Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 21:1
Manasseh [was] twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name [was] Hephzibah.
Chap. 2Ki 21:1-9. Accession of Manasseh king of Judah. His excessive idolatries (2Ch 33:1-9)
1. Manasseh was twelve years old ] ‘At last, some three years after his recovery, Hezekiah hath a son: but such a one, as, if he could have foreseen, orbity had been a blessing’ (Bp Hall).
fifty and five years ] A reign longer than his father’s whole life, in spite of the addition of fifteen years; and longer than the reign of any other king of Judah or Israel.
Hephzi-bah ] The mother’s name is not mentioned in Chronicles, it is the name which Isaiah in his prophecy (Isa 62:4) gives to the restored Zion, ‘my delight is in her’.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Manasseh was twelve years old – Manasseh, therefore, was not born at the time of Hezekiahs dangerous illness; and it is probable that Hezekiah had at that time no son to succeed him. According to Josephus, this was the principal cause of his grief.
Hephzibah – Jewish tradition makes Hephzibah, Hezekiahs wife, the daughter of Isaiah; but this is scarcely probable. She was, however, no doubt, known to the prophet, and it may well have been in special compliment to her that Isaiah introduced her name Isa 62:4 as one that Jerusalem would bear after her restoration to Gods favor. The name means, My delight (is) in her.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
2Ki 21:1-16
Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign.
Manasseh
The narratives of the Old Testament are not to be read as mere matters of history, but as records of the providential dispensations of God in the concerns of mankind, and as fraught with lessons of the most valuable moral and religious instruction. In this light we are to consider the account handed down to us of Manasseh. King of Judah. An uninspired historian could only have informed us of his evil life, his affliction, his repentance, his restoration to prosperity, and his subsequent good conduct; but the sacred writer exhibits to us the manner in which the hand of God was visible throughout these events. It was not a matter of chance that Manasseh fell into adversity; for it was a scourge expressly sent upon him for his transgressions: nor was it by chance that he was restored to his kingdom, but by the unseen interposition of the all-wise Disposer of events, and in consequence of his deep humiliation and humble prayer. It is thus that the Scriptures teach us maxims of heavenly wisdom, not only in their direct exhortations and promises, but in the narratives which they record, all being written so as to display the conduct of God towards His creatures; His wisdom and righteousness, His justice and His mercy, His anger against the transgressor, His favour to the humble penitent, His infinite patience and forbearance towards all. We see embodied in actual facts our own circumstances, our sins and our mercies; what we have to hope or to fear; what our Creator requires of us; how He will act towards us. The chief particulars are the aggravated transgressions of Manasseh; the consequent affliction which befell him; his repentance in his affliction; his deliverance from it, and his future obedience to God.
1. The chapter before us details the transgressions of Manasseh. His sins were of a very heinous character, and were committed under circumstances which greatly aggravated their enormity. The narrative mentions several particulars, which show the fearful extent of his offences.
(1) He sinned immediately against God. Every sin is indeed a transgression of the commands of our Creator; but some sins seem as it were to show a more than ordinary contempt for His Infinite Majesty: they imply a direct denial of His presence; they urge him to vindicate the honour of his name; they practically speak the language of the fool who says in his heart, There is no God. Of this kind was the sin of idolatry which Manasseh so flagrantly committed: for he reared up altars for an idol or false god, called Baalim; and made groves for the cruel and licentious rites of heathen superstition: he worshipped the host of heaven, the sun, the moon, and the stars, and served them; instead of serving Him who made them, and rules them in their courses. He even carried his profaneness and provocation against God to so great an extent, that he built altars for these pagan idols in the courts of the house of the Lord, and set up for worship a carved image in the temple itself, of which God had said to David, and to Solomon his son, In this house will I put my name for ever.
(2) But not only did Manasseh work much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger, but his sins against God were followed by sins against his neighbour. Having cast off the fear of his Creator, he became dangerous to all around him. His heart was so greatly hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, that it is said, he shed innocent blood very much till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; and he even caused his own children to pass through the fire, in the valley of the son of Hinnom.
(3) To aggravate still more his offences, he not only sinned himself, but he delighted in causing others to sin also; for it is said that he made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen. The ungodly add fearfully to their-own offences, by seducing others to offend. If a ruler hearken to lies, says Solomon, all his servants are wicked; and even in the most humble sphere of life evil communications in like manner corrupt good manners; and this not only by the natural effect of bad example, but by the positive efforts which sinners employ to lead others into temptation.
(4) Another aggravation of the sinful conduct of Manasseh was, his ingratitude for the benefits which he had received from that all-merciful Being whom he so daringly offended. This is particularly mentioned in the chapter before us; where, in the account given of his sinfulness in introducing idolatry into the city and temple of Jerusalem, mention is made of the special favours which Jehovah had bestowed upon the people of Israel, and his promise not to remove them out of the land which he had appointed for their fathers, provided they would take heed to do all that he had commanded them.
(5) To mention but one aggravation more, of the sins of Manasseh, and that which greatly added to their enormity, they were committed deliberately against knowledge and warning, against the secret checks of conscience, and against the early instructions of a pious education. For Manasseh was the son of King Hezekiah, of whom it is recorded that throughout all Judah, and more especially doubtless in his own family, he wrought that which was good, and right, and truth before the Lord his God. And though, unhappily for Manasseh, he died when that prince was but twelve years old, he doubtless both instructed him himself in the ways of God, as long as he lived, and appointed others to assist his endeavours and to perpetuate them after his decease. Under all these circumstances, highly aggravated was his guilt; and equally aggravated and eternal would have been his punishment, had not the subsequent part of his history presented a very different aspect to that which we have been contemplating. The succeeding stages of his life remain to be briefly noticed.
2. To consider the affliction which in consequence befell him. Happy was it for him that he was not suffered to proceed in his iniquities unchecked. Sorrow, we are told, springs not out of the ground: it does not occur by chance, or without meaning. All affliction is the consequence of sin; and it is well when our troubles in this life are made the instruments of leading us to God, that we may not suffer that eternal punishment which our iniquities merit in the world to come. In the case of Manasseh, the hand of God was clearly visible in His punishment. It is said that the Lord brought upon him and his people–for both he and his people had sinned–the host of the king of Assyria, and they took Manasseh, among the thorns; that is, in some thicket to which he had retreated for safety; and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon. A greater temporal calamity than this could scarcely befall a man like Manasseh.
3. Our text notices his repentance in his affliction. His captivity gave him leisure for serious reflection; and by the blessing of God he was led to avail himself of it. Multitudes of persons never begin to think of their sins, or their need of salvation, till the hour of pain or sickness, of bereavement or death. Thus Manasseh in his prosperity had forgotten his Creator; but in his adversity he could find no other refuge. His false gods could not assist him; and therefore, like the prodigal son, his only refuge was to turn to the merciful Father whom he had forsaken.
4. We are told of his deliverance from his affliction. The Lord, it is said, heard his supplication, and brought him back again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. The following verses allude to his future prosperity; for, by the dispensation under which Manasseh lived, it pleased the Almighty often to bestow temporal blessings as a mark of his special mercy; and as the afflictions which first led Manasseh to repentance and prayer had been of a worldly kind, so, when it pleased God to restore him to his favour, he gave him also worldly blessings, life and liberty, and a successful issue in the affairs of his kingdom. But far above all these outward blessings was the forgiveness of his sins. Worldly prosperity may be either a benefit or a curse to its possessor; but to be pardoned and justified–this is indeed a blessing of unspeakable value, and should constrain us with earnest gratitude to devote ourselves to the service of our God and Saviour. This leads us to remark,
5. The subsequent obedience of Manasseh. The narrative is brief; but it particularly mentions his future obedience to God, and his zeal for his glory. His heart being renewed, his course of life changed with it. It is said, that he now knew that the Lord He was God. He had discovered this both in His power to afflict him and in His power to restore him; and now, knowing Him to be the only true God, he resolved to worship Him as such. He had repented, and he brought forth fruits meet for repentance. Much was forgiven him, and he loved much. First, he turned from his former sins; for he took away the strange gods and the idol out of the house of, the Lord: not only this, but he began to practise his long neglected duties; he repaired the altar of the Lord, and sacrificed thereon peace offerings, and thank-offerings, and commanded his people to serve the Lord God of Israel. As his transgressions had been public, he wished his contrition for them to be equally so; and as he had led others astray by his authority and example, he was now urgent to bring them back to the right path. To follow his example in this respect is the most important application which we can make. We have not indeed shed blood, or literally sacrificed to idols, as he did; neither have we had any inducement to do so, or the opportunity of doing so. But, on the other hand, we have not been exposed to the temptations which he must have met with, left defenceless at the early age of twelve years, amidst the seductions of the world, as a sovereign prince, with every facility for the indulgence of his will and his passions, and meeting perhaps with few to control, and many to foster his evil propensities. But shall we therefore say that, according to our circumstances and temptations, we have not also grievously offended God? Let us then earnestly seek this inestimable blessing; let us neither slight it on the one hand nor despair of obtaining it on the other. It is to be obtained, if only we seek it, and seek it aright, and seek it before the opportunity for procuring it is for ever lost. (Christian Observer.)
Saints made only of unfavourable material
At a crowded meeting in Edinburgh, one Sunday night, Professor Drummond stood on the platform with a letter in his hand. That letter, he said, had come to him from a young man then in the meeting, who, knowing Drummond was to speak that night, had written his history in the hope that some word of Christian counsel might be spoken which would give him hope. The letter was from a medical student who had been piously trained, but had been drawn down to drunkenness and vice. He feared he had fallen too low ever to rise. Did Professor Drummond think there was any hope for such a man? For answer the professor said, As I walked through the city this morning I noticed a cloud like a pure white bank of snow resting over the slums. Whence came it? The great sun had sent down its beams into the city slums, and the beams had gone among the puddles and drawn out of them what they sought, and had taken it aloft and purified it; and there it was resting above the city, a cloud as white as snow. And God can make His saints out of material equally unfavourable. He can make a white cloud out of a puddle. What Christ did for Mary Magdalene He could and would do for any one who went to Him for help now.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XXI
Manasseh succeeds his father Hezekiah, reigns fifty-five years,
and fills Jerusalem and the whole land with abominable idolatry
and murder, 1-9.
God denounces the heaviest judgments against him and the land,
10-15.
Manasseh’s acts and death, 16-18.
Amon his son succeeds him, and reigns two years; is equally
profligate with his father; is slain by his servants, and
buried in the garden of Uzza; and Josiah his son reigns in his
stead, 19-26.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXI
Verse 1. Manasseh was twelve years old] He was born about three years after his father’s miraculous cure; he was carried captive to Babylon, repented, was restored to his kingdom, put down idolatry, and died at the age of sixty-seven years. See 2Ch 33:1-20.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem; in which time the years of his imprisonment are comprehended, 2Ch 33:11.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1-3. Manasseh was twelve years oldwhen he began to reignHe must have been born three years afterhis father’s recovery; and his minority, spent under the influence ofguardians who were hostile to the religious principles and reformingpolicy of his father, may account in part for the anti-theocraticprinciples of his reign. The work of religious reformation whichHezekiah had zealously carried on was but partially accomplished.There was little appearance of its influence on the heart and mannersof the people at large. On the contrary, the true fear of God hadvanished from the mass of the people; corruption and vice increased,and were openly practised (Isa28:7, c.) by the degenerate leaders, who, having got the youngprince Manasseh into their power, directed his education, trained himup in their views, and seduced him into the open patronage ofidolatry. Hence, when he became sovereign, he introduced the worshipof idols, the restoration of high places, and the erection of altarsor pillars to Baal, and the placing, in the temple of God itself, agraven image of Asherah, the sacred or symbolic tree, whichrepresented “all the host of heaven.” This was notidolatry, but pure star-worship, of Chaldaic and Assyrian origin[KEIL]. The sun, as amongthe Persians, had chariots and horses consecrated to it (2Ki23:11) and incense was offered to the stars on the housetops(2Ki 23:12; 2Ch 33:5;Jer 19:13; Zep 1:5),and in the temple area with the face turned toward the sunrise (Eze8:16).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign,…. So that he was born three years after Hezekiah’s recovery from his sickness, and in the seventeenth year of his reign:
and reigned fifty five years in Jerusalem: among which must be reckoned the time of his captivity in Babylon; his reign was the longest of any of the kings of Judah: and his mother’s name was Hephzibah; the name the church goes by, and signifies, “my delight or pleasure is in her”, Isa 62:4, no doubt she was a good woman, or Hezekiah would not have made choice of her for a wife; it is a tradition of the Jews a, that she was the daughter of Isaiah, whose name, they say, is not mentioned, because so wicked a king was unworthy of such a grandfather.
a Hieron. Trad. Heb. in lib. Paralipom. fol. 86. F.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Reign of Manasseh (cf. 2 Chron 33:1-20). – 2Ki 21:1. Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, so that he was not born till after Hezekiah’s dangerous illness (2Ki 20:1.).
