Chapter XXVII.
1–6 (compare 2 Kings xv. 32–35).
Jotham Succeeds.
¹Jotham 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.
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.
²And he did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his father Uzziah had done: howbeit he entered not into the temple of the Lord. And the people did yet corruptly.
2. according to all that ... howbeit he entered not into the temple of the Lord] 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.”
³He built the upper gate of the house of the Lord, and on the wall of Ophel he built much.
3. the upper gate] Compare the note on xxiii. 20.