2 Chronicles 27:5

5 He fought with the king of the Ammonites and prevailed against them. And the Ammonites gave him that year 100 talents[a] of silver, and 10,000 cors[b] of wheat and 10,000 of barley. The Ammonites paid him the same amount in the second and the third years.

2 Chronicles 27:5 Meaning and Commentary

2 Chronicles 27:5

He fought also with the king of the Ammonites, and prevailed
against them
These were brought into subjection by David; but in later times endeavoured to cast off the yoke, and even invaded the land of Judah, as in the days of Jehoshaphat, and now in the reign of Jotham, but succeeded not, see ( Amos 1:13 )

and the children of Ammon gave him the same year one hundred talents of
silver;
he obliged them to pay this tribute annually, and which they began to pay in the present year, and amounted to 35,330 pounds,

and ten thousand measures of wheat, and ten thousand of barley;
the measure here is the "cor", the same with the "homer"; which, according to Godwin F8, held forty five gallons, or five bushels and five gallons, so that there must be upwards of 50,000 bushels of each of these paid to Jotham; according to Bishop Cumberland F9, a "cor", or "homer", held seventy five wine gallons, and upwards of five pints:

so much did the children of Ammon pay both the second year and the
third;
the two following years as well as the present one; why this tribute was not continued to be paid cannot be said with certainty, whether the Ammonites refused and revolted, and could not be obliged, or whether the agreement was only for three years.


FOOTNOTES:

F8 Moses & Aaron, l. 6. c. 9.
F9 Scripture Weights and Measures, ch. 3. p. 86.

2 Chronicles 27:5 In-Context

3 He built the upper gate of the house of the LORD and did much building on the wall of Ophel.
4 Moreover, he built cities in the hill country of Judah, and forts and towers on the wooded hills.
5 He fought with the king of the Ammonites and prevailed against them. And the Ammonites gave him that year 100 talents of silver, and 10,000 cors of wheat and 10,000 of barley. The Ammonites paid him the same amount in the second and the third years.
6 So Jotham became mighty, because he ordered his ways before the LORD his God.
7 Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all his wars and his ways, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. A talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms
  • [b]. A cor was about 6 bushels or 220 liters
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.