2Ki 21:2 Having begun to reign at this early age, he did not choose his father’s ways, but set up the idolatry of his father Ahab again, since the godless party in the nation, at whose head chiefs, priests, and (false) prophets stood, and who would not hearken to the law of the Lord, and in the time of Hezekiah had sought help against Assyria not from Jehovah, but from the Egyptians (Isa 28:7, Isa 28:14., Isa 30:9.), had obtained control of the young an inexperienced king, and had persuaded him to introduce idolatry again. On 2Ki 21:2 cf. 2Ki 8:18 and 2Ki 16:3.
2Ki 21:3-5 , “he built again” the high places, which Hezekiah had destroyed (2Ki 18:4), erected altars for Baal and an Asherah, like Ahab of Israel (1Ki 16:32-33). is the image of Asherah mentioned in 2Ki 21:7, whereas in the Chronicles the thought is generalized by the plurals and . To these two kinds of idolatry, the idolatrous bamoth and the (true) Baal-and Asherah-worship, Manasseh added as a third kind the worship of all the host of heaven, which had not occurred among the Israelites before the Assyrian era, and was probably of Assyrian or Chaldaean origin. This worship differed from the Syrophoenician star-worship, in which sun and moon were worshipped under the names of Baal and Astarte as the bearers of the male and female powers of nature, and was pure star-worship, based upon the idea of the unchangeableness of the stars in contradistinction to the perishableness of everything earthly, according to which the stars were worshipped not merely as the originators of all rise and decay in nature, but also as the leaders and regulators of sublunary things (see Movers, Phniz. i. pp. 65 and 161). This star-worship was a later development of the primary star-worship of Ssabism, in which the stars were worshipped without any image, in the open air or upon the housetops, by simple contemplation, the oldest and comparatively the purest form of deification of nature, to which the earlier Arabians and the worshippers of the sun among the Ssabians (Zabians) were addicted (cf. Delitzsch on Job 31:26-27), and which is mentioned and forbidden in Deu 4:19 and Deu 17:3. In this later form the sun had sacred chariots and horses as among the Persians (2Ki 23:11), and incense was offered to the stars, with the face turned towards the east, upon altars which were built either upon housetops, as in the case of the Nabataeans (Strabo, xvi. 784), or within the limits of the temple in the two courts (cf. Eze 8:16, also 2Ki 21:5; 2Ki 23:12, and 2Ch 33:5; Jer 19:13; Zep 1:5). This burning of incense took place not merely to the sun and moon, but also to the signs of the zodiac and to all the host of heaven, i.e., to all the stars (2Ki 23:5); by which we are no doubt to understand that the sun, moon, planets and other stars, were worshipped in conjunction with the zodiac, and with this were connected astrology, augury, and the casting of nativities, as in the case of the later so-called Chaldaeans.
(Note: Movers ( Phniz. i. p. 65) correctly observes, that “ in all the books of the Old Testament which are written before the Assyrian period there is no trace of any (?) star-worship; not that the Phoenician (Canaanitish) gods had not also a sidereal significance, but because this element was only a subordinate one, and the expressions, sun, moon, and stars, and all the host of heaven, which are not met with before, become for the first time common now, ” – although his proofs of the difference between the Assyrian star-worship and the Phoenician and Babylonian image-worship stand greatly in need of critical sifting.)
This star-worship is more minutely described in 2Ki 21:4, 2Ki 21:5. The two verses are closely connected. The of 2Ki 21:4 is resumed in in 2Ki 21:5, and the of 2Ki 21:4 is more minutely defined in the of. 2Ki 21:5. “In the two courts:” not merely in the outer court, but even in the court of the priests, which was set apart for the worship of Jehovah.
2Ki 21:6 He also offered his son in sacrifice to Moloch, like Ahaz (2Ki 16:3), in the valley of Benhinnom (Chr. cf. 2Ki 23:10), and practised soothsaying and witchcraft of every kind. On see Deu 18:10 and Lev 19:26, , he made, i.e., appointed, put into office, a “necromancer and wise people” (cf. Lev 19:31 and Deu 18:11).
2Ki 21:7 Yea, he even placed the image of Asherah in the temple, i.e., in the Holy Place. In the description of his idolatry, which advances gradatim, this is introduced as the very worst crime. According to the express declaration of the Lord to David (2Sa 7:13) and Solomon (1Ki 9:3 compared with 2Ki 8:16), the temple was to serve as the dwelling-place of His name.
2Ki 21:8 The word of the Lord, “I will no more make the foot of Israel to move out of the land which I gave to their fathers,” refers to the promise in 2Sa 7:10: “I will appoint my people a place, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and be stirred up no more,” which had been fulfilled by the building of the temple as the seat of the name of the Lord, in the manner indicated in pp. 85ff. The lasting fulfilment of this promise, however, was made to rest upon the condition of Israel’s faithful adherence to the commandments of God (cf. 1Ki 9:6.).
2Ki 21:9 This condition was not observed by the Israelites; Manasseh seduced them, so that they did more evil than the Canaanites, whom Jehovah had destroyed before them.
2Ki 21:10-12 The Lord therefore announced through the prophets, to the rebellious and idolatrous nation, the destruction of Jerusalem and the deliverance of Judah into the hands of its enemies; but, as is added in 2Ch 33:10, they paid no heed to them. The prophets who foretold this terrible judgment are not named. According to 2Ch 33:18, their utterances were entered in the annals of the kings. Habakkuk was probably one of them, since he (Hab 1:5) predicted the Chaldaean judgment as a fact which excited astonishment and appeared incredible. The Amorites are mentioned in 2Ki 21:11 instar omnium as the supporters of the Canaanitish ungodliness, as in 1Ki 21:26, etc. – The phrase, “that whosoever heareth it, both his ears may tingle,” denotes such a judgment as has never been heard of before, and excites alarm and horror (cf. 1Sa 3:11 and Jer 19:3). The Keri is a correction, to bring the pronom. suff. into conformity with the noun so far as the gender is concerned, whereas in the Chethb the masculine suffix is used in the place of the feminine, as is frequently the case.
2Ki 21:13 “I stretch over Jerusalem the measure of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab.” The measure ( ) and the plummet ( , lit., a level) were applied to what was being built (Zec 1:16), and also to what was being made level with the ground, i.e., completely thrown down (Amo 7:7). From this sprang the figurative expressions, measure of desolation and plummet of devastation (Isa 34:11). – The measure of Samaria therefore denotes the measure which was applied to the destruction of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab denotes the extermination of the royal house of Ahab. The meaning is: I shall destroy Jerusalem as I have destroyed Samaria, and exterminate its inhabitants like the house of Ahab. In the second hemistich the same thing is expressed, if possible, still more strongly: “I wipe away Jerusalem as one wipes the dish, and (having) wiped (it), turns it upon its upper side ( ).” The wiping of a dish that has been used, and the turning over of the dish wiped, so as not to leave a single drop in it, are a figurative representation of the complete destruction of Jerusalem and the utter extermination of its inhabitants.
2Ki 21:14-15 With the destruction of Jerusalem the Lord forsakes the people of His possession, and give it up to its enemies for a prey and spoil. : Judah is called the remnant of the people of God’s inheritance with a reference to the rejection and leading away of the ten tribes, which have already taken place. On see Isa 42:22; Jer 30:16.
To this announcement of the judgment there is appended in 2Ch 33:11. the statement, that Jehovah caused Manasseh the king to be taken prisoner by the generals of the king of Assyria and led away to Babylon in chains; and that when he humbled himself before God there, and made supplication to Him, He brought him back to Jerusalem and placed him upon his throne again; whereupon Manasseh fortified the walls of Jerusalem still further, placed garrisons in the fortified cities, removed the idol from the temple, abolished from the city the idolatrous altars erected in Jerusalem and upon the temple-mountain, restored the altar of Jehovah, and commanded the people to offer sacrifice upon it. – This incident is omitted in our book, because the conversion of Manasseh was not followed by any lasting results so far as the kingdom was concerned; the abolition of outward idolatry in Jerusalem did not lead to the conversion of the people, and after the death of Manasseh even the idolatrous abominations that had been abolished were restored by Amon.
(Note: The historical truth of these accounts, which Rosenmller, Winer, and Hitzig called in question after the example of Gramberg, has been defended by Ewald, Bertheau, and even by Thenius; and the latest attack which has been made upon it by Graf in the theol. Studien u. Krit. 1859, iii., has been met by E. Gerlach in the same magazine of 1861. For further remarks see the Commentary on the Chronicles.)
2Ki 21:16 Manasseh also sinned grievously by shedding innocent blood till Jerusalem was quite filled with it. , from one edge to the other, see at 2Ki 10:21. This statement has been paraphrased by Josephus thus ( Ant. x. 3, 1): Manasseh slew , and did not spare even the prophets, with the additional clause, which exaggerates the thing: , .
(Note: The widespread Jewish and Christian legend, that Manasseh put to death the prophet Isaiah, and indeed had him sawn in sunder, to which there is an allusion in Heb 11:37, also belongs here. (See Delitzsch, Comm. on Isaiah, p. 5.))
2Ki 21:17-18 Manasseh was buried “in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzza.” “His house” cannot be the royal palace built by Solomon, because the garden is also called the garden of Uzza, evidently from the name of its former possessor. “His house” must therefore have been a summer palace belonging to Manasseh, the situation of which, however, it is impossible to determine more precisely. The arguments adduced by Thenius in support of the view that it was situated upon Ophel, opposite to Zion, are perfectly untenable. Robinson ( Pal. i. p. 394) conjectures that the garden of Uzza was upon Zion. The name ( ) occurs again in 2Sa 6:8; 1Ch 8:7; Ezr 2:49, and Neh 7:51.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Manasseh’s Impious Reign. | B. C. 698. |
1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hephzibah. 2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel. 3 For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. 4 And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD said, In Jerusalem will I put my name. 5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD. 6 And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. 7 And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house, of which the LORD said to David, and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever: 8 Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers; only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them. 9 But they hearkened not: and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel.
How delightful were our meditations on the last reign! How many pleasing views had we of Sion in its glory (that is, in its purity and in its triumphs), of the king in his beauty! (for Isa. xxxiii. 17 refers to Hezekiah), and (as it follows there, v. 20) Jerusalem was a quiet habitation because a city of righteousness, Isa. i. 26. But now we have melancholy work upon our hands, unpleasant ground to travel, and cannot but drive heavily. How has the gold become dim and the most fine gold changed! The beauty of Jerusalem is stained, and all her glory, all her joy, sunk and gone. These verses give such an account of this reign as make it, in all respects, the reverse of the last, and, in a manner, the ruin of it.
I. Manasseh began young. He was but twelve years old when he began to reign (v. 1), born when his father was about forty-two years old, three years after his sickness. If he had sons before, either they were dead, or set by as unpromising. As yet they knew of nothing bad in him, and they hoped he would prove good; but he proved very bad, and perhaps his coming to the crown so young might help to make it so, which yet will by no means excuse him, for his grandson Josiah came to it younger than he and yet acted well. But being young, 1. He was puffed up with his honour and proud of it; and thinking himself very wise, because he was very great, valued himself upon his undoing what his father had done. It is too common for novices to be lifted up with pride, and so to fall into the condemnation of the devil. 2. He was easily wrought upon and drawn aside by seducers, that lay in wait to deceive. Those that were enemies to Hezekiah’s reformation, and retained an affection for the old idolatries, flattered him, and so gained his ear, and used his power at their pleasure. Many have been undone by coming too soon to their honours and estates.
II. He reigned long, longest of any of the kings of Judah, fifty-five years. This was the only very bad reign that was a long one; Joram’s was but eight years, and Ahaz’s sixteen; as for Manasseh’s, we hope that in the beginning of his reign for some time affairs continued to move in the course that his father left them in, and that in the latter end of his reign, after his repentance, religion got head again; and, no doubt, when things were at the worst God had his remnant that kept their integrity. Though he reigned long, yet some of this time he was a prisoner in Babylon, which may well be looked upon as a drawback from these years, though they are reckoned in the number because then he repented and began to reform.
