Today’s Scripture Reading (March 13, 2026): 2 Kings 10
I admit that one of the historical mysteries that has captured my
imagination is the fate of King Edward V of England and his brother, Prince
Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York. When we use the title King Edward V, if we
don’t know the story, we might get an image of a grizzled old King with a list
of enemies he has built up throughout his reign. But Edward V reigned for two
and a half months, and he was only twelve at the time. Yes, it was a different
era, and twelve-year-old boys were closer to adults than they are today, but a
twelve-year-old boy who has just lost his father, even in the 1400s, is still
in a vulnerable position. Richard of Shrewsbury was only nine at the time of
his disappearance.
We might know these boys better as the Princes in the Tower. The two boys
disappeared into the Tower of London in July 1483, never to be seen again. The majority
opinion is that Uncle Richard, the regent and protector of the boys, had them
murdered soon after their disappearance so that he could become King Richard
III. But the truth is that we don’t know. Bones were found while a stairway was
being rebuilt in 1674, and it was assumed they belonged to two brothers. However,
that understanding is far from certain, and animal bones were found mixed in
with the human bones.
Some have wanted to believe that the boys lived, or at least that Edward
survived the Tower. It is hard for us to understand how the protectors of the princes
could have decided to kill them. It has been suggested that Edward made a life
for himself in the rural Devon village of Coldridge, living under the name John
Evans. Others have sought a different fate for the boys, out of a desire to
prove that Richard III could not be the monster this story portrays him as. But
the reality is that we just don’t know what happened to the boys. It still
seems likely that they died in the Tower in July or maybe August 1483. However,
we can’t say that with any certainty.
It was a different age. And it was a different age when Jehu sent a
message to the leaders of Samaria regarding the seventy sons of King Ahab. This
number would likely have included the sons of Ahab, as well as the grandsons
and possibly even great-grandsons of the King; any male who could trace his
lineage back to Ahab. So, there was also a wide age range among these male
descendants; some, if not a majority, might have been boys.
For me, the hardest part of this story is that it was the men, leaders,
who had raised and protected these men and boys who were left with the task of
killing them. Yes, Ahab had been an evil king made even worse by his wife,
Jezebel. His sons would probably have been just as evil; after all, they had
learned their lessons in life from King Ahab. Yes, this was the societal
expectation of the day. It is an interesting parallel that the King who
demanded the grapes of Naboth be placed into baskets had the heads of his
descendants placed in similar baskets. And some of those heads were likely
young children.
Jehu would not be much better than Ahab. Even though he had been anointed
to become King, chosen by God to replace Joram, the son of Ahab, he would not
make the most of his opportunity. And maybe this beginning hinted at the evil Jehu
would continue to do as he led from the throne of Ahab.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 11
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