Jotham of Judah

Jotham Of Judah

Jotham or Yotam (Hebrew: יוֹתָם, Yotam Yôṯām ; meaning "God is perfect" or "God is complete"; Greek: Ιωαθαμ; Latin: Joatham) was the king of Judah, and son of Uzziah with Jerusha, daughter of Zadok.

He took the throne at the age of twenty-five and reigned for sixteen years. William F. Albright dated his reign to 742 – 735 BC. Edwin R. Thiele dated his coregency with Uzziah as starting in 751/750 BC and his sole reign from 740/39 to 736/735 BC, at which time he was deposed by the pro-Assyrian faction in favor of his son Ahaz. His reign of sixteen years started with the coregency. Thiele then places his death in 732/731 BC. He is also one of the kings mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew.

Because his father Uzziah was afflicted with tzaraas when he entered the Temple to burn incense, Jotham became governor of the palace and the land at that time, i.e. coregent, while his father lived in a separate house as a leper. Thiele concluded he was 25 when he became coregent. He is recorded as having built the Upper Gate of the Temple of Jerusalem, and extended the "wall of Ophel".

2 Kings mentions that Jotham fought wars against Rezin, king of the Arameans, and Pekah, king of Israel (15:37). The account of 2 Chronicles adds an account of his victory over the Ammonites, which resulted in the Ammonites paying him tribute of 100 talents of silver, and 10,000 kors each of wheat and barley (27:5).

He was contemporary with the prophets Isaiah, Hosea, Amos, and Micah, by whose advice he benefited.

According to the short account of Jotham's 16-year reign, the king did just about everything right. Rebuilding the Temple walls and many towns, forts, and towers. Militarily, he defeated the Ammonites in battle: "So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the LORD his God" (II Chronicles 27:6). Despite all this, in 16 years as king he was still unable to have a positive spiritual effect on his people.