What makes a good king? What makes a bad king?

The Bible gives us many examples. Israel had many kings. God judged them by one thing: did they follow Him or worship idols?

Israel had many kings. Some were good. Some were bad; still, God judged them by one thing: did they follow Him?

Leadership is so powerful, as leaders can lead people to God or away from God. The kings of Israel show us this clearly. Their leadership brought either abundant blessings or unimaginable disasters to the whole nation. Their stories teach us what God values in a leader.

Here are the best and worst kings of the Bible.

The Worst Kings:

• King Ahab (1 Kings 16-22): The Bible says he did more evil than any king before him. He married Jezebel, built a temple for Baal, and let innocent people be killed. He did not just allow idol worship. He actively promoted it. He set up an Asherah pole, which was a symbol of a false goddess. He let Jezebel bring 850 false prophets into Israel. The prophet Elijah confronted him and proved God was real, but Ahab still would not change his heart.
  His reign was full of trouble. There was a terrible drought in the land because of his sin. He was greedy and wanted Naboth’s vineyard. When Naboth would not sell it, Ahab sulked like a child. Jezebel had Naboth killed, and Ahab took the vineyard. God sent Elijah to tell Ahab that dogs would lick up his blood in the same place they licked up Naboth’s blood. This came true exactly as God said.

• King Manasseh (2 Kings 21): He was the most wicked king of Judah. He ruled for fifty-five years, longer than any other king. But he used all that time to lead the people away from God. He rebuilt the idol altars his good father had destroyed. He even sacrificed his own son to a false god. He burned his son in the fire as an offering to Molech, a terrible pagan god. This was something God had strictly forbidden.
  He led Judah so deep into sin that God decided to send the nation into exile. He also put up idols right inside God’s temple in Jerusalem. He practised witchcraft and consulted fortune-tellers. He shed so much innocent blood that it filled Jerusalem from one end to another. The Bible says he did more evil than the nations God had destroyed before Israel came into the land. However, later in his life, when he was taken prisoner to Babylon, he humbled himself and cried out to God. God heard him and restored him to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is God. But the damage he had done to the nation could not be fully undone.

The Best Kings:

• King David (1 & 2 Samuel): He was called “a man after God’s own heart.” He was not perfect, but he always turned back to God when he sinned. He trusted God to kill Goliath. As a young shepherd boy, he faced the giant with only a sling and five stones. He said, “The battle is the Lord’s.”
  He became a great king and wrote many Psalms. He united the nation and captured Jerusalem, making it the capital city. He brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem and worshipped God with all his heart. God made a covenant with David, promising that his throne would last forever.
  He sinned badly (with Bathsheba) but truly repented. He arranged for her husband Uriah to be killed in battle to cover up his sin. When the prophet Nathan confronted him, David did not make excuses. He said, “I have sinned against the Lord.” He wrote Psalm 51 as a prayer of repentance. God forgave him, though there were still consequences for his family.
  God promised that the Messiah (Jesus) would come from his family line.

• King Hezekiah (2 Kings 18-20): He tore down idol altars and trusted God completely. He even destroyed the bronze snake Moses had made in the wilderness because people had started worshipping it as an idol. He cleaned out the temple and restored proper worship of God. He trusted in the Lord like no king of Judah after him.
  When a huge enemy army surrounded Jerusalem, he prayed to God. The Assyrian army, led by King Sennacherib, had conquered every other nation. They mocked God and threatened the people. Hezekiah took the threatening letter from the enemy and spread it out before the Lord in the temple. He prayed simply, “Lord, save us so that all kingdoms may know that you alone are God.”
  God miraculously saved the city. That night, the angel of the Lord went out and put to death 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. When the people woke up, the enemy camp was full of dead bodies. Sennacherib went home in defeat. Hezekiah’s faith brought peace and revival. God also healed him from a deadly illness and gave him fifteen more years of life.

• King Josiah (2 Kings 22-23): He became king as a boy. He was only eight years old when he began to rule. When he was sixteen, he began to seek after God.
  When God’s Law was found in the temple, he was heartbroken by how far the people had strayed. The high priest found the Book of the Law while repairing the temple. It had been lost and forgotten for years. When the king heard the words read aloud, he tore his clothes in grief. He realized how badly the nation had disobeyed.
  He read it to everyone and made a great covenant to follow the Lord. He gathered all the people, from the least to the greatest, and read the entire Book of the Covenant to them. He stood by a pillar and promised to follow God with all his heart and soul.
  He removed all the idols from the land. He tore down the altars of Baal. He smashed the incense altars. He destroyed the places where people worshipped false gods. Even the altar at Bethel that Jeroboam had built hundreds of years earlier, he tore down and burned. He got rid of the mediums and fortune tellers. He removed all the detestable things from the land.
  His obedience delayed God’s judgment on Judah. God said that because Josiah humbled himself, the disaster would not come during his lifetime. He celebrated a Passover that was unlike any since the days of the judges. The Bible says there was no king like him before or after, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and soul and strength.

A good king follows God and leads his people to do the same. A bad king follows his own pride and leads people into sin. God sees everything and judges each king according to their faithfulness to Him.