There are times throughout history when children have been crowned king, and have sat on the throne of different nations. The Bible speaks of such times during the reign of the kings of Judah. There are two different child kings that I want to compare.
The first is Joash.
II Chronicles 24:1- Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Zibiah of Beersheba.
This first child king ascended the throne during great turmoil. The King Amaziah, his father, had been slain while visiting a sick king in a different nation. His grandmother, Athaliah, didn't want to lose her position as the Queen Mum, and so she killed off all of the king's seed who would be able to take the throne. It was only because of the King's sister that this young boy was saved.
The king's sister took the boy to the temple where her husband, the priest Jehoiada, was serving. He was hid there by the priest and raised for about six years. On his seventh birthday, there was a coup and the child, Joash, was crowned king. The wicked Queen Mum was executed for treason.
This child was raised the first seven years of his life in the temple of the Lord. Then, he was guided by the priest Jehoiada until he was old enough to rule the kingdom on his own. So, how did his reign end?
II Chronicles 24:24-25- For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men, and the LORD delivered a very great host into their hand, because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers. So they executed judgment against Joash. And when they were departed from him, (for they left him in great diseases,) his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died: and they buried him in the city of David, but they buried him not in the sepulchres of the kings.
He killed the sons of the priest who had raised him. He sent the kingdom into idol worship. He was smitten with great diseases (could have been caught in battle, or they could be the consequences of a wicked lifestyle- the Bible doesn't say). And, he was killed by his servants. His end wasn't one of honeor- he wasn't even buried with the kings of his nation.
The second is Josiah.
II Chronicles 34:1-2- Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left.
This child king also ascended the throne during a tumultuous time. His father, Manasseh, had been the most wicked king Judah had ever had. In fact, it was during his father's reign that God had declared judgment on the nation and said they would be carried away captive. Idolatry was more rampant during this time than at any other time in the history of the nation of Judah.
It was under this prophesied judgment and the apostasy of the nation that Josiah took the throne.
How did his reign end?
II Chronicles 35:23-27- And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded. His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations. Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his goodness, according to that which was written in the law of the LORD, And his deeds, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.
This king, too, died from wounds inflicted during a battle. He was so beloved that his entire nation mourned his death. He was known for years after in songs that told of his goodness and his love for the Lord.
What made the difference between these two kings?
It wasn't the state of their kingdom when they ascended the throne- both times the nation was in apostasy.
It wasn't their age- they were only a year apart and both were crowned before their teenage years.
It couldn't have been their upbringing- the first was raised in the temple of the Lord by a priest!
The answer is in the verses themselves.
Joash- II Chronicles 24:2- And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest.
Josiah- II Chronicles 34:3- For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images.
Joash only served the Lord when the priest led him to. He didn't make up his mind to serve God. He didn't purpose to find out what it was the Lord wanted from him. He just did what the priest said, and when the priest was gone he did what he wanted to.
Josiah, however, started to seek the Lord. AT twelve years old, he strove to find what it was that would please the Lord and do it. He not only allowed the Lord to lead his life, he followed the Lord's direction for his kingdom.
The difference was their heart! One had a deep desire to know the Lord and His ways. The other, only knew how to follow orders. Once the Spiritual guidance was gone he was lost.
Our children can have the best home, the most holy churches, the fervent preaching and teaching of God's Word, and if the Lord doesn't get their hearts, they will go their own way the second there isn't someone there telling them what to do. Obedient robots aren't what we need. We need children who learn to love the Lord!
