Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 21:10
And the LORD spoke by his servants the prophets, saying,
10 15. God’s message of punishment (2Ch 33:10)
10. the Lord spake ] The Chronicler says God’s warnings were sent both to the king and to his people but they would not hearken.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The prophets – None of the prophets of this reign are certainly known. One may possibly have been Hosai or Hozai (2Ch 33:19, margin), who perhaps wrote a life of Manasseh.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 10. The Lord spake by – the prophets] The prophets were Hosea, Joel, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Isaiah. These five following verses contain the sum of what these prophets spoke. It is said that Isaiah not only prophesied in those days, but also that he was put to death by Manasseh, being sawn asunder by a wooden saw.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
10-17. And the Lord spake by hisservants the prophetsThese were Hosea, Joel, Nahum, Habakkuk,and Isaiah. Their counsels, admonitions, and prophetic warnings, wereput on record in the national chronicles (2Ch33:18) and now form part of the sacred canon.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the Lord spake by his servants the prophets,…. Who prophesied in the days of Manasseh; and were, according to the Jewish chronology f, Joel, Nahum, and Habakkuk:
saying: as follows.
f Seder Olam Rabba, c. 20. p. 55.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Manasseh’s Ruin Foretold. | B. C. 643. |
10 And the LORD spake by his servants the prophets, saying, 11 Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols: 12 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle. 13 And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down. 14 And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies; 15 Because they have done that which was evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day. 16 Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the LORD. 17 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 18 And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.
Here is the doom of Judah and Jerusalem read, and it is heavy doom. The prophets were sent, in the first place, to teach them the knowledge of God, to remind them of their duty and direct them in it. If they succeeded not in that, their next work was to reprove them for their sins, and to set them in view before them, that they might repent and reform, and return to their duty. If in this they prevailed not, but sinners went on frowardly, their next work was to foretel the judgments of God, that the terror of them might awaken those to repentance who would not be made sensible of the obligations of his love, or else that the execution of them, in their season, might be a demonstration of the divine mission of the prophets that foretold them. The prophets were deputed judges to those that would not hear and receive them as teachers. We have here,
I. A recital of the crime. The indictment is read upon which the judgment is grounded, v. 11. Manasseh had done wickedly himself, though he knew better things, had even justified the Amorites, whose copy he wrote after, by outdoing them in impieties, and debauched the people of God, whom he had taught to sin and forced to sin; and besides that (though that was bad enough) he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood (v. 16), had multiplied his murders in every corner of the city, and filled the measure of Jerusalem’s blood-guiltiness (Matt. xxiii. 32) up to the brim, and all this against the crown and dignity of the King of kings, the peace of his kingdom, and the statutes in these cases made and provided.
II. A prediction of the judgment God would bring upon them for this: They have done that which was evil, and therefore I am bringing evil upon them (v. 12); it will come and it is not far off. The judgment should be, 1. Very terrible and amazing; the very report of it should make men’s ears to tingle (v. 12), that is, their hearts to tremble. It should make a great noise in the world and occasion many speculations. 2. It should be copied out (as the sins of Jerusalem had been) from Samaria and the house of Ahab, v. 13. When God lays righteousness to the line it shall be the line of Samaria, measuring out to Jerusalem that which had been the lot of Samaria; when he lays judgment to the plummet it shall be the plummet of the house of Ahab, marking out for the same ruin to which that wretched family was devoted. See Isa. xxviii. 17. Note, Those who resemble and imitate others in their sins must expect to fare as they fared. 3. That it should be an utter destruction: I will wipe it as a man wipes a dish. This intimates, (1.) That every thing should be put into disorder, and their state subverted; they should be turned upside down, and all their foundations put out of course. (2.) That the city should be emptied of its inhabitants, which had been the filth of it, as a dish is emptied when it is wiped: “They shall all be carried captive, the land shall enjoy her sabbaths, and be laid by as a dish when it is wiped.” See the comparison of the boiled pot, not much unlike this, Ezek. xxiv. 1-14. (3.) That yet this should be in order to the purifying, not the destroying, of Jerusalem. The dish shall not be dropped, not broken to pieces, or melted down, but only wiped. This shall be the fruit, the taking away of the sinners first, and then of the sin. 4. That therefore they should be destroyed, because they should be deserted (v. 14): I will forsake the remnant of my inheritance. Justly are those that forsake God forsaken of him; nor does he ever leave any till they have first left him: but, when God has forsaken a people, their defence has departed, and they become a prey, an easy prey, to all their enemies. Sin is spoken of here as the alpha and omega of their miseries. (1.) Old guilt came in remembrance, as that which began to fill the measure (v. 15): “They have provoked me to anger from their conception and birth as a people, since the day their fathers came out of Egypt.” The men of this generation, treading in their fathers’ steps, are justly reckoned with for their fathers’ sins. (2.) The guilt of blood was that which filled the measure, v. 16. Nothing has a louder cry, nor brings a sorer vengeance, than that.