III. He reigned very ill.
1. In general, (1.) He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and which, having been well educated, he could not but know was so (v. 2): He wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord, as if on purpose to provoke him to anger, v. 6. (2.) He did after the abominations of the heathen (v. 2) and as did Ahab (v. 3), not taking warning by the destruction both of the nations of Canaan and the house of Ahab for their idolatry; nay (v. 9), he did more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed. When the holy seed degenerate, they are commonly worse than the worst of the profane.
2. More particularly, (1.) He rebuilt the high places which his father had destroyed, v. 3. Thus did he trample upon the dust, and affront the memory, of his worthy father, though he knew how much he was favoured of God and honoured of men. He concurred, it is probable, with Rabshakeh’s sentiments (ch. xviii. 22), that Hezekiah had done ill in destroying those high places, and pretended the honour of God, and the edification and convenience of the people, in rebuilding them. This he began with, but proceeded to that which was much worse; for, (2.) He set up other gods, Baal and Ashtaroth (which we translate a grove), and all the host of heaven, the sun and moon, the other planets, and the constellations; these he worshipped and served (v. 3), gave their names to the images he made, and then did homage to them and prayed for help from them. To these he built altars (v. 5), and offered sacrifices, no doubt, on these altars. (3.) He made his son pass through the fire, by which he dedicated him a votary to Moloch, in contempt of the seal of circumcision by which he had been dedicated to God. (4.) He made the devil his oracle, and, in contempt both of urim and prophecy, he used enchantments and dealt with familiar spirits (v. 6) like Saul. Conjurers and fortune-tellers (who pretended, by the stars or the clouds, lucky and unlucky days, good and bad omens, the flight of birds, or the entrails of beasts, to foretel things to come) were great men with him, his intimates, his confidants; their arts pleased his fancy, and gained his belief, and his counsels were under their direction. (5.) We find afterwards (v. 16) that he shed innocent blood very much in gratification of his own passion and revenge; some perhaps were secretly murdered, others taken off by colour of law. Probably much of the blood he shed was theirs that opposed idolatry and witnessed against it, that would not bow the knee to Baal. The blood of the prophets is, in a particular manner, charged upon Jerusalem, and it is probable that he put to death many of them. The tradition of the Jews is that he caused the prophet Isaiah to be sawn asunder; and many think the apostle refers to this in Heb. xi. 37, where he speaks of those that had so suffered.
3. Three things are here mentioned as aggravations of Manasseh’s idolatry:– (1.) That he set up his images and altars in the house of the Lord (v. 4), in the two courts of the temple (v. 5), in the very house of which God had said to Solomon, Here will I put my name, v. 7. Thus he defied God to his face, and impudently affronted him with his rivals immediately under his eye, as one that was neither afraid of God’s wrath nor ashamed of his own folly and wickedness. Thus he desecrated what had been consecrated to God, and did, in effect, turn God out of his own house and put the rebels in possession of it. Thus, when the faithful worshippers of God came to the place he had appointed for the performance of their duty to him, they found, to their great grief and terror, other gods ready to receive their offerings. God had said that here he would record his name, here he would put it for ever, and here it was accordingly preserved, while the idolatrous altars were kept at a distance; but Manasseh, by bringing them into God’s house, did what he could to alter the property, and to make the name of the God of Israel to be no more in remembrance. (2.) That hereby he put a great slight upon the word of God, and his covenant with Israel. Observe the favour he had shown to that people in putting his name among them,–the kindness he intended them, never to make them move out of that good land,–and the reasonableness of his expectations from them, only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them,2Ki 21:7; 2Ki 21:8. Upon these good terms did Israel stand with God, and had as fair a prospect of being happy as any people could have; but they hearkened not, v. 9. They would not be kept close to God either by his precepts or by his promises; both were cast behind their back. (3.) That hereby he seduced the people of God, debauched them, and drew them into idolatry, v. 9. He caused Judah to sin (v. 11), as Jeroboam had caused Israel to sin. His very example was enough to corrupt the generality of unthinking people, who would do as their king did, right or wrong. All that aimed at preferment would do as the court did; and others thought it safest to comply, for fear of making their king their enemy. Thus, one way or other, the holy city became a harlot, and Manasseh made her so. Those will have a great deal to answer for that not only are wicked themselves, but help to make others so.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Second Kings – Chapter 21 AND Second Chronicles – Chapter 33
Manaseeh’s Reign – 2Ki 21:1-9 AND 2Ch 33:1-9
Upon the death of King Hezekiah Judah acquired another child king. Manasseh came to the throne of Judah at the age of twelve years and set a record tenure, fifty-five years. Manasseh is another of those strange paradoxes among the kings of Israel and Judah. He was the wicked son of the good father who was the son of a wicked father. What influenced Manasseh to be such an evil man? Nothing is known of his mother, so the blame cannot really be put on her. Cnly her name, Hephzibah, is given. The name means “my delight is in her.” and Isaiah gives it as one of the Lord’s names for a restored Israel (Isa 62:4;. It might be implied from this that she was a good person.
Regardless of the reason, Manasseh was certainly the worst king Judah had had, not even barring his grandfather Ahaz. He set himself the task of undoing the good work Hezekiah had done. It must be that the old idolatrous princes regained the official positions in the kingdom. The high places were restored and worship of the Canaanite gods reestablished. Altars to the Baals were erected, the groves were revived, and the heavenly bodies became objects of worship. The Kings account indicates that Manasseh patterned his religious revolution after that of Ahab of Israel. He practiced child sacrifice, even .offering his own son on the pagan altar.
The sacred precincts of the temple were violated by Manasseh’s idolatry. Shrines for the heavenly bodies were set up in the courts o` the temple. He indulged in cultic practices represented in the witchcraft and wizardry of the times. Manasseh did these things fully aware of the law of God which forbade it. He constructed himself an idol of the grove for placement in the temple. This was the false god served by sexual orgies in the groves and may imply that Manasseh introduced ritual prostitution in the temple itself. The Scriptures emphasize that Manasseh did these wicked things though he knew the Lord had said He would place His name there for ever. This command had been given to both David and Solomon in the initial stages of planning and building the temple.
The Lord in making these promises to David and Solomon had agreed to make the temple His house and Jerusalem His city so long as Israel adhered to the law given from God by the hand of Moses. If they observed all His commandments, the Lord promised that Israel would dwell safely in the land He had given them. But the people followed the evil leadership of their new king, not heeding the commands of the Lord. The Scriptures say Manasseh seduced the people of Judah to do worse than the Canaanite tribes whom He drove out of the land to give it to Israel.
Much has been written about whether Hezekiah was in serious error in seeking an extension to his life. Manasseh is the chief reason for raising the question. It is assumed that Hezekiah had no heir to the throne when he received the pronouncement of his impending death, for twelve year old Manasseh was born during the fifteen year extension of life. Had Hezekiah died in his fourteenth year Judah would never have had wicked Manasseh to bring God’s wrath on the land to its ultimate expulsion of the people.
But it is a very debatable question. The early death of Hezekiah may, or may not, have brought about a better rule. Furthermore, the good lessons from Hezekiah’s repentance and his attendant humility would not have been either. To speculate on what might have been is about one of the most useless pastimes commentators can indulge in. It is better to simply take the account of actual events and draw lessons from them.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
MANASSEH: THE REIGN OF TERROR IN JERUSALEM
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.
2Ki. 21:1. Manasseh was twelve years old, &c.Born, therefore, three years after his fathers recovery. His reign was the longest of any king in either kingdom.
2Ki. 21:2. He did evil after the abominations of the heathenHis minority was passed under Court influences wholly alien from Hezekiahs aspirations; for there was a powerful party in the realm who revolted in heart from all the religious reforms which king Hezekiah introduced into the kingdom; scornful men, who ruled the people in Jerusalem (Isa. 28:14); rebellious and lying children, that would not hear the word of the Lord (Isa. 30:9-12).
2Ki. 21:3. Altars for Baal, and made a grovei.e., an image of Astarte. Ahab introduced these idolatries into Israel (see 2Ki. 16:3-4). And worshipped all the hosts of heaven (comp. Notes on 2Ki. 17:16)From this worship of the heavenly bodies-sun, moon, planets, zodiacal constellations (cap. 2Ki. 23:5)arose the Chaldean system of astrology; and this being introduced among the people, led to the multiplication of astrologers, soothsayers, and magicians; and these became the nations oracle in place of Jehovah.
2Ki. 21:5. Altars for all the hosts of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LordThis was the most advanced stage of profanation which had yet been reached. Iniquity added unto iniquity: impiety becomes more blasphemous as it proceeds.
2Ki. 21:6. Observed times and used enchantmentsImpostors, whose trade was in occult arts, poured into Israel from Chaldea, and Manasseh became their patron, and found delight in becoming himself an adept in the black craft. The word comes from , a serpent, and means omen ex serpentibus petere, and passes into the meaning of divination in general. He dealt with familiar spirits, i.e., either trained such persons, or practised with them, or partronized them; but the result was that he raised them into an official status in the realm.
2Ki. 21:7. Set up a graven image in the house, &c.That is, , Asheruh or Astarte. Clearly, from 1Ki. 8:16; 1Ki. 9:3, the house was the very sanctuary in which Jehovah Himself had dwelt, not merely in the courts (2Ki. 21:5). 2Ki. 21:8-9. The terms of Israels stabilityOnly if they observe to do (2Ki. 21:8); but they hearkened not (2Ki. 21:9). From their first being planted in Canaan this condition was affirmed (2Sa. 7:10), but they so completely degenerated from the covenant as to do more impiously than the very Canaanites who were expelled from the land that Israel might inherit it; for the Canaanites were faithful to their deities, but Israel rejected their God, and worshipped base innovations.
2Ki. 21:10. The Lord spake by His servants the prophetsThese were Hoshea, Joel, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Isaiah. These words of the seers were kept in the national annals, along with the records of Manassehs deeds (2Ch. 33:18).
2Ki. 21:13. The line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of AhabThe vanquished, or war prisoners, were measured off with the line (), as marked or separated to slaughter (2Sa. 8:2); the use of the plummet implies a levelled and cleared space, suggesting the complete clearance of Ahabs house.
2Ki. 21:16. Moreover, Manasseh shed innocent bloodOf the godly people who would not concur in his impious deeds, and protested against them. A Jewish tradition survived even to the time of the Christian fathers that Isaiah was among the victims of Manassehs intolerant persecutions; and it is reported that he was sawn in two while fastened to a cedar tree in which he had secreted himself. 2Ki. 21:19-26. Amons guilty reignFollowing all the evils of Manasseh, he stirred such animosity among his Court attendants (his servants) that an intrigue sprang up in the palace, issuing in regicide. The people of the land (2Ki. 21:24), who avenged the kings death; suggesting that a popular outburst of indignation ensued, in which the conspirators against Amon were but to the slaughter. These conspiracies may suggest the opposing religious or irreligious conflicts which were struggling for ascendancy; they who slew Amon may have regarded themselves as doing Gods service; the Cromwellian era in English history harmonizing therewith. And the people who took vengeance on these servants were probably prompted by exasperated attachment to Amons idolatry, and thought to re-mstate Amons regims when placing; his son on the throne; but they knew not what would be the policy of that chillds life. Who can predict what course will be choses by a child as yet but eight years old!W. H. J.
HOMILETICS OF 2Ki. 21:1-18
RELIGIOUS ANARCHY
THE reign of Manasseh was the longest and darkest in the history of Judah. The reformation under Hezekiah was superficial. Idolatry had a firm hold upon the nation, and receiving once more the patronage of royalty, rapidly became the predominating power. Being intolerant of any rival, and dreading another reaction, it strove to secure permanent supremacy. A great struggle ensued between the lovers of Jehovah and the zealots for heathenism. As in other similar conflicts in the history of the Church, the stronger party sought to drive the weaker into submission by the terrors of a blood-thirsty persecution. The most faithful and gifted of Gods servants were victims; and according to tradition Isaiah was sawn asunder by the savage emissaries of Manasseh. This paragraph furnishes a gloomy description of the prevalence of Religious Anarchy.
