A child eight years old, who had been lifted on to the throne of a
murdered father, must have had a strong will and a love of goodness to
have resisted the corrupting influences of royalty in a land full of
idols. Here again we see that, great as may be the power of
circumstances, they do not determine character; for it is always open
to us either to determine whether we yield to them or resist them. The
prevailing idolatry influenced the boy, but it influenced him to hate
it with all his heart. So out of the nettle danger we may pluck the
flower safety. The men who have smitten down some evil institution
have generally been brought up so as to feel its full force.

'He did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah'--that may mean
simply that he worshipped Jehovah by outward ceremonies, but it
probably means more; namely, that his life was pure and God-pleasing,
or, as we should say, clean and moral, free from the foul vices which
solicit a young prince. 'He walked in the ways of David his
father'--not being one of the 'emancipated' youths who think it manly
to throw off the restraints of their fathers' faith and morals. He
'turned not aside to the right hand or to the left'--but marched right
onwards on the road that conscience traced out for him, though
tempting voices called to him from many a side-alley that seemed to
lead to pleasant places. 'While he was yet young, he began to seek
after the God of David his father'--at the critical age of sixteen,
when Easterns are older than we, in the flush of early manhood, he
awoke to deeper experiences and felt the need for a closer touch of
God. A career thus begun will generally prelude a life pure,
strenuous, and blessed with a clearer and clearer vision of the God
who is always found of them that seek Him. Such a childhood,
blossoming into such a boyhood, and flowering in such a manhood, is
possible to every child among us. It will 'still bring forth fruit in