Can you believe how mean…no, let’s say downright “evil” some children have become? Murder, rape, and other unbelievable things children are doing when they should still be playing with dolls and marbles.

Even if you don’t read the Bible, you’ve probably heard the expression that “There is nothing new under the sun.” King Solomon said it. My thinking is that he probably meant that human nature has never changed.

And a case in point is found among the kings of Israel and Judah, which was a kingdom divided after King David died in 985 b.c. and continued until the last of the kings of that divided nation in 586 b.c. I’m talking about Josiah, who became king of Judah in 640 b.c., and Jehoiachin, in 598 b.c. Both were eight years old when they began to reign, and the Bible notes that Josiah was a good king, while Jehoiachin was evil. And remember, back in those days, a king could do, or have done, anything that came to his mind. A simple statement like “off with his head” meant the death of some person who didn’t please him. Remember…there are two instances in the Bible where kings had all the children under the age of two, to be killed. The first was when Moses was only months old, and the second was when Jesus Christ was a baby. The Pharoah of Egypt got concerned because the Jewish people were multiplying so quickly in the decades after Joseph became a leader there, and Pharoah told the midwives to kill at the boy babies as they were born…(that all starts in the second chapter of Exodus)…

and the second time was when the Wise Men came from the east to worship the baby Jesus, and Herod misunderstood, thinking the baby would grow up to take over HIS throne. The fact was that even the Jewish people also misunderstood, thinking this king would free them from their suffering under Roman rule. Neither understood that Jesus, the Christ, came to save their eternal souls, not their human bodies.

At any rate, the age of accountability that we used to consider as age 12, is changing. There are much younger children who are doing grown-up crimes now, as they follow in the footsteps of evil adults. Thankfully, they’re still in the minority. Pray for them and those who are influencing them.

37BT Bill Thornton March 5, 2007