I. Seen in the reckless reversal of the policy of reformation (2Ki. 21:3). Manasseh showed little respect for the memory and life-work of his father. He pulled down what his father had painfully toiled for years to build up: it is so much easier to destroy than to construct. It is also a revelation of the fickleness of the people, and the shallowness of the reformation under Hezekiah, that they so readily fell in with the idolatrous policy of Manasseh. Alas! how few are there who clearly comprehend and earnestly maintain great, vital reforming principles! It takes years and generations to thoroughly impregnate the bulk of the people. And yet truth must ultimately triumph over all opposition. Over the principal gate of the city of Konigratz is a bas-relief representation of John Huss, the Bohemian Reformer, in the act of kneeling, before his martyrdom, and underneath are inscribed the words, The blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, cleanseth us from all sin. A reaction set in. The enemies of Huss triumphed for a time. They sought to destroy every vestige of the Reformers work; and, as one means of obliterating his memory, they plastered over this public memorial. But the principles of the Reformation were again in the ascendant, and time crumbled the plaster which had hidden the monument, leaving distinct once more this public reminder of the great Reformers work and sufferings. So is it with all honest reforming work. It may be obscured for years; but it will re-appear. Work done for God is immortal. It is vain to struggle against it.
II. Seen in the shameless outrages perpetrated by the votaries of a false religion (49). Not content with their liberty to worship idols and with the restoration of the high places and the erection of altars to Baal, the heathen party desecrated the temple of Jehovah by placing in it a carved figure of Asherah. This is regarded by the historian as the most aggravated outrage of the idolatrous king. The worst features of the reigns of Athaliah and Ahaz are outrivalled. No insult offered to Jehovah can be too offensive; no enormity the ingenuity of the heathen priests can devise is too low for the tastes and practices of the debauched king. Little do we know the depths of infamy to which we may be dragged by our sins. Manasseh, beginning life amidst the holiest influences, sank down till he became the execration of history.
III. Seen in the outbreak of a cruel and sanguinary persecution (2Ki. 21:16). The heathen party began to feel their power; and they used it mercilessly. Injury is added to insult. When they had once tasted blood they were insatiable. Every opponent, every Nonconformist, shall cease to breathe. The attempts of any future reforming kings shall be made impossible; they have had enough of that. The noblest patriots and choicest teachers were victims; among them, as is supposed, the venerable Isaiah. As in similar eruptions of fanatical cruelty, all classes suffered. It is estimated by Prudhomme that the victims of the first French Revolution numbered 1,022,351; and in the dismal catalogue of the different classes of society, he shows that, while the flower of the nobility was despatched, the humbler orders suffered the most. It is a mad, futile policy to enforce governmental or religious principles by terror and bloodshed. It only provokes reprisals often more savage than those sought to be avenged.
IV. Calls forth the special vengeance of heaven (2Ki. 21:10-15). The wickedness of Manasseh was not carried on without protest and warning. The voice of the faithful prophet might be cruelly hushed in death, but the testimony was delivered and heard. Jehovah was not an indifferent spectator of the agonies of His martyred servants; and He will be avenged on the adversary. Before He strikes, He warns. The punishment of degenerate Judah shall terrify all who hear of it. The kingdom shall be shattered, and the people who are not exterminated in war shall be driven into ignominious captivity. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
LESSONS:
1. Reform, to be permanent, must be thorough.
2. A nation may well mourn when the wicked are in power.
3. The God of the martyrs will not fail to take vengeance on His enemies and theirs.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
2Ki. 21:1-9. Manasseh the seduced and the seducer. Even God-fearing parents often have perverse children without any fault of their own. So much greater is the guilt of those who lead infant children astray after the death of their parents, instead of giving them care and good training. It is especially important that princes should be guided in their youth by good counsellors and governors. God is not confined with His word to any land or people. If His word is not received with love and gratitude, and if it is not feared, then He will come soon and remove the candlestick from its place, so that men may go astray and become a prey to terrible errors. To fall is easier than to rise. If the infection comes from above, it spreads with greater celerity.Lange.
The one subject of the only collection of Hebrew books we possess isGod. How different with the literature of every other people! It is necessary to remember this striking characteristic, if we would rightly estimate the religious enthusiasm under Hezekiah, or the mortal struggle against heathenism under his son Manasseh. The national party, zealous for the worship of Jehovah, the God of their fathers, looked back to a golden age under David; but since his day had seen the rise and occasional triumph of foreign heathenism, countenanced by a number of their kings and by the court and upper classes. But as in all communities, in every age, it was only a minority who cherished, with a full and intelligent conviction, the great principles which thus for a time were triumphant. The mass of the people now, as always, passively yielded themselves to the spirit of the day; ready to follow Hezekiahs reforms in the excitement of the hour, but no less so to pass over to the heathen party, should it again get the ascendancy. Two forces contended for supremacy: the national party, or Jehovah-worshippersunder the prophetsand the patrician party, who sighed for the glitter of foreign manners and the fancied security of foreign alliances, and, to secure both, were eager to adopt the heathenism of the neighbouring monarchies.Geikies Hours with the Bible.
2Ki. 21:1. Kingship.
1. Involves great cares and responsibilities.
2. Is too heavy and cumbrous for inexperienced youth.
3. Presents an opportunity for working out great good or great evil.
Manassehs minority, spent under the influence of guardians who were hostile to the religious principles and reforming policy of his father, may account in part for the anti-theocratic principles of his reign. The work of religious reformation which Hezekiah had zealously carried on was but partially accomplished. There was little appearance of its influence on the heart and manners of the people at large. On the contrary, the true fear of God had vanished from the mass of the people, corruption and vice increased, and were openly practised by the degenerate leaders who, having got the young prince Manasseh into their power, directed his education, trained him up in their views, and seduced him into the open patronage of idolatry.Jamieson.
Manasseh and Josiah.
1. Both began to reign in early life.
2. Both were powerfully influenced by their mothers.
3. Both had widely different careersthe reign of Manasseh was the darkest, and of Josiah the brightest period of the later history of Judah.
2Ki. 21:2-9. Unexampled wickednessEvidenced.
1. In the contemptuous manner in which the example of a good father is regarded.
2. In the irreverent and insulting treatment of Gods own house.
3. In the way in which the worst abominations of the heathen are outrivalled.
4. In enforcing idolatry upon the people, and utterly ignoring the existence of Jehovah.
5. The more reprehensible in those who have been taught the knowledge of the true God.
2Ki. 21:6. The rule of superstition.
1. Depends upon the extent of popular ignorance.
2. Maintained by sleight of hand and a parade of Wisdom
3. Is dissipated by the advance of true science.
A great influx of these impostors had, at various times, poured from Chaldea into the land of Israel to pursue their gainful occupations, especially during the reigns of the latter kings; and Manasseh was not only their liberal patron, but zealous to appear himself an adept in the arts. He raised them into an influential class at his court, as they were in that of Assyria and Babylon, where nothing was done till they had ascertained the lucky hour and promised a happy issue.Jamieson.
2Ki. 21:7-8. Idolatrous intrusion into the Temple.
1. Outrages the majesty and supremacy of Jehovah.
2. Insults the Divine purity.
3. Indicates the loss of all respect for the Divine commands and promises.
2Ki. 21:9. There was a gradation in the apostacy of Judah similar to that of Israel. Ahaz abandoned the worship of Jehovah, but did not seduce the generality of his subjects; whereas the height and front of Manassehs offending was that his pernicious influence carried the whole nation along with him into idolatry.Jamieson.
What havoc does this wicked son of Hezekiah make in the church of God. As if he had been born to ruin religion; as if his only felicity had been to untwist or tear in one day that holy web which his father had been weaving nine and twenty years; to set up that offensive pile which had been above three hundred years in pulling down: so long had the high places stood. The zeal of Hezekiah in demolishing them honoured him above all his predecessors; and now the first act of this green head was their re-edifying. That mischief may be done in a day, which many ages cannot redress.Bp. Hall.
2Ki. 21:10-15. Unexampled punishment.
1. Shall be of such a character as to appal all who hear of it (2Ki. 21:12).
2. Shall be a complete and humiliating national overthrow (2Ki. 21:13).
3. Shall abandon the victims to the cruel ravages of the enemy.
4. Merited by lengthened provocation.
2Ki. 21:10. This doom of utter and universal extermination, which was threatened against Judah, was averted by repentance, at least to a certain extent, inasmuch as a large portion of Judah was restored from the Babylonish captivity. But it was executed on the kingdom of Israel, which, as the sin of its people had been over a longer duration and of a more aggravated character, was more severely punished.Jamieson.
2Ki. 21:12. We are sensible of the least touch of our own miseries; how rarely are we affected with other mens calamities! Yet this evil shall be such as that the rumour of it shall beat no ear that shall not glow with an astonishing commiseration.Bp. Hall.
2Ki. 21:13. The standard of Divine judgment.
1. Is based on unchanging principles of justice.
2. Takes into account the circumstances under which the offence is committed.
3. Necessitates the most thorough punishment of unrepented wrong-doing.
A dish is turned over when there is nothing more in it. That is the hardest punishment which God can inflict on a soul which turns away from Him. There is then no longer a drop to be found in it of that which was in it before.
2Ki. 21:16. The persecuting spirit.
1. Riots in cruelty and bloodshed.
2. Makes no distinction between the innocent and guilty.
3. Is most vindictive towards those who have the courage to expose its wickedness.
4. Is limited only by its power and opportunities.
Idolatry and tyranny are closely allied. Those whom Satan has in his toils he leads from one sin to another. Enmity to the word of God is not merely a different opinion or contradiction in regard to religious matters, but a devilish power which impels even to the shedding of innocent blood. It is possible to kill the preachers of truth, but not the truth itself. He who was the Truth was nailed to the Cross, but His words remain, though heaven and earth pass away. The blood of the martyrs only fertilized the soil of the Church, so that it has borne richer and more abundant fruit. All innocent blood cries to heaven as that of Abel did.Lange.
2Ki. 21:17-18. The variations respecting the fate of Manasseh are complicated. In the Jewish Church his name was stamped with peculiar infamy. If a noble name had to be replaced by an odious one, that of Manasseh was substituted. His life in the book of Kings closes without any relieving trait. It was considered as the turning-point of Judahs sins. The doom was pronounced irreversible by any subsequent reforms.Stanley.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
I. THE REPROBATION AND REPENTANCE OF MANASSEH 21:118
Considering the length of his reign, very little is known about Manasseh. After a brief and somewhat general introduction to his reign (2Ki. 21:1-9), the author of Kings inserts a summary of the prophetic preaching during these days (2Ki. 21:10-15). With the addition of a couple more important facts about Manasseh, the account of this king comes to an end (2Ki. 21:16-18).
A. INTRODUCTION TO THE REIGN OF MANASSEH 21:19
TRANSLATION
(1) Manasseh was twelve yean old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem; and the name of his mother was Hephzibah. (2) He did that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD like the abominations of the nations which the LORD had driven out before the children of Israel. (3) For again he built up the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected an altar to Baal, and made an Asherah as did Ahab king of Israel; and he worshiped all the host of the heavens, and served them. (4) And he built altars in the house of the LORD of which the LORD had said, In Jerusalem I will put My name. (5) And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD. (6) And he made his son to pass through the fire, and was an observer of times; he used enchantments and placed in office necromancers and wizards. He did much evil in the eyes of the LORD to provoke Hun. (7) And he set a graven image of the Asherah which he had made in the house of which the LORD had said to David and unto Solomon his son, In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I shall put My name forever. (8) And I will not again move the feet of Israel from the ground which I gave to their fathers; only if they be careful to do according to all which I commanded them, and to all the instruction which Moses My servant commanded them. (9) But they would not hearken, and Manasseh seduced them to do evil more than the nations which the LORD had destroyed from before the children of Israel.
COMMENTS
Since Manasseh was only twelve years old when he began to reign, he must have been born during that grace period which God added to the life of Hezekiah. His name means for- getting, and perhaps was bestowed upon the babe because God had caused Hezekiah to forget the grief of his near-fatal illness and the humiliating circumstances of Sennacheribs invasion. The fifty-five year reign of Manasseh was the longest of any king of Israel or Judah. The name of Manassehs motherHephzibah[630]means My delight is in her (2Ki. 21:1). It has been conjectured by some that she probably served as regent during the minority of her son.
[630] Isaiah gave this name to restored Jerusalem. Cf. Isa. 62:4.