This is all we have here of Manasseh; he stands convicted and condemned; but we hope in the book of Chronicles to hear of his repentance, and acceptance with God. Meantime, we must be content, in this place, to have only one intimation of his repentance (for so we are willing to take it), that he was buried, it is likely by his own order, in the garden of his own house (v. 18); for, being truly humbled for his sins, he judged himself no more worthy to be called a son, a son of David, and therefore not worthy to have even his dead body buried in the sepulchres of his fathers. True penitents take shame to themselves, not honour; yet, having lost the credit of an innocent, the credit of a penitent was the next best he was capable of. And better it is, and more honourable, for a sinner to die repenting, and be buried in a garden, than to die impenitent, and be buried in the abbey.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Prophet’s Warning Commentary on 2Ki 21:10-16 AND 2Ch 33:10
The Lord did not leave Judah without warning during the religious corruption of Manasseh’s reign. He sent prophets to them, unnamed, but with the important message of repentance and foreboding. God always renders the disobedient without excuse, before bringing judgment (Isa 58:1).
The Lord had several charges against Manasseh: 1) he did more wickedly than the Amorites whom the Lord drove from the land to Canaan; 2) he involved the nation of Judah in his sins; 3) he is the cause for which judgment will befall his people.
God’s judgment of Judah for the wickedness provoked by the excesses of their king will be so terrible that the ears of those who hear it will tingle. This is the condition more usually expressed by people today as making one’s skin crawl, or causing the hair of his head to stand on end.
Everyone has experienced this feeling, and that is what those will feel who hear what God is doing in judgment of Judah. He will measure them by the plumbline he used to measure the kingdom of Ahab a century and a half earlier. Ahab’s dynasty was totally wiped out, and that is what the prophets foretell of Judah and Jerusalem. God will wipe out the city of Jerusalem as one might wipe out a dish, turning it over and wiping it inside and out. Thus, the city is to suffer total decimation.
The remnant had been saved from Sennacherib by the repentance of king and people during Hezekiah’s reign. But it will not occur again. The people will not turn back and will persist in their wickedness. Then the Lord will forsake that future remnant, leaving them to their merciless enemies. For all their provocation of God’s wrath from the time they fled from Egypt, His longsuffering will finally reach its limit, and they will again be a captive nation.
All this warning had no influence for good with Manasseh. Instead he began to persecute those who resisted his paganism, even to murdering many of them. The Scriptures say he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood from one end of Jerusalem to the other. According to Jewish tradition the prophet Isaiah was among the victims, being put to death by sawing him asunder. There is an inspired allusion to this in Heb 11:37.
2Ch 33:11-17
Manasseh’s Conversion – 2Ch 33:11-17
Only the Chronicles account gives this incident of the reign of Manasseh. It lacks many details which arouse the curiosity of the reader, such as the circumstances which led to his capture by the Assy`ans, how lie came to be released, the time of the occurrence, etc. It seems fairly safe to conclude that the adventure occurred in the rate life of Manasseh, judging by his deeds after his release. The statement that he was taken “among the thorns” does not seem to mean that he was found in a thicket of thorn bushes. Though some have conjectured that he was on a hunting trip and was surprised by the Assyrian patrol.
The Hebrew word translated “thorns” is sometimes also rendered “thistles.” It probably means that his means of confinement was irritable as a thorn might be. Compare what is said of the Canaanite troublers of the disobedient Israelites (Jos 23:13). The New American Standard Bible reads, “and they captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze chains, and took him to Babylon.”
Another question arises as to why Manasseh was carried to Babylon rather than Nineveh, which was the chief city of the Assyrians. Of course, the Assyrians still retained control of Babylon in the time of Manasseh, but they were soon to lose it. In fact, this may supply a clue as to why Manasseh was released. He may have won his freedom by a Babylonian overthrow of the Assyrian overlords. Certainly the Lord used it to chastise Manasseh and to bring him to his senses and to his knees.
