Jotham: The Ineffective King (2 Kings 15:32-38)
Jotham: The Ineffective King
2 Kings 15:32-38
Here we are again this morning in our study of the kings
And we again return to the southern kingdom
That you and I know as Judah.
The last king we studied of Judah
Was the king named Azariah also known as Uzziah.
We called him “The King who Accomplished Nothing”
And you may remember that this was true from a spiritual stand point, but not true from a political or historical standpoint.
Uzziah was in fact very successful politically speaking.
He enlarged the nation and secured the borders.
He brought peace and prosperity to Judah
In a way they had not enjoyed it since the days of Solomon.
And so history remembers him very well.
But the writer of Kings didn’t remember him all that well.
You may remember his problem and that is for all the good he did for Judah,
He didn’t the most important thing,
He didn’t remove the high places that God hated so much.
And so when we read of Azariah from the writer of kings
We saw that despite all that he accomplished,
It was for not because he left the high places standing.
Well this morning you may have already noticed
That we are studying his son, and his son will do the same.
By the end of Jotham’s reign the main problem is still the main problem.
In our text we see some 3 characteristics about him
And about Judah while he was king.
#1 RELIGION EXISTED
2 Kings 15:32-34
Of course you learn of his heritage and his mother.
And then we get the appraisal of his life.
(34) “He did what was right in the sight of the LORD; he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done.”
Now if we just take that statement for what it says,
Then we must come to the conclusion that Jotham was a good king.
“He did what was right”
And allow me for a moment to just sort of develop that notion
By some of the other information we gain about Jotham
From the writer of Chronicles.
HIS PERSONAL DEVOTION
2 Chronicles 27:2 “He did right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Uzziah had done; however he did not enter the temple of the LORD…”
You may remember that Uzziah had a tremendous arrogance problem.
HE got so high on himself that he actually took it upon himself
To enter the temple and burn incense.
This of course was forbidden and the resulting judgment was that
Uzziah was struck with leprosy until the day of his death.
Here we learn that Jotham learned from his father’s misfortune.
The idea here is that he kept God in an exalted place.
He didn’t think himself big enough to approach God.
He didn’t think himself important enough to walk right in to the holy place.
2 Chronicles 27:6 “So Jotham became mighty because he ordered his ways before the LORD his God.”
Here the writer of Chronicles denotes that Jotham
Was a man who focused on living a godly life.
Very similar to Paul’s statement about himself.
1 Corinthians 9:26-27 “Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.”
Paul sacrificed, he strived, he focused
On being who God desired him to be.
And that is the same for Jotham.
“he ordered his ways before the LORD”
He took obedience seriously and made sure that in his life
He did not transgress the Law of God.
That was his personal devotion.
HIS PROMOTED RELIGION
We read it in kings as well,
2 Chronicles 27:3 “He built the upper gate of the house of the LORD, and he built extensively the wall of Ophel.”
You could tell by his projects what was important to him.
When the remodeling began he worked on God’s house.
• He wanted it to be great, he wanted it to be esteemed.
• He devoted his time and resources to making clear his preferred religion.
Furthermore “he built extensively the wall of Ophel”
This was an outer wall surrounding the old city of Jerusalem.
And from that we see that Jerusalem was important to him
And God’s temple was important to him.
In his projects he revealed what mattered.
He was promoting God’s city and God’s house.
His personal devotion
His promoted religion
HIS POLITICAL SUCCESS
2 Chronicles 27:3-4 “He built the upper gate of the house of the LORD, and he built extensively the wall of Ophel. Moreover, he built cities in the hill country of Judah, and he built fortresses and towers on the wooded hills.”
He was a great builder.
He accomplished much for the nation.
He was successful militarily
2 Chronicles 27:5 “He fought also with the king of the Ammonites and prevailed over them so that the Ammonites gave him during that year one hundred talents of silver, ten thousand kors of wheat and ten thousand of barley. The Ammonites also paid him this amount in the second and in the third year.”
And there we see how successful he was as a general.