Thirteenth King of Judah
MANASSEH BEN HEZEKIAH
686642 B.C.*
(Forgetting)
2Ki. 21:1-18; 2Ch. 33:1-20
Contemporary Prophets
Isaiah: Nahum
Mother: Hephzibah
Appraisal: Worst
The king sent and loosed him; even the ruler of the people, and let him go free. Psa. 105:20
* coregent from 695 B.C.
The accession of this boy-king was no doubt joyfully hailed by those who had taken issue with Hezekiahs reform efforts and Isaiahs preaching. These wicked princes were able to sway Manasseh to their more liberal point of view. As a result this king justly has received the reputation as the worst king to ever sit on the throne of David. He followed all the abominations of the heathen, the very practices for which the Almighty had brought judgment upon the Canaanites (2Ki. 21:2). High places dedicated to the Canaanite deities reappeared. The worship of the Tyrian Baal, first introduced by Ahab in Israel and by Athaliah in Judah (cf. 2Ki. 11:18), again made its appearance. A wooden image symbolic of the goddess Asherah was erected by the king. Worship of the heavenly bodies which had been so popular in the days of Ahaz again was tolerated (2Ki. 21:3).
With brazen and blasphemous daring, Manasseh introduced into the precincts of the Templethat spot at which Yahweh had graciously condescended to residealtars to other gods (2Ki. 21:4). These altars were used in the worship of the host of heaven. Some of them were placed in the outer court where the people gathered for worship, and some, or at least one, in the inner court where the priests ministered at the great bronze altar[631] in the divinely ordained rituals of Mosaic religion (2Ki. 21:5).
[631] Ahaz had for a time removed this great altar from its place of prominence (2Ki. 16:14), but Hezekiah had most certainly restored it to its rightful place.
The catalog of Manassehs crimes continues in 2Ki. 21:6-9. This king dedicated his first born son (or sons according to the Chronicler) to the god Moloch, and offered him up as a burnt offering. Manasseh was superstitious. He kept close check on his lucky and unlucky days. He resorted to enchantments, i.e., spells and the like. Necromancers (those who call up the dead) and wizards (those who supposedly had supernatural insight into the future) he placed in official positions in his court. Manasseh was determined to restore every outlawed pagan practice, and import new ones as well (2Ki. 21:6). He even set up in Gods Temple an elaborately wrought Asherah, symbol of the goddess of sex and fertility. Not content with permitting idolatry in the land, Manasseh brought it right into Yahwehs special city and shrine. The lust provoking emblem was placed in the house, possibly within the Holy of Holies itself. By these blasphemous acts Manasseh annulled Gods promises to permanently abide in that Temple (2Ki. 21:7).
Gods promise to give the land of Canaan permanently to Israel was conditional. Only so long as the people faithfully obeyed the Law of Moses would they be allowed to remain in the land. Manassehs improprieties forfeited this promise as well (2Ki. 21:8), for the people had been seduced by their king into the wiles of idolatry. This priestly nation which was intended to be sanctified to the Lord became worse than those indigenous nations which were destroyed by Joshuas armies. While the outward acts may have been the same, the sin of Gods people was the greater because they sinned against light and in spite of Gods revelation through Moses and the prophets (2Ki. 21:9).
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(1) Manasseh.This king was a tributary to Esar-haddon and Assurbanipal successively. (See Schrader, Keilinschr., pp. 354-357, who says: M The conclusion is imperative that during the last period of the reign of Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal, certainly during the first period of the latter, Manasseh was tributary to the great king of Assyria. (See the Notes on 2Ch. 33:11.) His name, like that of his successor Amon, suggests Egyptian influence. We know that combinations with Egypt against Assyria were popular during this epoch.
Twelve years old.This early accession to power may help to explain his deviation from the religious policy of his father. It is not necessary to assume (with Thenius) that the queen-mother swayed the government until he reached a riper age. Manasseh may have been older than his years. According to the datum of the text, he was born a year or two after the Assyrian invasion. Whether he was Hezekiahs firstborn son or not cannot be ascertained.
Hephzi-bah.Isa. 62:4, as a title of Mount Zion. It means my delight is in her.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
REIGN OF MANASSEH, 2Ki 21:1-18.
1. Manasseh twelve Hence it appears by comparison with 2Ki 20:6, that he must have been born three years after Hezekiah’s severe illness. See, also, note on 2Ki 20:3. Perhaps he was the only son, or perhaps his older brothers had died. Though only twelve years old, he seems to have taken the kingdom into his own hand at that early age, and this fact may largely account for the wickedness of his reign. On the early maturity of persons in the East, see note on 2Ki 18:2.
Fifty and five years The longest reign of any Jewish king.
Hephzibah The name means, my delight is in her; but notwithstanding this amiable name, and the piety of her husband, she seems to have illy trained her son.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Reign of Manasseh, King of Judah 687/6-642/1 BC. Co-regent from 696/95 BC.
In this passage the prophetic author, who was as we have seen always very selective, concentrated his attention on the failures of Manasseh and the future consequences for Judah. He mentions neither his Babylonian exile, nor his repentance (see 2Ch 33:1-20), nor is there any mention at all of his subjection to Assyria. As far as he was concerned they were irrelevant to his main purpose, which was to emphasise that from a religious viewpoint Manasseh was overall a bad king for Judah, and in his view left a bad legacy. While Manasseh himself had changed in his final years he was unable fully to reverse what he had done, both to Judah and to his family. The high places which Hezekiah had destroyed had been restored and the people had been turned back to the old unregenerate ways of worship, and even though outwardly in his final years that worship was of YHWH, it would almost certainly be the old syncretistic Yahwism of old. People commanded by the king to alter their ways of worship would not do it wholeheartedly. Above all he could not undo what he had taught his son in his earlier days, and his son thus continued to follow in the footsteps of his earlier unregenerate days, advancing the downward path of Judah and the triumph of idolatry. Manasseh had laid down a pathway that led to destruction which his late conversion could not prevent.
It is true that Manasseh had the misfortune to reign when Assyria was at the height of its power which put certain restraints on him, (not mentioned by the author), but he went far beyond what that required of him religiously. He reigned under Esarhaddon, whose conquests included Egypt reaching up even into upper Egypt, and then under Ashur-bani-pal who followed him. Assyrian inscriptions make clear that, along with many other kings, he was (humanly speaking inevitably), a vassal of both. He was also to suffer for his father’s sin concerning friendship with Babylon, for it was probably his alliance with the then king of Babylon, Shamash-shum-ukin, the rebellious brother of Esarhaddon, that resulted in his being dragged ‘by hooks’ to Babylon by Esarhaddon when that rebellion was quelled, and there he was judged and punished accordingly. After repenting he returned to Judah and sought to mitigate what he had previously done, but it was mainly in vain. The people may have appeared outwardly to respond to his repentance in his later life but it was not from the heart. His repentance came too late to alter the ingrained inward effects of his earlier evil days, effects which would rear their heads again during the reign of his son.
We are not told who reigned while he was in custody in Babylon, but it may well have been his son, with Assyrian overseers. And his son had presumably continued his evil ways, and while somewhat restrained when Manasseh returned a changed man, would allow his evil to blossom fully once Manasseh had died. That in the author’s view was Manasseh’s legacy. Like Ahab before him (1Ki 21:27-29), from the kingship point of view his late repentance could not make up for what he had been and done for most of his life, and that had been abysmal. What he had earlier done had been a number of steps too far, and it had guaranteed the final judgment on Judah and Jerusalem, which was the author’s concern.
The passage divides up into five parts:
Overall Analysis.
a
b Summary Of His Evil Life (2Ki 21:3-9).
c YHWH’s Consequent Judgment (2Ki 21:10-15).
b Further Summary Of His Evil Life (2Ki 21:16).
a Final Comments (2Ki 21:17-18).
2Ki 21:1-2
Introductory Detail ( 2Ki 21:1-2 ).
The account of Manasseh’s reign commences with the usual introductory formula and verdict on his reign
2Ki 21:1
‘Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned five and fifty years in Jerusalem, and his mother’s name was Hephzibah.’
The twelve years refers to when he became co-regent with his father in 696/95 BC, and the fifty five years of reign included that co-regency. As usual the name of the important queen mother is given. Hephzibah means ‘my delight is in her’ (compare Isa 62:4 which may well have been written around this time).
2Ki 21:2
‘And he did what was evil in the sight of YHWH, after the abominations of the nations whom YHWH cast out before the children of Israel.’
The verdict on his reign was that he did evil in the sight of YHWH, having walked in all the abominations of the nations whom YHWH had cast out before the children of Israel, the nations whose behaviour had been so evil that YHWH had ordered either their destruction or their expulsion from the land.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
2Ki 21:1-18 The Reign of Manasseh Over Judah (697-642 B.C.) 2Ki 21:1-18 records the account of the reign of Manasseh over Judah. He was considered to be the most wicked king that ever reigned over Judah.
2Ki 21:7 And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house, of which the LORD said to David, and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever:
2Ki 21:7
[71] A. H. Sayce, “Asherah,” in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, ed. James Orr (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., c1915, 1939), in The Sword Project, v. 1.5.11 [CD-ROM] (Temple, AZ: CrossWire Bible Society, 1990-2008).
2Ki 23:6, “And he brought out the grove from the house of the LORD, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people.”
2Ki 21:18 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.
2Ki 21:19-26
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Manasseh’s Reign
v. 1. Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, v. 2. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. v. 3. For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah, his father, had destroyed, v. 4. And he built altars, v. 5. And he built altars for all the host of heaven, v. 6. And he made his son pass through the fire, v. 7. And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made, v. 8. neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers; only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the Law that My servant Moses commanded them, v. 9. But they hearkened not, v. 10. And the Lord spake by His servants, the prophets, v. 11. Because Manasseh, king of Judah, hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, v. 12. therefore, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, v. 13. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab, v. 14. And I will forsake the remnant of Mine inheritance, v. 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, v. 16. Moreover, Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, v. 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? v. 18. And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
2Ki 21:1-26
THE REIGNS OF MANASSEH AND AMON.
2Ki 21:1-18
THE REIGN OF MANASSEH. Hezekiah’s good and glorious reign was followed by one of exactly the opposite character. His son and successor, Manasseh, reversed Hezekiah’s entire religious policy, and returned to the wicked practices of his grandfather Ahaz. In verses 3-9 and verse 16 his various abominations are enumerated, while in verses 10-15 God’s sentence is pronounced upon them. The account of his reign terminates with a brief summary (verses 17, 18).
2Ki 21:1
Manasaeh was twelve years old. Manasseh was thus not born till three years after Hezekiah’s dangerous illness, or till the year B.C. 710. Hezekiah may have given him the name in the spirit in which Joseph gave it to his firstborn (Gen 41:51), because God, in at last blessing him with a son, had “made him forget” his dangerous illness, with the griefs and regrets that accompanied it. “Manasseh” means “Forgetting.” When he began to reignin B.C. 698 or 697, the seventh or eighth year of Sennacheriband reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. So the author of Chronicles (2Ch 33:1) and Josephus (‘Ant. Jud.,’ 10.3. 2). The reign exceeds in length that of any other King of Judah or Israel. And his mother’s name was Hephzibah. “Hephzibah” means “My delight is in her.” Isaiah gives it as a name of honor to the restored Jerusalem (Isa 62:4). It has been conjectured that, as queen-mother, Hephzibah was regent during her son’s minority. But there is no trace of her regency either in Kings or Chronicles.
2Ki 21:2
And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. Manasseh was too young at the death of his father for his character to have been then definitively formed. He probably fell under the influence of the “princes of Judah,” who, supported by many of the priests, had maintained themselves as a party antagonistic to Isaiah during the whole of Hezekiah’s reign. Hezekiah’s reformation had been carried out against their wishes. They had always leant towards foreign alliances (Isa 20:5; Isa 30:1-7) and foreign rites (Isa 2:6-9; Isa 65:3). The accession of a boy-king would be joyfully hailed by them, and they would make every effort to draw him to their side. It would seem that they were successful. After the abominations of the heathenthe details which follow in verses 3-9 sufficiently explain this strong expressionwhom the Lord east out before the children of Israel. It was solely because of their abominations that they were east out (see Gen 15:16; Le Gen 18:25; Gen 20:1-18 :23; Deu 9:5; Deu 18:12, etc.).