Manasseh must have suffered considerably in his captivity, though it was a great blessing to him. He realized at last what he had done and that it was God only who could deliver him. He prayed humbly and importunately to the Lord, who heard his prayer, delivered him, and allowed him to return to his throne in Jerusalem. The apocrypha contains a short book called the Prayer of Manasseh. Of course it is not inspired, and is only traditional, but reveals the probable feeling of the repentant king at the time. It is worthwhile reading for the student.
How long was Manasseh is prison? No information is given concerning that, but it would have been a period of months at the very least. The state of affairs in the kingdom during the absence of the king are unknown. The people soon discovered a drastic change in Manasseh after his restoration. He began trying to undo some of the mistakes of his past. His works included building a wall around the strategic spring of Gihon to the fish gate, greatly strengthening of the fortress Ophel. and putting trained captains over garrisons in all of Judah’s fenced cities.
The pagan idols and altars he had erected in Jerusalem and in the temple were removed and cast out of the city. The altar of the Lord was repaired and restored, peace and thank offerings were offered on it, and Judah was commanded to serve the Lord. The high places-were not removed, but the people claimed to be worshipping the Lord in the high places. Of course this was contrary to the Lord’s will.
The life of King Manasseh provides a double example for the student. His conversion is a beautiful example of the longsuffering mercy and grace of God in saving such a wicked reprobate idolator as Manasseh. He was guilty of sacrificing his son on a pagan altar, of allowing pagan prostitution in the land, probably even in the temple, and was the cause of Judah’s irrevocable destruction, fast approaching. One can thank the Lord for his conversion. On the other hand Manasseh is the example of one who wastes his life by rejecting the Lord so long. Manasseh had encouraged false worship, contributing to the damnation of souls of many of his people. Though he was saved and tried to restore worship of the Lord no heed was paid to him, and the nation hurtled on to its impending doom. One can bewail the tragedy of this. Read Psa 103:8-12 in connection.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
C. THE PROPHETIC PRONOUNCEMENT AGAINST JERUSALEM 21:1015
TRANSLATION
(10) And the LORD spoke by the hand of His prophets, saying, (11) Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, and has done evil more than all which the Amorites that were before him had done, and has caused Judah to sin with his idols, (12) therefore thus says the LORD the God of Israel: Behold I am about to bring evil upon Jerusalem and Judah which all who hear of it, both of their ears shall tingle. (13) And I will stretch out over Jerusalem the line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab; and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping and turning it upside down. (14) And I will forsake the remnant of My inheritance, and I will give them into the hand of their enemies, and they shall become spoil and prey to all their enemies. (15) Because they did evil in My eyes that they might provoke Me, from the day that their fathers went out of Egypt, even unto this day.
COMMENTS
God did not leave Himself without a vigorous voice of protest during the corrosive reign of Manasseh (2Ki. 21:10). The names of those who preached the Word during that terrible time are unknown. Isaiah may have preached in the early years of Manasseh, Nahum possibly toward the close of his reign. But the great heroes of that day remain anonymous. The author of Kings however gives a summary of the message which they were preaching. Because Manasseh had done more evil than the Amorites, the pre-Israelite inhabitants of the land (2Ki. 21:11), God would bring a great calamity upon the nation. News of the extraordinary judgment would shock and pain all who heard of it like a piercing note pains ones ears (2Ki. 21:12). The line of Samaria would be stretched over Jerusalem, i.e., Jerusalem would experience the same fate as Samaria which had been destroyed in 722 B.C. God applies the measuring line, a perfectly uniform standard, to all nations. The plummet which God had placed alongside the house of Ahab in the North would now be placed alongside the house of David.[632] Jerusalem would be emptied of inhabitants as a man empties scraps from a dish into a garbage pan (2Ki. 21:13). The remnant of His peoplethe nation Judahwould now be forsaken by the Lord just as He had abandoned the ten tribes of the kingdom of Israel. As a result, the people of Judah would be conquered and spoiled by their enemies (2Ki. 21:14). This terrible tragedy would come about because of the moral and spiritual depravity of Judah which had its roots in the long-distant past and which culminated in the reign of Manasseh (2Ki. 21:15).
