Jotham: Jehovah is perfect.1. The youngest of Gideon's seventy sons. He escaped when the rest
were put to death by the order of Abimelech
(Judges 9:5) When "the
citizens of Shechem and the whole house of Millo" were gathered
together "by the plain of the pillar" (i.e., the stone set up by
Joshua,)
(Joshua 24:26) comp.
(Genesis 35:4) "that was in Shechem,
to make Abimelech king," from one of the heights of Mount
Gerizim he protested against their doing so in the earliest
parable, that of the bramble-king. His words then spoken were
prophetic. There came a recoil in the feelings of the people
toward Abimelech, and then a terrible revenge, in which many
were slain and the city of Shechem was destroyed by Abimelech
(Judges 9:45) Having delivered his warning, Jotham fled to Beer
from the vengeance of Abimelech
(Judges 9:7-21)
2. The son and successor of Uzziah on the throne of Judah. As
during his last years Uzziah was excluded from public life on
account of his leprosy, his son, then twenty-five years of age,
administered for seven years the affairs of the kingdom in his
father's stead
(2 Chronicles 26:21,23; 27:1) After his father's death he
became sole monarch, and reigned for sixteen years (B.C. 759)
He ruled in the fear of God, and his reign was prosperous. He
was contemporary with the prophets Isaiah, Hosea, and Micah, by
whose ministrations he profited. He was buried in the sepulchre
of the kings, greatly lamented by the people
(2 Kings 15:38)
(2 Chronicles 27:7-9)