2Ki 21:3
For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed. On the high-place worship, see the comment upon 1Ki 14:23. It is quite clear that the people were deeply attached to it, and gladly saw it restored. And he reared up altars for Baal; i.e. he reintroduced the Phoenician Baal-worship, the special abomination of the house of Ahab (1Ki 16:31; 1Ki 22:53; 2Ki 8:18, 2Ki 8:27, etc.), which Athaliah had been the first to introduce into Judah (2Ki 11:18), which Joash had put away (2Ki 11:18), but which Ahaz (2Ch 28:2) had recalled. And made a grove; literally, an Asherah, or emblem of Astarte (compare the comment on 1Ki 14:23)as did Ahab King of Israel (see 1Ki 16:33) and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. The worship the host of heaven, or the entire multitude of the heavenly bodies, commonly known as Sabaeanism or Ssabianism, was an ancient Babylonian, Arabian, and Syrian practice. It had, perhaps, been introduced among the Jews by Ahaz (2Ki 23:12). At any rate, it was from the time of Manasseh one of the favorite idolatries of the Jewish people. The stars were believed to guide the destiny of men, and astrology was cultivated as a main part, or even as the essence, of religion. Astrological tracts form an important element in the literature of the Babylonians. The chief objects of adoration in this worship were the sun and moon, the five planets, and the signs of the zodiac.
2Ki 21:4
And he built altars in the house of the Lord. He created, i.e; altars to other gods in the very temple of Jehovah (see 2Ki 21:5). This was a pollution beyond any that either Athaliah or Ahaz had ventured on. Of which the Lord had said, In Jerusalem will I put my Name (see 1Ki 8:29; 1Ki 9:3; 1Ki 14:21). Where Jehovah “put his Name,” making the place his, and condescending, in a certain sense, to dwell there, it might at least have been expected that he would not find himself confronted with rivals.
2Ki 21:5
And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. The temple of Solomon had two courts only, an inner and an outer. The outer court was for the people, the inner for the priests and Levites. Manasseh desecrated the temple to the extent of setting up in each of these two courts an idolatrous altar, dedicated to the worship of the host of heaven. In the inner court his altar was a rival to the great brazen altar of Solomon (1Ki 9:1-28 :64; 2Ch 4:1), which Ahaz had for a time removed from its place in front of the porch (2Ki 16:14), but which Hezekiah had most certainly reinstated.
2Ki 21:6
And he made his son pass through the fire. The author of Chronicles says, “his sons” (2Ch 33:6); but this is, perhaps, rhetorical. It was usually the eldest son, who, as the most precious possible offering, was sacrificed to Moloch (see 2Ki 3:27; 2Ki 16:3; and, for the true nature of the sacrifice, see the comment on this latter passage). And observed times. If this translation is right, the reference would be to a superstitious regard for lucky and unlucky days, such as we note in the accounts left of themselves by the Baby-Ionian kings, who begin their buildings “in a happy month, on an auspicious day”. But probably the true meaning is, “he exercised ,” or, “had regard to the evil eye,” a common superstition in the East. And used enchantments. A use of spoils is perhaps intended, such as those by which serpents () were charmed (see the comment on Isa 47:9). And dealt with familiar spirits and wizardsrather, he placed in office necromancers (literally, a necromancer) and wizards; i.e. he gave such persons official positions at his court, instead of putting them to death, as the Law (Le 20:27) requiredhe wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger; literally, he multiplied to work wickedness; i.e. he sought out every possible way; he not only restored all the different kinds of heathen sacrifices and idolatrous customs which had been in use under Ahaz, but carried his opposition to Jehovah a great deal further. As Ewald says, “He endeavored to become acquainted with all the heathen religions he could find and introduce them into Judah. For this purpose he sent into the most distant lands where there was any famous cultus, and grudged no pains for his one object.”
2Ki 21:7
And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house. He introduced into the temple, and set up there for adoration, an elaborately wrought Asherah, or “sacred tree,” probably copied from the elaborate sacred trees of the Assyrians. These had, in the center, the essential stele, or pillar, ornamented with rams’ horns, symbols of fecundity, and crowned with a representation of a palm tree, the whole being encircled by a framework of metal, twined about it, and throwing out from the circumference, at intervals, either palms or blossoms, or in some instances pomegranates or fir-cones. All the parts represented either animal or vegetable productiveness. Of which the Lord said to David, and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my Name forever. It was the extremest aggravation of Manasseh’s wickedness that he was not content to introduce his new religions into the land in other places, but brought them to God’s special city which he had chosen, namely, Jerusalem, and there established them, not on the opposite hills, as Solomon had done (1Ki 11:7), or in a rival temple within the walls, as had been done by Athaliah (2Ki 11:18), but within God’s holy temple itself. In each of the two courts he placed an idolatrous altar, whereon the people were invited to deposit their offerings; and probably in the temple building itself, perhaps in the very holy of holies, he placed that lust-exciting emblem of Astarte, which was the most horrible profanation of all true religion, turning the truth and grace of God into lasciviousness (Jud 1:4). What practical consequences followed on this profanation, we are not distinctly told; but we may readily surmise, especially in the light of 2Ki 23:7.
2Ki 21:8
Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers. The writer’s argument is that Manasseh, by these impieties, annulled God’s promises, brought about the destruction of the temple and of Jerusalem, and caused the entire people to be carried off into captivity. The promises of permanence to the city and temple, and of the continued possession of the laud by the people, were, he notes, conditional; and Manasseh, by breaking through the conditions, forfeited them. Only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all that my servant Moses commanded them. The words are not taken from any single passage, but express the general sense of numerous passages, as for example of Deu 4:25-27; Deu 30:15-19; Psa 89:28-32; 1Ki 9:4-9, etc.
2Ki 21:9
But they hearkened not. The people, and not Manasseh alone, were disobedient. Had they remained faithful, Manasseh’s sin would not have affected their future. And Manasseh seduced them. The influence of a young and gay king, always great, is in the East immense. When such a king succeeds one of strict and rind principles, he easily carries away the multitude with him, and leads them on to any excess of profligacy and irreligion. The beginnings of sin are delightful, and the votaries of pleasure, readily beguiled into evil courses, know not where to stop. Manasseh seduced them, we are told, to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel; that is, than the Hivites, Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Gergashites, and Jebusites (Deu 7:1, etc.). The sin of Israel exceeded that of the Canaanitish nations, not so much in any outward and tangible features, as in the fact that it was committed against light, in spite of the Law, and against all the warnings and denunciations of the prophets.
2Ki 21:10
And the Lord spake by his servants the prophets, saying. It is uncertain who were the prophets of Manasseh’s time. Probably Isaiah was one of them. Habakkuk is thought to have been another (Keil). Nahum and Zephaniah seem also to belong, in part, to his reign.
2Ki 21:11
Because Manasseh King of Judah hath done these abominations (comp. verse 2), and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him (comp. verse 9). The “Amorites” are put here (as in Gen 15:16; 1Ki 21:26; and Amo 2:9, Amo 2:10) for the Canaanitish nations generally. Next to the Hittites, they were the most important of the seven nations. And hath made Judah also to sin with his idols (see the comment on verse 9).
2Ki 21:12
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. “As a sharp discordant note,” says Bahr, “pains one’s ears, so the news of this harsh punishment shall give pain to all who hear of it.” The phrase is one never uttered by any other lips than those of Jehovah (1Sa 3:11; Jer 19:3). “It denotes” (Keil) “such a judgment as has never been heard of before, and excites alarm and horror.” Not the Jews only, but the other neighboring nations, when they heard of the sufferings endured in the siege (2Ki 25:8), and the severities exercised upon the king (2Ki 21:7.) and the city (2Ki 21:9, 2Ki 21:10) and. the inhabitants (2Ki 21:11), would have a thrill of pain go through them at the hearing, partly unselfish, partly perhaps selfish, since the treatment that was dealt out to others might also be reserved for them.
2Ki 21:13
And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria; i.e. “I will do to Jerusalem as I have done to Samaria; I will execute upon it a similar judgment.” God applies his measuring-line, a perfectly uniform standard, to all nations, as to all individuals, and metes out to them an equal measure of justice. Jerusalem will be presently treated as Samaria has been recently treated; and a similar destruction will overtake it. The metaphor is not to be pressed, as if cities were destroyed with as much care as they are built, by constant use of the measuring-line and the plummet. And the plummet of the house of Ahab. The justice meted out to the house of Ahab shall be meted out also to the house of David. The ways of God are equal (Eze 18:25), and he is no” respecter of persons.” He has one law for all; and, as the house of David has sinned in the same way, and to the same extent, as the house of Ahab had sinned, one and the same punishment will fall upon both of them. And I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down. Jerusalem will be emptied, as a man empties his dish of the refuse scraps remaining on it, and will be then put away, as done with. The metaphor expresses contempt as well as condemnation.
2Ki 21:14
And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance. “The remnant” here is not the remnant left of Judah after the deportation of two hundred thousand souls by Sennacherib (as in 2Ki 19:4), but the remnant that is left of the whole people of Israelthe two tribes as distinct from the ten. The ten tribes were forsaken when the Assyrians took and destroyed Samaria (2Ki 17:18, 2Ki 17:23); the two remained. Now the two also would be forsaken, and the last remnant of God’s inheritance cast out. And deliver them into the hand of their enemies. Not the Chaldeans only, who were not yet “their enemies,” but their persistent and inveterate enemies, the Syrians, Moabites, Ammonites (see 2Ki 24:2), and Edomites (Eze 25:12; Joe 3:19), who all joined with Nebuchadnezzar at the last, and “indulged their ancient hatred by taking a very active part in the final war.” And they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies (comp. Jer 41:2-10; Jer 48:27; Oba 1:10-14; Zep 2:8, etc.). The years which immediately followed the Captivity were years of terrible suffering to the remnant whom Nebuchadnezzar left in the land (2Ki 25:12). Every petty power in the neighborhood felt itself at liberty to make incursions with Judaea at its pleasure, to plunder and ravage, and drive off cap-tires, or massacre them in cold blood, or commit, any other atrocity. Some critics regard the description of Isaiah in 2 Kings 42:22-24 as prophetic of these sufferings.
2Ki 21:15
Because they have done that which was evil in my sight. The chief sins of the people were the following: Altars for the worship of the host of heaven were erected upon almost every roof (Jer 19:13; Zep 1:5); offerings of cakes were made in the very streets to Astarte (Jer 7:18); the fire of Topheta huge furnace in the valley of Hinnomwas kept constantly burning, and the sacrifice of innocent children to the bloody sun-god, Moloch, was perpetual (Jer 7:31; Eze 23:37); it was as common to swear by the name of Moloch as by that of Jehovah (Zep 1:5). Lascivious rites were practiced. Close by the temple the unchaste priestesses of Venus had their habitations, and their wretched male attendants, the Galli of the classical writers, plied their trade (2Ki 23:7). Cruelty and oppression increased among the upper classes (Zep 3:1-3); the prophets were “light and treacherous persons;” the priests “polluted the sanctuary, and did violence to the Law” (Zep 2:1-3). “Spoiling and violence,” “strife and contention;” were rife throughout the city (Hab 1:3). Ewald sums up the state of things as follows: “The atmosphere of the age was poisoned from above; and the leaders of the people of every class, whose moral decline had already become a subject of lament in the preceding century, sank into an almost incredible degeneracy. The prophets, who ought to have been ever the most loyal guardians of the truth, were for the most part like dumb and greedy dogs; many of the priests allowed themselves to be seduced into offering heathen sacrifices; the judges and nobles paid little heed to the eternal right. Equivocation and hypocrisy spread among those who ought to have ministered most austerely to public truthfulness of life; while those who were engaged in commerce and trade sank into the harshest indifference to every higher aim, and thought only of the acquisition and enjoyment of wealth. So terrible was the demoralization which set in under Manasseh, that those who remained faithful to the ancient religion were either scoffed at as fools, or allowed to perish in cold contempt without any effort being made to save them, and were even derided after their death.” And have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day. The moral and spiritual depravity of Judah, though it only came to a head in the time of Manasseh, had its roots in a long-distant past. As St. Stephen pointed out to the Sanhedrin (Act 7:39-43), it began in the wilderness with the worship of the golden calf, and went on to the worship of the host of heaven, of Moloch, and of Remphan; it was shown markedly in the terrible sin of Peer (Num 25:1-3); it stinted God’s hand when the nations had to be driven out from Canaan (Jdg 2:1-5); it provoked God’s anger greatly during the whole period of the Judges (Jdg 2:11-19); checked under David and Solomon, it broke out afresh on the accession of Rehoboam (1Ki 14:22-24), and showed itself, more or less, under every subsequent king, culminating at last in that fearful condition of things which has been described above (see the comment on the first clause of this verse).
