Isaiah 3:4 And I will make mere lads their princes, and capricious children will rule over them…
After legitimate leadership is removed, they are replaced with kids. The Hebrew language is clear. These are boys, plural. As Strong’s describes, these are wantonness, vexing, and malicious youngsters. Youth does not have the knowledge base or experience let alone the ability to process, integrate, and apply information to lead a nation. The events of Isaiah Chapter 3 play out in Israel’s history of youthful kings.
Wycliffe Bible Commentary notes four young kings. All were evil in the eyes of God. King Manasseh was only 12 when he began to reign. Jehoiakim was 25. Jehoiachin was 18. And Zedekiah was 21. Look at the language God uses to describe these kings, capricious children. Yes they may have adult bodies, but they have the minds of detestable children.
One example is the 18 year old evil king Jehoiachin. Details of his reign are noted in 2 Kings 24:8-16. His reign was only three months in Jerusalem. In short, the youthful leader played Let’s Make a Deal with Nebuchadnezzar and exchanged his house and the luxurious contents of Solomon’s Temple for the lives of himself, his family, and the rich and privileged in Israel. This group was exiled to Babylon. Only the poor were left in the land Israel.
Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon completed a series of invasions. Isaiah had written his prophecy in the era of roughly 720 to 700 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion was roughly 100 to 120 years later in 597B.C. Other details of this period are also noted by Jeremiah in Chapter 24.
Ecclesiastes 10:16 Woe to you, O land, whose king is a lad and whose princes feast in the morning. In English, “woe” does not sound like that big of a deal. Woe is an interjection that means pity in Hebrew. It is a yell that is intended to get your attention. The word lad is the same word used in Isaiah 3:4. It is na`ar. They are just boys.