Securing subjects and funds from foreign nations.
And of course all of this success comes
Because of his devotion to God.
2 Chronicles 27:6 “So Jotham became mighty because he ordered his ways before the LORD his God.”
And I just want to point all that out
So that you can see that he was a good king.
There isn’t much listed negative about him.
He loved God, he served God, and God honored him for it.
And so I remind you that under Jotham, the true religion existed.
But his encouragement was unheeded
And his example was not followed.
2 Chronicles 27:2 “He did right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Uzziah had done; however he did not enter the temple of the LORD. But the people continued acting corruptly.”
Religion Existed
#2 IDOLATRY ENDURED
2 Kings 15:35
And there we have it again.
“Only the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.”
It was not because Jotham endorsed it, he didn’t.
He endorsed worship at God’s house.
The problem is not that he supported it,
The problem is that he didn’t do anything to stop it.
YOU CAN CONTINUALLY SEE THE THEME.
The writer of Kings has tunnel vision when it comes to those high places.
He could care less what the kings accomplish, he is just looking for
The one with enough gumption to get rid of those high places.
And Jotham was not that king.
He refused to remove the idolatrous sin of the people.
And that is a tragedy.
It would be like if in 100 years someone wrote about my time in Spur,
“Rory did right in the sight of the Lord as the preachers before him had done. He was devoted to God. Furthermore he remodeled the kitchen and the sanctuary and the bathroom at the parsonage. And God blessed those endeavors with the funds to complete them. Nevertheless, the sin of the people was never challenged. And Rory was gathered to his fathers and the next pastor shepherded in his place.”
What kind of legacy is that?
A pathetic one.
Yet that is what Jotham did.
It has been said,
“Sometimes silence is golden, other times it’s just plain yellow.”
Jotham was doing what many in our world desire to do today.
And that is to remain strictly positive
In our battle over spiritual things.
JUST PROMOTE WHAT IS RIGHT,
BUT UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES
DO WE ATTACK WHAT IS WRONG.
BUT THAT MINDSET IS KILLING PEOPLE
Leaving people in sin never helped anyone.
People have to know the dangers that are involved sin.
WE HAVE TO BE CONVICTED ENOUGH TO TELL THEM
Think back to how Jesus dealt with such matters.
You remember how passive and non-confrontational He was don’t you?
John 2:13-16 “The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.”
That was certainly displaying a tolerant attitude.
Luke 12:1 “Under these circumstances, after so many thousands of people had gathered together that they were stepping on one another, He began saying to His disciples first of all, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”
TURN TO: LUKE 11:37-52
Jesus just couldn’t leave it alone.
Sin was killing people and it had to be dealt with.
Remember this confrontation?
John 4:15-18 “The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.” He said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.” The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly.”
Now why did Jesus have to go there?
Why bring up that raw wound?
Because it was sin, and it had to be addressed.
Jesus was compassionate, Jesus was loving, Jesus was forgiving,
In fact He was so much those things that He offered Himself on a cross.
BUT HE NEVER JUST DECIDED TO LEAVE SIN ALONE.
There was a conviction about Him, there was a courage about Him
Where He determined not to allow the high places to remain.
And He was not alone.
We are all familiar with the preaching of John the Baptist.
“You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”
Or consider Paul.
2 Corinthians 10:1-6 “Now I, Paul, myself urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ — I who am meek when face to face with you, but bold toward you when absent! I ask that when I am present I need not be bold with the confidence with which I propose to be courageous against some, who regard us as if we walked according to the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.”
WHAT ARE THOSE STRONGHOLDS WE DESTROY?
(5) “We are destroying speculations and every lofty thinking raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,”
WHAT IS THE STRONGHOLD?
“speculations” – “lofty thinking” – “thoughts”
Paul was saying that there are people in the world who believe wrong.
Sometimes those wrong beliefs even enter the church,
And we are here to destroy those wrong beliefs.
Furthermore he says:
(6) “and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.”
In other words once the battle line is clearly drawn
And we see who believes and obeys right,
We will punish those who believe wrong and disobey.
