He built towers in the desert - Refuges for the flocks and the herdsmen in the wild pasture country on the borders of the holy land, especially toward the south and southeast.
Wells - The marginal translation is preferable. Judaea depends largely for its water-supply on reservoirs in which the rain-fall is stored. These are generally cut in the natural rock, and covered at top.
For he had much cattle ... - Some prefer, “for he had much cattle there, and in the low country, and on the dawns,” with allusion to three pasture districts:
(1) The “wilderness,” or high tract to the south and southeast, extending from the western shores of the Dead Sea to the vicinity of Beersheba;
(2) The “low country,” or maritime plain on the west, between the hills of Judaea and the sea; and
(3) The “downs,” or rich grazing land beyond the Jordan, on the plateau of Gilead. Uzziah’s possession of this last-named district must have been connected with the submission of the Ammonites (see 2 Chronicles 26:8).
In the mountains, and in Carmel - These terms describe Judaea Proper - the hilly tract between the low maritime plain on the one side, and the wilderness and Jordan valley on the other. By “Carmel” we must understand, not the mountain of that name, which belonged to Samaria, but the cultivated portions of the Judaean hill-tract (see the margin).