Isaiah 3:4 - Exposition

I will give children to be their princes ; rather, youths than "children." The extreme youth of the later kings of Judah at the date of their accession is very remarkable. After Hezekiah, only one was as much as twenty-five years old when he came to the throne. Jehoahaz was twenty-three ( 2 Kings 23:31 ); Amon, twenty-two ( 2 Kings 21:19 ); Zedekiah twenty-one ( 2 Kings 24:18 ); Jehoiachin, eighteen ( 2 Kings 24:8 ); Manasseh, twelve ( 2 Kings 21:1 ); and Josiah eight ( 2 Kings 22:1 ). Thus this prophecy was fulfilled to the letter. And babes shall rule over them ; literally, puerilities shall rule over them ; i.e. the youths shall behave in a childish way.