9/18/2006

Joash the boy king

2 Kings 11:1-3, 21 - When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family. But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram and sister of Ahaziah, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the royal princes, who were about to be murdered. She put him and his nurse in a bedroom to hide him from Athaliah; so he was not killed. He remained hidden with his nurse at the temple of the LORD for six years while Athaliah ruled the land.

Joash was seven years old when he began to reign.

I wonder why Jehoiada the priest waited 6 years before proclaiming Joash as king. Was there something significant about Joash turning seven? Was Athaliah too powerful and had too much support during the first 6 years? Did Jehoiada need that long to make preparations for declaring Joash king?

I wonder how much Joash understood about what Jehoiada was doing for him. Today he would have been a 2nd-grader in elementary school at best.

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