2 Chronicles 27: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

Jotham becomes king of Judah at twenty-five and rules sixteen years in Jerusalem. He does what is right before the LORD, as his father Uzziah did, but he does not go into the temple, and the people keep acting corruptly. He builds the upper gate of the temple, works on the wall of Ophel, builds towns and forts, and defeats the Ammonites, who pay him silver and grain for three years. He grows powerful, then dies and is buried in the City of David, and his son Ahaz becomes king.

Claim by Claim

1. 27:1
   • Jotham was twenty-five years old when he began to reign.
   • Jotham reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem.
   • Jotham's mother's name was Jerushah.
   • Jerushah was the daughter of Zadok.
2. 27:2
   • Jotham did what was right in the sight of the LORD.
   • Jotham did according to all that his father Uzziah did.
   • Jotham did not enter into the temple of the LORD.
   • The people still acted corruptly.
3. 27:3
   • Jotham built the upper gate of the house of the LORD.
   • Jotham built much on the wall of Ophel.
4. 27:4
   • Jotham built cities in the hill country of Judah.
   • Jotham built fortresses and towers in the forests.
5. 27:5
   • Jotham fought with the king of the Ammonites.
   • Jotham prevailed against the Ammonites.
   • The Ammonites gave Jotham a hundred talents of silver that year.
   • The Ammonites gave Jotham ten thousand measures of wheat.
   • The Ammonites gave Jotham ten thousand measures of barley.
   • The Ammonites paid Jotham the same amount in the second year and in the third year.
6. 27:6
   • Jotham became mighty.
   • Jotham became mighty because he ordered his ways before the LORD his God.
7. 27:7
   • The rest of the acts of Jotham are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.
   • All of Jotham's wars are written in that book.
   • Jotham's ways are written in that book.
8. 27:8
   • Jotham was twenty-five years old when he began to reign.
   • Jotham reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem.
9. 27:9
   • Jotham slept with his fathers.
   • They buried Jotham in the city of David.
   • Ahaz his son reigned in his place.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

27:1

Judah's royal records almost always name the new king's mother. The queen mother held a recognized position at court, so her name and family were part of the official record of a reign.

27:2

"He did not go into the LORD's temple" points back to chapter 26: Jotham's father Uzziah forced his way into the temple to burn incense, something only priests were permitted to do, and was struck with a skin disease. The line means Jotham copied his father's good conduct but not that one act. "Acting corruptly" is the standard phrase for worship at unauthorised shrines and images rather than at the temple.

27:3

Ophel is the narrow ridge in Jerusalem joining the old City of David to the higher ground where the temple stood, the seam in the city's defenses, and so a natural place to spend money on walls. The "upper gate" was a gate on the temple's north side.

27:4

"Castles" in 1611 English meant any fortified stronghold, not the towered stone castles of medieval Europe. These were garrison forts, and the towers were lookout posts. The hill country of Judah carried far more woodland then than the bare landscape does now.

27:5

The Ammonites were a neighboring kingdom east of the Jordan, long-standing rivals of Judah. A talent was about seventy-five pounds of silver, so a hundred talents is roughly three and a half tons. The "measures" are cors, each about sixty gallons dry measure, ten thousand cors is a very large grain shipment. Payments like this were tribute: a defeated kingdom bought peace by paying annually.

27:6

"He prepared his ways before the LORD" translates a Hebrew phrase about setting a course and holding to it. The picture is of a road laid out straight and kept that way, meaning steady consistency rather than a single good decision.

27:7

This is not the biblical books of Kings but a royal chronicle kept by court record-keepers, which no longer survives. The writer regularly points readers to it for the fuller account.

27:8

The repetition of verse 1 is deliberate, not an error. Reigns in Chronicles are framed by an opening formula and a matching closing one.

27:9

"Slept with his fathers" is the usual phrase for a king dying peacefully rather than being killed. The City of David is the oldest quarter of Jerusalem, where the kings of Judah were buried.