Bible Commentaries
2 Chronicles 27

Verses 1-9

Chapter 27

And chapter 27 takes up the reign of Jotham.

Twenty-five years old when he began to reign, reigned for sixteen years. He did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, just like his father Uzziah: however he didn't enter into the temple. But the people under him began to do corruptly ( 2 Chronicles 27:1-2 ).

And, of course, you'll get that in Isaiah's prophecy.

And Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the LORD his God ( 2 Chronicles 27:6 ).

But not much is told us about him. The rest of what he did is told in the book of Kings, and he reigned for sixteen years. So he was actually just thirty-six years old. No, he was forty-one years old; twenty-five when he started.

And he slept with his fathers, they buried him in the city of David ( 2 Chronicles 27:9 ):

So that brings us up to chapter 28. Next week we will finish the book of II Chronicles as we come to the end of the books of history prior to their being carried away into the Babylonian captivity.

Now you know that the Old Testament is divided into different sections. The first being the first five books being the books of Moses; and then we have the books, really, of the history of the nation. Beginning with Joshua coming into the land, the period of their judges, and then the period of their kings up until the time of their captivity by Nebuchadnezzar. And then we have two more books of history, Ezra and Nehemiah. But the books of Ezra and Nehemiah carry you into the post-captive period after they returned from Babylonian captivity. So II Chronicles will bring us up to the what they call the pre-exilic history of the nation and the post-exilic we will have when we get the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.

Then we go into the books they call of poetry as we get into Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon. And then we get into the books of the major prophets. Major only because of the length of their books, not because of the importance of their prophecies or the position, or not because one prophet was greater than another. But just the size of their books, the major prophets. And then the smaller books of the prophets, which are called the minor prophets because the books are smaller.

And when we get into the books of poetry, you must fit them back into this period of history we've already covered, because these books were written during this period. For instance, Job was written sometime during the historic period of Genesis. Job could have lived about the same time as did Abraham. And so that book goes way back historically.

The Psalms, of course, cover mainly David's reign but yet some of the psalms were written by Moses and some of them by Solomon and others of Asaph, one of David's musicians. As you get into Proverbs, of course, you're into Solomon's reign. As you're into Song of Solomon you've got again one of the thousand or more songs that Solomon wrote. Then as you get into the prophets, Isaiah, we're in the particular period of history right now where Isaiah comes in. And with Jeremiah this is the period of history that Jeremiah. We're coming right up now to Jeremiah in the next king. And that's when Jeremiah began his prophesying when he was just a lad of seventeen years old. And you begin to fit then the prophets back into this period of history.

So it's important that you sort of get the history in your mind because to understand the prophets and their messages you've got to know what were the circumstances of Judah and Israel at the time the prophets were telling them of the destruction that was going to come upon their enemies or the destruction that was going to come upon them because they had forsaken God. And so to get a good understanding of the prophets, it's important that we lay the foundational base in the history so that you'll be able to understand more completely the message of the prophets when we get there. So sometimes history has a way of being a drag, but yet it does have its value in understanding better the message of the prophets as we move on.

So shall we stand.

May the Lord fill your heart with praise and thanksgiving through the week that you might know God's work and God's victory in your life. May God help you to bring things into their proper perspective and the proper priorities. That you might seek first the kingdom of God, His righteousness. That you might realize the power and the glory of the God that you serve, in order that you might see His work in your life in a very real and beautiful way. In Jesus' name. "