It was he who built the upper gate of the house of Jehovah, and on the wall of Ophel he built much.
The record of Jotham's short reign is mostly a list of what he built: a gate at the temple, a long stretch of city wall, and fortified towns in the hills. Yet the same chapter says the people still acted corruptly. Can a king's building work stand in for his heart?
The gate Jotham built joined the palace to the temple. Older translations call it the "high gate." One writer reads that link as the key to his whole reign:
The "high gate" led from the king's house to the temple (see 2 Chronicles 23:20), and Jotham's building it — rebuilding it, or repairing it — is very significant. He wanted free access from his own house to the house of the Lord. He would strengthen the link between the two houses. He would keep his line of communication open, to use a military image, with the source of his supplies of strength and wisdom. This is one of the secrets of his prosperity and power.
Ophel is named here for the first time in Scripture. A reference work places it:
Ophel is a part of Jerusalem. It is first mentioned in 2 Chronicles 27:3, where Jotham builds much on the wall of Ophel. Manasseh later built around Ophel and raised it to a very great height (2 Chronicles 33:14). After the return from exile the temple servants lived there (Nehemiah 3:26-27; 11:21). It seems to have stood at the south-east corner of Jerusalem, outside the present walls.
The next verse carries his building further out:
He built where most men would have thought it unnecessary, or too much trouble — in the mountains and in the forests. He neglected no part of his kingdom. He sought to strengthen and fortify it everywhere. And as a result, he prospered… That high gate between the palace and the temple was better than a great wall around his kingdom. All real prosperity and power comes from communion with God.
Why does the record bother to mention a gate at all? One writer argues that a king's dealings with the temple reveal what he is:
The temple in Jerusalem was the great centre, the gathering point, for the people of Israel long ago. Every righteous Jew wrapped his affections around that holy building. And with the kings of Judah, notice this: the way a king treated the temple is a safe test of his real character, as a man and as a ruler.
Not every writer is so positive. Mackintosh looks at the order in which Jotham worked:
You can say of him that he began his work outside the sanctuary. He went out to the mountains to build before he had gone into the sanctuary to worship. He stood on the battlefield before he had stood at the altar… True, he did much. He built castles and towers. He even went so far as to build the upper gate of the house of the Lord. Yes, he prepared his ways before the Lord his God. Yet despite all this, there was a "however" — the high places were not removed, and the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.
A third writer reads the building as a mark of humility, and as the deed Jotham is remembered by:
Jotham does not become puffed up by his strength. Scripture also says of him, comparing him with his father: "Only he did not enter the temple of the Lord" (2 Chronicles 27:2). On the contrary, being humble, he gave himself to the house of God. He built the upper gate of the house of the Lord, and that is the deed which marks his reign in the book of Kings. What a privilege when a believer leaves behind him, as something to be remembered, what he has done for the house of God!
His building work never touched the nation's worship:
With so much to commend his reign, it is sad to read that the people still acted corruptly (2 Chronicles 27:2)… How good it would have been if Jotham had shown the same zeal for removing what offended his God that he showed in his fighting and in building his cities, castles and towers.
The pattern has a modern parallel — energetic work for God by people who have not entered His presence:
There are servants today who work hard, and with real zeal, caring, or seeming to care, for the Lord's interests… They try to guard the people of God from the attacks of the enemy. They are the first to draw the sword in defence of the truth they have received. Yet they have never entered into the enjoyment of their highest privileges themselves. They serve outside, but they have never learned what it is to worship in the holiest place.
- Gate — Jotham built the upper gate between the palace and the temple. One writer calls it his open line to the source of his strength and wisdom.
- Wall — He built much on the wall of Ophel, at the south-east corner of Jerusalem. Later kings built there too.
- Reach — He fortified even the mountains and the forests. He left no part of his kingdom weak, and he prospered.
- Gap — What he never pulled down was the high places. So writers differ over what all his building was worth.
- Warning — You can build for God, and fight for God, and never worship inside.
And he built cities in the hill-country of Judah, and in the forests he built castles and towers.
Jotham's reign fills only a few verses, and this one is about what he built. Commentators read it two ways: as a model of thorough work, and as a warning about where service should start.
Older translations call these forts "castles," and the wooded hills "forests." One writer notices where Jotham chose to put them:
He built where most men would have thought it unnecessary, or too much trouble — in the "mountains" and "forests." He neglected no part of his kingdom, but sought to strengthen and fortify it everywhere. And as a result, he prospered.
The same writer traces Jotham's strength back past the stonework to the gate he had opened between his palace and God's house:
That high gate between the palace and the temple was better than a Chinese wall around his kingdom. It is in communion with God that all real prosperity and power is found.
Commentators differ on how much weight to give this building. Some take it straightforwardly as good work worth copying. One writer sees the wall Jotham built as a picture of keeping oneself distinct from what is around, and turns the whole record into a direct challenge:
He built a great deal on the wall of Ophel — the wall speaking of godly separation — and he built cities, fortresses and towers. Such building for the Lord is something we too should care about.
Others read the same verse as a symptom. On this view Jotham's problem was not what he built but the sequence: the construction sites came before the altar.
It may be said of him that he began his work outside the Sanctuary. He went out to the mountains to build before he had gone into the sanctuary to worship. He stood on the battlefield before he had stood at the altar. He spoke to the masons and the men of war before he spoke to the priests, the ministers of the Sanctuary. So all was defective.
The same writer sets God's order and man's order side by side:
Man says you must begin outside and work in; Scripture says you must begin within and work out. Man says you must go out into the mountains and build castles and towers, and then come into the sanctuary on the strength of what you have done, and set matters right there. Scripture says you must first enter into the inner part of the house of the Lord, and work out from that, stage by stage, until you find yourself fit to build fortifications if required. In a word, man says you must work for life; Scripture says you must work from it.
Jotham's building was not the whole story.
With so much to commend his reign, it is sad to read that the people still acted corruptly (2 Chr. 27:2), and that the high places were not removed — the people went on sacrificing and burning incense there (2 Kings 15:35). Jotham showed great zeal in his conflicts and in building his cities, castles and towers. How good it would have been had he shown the same zeal for removing what was offensive to his God.
The picture of a builder who defends the land but never enters the temple has an obvious modern counterpart, and one writer names it without excusing or dismissing such people:
There are servants today who work hard and eagerly, caring, or seeming to care, for the Lord's interests... They seek to guard the people of God from the enemy breaking in, and are first to draw the sword in defence of the truth they have received; and yet they have never themselves entered into the enjoyment of their highest privileges. They serve outside, but they have not learned what it is to worship in the holiest. ... It was in this very thing, we judge, that Jotham failed.
The reign that followed Jotham's was his son's, and it ended in open idolatry. One writer treats the two as morally linked:
Suppose we are only busy building on the mountains, while the temple lies more or less neglected. We shall soon turn our backs altogether on the true worship of God, and give ourselves up to idolatry. Surely we may ask, what use are "castles and towers," while the doors of the Lord's house are shut up?
- Build thoroughly. Jotham fortified the mountains and forests — places most would call not worth the trouble. He left no part of his kingdom unguarded.
- Build from the inside out. God's order is to start inside His house and work outward. Man's order is to build the towers first, then bring the results in.
- Build, but also clear. He spent his zeal on cities, fortresses and towers, but never on pulling down the high places.
- Building is not worship. A person can defend God's people and draw the sword for the truth, and still never have entered the holiest.
- Building cannot hold what worship has lost. Towers are no substitute for an open temple door. Neglect the temple, and idolatry follows.