2 Kings 15:35 tells us that King Jotham of Judah did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, yet the people still worshiped at the high places, the local shrines outside the temple where God had not authorized sacrifice. The verse is a historian’s honest note that a good king did not fully fix a religious problem. The writer of Kings is speaking to readers in exile, looking back over the monarchy to explain why the nation had drifted.
However the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places. He built the upper gate of the LORD’s house.
2 Kings 15:35 (WEB)
What 2 Kings 15:35 Means
The verse opens with “However,” which signals a contrast. Just before it, the writer says Jotham “did that which was right in the LORD’s eyes” and followed his father Uzziah. Then comes the qualification: the high places were not removed. Those high places were raised platforms or sanctuaries where people offered sacrifices and burned incense to the LORD, but apart from the central temple in Jerusalem, which Scripture treated as the proper place for worship. Keeping them open meant the people kept a habit that pulled their devotion in more than one direction.
The second sentence describes what the people kept doing: they “still sacrificed and burned incense.” The word “still” carries the weight. Their practice continued even under a king who was faithful to God, which shows that personal righteousness at the top does not automatically reshape a whole community. The third sentence then shifts to Jotham’s construction project, the upper gate of the LORD’s house, a sign of his care for the temple itself.
What the verse does not say is that Jotham was wicked or that God rejected him. The writer praises him plainly. It also does not promise that faithful leaders will always see their people’s hearts changed. It simply records a mixed outcome, which is a realistic picture of how God’s work often unfolds.
The Context of 2 Kings 15:35
Second Kings was compiled as a single book that surveys the kings of Judah and Israel, judging each one by how closely they followed God’s covenant. Tradition has long credited it to a prophetic or priestly editor, though scholars debate the details of its authorship and date. Its first readers were likely people living through or after the Babylonian exile, trying to understand how their nation had come to ruin. That purpose shapes the verse: the writer wants to show that even good kings were limited by the spiritual condition of their people.
The verses around it fill in the picture. Verse 34 gives Jotham’s commendation, and verse 36 points readers to further records of his reign. Verses 37 and 38 then turn to trouble, as Rezin of Syria and Pekah of Israel begin to attack Judah, and Jotham dies and is succeeded by his son Ahaz. Read in that setting, the verse about the high places is a warning sign placed before the decline. The unresolved worship practice is part of the reason the later kings would struggle.
Key Phrases in 2 Kings 15:35
2 Kings 15:34
He did that which was right in the LORD’s eyes. He did according to all that his father Uzziah had done.
(WEB)
This verse gives the summary of Jotham’s reign just before the one in question. Reading it alongside 2 Kings 15:35 shows the balance the writer is drawing: a king who did right and yet left a gap in his people’s worship.
1 Kings 3:2
However the people sacrificed in the high places, because there was not yet a house built for the LORD’s name.
(WEB)
This verse also mentions the people sacrificing at high places before the temple was built. It helps readers see that the problem of worship outside God’s appointed center runs through the whole history of the kingdom, not only in Jotham’s time.
A Short Prayer From 2 Kings 15:35
Lord, you see the places in my life where my devotion is faithful and the places where it is still divided. Thank you for leaders and teachers who point me toward you, even when they fall short in some ways. Show me any habits or loyalties that I have kept alongside my worship of you, and give me the courage to bring them into the light. Let my whole life be ordered toward you, and let the house of my heart be built on your truth. Amen.
