2 Chronicles 27:6: “So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the LORD his God.”

October 14th, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

Archeology has verified this Bible verse that says King Jotham was “mighty.” In 1938, American archaeologist and president of Hebrew Union College, Nelson Glueck, uncovered an official seal inscribed Jotham’s power in one of Judah’s outposts, Ezion Geber. This verse also reveals that he had power, he was mighty, because he served the Lord. The prophets Hosea and Micah served during Jotham’s reign and we can assume they had a positive influence on his life as they tried to stir the people to serve the Lord. Jotham “prepared his ways” (established his actions) by walking as God had called him to walk.

There is an old story from colonial America about the quiet, effective witness of a local pastor. It serves to remind us to make sure our actions fit our witness. A skeptical newcomer arrived in the village and heard stories of how the pastor walked with God. But the pastor disappeared every Friday, and the skeptic was determined to discover what the pastor was really up to. The next Friday he hid near the pastor’s house, watched him rise, say his prayers, and put on the clothes of a peasant. He took an axe and went into the forest, where he chopped down a tree, gathering a large bundle of wood. Next the pastor proceeded to a shack in the poorest section of the village, where an old woman and her sick son lived. He left them all the wood he had cut, enough for the week; then he quietly returned to his own house. That Sunday the newcomer went to the pastor’s church and accepted Jesus. Whenever he heard one of his fellow villagers say, “On Friday mornings, our pastor ascends all the way to heaven,” the newcomer would quietly add, “If not higher.”

“LORD, make us mighty in You this day as we choose to walk with You. Please give us Your heart.”

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2 Chronicles 27 KJV

¹ Jotham was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Jerushah, the daughter of Zadok. ²And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Uzziah did: howbeit he entered not into the temple of the LORD. And the people did yet corruptly. ³ He built the high gate of the house of the LORD, and on the wall of Ophel he built much.  ⁴ Moreover he built cities in the mountains of Judah, and in the forests he built castles and towers. ⁵ He fought also with the king of the Ammonites, and prevailed against them. And the children of Ammon gave him the same year an hundred talents of silver, and ten thousand measures of wheat, and ten thousand of barley. So much did the children of Ammon pay unto him, both the second year, and the third.  ⁶ So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the LORD his God. ⁷ Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all his wars, and his ways, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. ⁸ He was five and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. ⁹ And Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David: and Ahaz his son reigned in his stead.