Josiah, The Boy King Chapter 6, Part 2

Josiah, The Boy King  Chapter 6  Part 2

            With Jedidah back in the queen’s chambers the palace settled into a routine.  Josiah would rise each day at 6:00 a.m. and go out to the courtyard for military exercise.  He trained with a select group of young men in their twenties who had been chosen by the captain of the host to be his bodyguards.  This was always an exciting time for Josiah because he enjoyed the thrill of the sword fighting with which they always concluded the exercises.  The swords were real, but they used a large rubber tip on the end so that no real wounds would be inflicted.  The rest of the men would watch and judge while two of them competed with the swords.  Points were scored every time you touched the opponent with the end of the sword.  A touch in the chest area near the heart was an automatic win.  In spite of the fact that the other goys were taller and older, Josiah won he share of the fights simply because his feet were so quick. 

            “As quick as the goat’s feet on the mountains,” Captain Jozadak would say.

            Then came breakfast during which he would visit his mother.  They would talk about how good God had been to them, and how Josiah could live a life that would please God.

            “I’m so glad that Benjamin and Shaphan have become your best friends,” Jedidah told him.  “They are boys who have learned to listen to their parents, and to God.  One of your ancestors also listened to young men his own age, but they weren’t as wise as your friends.”

            “Do you mean Rehoboam, mother?  Azaliah told us about him the other day.  I think it’s sad that our nation had to be divided in two parts because he took bad advice and made wrong decisions.  We’ve never been one united kingdom again ever since that time, have we?”

            “You’re right, son.  Now the northern kingdom has been carried into captivity because of their sin.  It’s so important for us to make the right decisions and not fall into sin’s trap.  I hope you will always listen to Priest Hilkiah and Azaliah and your good young friends, and not to the likes of Bar-Abel.”

            “I will mother.  And I will listen to you too.”

            After breakfast came the trip to the temple for class.  The rest of the boys spent all day in the temple, but Josiah couldn’t do that.  He had other responsibilities as well.  At noon he returned to the palace and for several hours in the afternoon he sat on his throne and listened to all those who had appointments to see him.

            Sometimes they were foreign dignitaries who cam with gifts from their monarchs.  Josiah always accepted the gifts with many “thank yous” although some of them were quite strange.  One day a group of men from a country south of Egypt came with an animal that had long arms and legs and a tail.  When they set it down on the floor the animal ran up the stairs, climbed on the lions and then climbed right up the wall behind the throne, swinging by its tail and scratching its tummy.  The only way they could get him to come down was to hold out some kind of strange yellow fruit.  When they did that the animal chatter real fast, like he was mad at them, swung down and stole the fruit from them before they could catch him.

            The men who brought him were finally able to grab him, but when they gave him to Josiah’s guards it was an entirely different story.  Soon the animal was sitting on top of their heads and taking their daggers out of the belts when they weren’t looking.  He jumped from one soldier to another while they tried frantically to capture him.  All the time Josiah had to remain serious, although he really wanted to laugh.  Laughing at a gift which had been given to him would have been a terrible affront to his guests.

            Sometimes the visitors were people from his own country who were having arguments and needed someone to settle them.  That part of being king was the part he liked the least.  He didn’t enjoy hearing people argue.  But the king had always been the top judge in Judah, that was just the way it was.  Josiah was thankful that he didn’t have to make hard decisions alone.    A special group of twelve men listened to the arguments with him.  Then they would go to another room and discuss the case with him to help him come to a decision.

            If there were not too many visitors, Josiah would have an hour or two to himself before the evening meal. That’s when he and Benjamin and Shaphan would head out the back gate into the valley of Kidron to fish or hunt.  Sometimes they would wrestle, or just run over the hills whooping and hollering.  Only when he was alone with him two best friends did he feel that he didn’t have to act like a king, and it was great.  They never did anything he would have been ashamed to have people in the kingdom know, however.  Azaliah had taught them that Jehovah was with them all the time.  Josiah wanted to please God even when there weren’t any foreign dignitaries watching.

            For the next several years that was the schedule Josiah followed.  Exercise, school, the throne room and a little play time.  He grew fast during those years, the palace seamstresses were forever adding more bands of cloth to the bottom of his robes so they would touch the floor when he stood up.  It was embarrassing for a king to have his ankles showing.  He grew taller than his mother.  When he fought with the bodyguards during exercises, his sword arm was every bit as long as theirs.  He began to grow some fuzz on his upper lip, and then on his chin.  After looking like a fuzzy peach for a few months he was soon sporting a full beard that made him look much older than sixteen.  Sometimes it itched him terribly but he kept it so the people from other countries wouldn’t guess he was so young.

            About that time another group of visitors began to show up at the palace.  Every afternoon along with the foreigners and the arguers, several mothers would come with their daughters.  They guard at the door would call out, “Hannah of Hebron with her daughter Hadassah,” and the two of them would approach the throne.  There they would set down a bowl of pomegranates or a cluster of grapes.  They would curtsey and walk out of the room backward, smiling all the while.  Or they would leave a piece of needlework to show how talented the young girl had become.  Then the guard would call out, “Elizabeth of Shechem with her daughter Michal,” and another pair would enter with their gifts and grins.

            This happened for about two weeks, several times a day, and Josiah couldn’t figure out why.  So he mentioned it to Jedidah one morning at breakfast.

            “Oh!” she gasped.  “I should have realized.  But to me you are still a child.  These mothers all know that it is nearly time for you to take a queen.”

            “You mean…they want me to marry one of those girls?”

            Jedidah nodded.  “If your father were still alive they would have come to him.  Then if one of the girls pleased your father, her father would have visited and the two of them would have arranged the marriage.  I was promised to your father Amon when I was thirteen and he was fourteen.  We were married a year later.”

            “But what am I supposed to do?”

            “Let them come, my son.  When you see one that pleases you I will speak to Hilkiah the high priest and ask him to take the place of your father in making the arrangements.”