A Tale of Two Boy Kings, or You Cannot Live on Someone Else's Faith

"Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem forty years. His mother’s name was Zibiah; she was from Beersheba. Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the years of Jehoiada the priest."
2 Chronicles 24:1-2

"Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and followed the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left."
2 Chronicles 34:1-2

After King Solomon died the kingdom of Israel was divided between 10 tribes to the north that retained the name Israel (sometimes Ephriam) and two tribes to the south named after the dominate tribe of Judah. In the history of the kings we find two kings who came to the throne at a very young age; Joash at age seven and Josiah at age eight. Their reigns bore some similarities and yet some stark contrasts as well that we need to learn from.

Joash

In the previous chapter King Ahaziah had died and his mother, Athaliah sought to destroy the royal family. But her grandson, Joash, was hidden for six full years. When Joash was seven, Jehoiada, the priest began to gain power and sought to crown Joash and get rid of Athaliah. After Joash became king he set out to repair the temple and restore worship of the one true God to the land. In verse 14b of chapter 24:

"As long as Jehoiada lived, burnt offerings were presented continually in the temple of the Lord."

Jehoiada lived to be 130 years old. After he died (vv. 17ff) the work on the temple stopped and the people turned to idol worship. Joash completely turned from his former way even to the point of murdering the son of Jehoiada.

Josiah

Josiah was also very young when he became king, only one year older than Joash was when he baceame king. That is pretty much where the similarity ends. His grandfather, Manasseh, was likely the worst king Judah ever had until he repented. His father, Amon, was an evil king. And now Josiah comes along. He had a terrible upbringing. There were no prophetic, Godly voices in his life that we know of. Yet it says of him that he "walked in all the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or the left."

It is interesting to note that it was during the time when he was doing his reforms and restoring the temple that they found the book of the law, probably the book of Deuteronomy. Apparently Josiah was doing all of his reforms, ridding the land of Baal worship without actually having access to the law. Interestingly too is the law required that once a king ascended to the throne, he was to right out a copy of the law for himself. Deuteronomy 17: 18:

"When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the priests, who are Levites."

The depravity had gone so far that the law, which should have been foundational to all of life in Israel had somehow become 'mothballed' in the attic, so to speak. But even so the Holy Spirit was at work in the life of King Josiah. As soon as Josiah was made aware that the book had been found he had it read to him. Then he immediately sent the priests to seek a prophet to inquire of the Lord about what was in the book. Then he had the book read to all the people as well and he renewed the covenant. 

The Contrast

Joash did well as long as the priest Jehoiada was alive to guide him. In many ways it seemed that Jehoiada did more than simply provide guidance and mentoring. It appears that he actually exerted a fair bit of control over Joash as can be seen in verse 3 of chapter 24, where he selected two wives for him. Once Jehoiada died and no longer had any influence over him, Joash returned to the wicked practices and idolatry of his predecessors. Josiah on the other hand did not have someone like Jehoiada in his life. Yet he had a strong conviction to seek the Lord even without a mentor and apparently without access to the scripture. 

The difference was that Josiah had his own genuine faith in God. 

Joash did not.

Joash was basically living on the faith of Jehoiada.

Your Faith in God Must be YOUR Faith

How many times I have observed a seemingly very godly person completely fall apart when a spiritual father or mother is no longer in a person's life. Perhaps it was an actual parent. But maybe it was a mentor who was not a relative. It could have been a pastor, youth pastor or maybe just someone you worked with.

An analogy I have heard before seems to describe the situation:

It's like a neighborhood in which one house has an electric meter and has power running to their house. Everyone else in the neighborhood then runs an extension cord to this person's house. They are not truly connected to the power source but are living on the power that runs into the house that is connected. Now when that person moves and has the power turned off, all of the other houses go dark. However, what if the other neighbors were to get their own meter and have the electricity run directly into their house? if the neighbor moves and has the power disconnected, the other houses will still have lights on. In the same way when we don't have our own walk with the Lord and aren't indwelt with the Holy Spirit (connected to the power source), it is as if we had extension cords run to another person and were living on the power in their lives.

Notwithstanding, some people actually want to attract their own following, often for nefarious purposes, even if the mentor is a truly godly person they won't necessarily always be there. People relocate, they die, and sometimes they disappoint.

It becomes a question of who your faith is really in? Is it in a godly person or is it God himself.

The Job of Mentors

Mentors are vital to the growth of the body. The five-fold ministry described in Ephesians 4: 11 is about our mentors:

"It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers."

Then in the following verses he gives their purpose: (v.12-13)

"To prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reachunity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ."

The job of mentors is to lead people to Christ and to guide and help them mature in the fullness of Christ. It is like the person who has electricity in his house showing others that they can get their own meter and be connected to the real power source; not simply run an extension cord. Paul rebukes the Corinthian church for their practice of following personalities in 1 Corinthians 1:10-17 and 3:1ff. 

King Josiah was connected to the true power source in that he had his own personal faith and walk with God. Joash was connected to Jehoiada and it was Jehoiada's walk with God that kept him in line. But once Jehoiada was gone Joash went right back to the sins of his predecessors. We as followers of Christ must make sure that we are connected to Christ himself and not to a person who follows Christ.

Blessings to you all.