Josiah, The Boy King Chapter 6 Part 1

Josiah, The Boy King  Chapter 6  Part 1

            As soon as Josiah, Shaphan and Benjamin got back to the palace, they headed for the throne room.  It was the largest room in the palace and had been built by King David himself.  The room was lined with cedar wood brought down from Lebanon.  Inside each panel of wood was a picture from the history of the nation of Israel, carved in the wood and then inlaid with gold and silver.  There were carvings of the  Exodus from Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea, the fall of Jericho and Gideon with his 300 brave men.  But the favorite one for all the boys was the carving of David as a young boy holding up the head of Goliath which he had just chopped off.  It was so real they could almost see the blood dripping from the neck.

            The throne itself had been built when Solomon the Great was king.  There were six large steps leading up to the throne which was set in a semi-circular compartment of solid gold.  That way no one could approach the throne from behind, they had to come up the steps where they could be clearly seen by the guards.  On either side of the throne were silver pillars, long and low.  On top of each pillar was a golden lion, crouched down as if ready to spring on anyone who dared to harm the king.  Up and down the steps, on each side of the throne were twelve more lions, two on each step and all of gold.  When no one was around Josiah liked to sit on the back of the lions and pretend he was wrestling with them like David did.  But when people were present he sat on the throne and acted like a king.

            On that particular day he was going to do the most important thing he had done since he became king—so he didn’t sit on the lions.  He climbed right up the center of the stairs and sat down on the throne.

            “Benjamin, you stand right there by that lion on my left land.  And Shaphan, you stand here by the lion on my right… Now!”

            With everyone settled in and standing at attention, Josiah called in four of the guards.

            “Carry a message to Michaiah, the captain of the host of Judah.  Tell him that he must leave for Bozcath immediately with one hundred men.  There he will go to the house of the uncle of Jedidah, my mother.  Place her on the finest horse in all the kingdom and bring here her to the palace.”

            The guards bowed low and hurried out to do the young king’s bidding.  Next Josiah sent for his chief steward who was in charge of all the palace. 

            “Shemaiah, I want you to personally see that the queens’ chambers are prepared for immediate use.  Let the closets be filled with ten new changes of garments in the finest of silk.  Hang the bed with the most exquisite of woven tapestries and cover the floor with the new oriental rugs we just received in that ship from Sheba.”

            Shemaiah bowed very low and then hesitated.

            “What is it, Shemiah?  Are my orders insufficient?”

            “Oh, no, your honor.  I was simply wondering, if I might ask.  Does the king intend to take a bride?”

            At that the three boys broke into gales of laughter.  Josiah get married at nine years of age?  When they finally got control of themselves, Josiah answered the question.

            “No, Shemiah.  Not a new queen.  But the old queen is coming back.  My mother Jedidah is returning to the palace.”

            The steward, and all of the servants were overjoyed to hear the news.  They had always liked Jedidah, and Amon’s second wife had been impossible to please.  She had insisted on breakfast in bed every morning and her oranges needed to be peeled completely, right down to the soft, inner juicy parts.  But they couldn’t be crushed, they still had to look like an orange.  Her grapes had to be peeled and her breakfast drinks had to be exactly room temperature, not any hotter or any colder.  If anything was wrong with the breakfast she would scream and holler and throw the entire tray at the maid.

            Six days later the trumpets blew to announce the arrival of the queen mother at the palace.  Everyone was in place in the throne room.  The palace servants lined the walls, the nobles of the city stood in placed of honor up and down the stairs.  A retinue of palace guards in splendid uniforms waited at the doors to escort the queen mother into the presence of the king.  Josiah sat on the throne with Benjamin and Shaphan at his side.

            The trumpets blew.  “Ta-ta-ta-ta-taaa!”

            The doors opened.  Slowly the soldiers started toward the throne, six abreast, marching to the beat of the drums and the trumpets.  As they grew closer they split into two groups to stand shoulder to shoulder on either side of the aisle that led up to the throne.  Rank upon rank of soldiers came through the doors until there were soldier all the way from the entrance to the bottom of the steps to the throne.

            Suddenly the music stopped, and then began again, louder and even slower.   Everyone looked to the door, and through its open portals stepped the beautiful Queen Jedidah.  She had been helping work on her uncle’s farm and had a deep tan that set off her dark brown eyes and chestnut hair to perfection.  She wore a flowing embroidered robe with silver and gold thread woven throughout which Josiah had ordered prepared particularly for her.  The palace seamstresses had stayed up every night for a week to see that it was finished.

            As she slowly made her way down through the retinue of soldiers, everyone could see the tears which flowed down here cheeks.  Her son was the king.  It was so different from when her husband had been king, because her son was worshipper of Jehovah-God, not Baal.  She had walked only half-way down the aisle to the beat of the drums when Josiah couldn’t take it any longer.  Jumping up from the throne he ran down the ivory steps, down past the golden lions, through the rank upon rank of soldiers yelling, “Mother!”  And as he threw his arms around Jedidah it seemed as if everyone was crying right along with her.