2 Kings 15:32 - Meaning and Application

Here we have a short account of Jotham king of Judah. We are told that he ruled well, and did what was right in the sight of the Lord (2 Kings 15:34). Josephus gives him a very high name, saying that he was devoted to God, fair to people, and worked for the public good. He also says that Jotham corrected what was wrong wherever he could, and lacked no virtue that should mark a good ruler.

Even though the high places were not removed, Jotham still showed special respect for the temple. To draw the people away from idol worship and keep them close to God’s holy place, he built the upper gate of the Lord’s house, which he used to enter the temple. If rulers cannot do all they wish to stop sin and wickedness, they should do all the more to support godliness and virtue, and to make them honored again. If they cannot tear down the high places of sin, let them at least build up and beautify the gate of God’s house.

We are also told that Jotham died in the middle of his years (2 Kings 15:33). For most kings of Judah, Scripture tells us how old they were when they began to reign, so we can work out about how old they were when they died. But, as far as I remember, no such age record is kept for the kings of Israel, only the length of their reigns. God seems to have given this honor to the kings of David’s line above the kings of other families.

From these records, it also appears that none of the kings of Judah reached David’s age of seventy, the usual full span of human life. I do not find Asa’s age. Uzziah lived to sixty-eight, Manasseh to sixty-seven, and Jehoshaphat to sixty. These were the three oldest. Many others, even some important ones, did not reach fifty. Jotham died at forty-one. He was too good a blessing to be kept long among such an unworthy people. His death was a judgment, especially when we think of the kind of son and successor he left behind.

We are also told that in Jotham’s days a trouble began to form against Judah, through Rezin and Remaliah’s son, the king of Syria and the king of Israel. This later became so threatening that, at the start of Ahaz’s reign, the news shook both the king and the people, like trees moved by the wind (Isaiah 7:2). The men who joined in this attack were guilty in what they tried to do. Yet Scripture says, “the Lord began to send them against Judah” (2 Kings 15:37), just as he once allowed Shimei to curse David, and took from Job what the Sabeans had stolen from him. Human rulers are God’s instruments, the sword and rod in his hand, and he uses them as he wills to carry out his righteous plans, even when they mean evil by it. This storm began in the reign of godly Jotham, but he went to his grave in peace, and it broke upon his ungodly son.