2Ki 21:16
Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much. We must not understand this of his own offerings to Moloch, for these have been already put on record against him (verse 6), and this is something additional (note the strong expression, ), nor even of the multitudinous sacrifices of the same kind which were the result of his influence on the people. Some culminating horror is required, something not touched upon before, and something specially attaching to the monarch himself. These conditions are answered by supposing a bloody persecution of the faithful to be intended. Josephus declares positively that Manasseh “cruelly put to death all the righteous among the Hebrews, and did not even spare the prophets” (‘Ant. Jud.,’ 10.3. 1). A tradition, very widely received, declared Isaiah to have been one of the victims. Stanley says, “A reign of terror commenced against all who ventured to resist the reaction. Day by day a fresh batch of the prophetic order were ordered for execution. It seemed as if a devouring lion were let loose against them. From end to end of Jerusalem were to be seen traces of their blood. The nobles who took their part were thrown headlong from the rocky cliffs of Jerusalem”. The persecution has been compared to that of Anglicans under Mary Tudor. Till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to anotheri.e. “till he had filled it with blood and slaughter”beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the Lord (see verse 9).
2Ki 21:17
Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh. Important additions to the history of Manasseh are made by the writer of Chronicles. From him we learn that, after prophetical warnings had been in vain addressed to him and to his people (2Ch 33:10), he was visited with a Divine judgment, an Assyrian army under “captains” being sent against him, who took him prisoner, and carried him to Babylonthe city where Esarheddon, the successor of Sennacherib, and contemporary of Manasseh, ordinarily held his court. Here he remained for some considerable time “in affliction” (verse 12), and, becoming convinced of sin and deeply penitent for his manifold transgressions, he turned to God in sincerity and truth, and being restored by the Assyrians to his kingdom, he put away the idolatrous practices and emblems which he had previously introduced, “repaired the altar of the Lord” which had gone to decay, and re-established, so far as he could, the worship of Jehovah (verse 16). A special prophet, Hosai, seems to have chronicled his sins and his repentance in a work which survived the Captivity, and is twice quoted by the compiler of the Books of Chronicles (2Ch 33:18, 2Ch 33:19). The submission of Manasseh to Esarhaddon is noted in the latter’s annals, about the year B.C. 680. Other “acts” of Manasseh were the fortification of Jerusalem “on the west side of Gihon in the valley” the strengthening of the defenses of Ophel, and the occupation with strong garrisons of the various fortresses within his dominions. He thus played his part of tributary ally to Assyria With zeal, placing the south-eastern frontier in an excellent condition to resist the assaults of Egypt. Manasseh outlived Esarhaddon, and was for many years contemporary with Asshur-bani-pal, his son, whose inscriptions, however, contain no mention of him. Most likely his name occurred on Cylinder C, line 3, which is now illegible. 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? The “sin which he sinned” is probably his persecution, which was viewed as his worst sin.
2Ki 21:18
And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house. We have already seen reason for believing that the catacomb of David was full, and that Hezekiah was buried outside it, though in the neighborhood, on this account (see the comment on 2Ki 20:21). Manasseh seems to have made a new family tomb in a garden belonging to his house. It is quite impossible to fix its site. In the garden of Uzza. Probably an addition to the old palace garden; perhaps a purchase made by Manasseh with the object of converting it into a burial-ground. “Uzza,” or “Uzzah,” was a common name among the Jews (2Sa 6:8; Ezr 2:49; Neh 7:51; 1Ch 6:29; 1Ch 8:7; 1Ch 13:7-11), and does not point to any definite individual. And Amen his son reigned in his stead. “Amon” in Hebrew means “Nursling,” or “Darling,” and it is quite possible that Manasseh gave his son the name in this sense. But it is also the ordinary Hebrew form of the term (“Amen,” or “Amun”) by which the Egyptians designated the great god of Thebes, whom the Greeks and Romans called “Ammon.” It has therefore been thought by many that it was given by Manasseh to his son “in an idolatrous spirit.” So Bishop Cotton in Smith’s ‘Dictionary of the Bible,’ vol. 1. p. 61, and others.
2Ki 21:19-26
REIGN OF AMON. The short reign of Amen, the son and successor of Manasseh, was distinguished by only two events:
(1) his restoration of all the idolatrous and wicked practices which his father had upheld during the earlier portion of his reign; and
(2) his untimely death, in consequence of a conspiracy which was formed against him among the officers of his court. The writer of Kings is therefore able to dispatch his history in eight verses.
2Ki 21:19
Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign. So Josephus (‘Ant. Jud.,’ 10.4. 1), and the author of Chronicles (2Ch 33:21). He must have been born in B.C. 664, early in the reign of Asshur-bani-pal, probably in the year of that monarch’s expedition against Tyro. And he reigned two years in Jerusalem. The “twelve years” assigned to Amen By the Duke of Manchester (‘Times of Daniel’) are wholly devoid of foundation, and would throw the entire chronology into confusion. As it is, there is a very exact accordance in this part of the history between the profane and the scriptural dates. And his mother’s name was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. Jotbah is probably the same city as the “Jotbath” of Deu 10:7, and the “Jotbathah” of Num 33:33, which was in the neighborhood of Ezion-geber, and therefore probably in the Arabah. Josephus, however, says that Jot-bah was “a city of Judah.”
2Ki 21:20
And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, as his father Manasseh did.
2Ki 21:21
And he walked in all the way that his father walked in. There was not a single one among the early wickednesses of Manasseh which Amen did not imitate. The details of Josiah’s reformation (2Ki 23:4-24) show that under Amon
(1) the Asherah or “grove” maintained its place in the temple building;
(2) the two idolatrous altars stood in the two courts;
(3) the temple was the scene of the worship of Baal, Ashtoreth, and the host of heaven;
(4) the unchaste priestesses of the Syrian goddess, with the male partners in their guilt, were lodged in houses close by the house of the Lord;
(5) chariots and horses dedicated to the sun were maintained at one of the temple gates;
(6) the fire of Tophet burnt continually in the valley of Hinnom, and children were there “passed through the fire to Moloch;”
(7) an idolatrous worship held possession of all the high places all ever Judaea and Samaria, and idolatrous priests, deriving their appointment from the king, burnt incense in the high places to Baal, to the sun, the moon, the planets, and all the host of heaven; and
(8) magic and necromancy were practiced openly under royal sanction throughout the length and breadth of the land. And served the idols that his father servedas Baal, Ashtoreth, Moloch, the Asherah, and othersand worshipped them.
2Ki 21:22
And he forsook the Lord God of his fathers. Other kings, as Ahaz, had made a sort of compromise between the worship of Jehovah and idolatry (2Ki 16:10-15). Manasseh and Amen forsook the worship of Jehovah altogether. And walked not in the way of the Lord; i.e. did not even maintain an outward observance of the Law of Moses, but set it wholly aside.
2Ki 21:23
And the servants of Amoni.e. his attendants, the officers of his courtconspired against him, and slew the king in his own house. Conspiracies in the palace, frequent in Israel (see 1Ki 16:9; 2Ki 9:32-37; 2Ki 11:10, 25, 30), were not unknown in Judah (see 2Ki 12:21). They naturally arose from various causes, as insults, injuries, hopes of advantage, ambition, etc. Where, as in the present case, no clue is given, it is idle to conjecture the motives by which the conspirators were actuated. Religious motives can scarcely have come into play.
2Ki 21:24
And the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against King Amon. We certainly, therefore, cannot attribute Amon’s murder to a popular reaction against his idolatries. Everything unites to prove that the foreign worships were in favor with the people at this period, and that the kings who patronized them were more generally popular than those who pursued the opposite course. And the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead. The prestige of the house of David was still strong. The conspirators may have intended a change of dynasty; but the mass of the people could not contemplate with equanimity the occupation of the throne by a strangerone not of David’s house. They there, in a tumultuary manner, having punished the conspirators with death, sought out the true heir, and, having found him, though he was a boy of but eight years of age, placed him upon his father’s throne.
2Ki 21:25
Now the rest of the acts of Amen which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? No other acts of Amen have come down to us. He was probably, during his short reign of two years, a submissive tributary of Asshur-bani-pal.
2Ki 21:26
And he was buried in his sepulcher in the garden of Uzzai.e. in the same place as his father (see 2Ki 21:18)and Josiah his son reigned in his stead. So the writer of Chronicles (2Ch 33:25), and Josephus (l.s.c.)
HOMILETICS
2Ki 21:1-18
The lesson of Manasseh’s life, that it is far easier to do than to undo evil.
Manasseh, carried away by the impetuosity of youth, and under the advice of evil counselors, threw himself into a movement the direct opposite of that instituted by his father, and in a short time completely changed in all respects the whole religion of the kingdom. His idea, so far as we can trace it, seems to have been a welcoming of heathen and idolatrous creeds and rites of all kinds and from all quarters, together with a stern repression of the religion of Jehovah. The bloody rites of Moloch, the licentious orgies of the Syrian goddess, the Phoenician Baal-worship, the Arabian astrology, the magic and necromancy of Babylon, were all regarded as equally worthy of his patronage, all given a home in his capital; one single cult was disallowed, and its exercise punished with deaththe worship of “the Holy One of Israel.” In all these respects Manasseh found it easy enough to work his will; no one resisted him; the awful child-sacrifices suited well with one side of the national temperament, the wild sensualism of Syrian and Phoenician orgies harmonized with another. Manasseh easily “seduced” the mass of the people to do as he would have them; and, when he met with recalcitrants, had a “short and easy method” with themthe method of instant execution. All went smoothly and satisfactorily with him, probably for near thirty years of his reign, when by some actwe know not what-he displeased his Assyrian suzerain, was carried captive to Babylon, and there, in the bitterness of confinement, brought to see the error of his ways. Restored to his throne, he thought to undo his evil work as easily and completely as he had done it. Again, outwardly no one resisted his will. The external changes were made. “The strange gods” were “put away” (2Ch 33:15); the idols cleared out of the house of the Lord; the idolatrous altars banished; the formal worship of Jehovah reintroduced; the brazen altar of Solomon “repaired” (2Ch 33:16) and used for sacrifice; Judah commanded to serve Jehovah, the God of Israel. But the spirit of true and pure religion could not be brought back. Thirty years of idolatry had debauched the heart of the nation. Jehovah’s faithful followers had been martyred. The rest of the people could only give to Jehovah a lip-service. And thus no sooner was Manasseh dead than everything reverted into its former condition. The idols were restoredthe altars to the host of heaven replaced in the temple courtsthe flames of Tophet relightedthe filthy rites of the Dea Syria re-established. When Josiah came to the throne, the state of things was as bad as it had ever been, even in the worst years of Manasseh. Baal was the god chiefly worshipped in Jerusalem (Zep 1:4); altars to the host of heaven covered the housetops; men commonly swore by Moloch; the whole nation had “turned back from Jehovah” (Zep 1:6), and the city was filled with “violence and deceit” (Zep 1:9). Not even could all Josiah’s efforts remedy the evil which Manasseh had brought about. The corruption was too deep-seated; and it was Manasseh’s evil-doing, which he could not undo, that caused the final destruction of the kingdom (2Ki 23:26, 2Ki 23:27; 2Ki 24:3, 2Ki 24:4).
HOMILIES BY C.H. IRWIN
2Ki 21:1-16
Manasseh’s wicked reign.
Two thoughts are brought before us by the reign of Manasseh. They are a striking contrast to one another.
I. THE POWER OF SIN.
1. We see how sin perpetuates itself. The deeds of Manasseh were just a repetition of the worst deeds of his predecessors. “He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, after the abominations of the heathen.” He built up again the high places. He made altars for Baal. He worshipped all the host of heaven. He made his son pass through the fire to Moloch. (What we have already said on these sins applies here.)
2. We see also the progressive power of s/n. There is a progress in sin from bad to worse. Manasseh imitated the sins of his predecessors. But he went further than any of them. “He built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord” (verse 5). Worse than all, he set up a carved image, the idol that he had made, in the very temple of the living God. It is also stated that he shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem with blood from one end to the other (verse 16). Let us beware of the beginnings of evil.