IS THAT A NON-CONFRONTATIONAL TOLERANT ATTITUDE?
Of course not.
You see, that is what is truly discouraging about Jotham
And about many in our society today.
• We are willing to promote what we believe in…
• We are willing to let it be known what we believe is the truth…
• But are very seldom willing to go on the offensive.
We leave the high places in tact because people like them
And because to approach them would bring too much confrontation.
And so the high places remain.
• Where is the courage?
• Where is the conviction?
• Where is the certainty?
Jotham was a good guy.
He loved God
He promoted true worship
He did a good job for the nation
But he did not remove the one thing that was killing them, and so:
IDOLATRY ENDURED
His attempt to bring people back to God was ineffective.
So while it is good that true religion existed,
He still allowed idolatry to endure.
Let’s see the consequences of that
#3 JUDGMENT BEGAN
2 Kings 15:36-38
Did you catch that one last side note?
(37) “In those days the LORD began to send Rezin king of Aram and Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah.”
They would not depart from their idolatry
And it is bringing about the wrath of Holy God.
Let me remind you of something very important.
Exodus 20:1-6 “Then God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before Me. “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”
And so you are familiar with the fact that God
Does not allow anything to be more important to you than Him.
And it is not just physical graven images.
TURN TO: Ezekiel 14:1-8
Paul told this to the Colossians.
Colossians 3:5 “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.”
The point is that idolatry will kill you.
Harboring sinful thinking will kill you.
It was killing Judah and no one would do anything about it.
They just continued to leave those high places alone.
Listen to what Ezekiel had to say about those high places.
Ezekiel 6:1-7 “And the word of the LORD came to me saying, “Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them and say, ‘Mountains of Israel, listen to the word of the Lord GOD! Thus says the Lord GOD to the mountains, the hills, the ravines and the valleys: “Behold, I Myself am going to bring a sword on you, and I will destroy your high places. “So your altars will become desolate and your incense altars will be smashed; and I will make your slain fall in front of your idols. “I will also lay the dead bodies of the sons of Israel in front of their idols; and I will scatter your bones around your altars. “In all your dwellings, cities will become waste and the high places will be desolate, that your altars may become waste and desolate, your idols may be broken and brought to an end, your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be blotted out. “The slain will fall among you, and you will know that I am the LORD.
Can we agree in saying that the high places
were a big deal to God?
It just failed to be a big deal to His people or His kings.
HERE IS THE PROBLEM.
There was a major sin in Israel
And no one was willing to do anything about it.
They just sort of ignored it and hoped it would go away.
BUT SIN DOESN’T JUST GO AWAY
Sin never goes out of style…
It only grows into something more abominable…
Ultimately it brings destruction upon those who practice it…
And that is why we sense the frustration with the writer of kings
As one king after another does a whole lot of good,
But refuses to deal with the high places.
And so again this morning I want to encourage you
To remove the high places in your life.
And I want to challenge you to demolish them
And get back to worshiping God the way He desires
WITH ALL YOUR HEART
John 4:23 “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.”
But let me also encourage you to be people of conviction.
This world is filled with false belief…
This world is contaminated with the filth of sin…
And someone has to be willing to confront it.
• Someone has to be a voice calling in the wilderness “Make straight the way of the LORD”
• Someone has to be willing to challenge false religion and clear the temple…
• Someone has to be willing to challenge false teachers and expose the brood of vipers…
• Someone has to be willing to break down the fortresses of deception and disbelief…
It is not enough to just be committed to what you believe.
You and I must take an active stance against sin.
Against sin in our own lives and against sin in the lives of others.
Because if the high places are allowed to remain,
God’s judgment will arrive.
Jotham was personally devoted,
But he was ineffective in truly helping his nation.
Despite all the good he did, and despite what he stood for,
By the time his reign was over God’s judgment was already arriving.
He left sin alone, and it was undoing Israel.
Be one who is willing to stand for the truth of God.
Ezekiel 22:30 “I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one.”
