2 Chronicles 27:1-9

Every now and then we have an example of a king who was able to remain faithful throughout his reign.  Jotham is one of those examples.  There are no perfect people and there are no perfect leaders and certainly Jotham is not an exception to that rule, but it appears that he was able to serve the Lord faithfully from the beginning to the end of his reign.  Perhaps one of the factors that contributed to this was the fact that he was only king for sixteen years.  His father had likely been faithful much longer than that but his reign lasted more than three times as long.  We are not given information as to why he died in his early forties, but his reign was a success apart from the fact that he did not require that the people follow his example.  He was tolerant of their idolatry and corrupt practices but amazingly he was not influenced by them.  Unfortunately, he was not much of an influence on them either.

JOTHAM WAS FAITHFUL: Despite having a short reign, he was faithful to the Lord from the beginning to the end.  He learned from his father’s mistakes and seems to have been able to remain humble despite his military success and financial prosperity.  The only knock that we have against him is that he did not remove the high places where the people continued to worship in was that did not please the Lord and he was tolerant of idolatry and corruption in the people.  His father Uzziah became proud to the point that he put himself in the place of the priests and paid a heavy price for that rebellion.  Jotham learned from his father’s mistakes and was content to stick to his own job.  We need to be careful not to be satisfied with mediocrity in our own lives or the lives of the people we lead.  Eventually, if we tolerate sin in our lives or the lives of the people around us, that sin will begin to affect us or at least the people who come after us.  God wants us to be zealous for Him not just have a half-hearted obedience towards Him.

JOTHAM WAS FRUITFUL: God blessed Jotham with victories over his enemies and as a result those enemies began to pay taxes to the kingdom and he was able to prosper.  The prior kings had to pay taxes to other nations and as a result the kingdom was weakened.  Jotham was able to see that turn around and was the recipient of taxes that were given by other nations.  These extra funds were used to be able to restore the walls that had been destroyed as well as undertake several other building projects within the kingdom.  The blessings of God exceeded Jotham’s obedience to God, but that is usually the case in our lives.  God loves to bless His children and give gifts to them and he is always generous beyond that which we deserve.  We must be faithful to be thankful for His provision in our lives.