In those days the LORD began to send Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah against Judah — the final verse of Jotham's reign introduction the Syro-Ephraimite crisis (fully developed in chapter 16), when Rezin of Aram (Damascus) and Pekah of Israel allied against Judah. The phrase "the LORD began to send" (הִחֵל יְהוָה שְׁלַח, *hichel YHWH shelach*) attributes even the threat against Judah to divine purpose: God sends these enemies as judgment. This theological interpretation of Rezin and Pekah's aggression as divinely ordained judgment establishes the framework for understanding the subsequent crisis. The threat emerges at the end of Jotham's reign, presaging Ahaz's more severe trials.

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