[632] Buildings in Palestine had to be checked periodically by line and plummet to determine damage that had been done by earthquakes. Bulging walls were a public menace which had to be destroyed.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(10) By His servants the prophets . . .This general expression is used because the historian found no name assigned in his source. It is possible that Isaiah was still living under Manasseh, and protested in the manner here described against his apostacy. More probably, however, the protests in question were those of that great prophets disciples: the style is not Isaiahs. 2Ch. 33:18 refers to the history of the kings of Israel for the words of the seers who spake to Manasseh; and the originality of the language in 2Ki. 21:13 might be held to favour the view that we have in 2Ki. 21:11-15, an extract from that work embodying the authentic oracle of a contemporary prophet. (So Ewald.) But it appears much more likely that the passage before us is a sort of rsum of the substance of many such prophetic addresses.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
10. By his prophets The prophets of this period are nowhere named.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
YHWH Prophesies Destruction And Misery On An Unfaithful People ( 2Ki 21:10-16 ).
These prophecies were made during the reign of Manasseh. Indeed the Chronicler made clear that many seers prophesied during his reign (2Ch 33:18), seeking to turn him back to righteousness. And they are here followed by a summary of the grossness of Manasseh’s evil ways prior to his own period of exile.
Interestingly, in spite of past precedents, there is no mention of exile in the prophecies, although it might be read in simply because it was inevitable in such circumstances. The thought is rather of the thoroughness of YHWH’s judgment, and the total humiliation of His people. (The description could in fact have been applied to any of the times when Jerusalem was taken and its people despoiled e.g. 1Ki 15:25-27, and to what would have happened to them had Jerusalem been taken by Rezin and the son of Remaliah (2Ki 16:5; Isa 7:1-2), or by Assyria in the time of Sennacherib).
Analysis.
a
b “Therefore thus says YHWH, the God of Israel, Behold, I bring such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, both his ears will tingle” (2Ki 21:12).
c “And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down, and I will cast off the remnant of my inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies, and they will become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies” (2Ki 21:13-14).
b “Because they have done what is evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even to this day” (2Ki 21:15).
a Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides his sin with which he made Judah to sin, in doing what was evil in the sight of YHWH (2Ki 21:16).
Note that in ‘a’ Manasseh, as well as doing his evil had ‘made Judah to sin’, and the same was true in the parallel where he performed much evil and ‘made Judah to sin’. In ‘b’ YHWH will bring great evil on Judah, and in the parallel it is because of the way in which the people have provoked Him to anger right from their beginning as a nation. Centrally in ‘c’ His determined judgment on them is revealed.
2Ki 21:10
‘And YHWH spoke by his servants the prophets, saying,’
The Chronicler tells us that during the reign of Manasseh many seers spoke to him in the Name of YHWH the God of Israel, their prophecies being recorded ‘among the acts of the kings of Israel’ (2Ch 33:18). These would presumably also have been available to the prophetic author of Kings. YHWH did not leave Himself without a witness.
2Ki 21:11
“Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, and has done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols,”
Ahab had done ‘very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites did whom YHWH cast out before the children of Israel’ (1Ki 21:26), but Manasseh is seen as being worse than Ahab. He had done wickedly above all that the Amorites who were before him did. (Note the contrast also with those who had done evil ‘above all (the kings) who were before them’ ( 1Ki 16:25 ; 1Ki 16:30; 1Ki 16:33). Manasseh had done wickedness which exceeded even the wickedness of the Amorites, and the Amorites were seen by the time of Moses as the epitome of evil – Gen 15:16). There could be no greater condemnation. And what was worse he had also made Judah to sin with his idols. He had led astray his people.
2Ki 21:12
“Therefore thus says YHWH, the God of Israel, Behold, I bring such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, both his ears will tingle.”
This description signifies elsewhere a terrible judgment. In 1Sa 3:11 the tingling of the ears would be at what happened to the house of Eli. Thus what was to happen to Jerusalem and Judah was to be so devastating that men’s ears would tingle when they heard it.
2Ki 21:13
“And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.”
For he would measure Jerusalem by the measuring line of sinful Samaria and by the plummet of the house of Ahab, and as 2Ki 21:11 indicates by that measure they would come off worse (compare Isa 34:11, where however the idea is not quite the same. There the measurement was after destruction) For he would wipe it like a man wipes a dish and then turns it upside down. (An equivalent modern expression might be that ‘He would hang them out to dry’). The thought is of total and complete judgment. This did not necessarily indicate the same fate as Samaria. It is speaking of Samaria at the time of the house of Ahab as being a measure. Samaria and Ahab were to be the measure of their wickedness. It was because of their filthiness that YHWH would have to wipe them and turn them upside down. There is no emphasis at all on exile, although in the light of what had happened previously in Israel and Judah it must clearly have been seen as a possibility. It is the fact of the severe judgment that is important to the prophets, not its method. (It is, however, difficult to see how anyone speaking after the destruction of Jerusalem who had a tendency to misuse prophecy by altering it, could have failed to make more plain what he had in mind. It thus testifies to the early nature of this prophecy).
