King Jotham (Judah)

Jotham son of Uzziah first governed Judah as regent while his father lived in isolation with leprosy, then ruled in his own right from Jerusalem. The Bible credits him with building the Upper Gate of the Temple and much of the wall of the Ophel, as well as towns in the Judean hills and forts and towers in the wooded areas. He defeated the Ammonites, who paid him 100 talents of silver and 10,000 kors each of wheat and barley for three years (2 Chronicles 27).

Chronicles praises him for doing right "as his father Uzziah had done, except that he did not enter the Temple of the Lord," a pointed contrast with his father, while noting that "the people still acted corruptly" and the high places stayed in use. In his last years, says 2 Kings 15:37, God began sending Rezin of Aram and Pekah of Israel against Judah, the prelude to the Syro-Ephraimite War. Isaiah, Hosea and Micah all date their prophecies partly to his reign.