Page:The Books of Chronicles (1916).djvu/355

Rh Jotham was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Jerushah the daughter of Zadok. And he did that which was right in the eyes of the, according to all that his father Uzziah had done: howbeit he entered not into the temple of the. And the people did yet corruptly. He built the upper gate of the house of the, and on the wall of Ophel he built much. Moreover he built cities in the hill country of Judah, and in the forests he built castles and towers. He fought also with the king of the children of Ammon, and prevailed against them. And the children of Ammon gave him the same year an hundred talents of silver, and ten thousand measures of wheat, and ten thousand of barley. So much did the children of Ammon render unto him, in the second year also, and in the third. So Jotham became mighty,

XXVII. 1—6 (cp. 2 Kin. xv. 32—35).&emsp;

1. he reigned sixteen years] The years during which he acted as regent in place of his father (see above xxvi. 21) are included in the sixteen. Jotham's independent reign was probably very brief.

2. according to all that howbeit he entered not into the temple of the ] i.e. he imitated Uzziah in all his virtues, but not in his sin against the ritual of the Temple (xxvi. 16 ff.). The clause howbeit, etc., is not in Kings, since Kings makes no reference to Uzziah's transgression.

did yet corruptly] In Kings, "Howbeit the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places."

3. the upper gate] Cp. the note on xxiii. 20.

and on the wall of Ophel he built much] The statement is made only in Chron. Like similar notices of building activity, etc.—a subject of great interest to the Chronicler—it may possibly have some basis in fact; cp. xxvi. 9 f., xxxii. 30, xxxiii. 14.

Ophel] Cp. xxxiii. 14; Neh. iii. 26, 27. It was a southern spur of the Temple Hill. Bädeker, Pal.$5$, p. 31; and Smith, Jerusalem, i. 152 ff.

4. castles] Cp. xvii. 12 (note).

5. the children of Ammon] Cp. xx. 1 ff., xxvi. 8.

an hundred talents of silver] Cp. 2 Kin. xxiii. 33.

measures] Heb. kōrīm. A kōr (= a ḥōmer, Ezek. xlv. 14, R.V.) was a dry measure holding about 11 bushels.

6. became mighty] The same Heb. word as in i. 1 (see note).