2 Kings 15:32-38
"32 In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, Jotham the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, began to reign. 33 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok. 34 And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his father Uzziah had done. 35 Nevertheless, the high places were not removed. The people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. He built the upper gate of the house of the Lord. 36 Now the rest of the acts of Jotham and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 37 In those days the Lord began to send Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah. 38 Jotham slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father, and Ahaz his son reigned in his place."
In the meantime, a new king had succeeded Uzziah in Judah his son Jotham, who had acted as regent in his father's place after he had been stricken with leprosy. He at least had been able to interpret the signs spiritually, for he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord during his sixteen-year reign. This undoubtedly gave stability to the southern kingdom at a time when her northern neighbour was tottering to her doom. Not that all was well in Judah, by any means, for the high places - long an abomination to the Lord - still remained to affront His holy heart. The fact is, these evil ways were too deeply entrenched in the people for one man's determined efforts completely to uproot in the space of sixteen years. But he did put a brake upon the downward trend in the nation, if he did not succeed in reversing it, and it is on this that Jotham's work will be assessed when the accounts are rendered. If he had been followed by another likeminded king, who shall say what might or might not have been accomplished, but alas, his son Ahaz did untold harm by his evil ways and set Judah back further than ever.... What a record of confusion and disorder!