2 Chronicles 27:5

He fought also with the king of the Ammonites, 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 pay unto him, both the second year, and the third.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(5) He fought also with the king of the Ammonites.—“He also,” like his father, “fought with the king of the sons of Ammon.” They no doubt had refused the tribute imposed on them by Uzziah; but Jotham quelled their resistance, and they paid him a fixed contribution for three successive years.

The same year.—In that year; the year of the revolt.

Ten thousand measures.—Kōrîm. The kor was perhaps equivalent to our quarter. (Comp. 1Kings 4:22; 2Chronicles 2:10.)

The land of Ammon is fertile of grain even at the present day.

So much . . . and the third.—Rather, This (tribute) did the bnê Ammon restore to him (i.e., after withholding it during the year of rebellion); and in the second year, and the third. After three annual payments, the tribute was again suspended, perhaps because the Ammonites took advantage of the outbreak of the Syro-Ephraite war, which took place towards the end of the reign (2Kings 15:37). There is no note of time in the text.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

27:1-9 Jotham's reign in Judah. - The people did corruptly. Perhaps Jotham was wanting towards the reformation of the land. Men may be very good, and yet not have courage and zeal to do what they might. It certainly casts blame upon the people. Jotham prospered, and became mighty. The more stedfast we are in religion, the more mighty we are, both to resist evil, and to do good. The Lord often removes wise and pious rulers, and sends others, whose follies and vices punish a people that valued not their mercies.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The Ammonites, who had submitted to Uzziah 2 Chronicles 26:8, revolted against Jotham. This revolt he firmly repressed; and, to punish it, he exacted a high rate of tribute for the three years following the termination of the war. The productiveness of the Ammonite country in grain, which is here indicated, has been remarked upon as extraordinary by modern travelers.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2Ch 27:5-9. He Subdues the Ammonites.

5. He fought also with the king of the Ammonites—This invasion he not only repelled, but, pursuing the Ammonites into their own territory, he imposed on them a yearly tribute, which, for two years, they paid. But when Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, king of Israel, combined to attack the kingdom of Judah, they took the opportunity of revolting, and Jotham was too distracted by other matters to attempt the reconquest (see on [458]2Ki 15:37).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The king of the Ammonites, it seems, endeavoured to shake off the yoke which from David’s time had been put upon them.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

He fought also with the king of the Ammonites, and prevailed against them,.... These were brought into subjection by David; but in later times endeavoured to cast off the yoke, and even invaded the land of Judah, as in the days of Jehoshaphat, and now in the reign of Jotham, but succeeded not, see Amos 1:13.

and the children of Ammon gave him the same year one hundred talents of silver; he obliged them to pay this tribute annually, and which they began to pay in the present year, and amounted to 35,330 pounds:

and ten thousand measures of wheat, and ten thousand of barley; the measure here is the "cor", the same with the "homer"; which, according to Godwin (h), held forty five gallons, or five bushels and five gallons, so that there must be upwards of 50,000 bushels of each of these paid to Jotham; according to Bishop Cumberland (i), a "cor", or "homer", held seventy five wine gallons, and upwards of five pints:

so much did the children of Ammon pay both the second year and the third; the two following years as well as the present one; why this tribute was not continued to be paid cannot be said with certainty, whether the Ammonites refused and revolted, and could not be obliged, or whether the agreement was only for three years.

(h) Moses & Aaron, l. 6. c. 9. (i) Scripture Weights and Measures, ch. 3. p. 86.

Geneva Study Bible

He fought also with the king of the Ammonites, 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 pay unto him, both the second year, and the third.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

5. the Ammonites] Cp. 2 Chronicles 20:1 ff.; 2 Chronicles 26:8.

an hundred talents of silver] Cp. 2 Kings 23:33.

measures] Heb. côrîm. A côr (= a ḥômer, Ezekiel 45:14, R.V.) was a dry measure holding 393.9 litres.

pay unto him, both the second year, and the third] R.V. render unto him, in the second year also, and in the third.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 5. - He fought... the King of the Ammonites. No allusion is made to the matter of this verse in the parallel, which contains a statement of the Syrian Rezin's attack or threatened invasion of Judah; as well as Pekah's, son of Remaliah King of Israel. Of the Ammonites' defeat by Uzziah we have just heard (foregoing chapter, ver. 8). A general statement is all that is made there of the gifts or tribute, they then had to pay. The present tribute was a heavy payment, and enforced for three, years. The "wheat" and "barley," in which payment was largely made bespeak the fertile arable quality of the Ammonite land, and this is noticed by travellers to the present day. 2 Chronicles 27:5

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

He made war upon the king of the Ammonites, and overcame them. The Ammonites had before paid tribute to Uzziah. After his death they would seem to have refused to pay this tribute; and Jotham made them again tributary by force of arms. They were compelled to pay him after their defeat, in that same year, 100 talents of silver, 10,000 cor of wheat, and a similar quantity of barley, as tribute. לו השׁיבוּ זאת: this they brought to him again, i.e., they paid him the same amount as tribute in the second and third years of their subjection also. After three years, consequently, they would seem to have again become independent, or refused the tribute, probably in the last years of Jotham, in which, according to 2 Kings 15:37, the Syrian king Rezin and Pekah of Israel began to make attacks upon Judah.