as good a man.

2. The nature of his success.

(1) His buildings were important.

(a) He restored and beautified the upper gate of the temple (ver. 3), i.e. the northern gate, which led into the inner court, (Eze_8:3, Eze_8:5, Eze_8:14) and was called "upper" probably because it stood upon higher ground than the gates upon the south. (Eze_9:2) His reason for such architectural ornamentation most likely was, either that it formed the principal entrance to the temple (Bertheau), or that there the burnt offerings were washed; cf. (Eze_40:38) (Bahr) In beginning with the temple, Jotham observed the right order; first the things of God, and then those of man; first religion, and then business; first the claims of Heaven, and then those of earth.

(b) He added to the city fortifications. "On the wall of Ophel," which ran along the southern slope of the temple hill and joined the temple wall at the south-eastern corner, at the turning of the wall, (2Ch_26:9) where his father before him had raised erections, "he built much." As Solomon"s palace, on the southern slope, was considerably lower than the temple, Jotham may have had a good deal of building.

(c) "In the mountains of Judah," on the military roads, he erected fortified cities or garrisons; and in the forests or wooded hills, where such "cities" could not be placed, he constructed" castles and towers" (ver. 4). Thus, while like a good man he honoured God, like a prudent sovereign he looked well to the safety of his kingdom.

(2) His wars were victorious. "He fought with the Ammonites, and prevailed against them" (ver. 5), compelling them to resume payment of the tribute which Uzziah had imposed upon them, (2Ch_26:8) but which they had discontinued. If, after two payments, the tribute ("a hundred talents of silver," equal to with "ten thousand measures of wheat, and ten thousand of barley") ceased, this was probably due to the incursions of Rezin of Syria and Pekah of Israel (2Ki_15:37) having enabled them to successfully assert their independence. Probably in close connection with this subjection of the Ammonites was his annexation to the kingdom of Judah of the trans-Jordanic tribe of Gad, of whose population he made a registration according to their genealogies, doubtless for the purpose of imposing an assessment. (1Ch_5:17)

(3) His reputation was high. If barely realizing the ideal of uprightness or perfection contained in his name (Jotham, equivalent to "Jehovah" is, "upright," or" perfect)," he yet maintained an untarnished escutcheon. Though a man s funeral cannot always be accepted as an index to his moral excellence, (Luk_16:22) yet the circumstance that when Jotham died he was interred in the royal mausoleum, "in the city of David," was a proof he had done nothing to forfeit the good opinion of his subjects. Contrast the burials of Joash, (2Ch_24:25) of Uzziah, (2Ch_26:23) and of Ahaz. (2Ch_27:2-7)

3. The explanation of his succces. Neither the wealth of his kingdom, which was "full of silver and gold", (Isa_2:7) nor the size of his army, "The land in his day was also full of horses, neither was there any end of chariots", (Isa_2:7) nor the splendour of his merchant navy, which consisted of ships of Tarshish, (Isa_2:16) accounted for there markable prosperity of this sovereign"s reign. If, on the one hand, these were rather signs and results of the flourishing condition of the nation; on the other hand, they were ominous of, and contributory to, the nation"s decay. Not only did these in no way diminish, but, on the contrary, fostered and increased the worst characteristics of the people a love of luxury, which evinced itself amongst the women in a passion for finery and dress, (Isa_3:16-24) amongst the men in licentiousness and oppression, witchcraft and soothsaying, (Isa_2:6 Isa_3:9) amongst both inhaughtiness and self-conceit, (Isa_2:17) a thirst for war, (Isa_2:7) and an infatuation for idolatry. (Isa_2:8) The real secret of the kingdom"s prosperity lay in the piety of its king. Judah was blessed because Jotham "prepared or, "ordered" his ways before the Lord a clear case of imputation of merit and of vicarious blessing. Jot. ham systematically and studiously guided his personal and official actions by a regard to the Divine Law, and Jehovah caused him to become mighty. Them that honour me I will honour". (1Sa_2:30) No piety likely to he either deep or permanent that does not spring from well-considered choice and lead to scrupulous obedience. A good man may pray, "Order my steps in thy, (Psa_119:133) knowing that "it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps", (Jer_10:23) and that a good man"s steps are ordered by the Lord; (Psa_37:23) if a truly good man, he will try to answer his own prayer, (Psa_101:2) in doing which he has God"s encouragement. (Psa_50:23) Rehoboam prepared neither his heart nor his way, and consequently went astray. (2Ch_12:14)

LESSONS.

1. The best men are often the least known.

2. A life short in years may be long in influence.

3. The danger of inferring inward stability from outward prosperity. W.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

he walked firmly before Yahweh his God

Jotham's actions and lifestyle are spoken of as if they were a path upon which he walked. That he walked firmly means that he was devoted to living in this way. AT: "he faithfully obeyed Yahweh his God" (See: Metaphor)

his ways

Jotham's actions are spoken of as if they were a path upon which he walked. AT: "the things that he did" (See: Metaphor)

see, they are written in the book ... Judah

"anyone can look in the book ... Judah and see that they are written there"

they are written in the book

This can be stated in active form. AT: "they are in the book" or "you can read of them in the book" (See: Active or Passive)

the book of the kings of Israel and Judah

This is a book that no longer exists.

translationWords

Jotham

power

walk

Yahweh

God

kingdom of Israel

kingdom of Judah

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.