(2) Howbeit he entered not.--The chronicler adds this reservation upon the preceding general statement. The author of Kings, having said nothing of Uzziah's sacrilege, had no need to make such an exception.

And the people did yet corruptly.--Still used to deal corruptly; a paraphrase of what we read in 2Kings 15:35, "the people still used to sacrifice and burn incense on the high places." We know further, from the extant utterances of the prophets of those days, that a deep-seated moral corruption was sapping the strength of the nation. (Comp. Micah 3:10-12; Hosea 4:1-2.)

Verse 2. - Howbeit. This word purports to render the Hebrew רַק, which might find a more telling reproduction in such a phrase as "and moreover." It has been said, wherein his father did right, so did he; and to his clear advantage, where his father went wrong, he did riot. The people did yet corruptly. The parallel, in its ver. 35, specifies in what this consisted, viz. that they continued the high places, burning incense and sacrificing at them. The early chapters of Isaiah depict forcibly the extent of this national apostasy, and the heinous offensiveness of it in the Divine sight.

27:1-9 Jotham's reign in Judah. - The people did corruptly. Perhaps Jotham was wanting towards the reformation of the land. Men may be very good, and yet not have courage and zeal to do what they might. It certainly casts blame upon the people. Jotham prospered, and became mighty. The more stedfast we are in religion, the more mighty we are, both to resist evil, and to do good. The Lord often removes wise and pious rulers, and sends others, whose follies and vices punish a people that valued not their mercies.And he did that which was right,.... See Gill on 2 Kings 15:34,

howbeit, he entered not into the temple of the Lord; to burn incense, as his father did; he did according to his good ways, but not his evil ones:

and the people did yet corruptly; in sacrificing and burning incense in the high places, 2 Kings 15:35 which some think Joash himself did, and is meant in the preceding clause; but the sense given is best.