2 Kings 15:34

And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD: he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

15:32-38 Jotham showed great respect to the temple. If magistrates cannot do all they would, for the suppressing of vice and profaneness, let them do the more to support and advance piety and virtue.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Jotham imitated his father in all respects, excepting in his impious usurpation of the priestly functions (2 Kings 15:5 note; 2 Chronicles 27:2).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

33. Five and twenty years was he when he began to reign—that is, alone—for he had ruled as his father's viceroy [2Ki 15:5].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord,.... Jarchi, in 2 Chronicles 27:2, observes, from a writer of theirs, that in all the kings of Judah before him, even in the best, some sins were found; but in Jotham there was nothing scandalous and reproachful; and it is a high character Josephus (i) gives of him, that there was no virtue wanting in him; he was pious towards God, just towards men, and careful of the public good; but the inspired historian chiefly respects matters of religious worship; he did not give into idolatry:

he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done; that is, according to what was well done by him; he did not imitate him in going into the temple to burn incense, which is particularly excepted. 2 Chronicles 27:2.

(i) Antiqu. l. 9. c. 11. sect. 2.

Geneva Study Bible

And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD: he did according {l} to all that his father Uzziah had done.

(l) He shows that his uprightness was not such, but that he had many great faults.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

32–38. Jotham king of Judah. Commencement of the plots of Israel against Judah (2 Chronicles 27:1-9)

34. according to all that his father Uzziah had done] The Chronicler notes the great exception ‘Howbeit he entered not into the temple of the Lord’. As this sin of Uzziah had not been recorded by the compiler of Kings, it is natural that he should not allude to it in the notice of Jotham.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 34. - And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord: he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done. The author of Chronicles says the same, but adds, very pertinently, "Howbeit he entered not into the temple of the Lord" - i.e. he did not repeat his father's act of impiety. Josephus is still warmer in his praises. "This king," he says (l.s.c.), "was deficient in no manner of virtue; but was at once pious in things pertaining to God, and just in those pertaining to men. He was careful and watchful over the city; whatever needed reparation or adornment, he labored to supply strenuously, as the porticoes in the temple and the gates thereof; and where any part of the wall had gone to ruin, he raised it up again, and built towers of vast size and difficult to capture. And in all other matters pertaining to the kingdom, where there had been neglect, he applied great care and attention." 2 Kings 15:34

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Reign of Jotham of Judah (cf. 2 Chronicles 27:1-9). - 2 Kings 15:32. "In the second year of Pekah Jotham began to reign." This agrees with the statement in 2 Kings 15:27, that Pekah became king in the last year of Uzziah, supposing that it occurred at the commencement of the year. Jotham's sixteen years therefore came to a close in the seventeenth year of Pekah's reign (2 Kings 16:1). His reign was like that of his father Uzziah (compare 2 Kings 15:34, 2 Kings 15:35 with 2 Kings 15:3, 2 Kings 15:4), except, as is added in Chr. 2 Kings 15:2, that he did not force himself into the temple of the Lord, as Uzziah had done (2 Chronicles 26:16). All that is mentioned of his enterprises in the account before us is that he built the upper gate of the house of Jehovah, that is to say, that he restored it, or perhaps added to its beauty. The upper gate, according to Ezekiel 9:2 compared with 2 Kings 8:3, 2 Kings 8:5,2 Kings 8:14 and 2 Kings 8:16, is the gate at the north side of the inner or upper court, where all the sacrifices were slaughtered, according to Ezekiel 40:38-43. We also find from 2 Chronicles 27:3. that he built against the wall of Ophel, and several cities in the mountains of Judah, and castles and towers in the forests, and subdued the Ammonites, so that they paid him tribute for three years. Jotham carried on with great vigour, therefore, the work which his father had began, to increase the material prosperity of his subjects.