How was Jotham similar to his father, and how was he different?
similar – “He did right in the eyes of the Lord. He made wise decisions for Judah, and the nation thrived under him.”
different – “He didn’t go into the temple, where only the priests could go. He apparently didn’t become excessively prideful. (He did, however, die much younger.)”
Verse 6 tells us “Jotham grew powerful because he walked steadfastly before the Lord his God.” …Describe why you think Jonathan might not have fallen into the same trap of pride that his father did.
“Maybe because he had seen what pride did to his father and learned from his mistakes. Maybe, also, he was closely counseled by Isaiah. (Also, maybe he would have [fallen into the trap of pride] if he had lived and reigned for another 36 years as his dad had.)”
What was the spiritual state of the people under Jotham’s reign? “corrupt”
If you could describe God with just one word based on Isaiah’s vision, what would it be? “Awesome”
Isaiah’s vision of God caused a sudden awareness of what specific sin? “unclean lips”
As overwhelming as the vision must have been, why do you think Isaiah so readily responded to the call?
“I think the overwhelming nature of the vision served to lead him to respond so readily. He knew he was the only one there, and God wasn’t asking Isaiah to go find the guy for the job.”
“⭐️ I propose there may have been years between Uzziah’s fall from herodom and his death. ⭐️”
Have you ever lost a hero? “Yes”
Who was it and why was he or she such a hero to you?
“Dawn, my sixth grade Sunday school teacher and a college student. She didn’t come back the next fall. (Who knows why not?) She was such a great example of Christ for me. She held contests to memorize scripture, and the prizes were outings with her – she didn’t try to just buy us off. Our Christmas party was baking cookies in her apartment. She was the real deal.”
What do you think Oswald Chambers meant when he wrote ‘until the life is faced steadily with God and no one else is of any account whatever’?
“I think he recognized the snare many people fall into. It begins all good with a mentor or role model of a believer living a walk others should strive for, but when a weaker believer focuses on that person, rather than Christ, he or she starts down a slippery slope. We are to be disciples of Christ, not of other Christians.”
A wide gulf lies between thanking God for our wonderful victories, and, pointing people to God as the One and only Sovereign victorious.
Notice Isaiah 6:1 does not say ‘in the year Jotham became king, I saw the Lord.’ “⭐️ Valid argument, but I propose that if Jotham was acting king for a few years, ‘the year Jotham became king’ might have been ambiguous or inaccurate ⭐️”
Can you think of a time when you allowed God to change your focus from someone else to Him?
“The only time coming to mind is sometimes in college when my parents had just left and I would turn to God to help the homesickness pass.”
This was Isaiah’s brilliant moment – confessing his sin at the sight of God and His angels
What did Jotham fail to do? “remove the high places.”
(Jotham) obviously feared the people more than he feared God.
Like the rest of us, Isaiah probably tended to act like whomever he spent his time with.
Dearest Rachel –
I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned it before in these letters, but there’s a saying that’s become fairly well known on the internet – I think it’s because it was uttered in one or another of the Marvel Universe series of films – that ‘you either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.’ A similar, but pithier statement (which you would remember from your beloved Billy Joel), states that ‘only the good die young’ – and which Steve Taylor flipped on its head, claiming that ‘only the young die good.’
It would seem that any of these truisms could describe Jotham – and although it seems terrible to consider it, given what I know of you, perhaps there’s the possibility that it might have happened to you had you stayed around. I don’t claim to have seen it, but it’s entirely possible that we could have stagnated in our walk together with Him; I’ve certainly had to make a lot of changes in my life (many of which people might consider improvements), most of which probably wouldn’t have been done if we were still together. Granted, I don’t think pride was ever our problem, but the ones that we had, I think we may have been enabled each other, rather than spurring each other on to improvement. Perhaps God saw you as having gone as far as you ever would, and wanted to bring you home while you were still at the top of your game.
All of which, mind you, is pure speculation, and, considering how little I know about the mind of God and his rationale for doing anything, absolute folly on my part. But I confess to being unable to resist trying to ascertain the ‘why’s and ‘wherefore’s.
Meanwhile, considering there did seem to be some time in which Jotham was ruling as regent in his father’s stead, I happen to agree with your assessment of the situation, more than I do the author of this study. Uzziah had already screwed up long before he finally passed away, and I’m not entirely sure that Isaiah would’ve necessarily seen him as a hero at the time he was presented with the vision summoning him to a higher calling than that of a mere priest.
I’d mention some notable parallels in our current world situation, but that would require filling you in on so many details of so much stuff that I would rather not talk about (and which I’m fairly certain I don’t have all the details on in the first place). The point stands, that anyone we might look up to as a good example to imitate will have clay feet to a certain extent. Every one of us has faults, and we can’t mimic another person too closely, lest we develop those same faults (or equally problematic, not see them for the faults they are, in order to avoid them). As you put it, we are to be disciples of Christ, not of other Christians.
Since this chapter discusses heroes, and I’ve already mentioned Steve Taylor, perhaps the best summation of all this could be in this song. It’s not one of ‘our’ songs, but that’s because of the relationship it describes isn’t one between two humans. But it’s important nonetheless; in fact, it may be more important because of it:
I may have you set on a pedestal, especially due to having lost you so suddenly and too soon, but won’t consider you my hero in place of God. And if you would keep an eye on me, to ensure that I don’t, and wish me luck, I’d appreciate it. Because I’m going to need it.
Letters to Rachel 