2Ki 21:14
“And I will cast off the remnant of my inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies, and they will become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies,”
They would no longer be His chosen people but He would cast them off, and hand them over to their enemies, and the result would be that they would become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies. For ‘deliver them into the hands of spoilers who spoiled them’ see Jdg 2:14, where He also ‘sold them into the hands of their enemies’ . This could therefore equally have described what happened to Israel in the Book of Judges.
It is significant that in all these prophetic descriptions there is no allusion to exile. While precedent would suggest it as a possibility, even a probability, it is nowhere indicated. The emphasis is on the totality of YHWH’s judgment on them and His rejection of them, as in the days of the Judges. Exile was thus just one possibility. It should be noted that the prophetic author was careful not to alter the prophecies in line with future events.
2Ki 21:15
“Because they have done what is evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even to this day.”
And all this would occur because they had done what was evil in His sight and had provoked Him to anger since the very day when they came out of Egypt, even to this present day. God’s judgment did not come on His people simply because of the behaviour and attitude of their kings. It resulted from the fact that the people were equally provocatively sinful. It would seem clear from the expressions used in 2Ki 21:14-15 that Jdg 2:11-15 was very much in mind.
For ‘done what is evil in My sight’ compare Num 32:13; Deu 4:25; Deu 31:29; Jdg 2:11 and often; 1Sa 15:19; 2Sa 12:9; 1Ki 11:6 ad often. For ‘provoking to anger’ see 2Ki 17:11; 2Ki 17:17 ; 2Ki 21:6; Deu 4:25; Deu 9:18; Deu 31:29; Deu 32:16; Deu 32:21; Jdg 2:12 ; 1Ki 14:9; 1Ki 14:15; and often.
2Ki 21:16
‘Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides his sin with which he made Judah to sin, in doing what was evil in the sight of YHWH.’
Along with Manasseh’s idolatry, as so often happened, went a propensity for evil, for it resulted in the Law of YHWH being set aside. ‘Shed innocent blood very much’ may be speaking only of judicial murder, although if so it was clearly carried out in large numbers, removing opponents, and especially those who sought to be faithful to YHWH (later tradition says that it included Isaiah), but it probably also included general persecution and the revealing of a total disregard for human life, something which once begun would happily be taken up by all so inclined. It would be seen by many as a convenient way of removing political or business rivals, appropriating other people’s wealth, and obtaining vengeance for perceived slights. Jerusalem had become a blood-bath.
The picture is one of wholesale bloodshed, unlike anything seen before. And this was on top of his making Judah to sin, in doing what was evil in the sight of YHWH, both by idolatry, and also by them acting contrary to the covenant and the ten ‘words’. His evil propensities were thus being taken up by others. As far as the prophetic author was concerned this was what lay at the root of his reign, and it is salutary to realise that in so far as it affected Judah it was something which his late repentance could not wipe out. As with Ahab (1Ki 21:27-29) his repentance simply delayed judgment. It was thus not considered important enough to mention here.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
2Ki 21:10 And the LORD spake by his servants the prophets, saying,
Ver. 10. And the Lord spake by his servants the prophets. ] Isaiah, Hosea, Joel, Nahum, Micah, &c, one or other of whom Manasseh martyred every day, saith Josephus. a Isaiah he sawed asunder with a wooden saw, &c.
a Lib. x. cap. 4.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
by = through. Hebrew by the hand of. Figure of speech Metonymy (of Cause).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
2Ch 33:10, 2Ch 36:15, Neh 9:26, Neh 9:30, Mat 23:34-37, In the following verses the doom of Judah and Jerusalem is passed, and it is a heavy doom. The prophets were sent in the first place to teach them the knowledge of God, to remind them of their duty, and direct them in it: if they succeeded not in that, their next work was to reprove them for their sins, and to set them in view before them, that they might repent and reform, and return to their duty: if in this they prevailed not, their next work was to foretell the judgments of God, that the terror of them might awaken to repentance those who would not be made sensible of the obligations of his love; or else that the execution of them, in their season, might be a demonstration of the divine mission of the prophets who foretold them. They were made judges to those who would not hear and receive them as teachers. – Henry.