3. We see also the power of sin to harden men‘s hearts. We read in 2 Chronicles that “God spake to Manasseh and his people; but they would not hearken.” How often God still speaks to men by his Word, by his providences, and yet sin has so hardened their hearts, that they pay no attention to his warnings, remonstrances, and appeals!
II. THE POWER OF PRAYER. There is no reference in this account of Manasseh to any prayer of his. And yet, strange though it may seem, prayer played an important part in Manasseh’s history. When we turn to the summary of his life which is given in 2Ch 33:1-25; we read (2Ch 33:18, 2Ch 33:19), “Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer unto his God, and the words of the seers that spake unto him in the name of the Lord God of Israel, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel. His prayer also, and how God was entreated of him, and all his sins, and his trespass before he was humbled: behold, they are written among the sayings of the seers.” Now, what was this prayer of Manasseh? It was simply a prayer for pardon. Observe how Manasseh learned to pray. For all his wickedness the Lord brought judgments upon him (verses 10-15). He brought upon him and his people “the captains of the host of the King of Assyria, which took Manasseh prisoner, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.” It was then, in his extremity and calamity, that Manasseh learned to pray. “And when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed unto him: and he was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God” (2Ch 33:12, 2Ch 33:13). Often it is affliction and trial that first teach men to pray, to turn to God. We see here the power of penitent prayer. We see here that no one is too great a sinner to pray to God for mercy. Your past life may have been given up to sin. So was Manasseh’s. You may have dishonored and disobeyed God. So did Manasseh. Yet he obtained mercy. The greatest, guiltiest sinner may get pardon at the cross. “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”C.H.I.
2Ki 21:19-24
Amon’s wicked reign.
We have here more than one instructive lesson.
I. THE POWER OF EVIL OFTEN COUNTERACTS THE GOOD. Manasseh had humbled himself before God. He obtained pardon. But he could not undo the guilty past. He could not undo the effects of his evil example and influence. We see how his sins were imitated and continued by his son Amen. How careful we should be what influence we exercise, what an example we leave behind us! Many a penitent sinner would give worlds if he could undo the consequences to others of his own past sins.
II. THE LAW OF RETRIBUTION ONCE MORE. “With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” Every case of disobedience against God on the part of Israel and her kings brought its corresponding penalty. Amen was very defiant in his sin. “He humbled not himself before the Lord but trespassed more and more” (2Ch 33:23). He cast off the authority of God. The day came when his own servants rose in rebellion against his authority, and conspired against him, and slew him. The conspirators also met with their punishment. “The people of the land slew all them that had conspired against King Amen” (verse 24). Amid all its corruptions, the nation had not yet utterly lost the sense of justice. “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”C.H.I.
HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS
2Ki 21:1-18
Manasseh; or, the material and moral in human life.
“Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hephzibah. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord,” etc. “Manasseh” says Keil, “having begun to reign at an early age, did not choose his father’s ways, but set up the idolatry of his grandfather Ahaz again, since the godless party in the nation, all whose chief priests, and (false) prophets stood, and who would not hearken to the Law of the Lord, and in the time of Hezekiah had sought help against Assyria, not from Jehovah, but from the Egyptians, had obtained control of the young and inexperienced king. He built again the high places which Hezekiah had destroyed, erected altars for Baal, and Asherah, like Ahab of Israel.” There are two great mistakes prevalent amongst menone is an over-estimation of the secular; the other, a depreciation of the spiritual. Many theoretically hold, and more practically indicate, that man should attend mainly, if not entirely, to his secular interests, as a citizen of time; that the present, the palpable, and the certain should engage a far greater portion of his attention than the future, the unseen, and the probable. It is bad to hold these ideas, but it is worse to practice them. More respect, perhaps, is due to the mistaken men who theoretically adopt them, than to those who denounce in no very measured terms their votaries and yet practically carry them out in their daily life. And yet such characters abound in Christian England, abound in our congregations, and in our clergy too. The religionist who gives more of his thought, energy, and time to the secular than the spiritual, is carrying out in his everyday conduct the principles of those secular and infidel teachers against whom he is ever ready to thunder his condemnation. Far more distressed am I at the practical secularism of the Christian than at the theoretical secularism of the skeptic. The other mistake is overrating the spiritual at the expense of the secular. It is not very uncommon for religious teachers to profess to despise secular interests, and so to enforce the claims of piety as if they required the sacrifice of our corporeal and secular happiness. I have no faith in such representations of moral duty. Man is one, and all his duties and interests are concurrent and harmonious; the end of Christianity is to make man happy, body and soul, here and hereafter. These remarks are suggested by the history of Manasseh. He was the son of Hezekiah; was born upwards of seven hundred years before Christ; began to reign when he was twelve years of age; continued his rulership for fifty-five years, died at the age of sixty-eight, and was buried in a sepulcher which he had prepared for himself in his own garden (see 2Ch 33:1-20). His inner life or character will appear as we proceed in the illustration of our subject. In his biography we have three instructive views of the secular and spiritual. We have here
I. THE ELEVATION OF THE SECULAR AND THE DEGRADATION OF THE SPIRITUAL. “He built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab King of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them,” etc. Here is a man at the height of the secular elevation. He is raised to a throne, called to bear sway over a people the most enlightened, and in a country as fertile and lovely as any on the face of the earth. In the person of this Manasseh you have secular greatness in its highest altitude and most attractive position. But in connection with this you have spiritual degradation. Penetrate the gaudy trappings of his royalty, look within, and what see you? A low, wretched, infamous spirit, a spirit debased almost to the lowest point in morals. Few names in the history of our sinful world stand out with more prominent features of depravity and vice than this of Manasseh. Look at him:
1. Socially. How acted he as a son? His father, Hezekiah, was a man of undoubted pietya monarch of distinguished worth. Many earnest prayers he offered, no doubt, for his son, and many tender counsels on religious subjects had he addressed to him. Yet what was the return for all this? His sire was scarcely cold in his grave before the son commenced undoing in the kingdom all that his pious father had for years endeavored to accomplish. His insane fanaticism in the cause of debased religion was not surpassed even by the king in modern times who most resembled him, Philip II. of Spain. How did he act as a parent? Was he anxious for the virtue and happiness of his children? No; “he caused his children to pass through the fire of the son of Hinnom.” History represents the god Moloch, to which this Manasseh presented his children, as a brazen statue, which was ever kept burning hot, with its arms outstretched. Into these outstretched arms the idolatrous parent threw his children, which soon fell down into the raging furnace beneath.
2. Religiously. A dupe of the most stupid imposture. “He observed times, and used enchantments [and used witchcraft], and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards.” He was the maddened votary of the most cruel and monstrous superstition.
3. Politically. Ruining his own country, provoking the indignation of Heaven. “So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel.” The elevation of the secular and the degradation of the spiritual, so manifest, alas! in all times and lands, is not destitute of many grave and startling suggestions.
1. It shows the moral disorganization of the human world. This state of things can never be according to the original plan of the creation. Can it be accordant with the original purpose of the Creator that wickedness should sit on thrones and hold the scepters of the world in its grasp? Can it be that Infinite Parity intended to endow depravity with such worldly wealth and power? Impossible. A terrible convulsion has happened to the human world, a convulsion that has thrown every part into disorder. “All the foundations of the earth are out of course.” The social world is in a moral chaos. The Bible traces the cause and propounds the remedy of this terrible disorganization.
2. It shows the perverting capability of the son. The greater the amount of worldly good a man possesses, the stronger is the appeal of the Creator for his gratitude and devotion. These earthly mercies urge self-consecration. Moreover, the larger the amount of worldly wealth and power, the greater the facilities as well as the obligations to a life of spiritual intelligence, holiness, and piety. But here, in the case of this monarch, you have, what indeed you find in different degrees everywhere in human life past and present, the soul turning these advantages to the most fiendish iniquity. The perverting capability of the soul within us may well fill us with amazement and alarm. We can darken the light of truth, make the tree of life drop poison, and cause the very breath of God to be pestilential.
3. It shows the high probability of a judgment. Under the government of a righteous monarch, will vice always have its banquets, its purple, and its crown? Will the great Mechanician always allow the human engine thus to ply its wondrous energies in confusion? Will the great Lord allow his stewards to misappropriate his substance, and never call them to account? It cannot be! There must come a day for balancing long-standing accounts; a day for making all that has been irregular in human history chime harmoniously with the original law of the universe.
II. THE DEGRADATION OF THE SECULAR AND THE ELEVATION OF THE SPIRITUAL. The judgment of God, which must ever follow sin, at length overtook the wicked monarch. The Assyrian army, under the direction of Esarhaddon, invaded the country, and carried all before it. The miserable monarch can make no effectual resistance. He is seized, bound in chains, transported to Babylon, and then cast into prison. Here is secular degradation. Here, away in exile, chains, and prison, like the prodigal, he began to think. His guilty conduct passed under sad reviewmemory brought past crimes and abused mercies in awful and startling forms before him, and his heart is smitten with contrition. He prays; his prayer is heard; and here, bereft of every vestige of secular greatness, he begins to rise spiritually, to become an intellectual and moral man (2Ch 33:12). We may learn from this:
1. That man‘s circumstances are no necessary hindrances to conversion. If the question were askedWhat circumstances are the most inimical to the cultivation of piety? I should unhesitatingly answerAdversity. I am well aware, indeed, that adversity, as in the case before us, often succeeds in inducing religious thoughtfulness and penitence, when prosperity has failed; that afflictions have often broken the moral slumber of the soul, and led the careless to consider his ways. But, notwithstanding this, I cannot regard adversity itself as the most suited to the cultivation of the religious character. Sufferings are inimical to that grateful feeling and spiritual effort which religious culture requires. It is when the system bounds with health, when Providence smiles on the path, when the mind is not necessarily pressed with anxieties about the means of worldly subsistence, when leisure and facilities for religious reflection and effort are at command, that men are in the best position to discipline themselves into a godly life. But here we find a man in the most unfavorable position, away from religious institutions and friends and books, an imprisoned exile in a pagan land, beginning to think of his ways, and directing his feet into the paths of holiness. Such a case as this meets all the excuses which men offer for their want of religion. It is often said, “Were we in such and such circumstances we would be religious.” The rich man says, “Were I in humble life, more free from the anxieties, cares, responsibilities, and associations of my position, I would live a godly life.” Whilst the poor, on the other hand says, with far more reason, “Were my spirit not pressed down by the crushing forces of poverty; had I sufficient of worldly goods to remove me from all necessary anxiety, I would give my mind to religion, and serve my God.” The man in the midst of the excitement and bustle of commercial life says, “Were I in a more retired situation, in some rural region away from the eternal din of businessaway in quiet fields and under clear skies, amidst the music of birds and brooks, I would serve my Maker.” Whilst on the contrary, and with greater reason, the tenant of these quiet scenes says, “Were I distant from this eternal monotony, amidst scenes of mental stimulus and social excitement, I should be roused from the apathy, which oppresses me, and I would be a religious man.” The fact, after all, is that circumstances are no necessary hindrances or helps to a religious life.
2. That Heaven‘s mercy is greater than man‘s iniquities. When conscience-stricken with the enormity of his wickedness, this one of the chief of human sinners betakes himself to his knees in humble prayer “before the God of his fathers,” how is he treated? Is he scathed with a flash of retributive displeasure? Who would have wondered if he had been so? But no. Is he upbraided for his past wickedness? Who would have been surprised if he had been stunned with thunders of reproof? But no. Is he received with cold indifference? No. “He was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom.” What a confirmation is here of that promise, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy on him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon!” “Abundantly!” This is a glorious word, a word that, like the boundless heavens of God, towers and expands over a universe of sin.
III. THE CONCURRENT ELEVATION BOTH OF THE SPIRITUAL AND THE SECULAR. The Almighty hears his prayer. He is emancipated from bondage, brought back to his own country, and restored to the throne of Israel. There he is now with a true heart, in a noble positiona real great man occupying a great office. This is a rare scene; and yet the only scene in accordance with the real constitution of things and the will of God. It seems to me that if man had remained in innocence, his outward position would always have been the product and type of his inner soul; that he who got a throne would do so because of the moral nobility of his nature, and that in all cases secular circumstances, whether elevated, affluent, or otherwise, would ever be the effects and exponents of spiritual character. Manasseh’s restoration to the throne, and the work of reformation to which he sets himself, suggest two subjects of thought.
1. The tendency of godliness to promote man‘s secular elevation. The monarch comes back in spirit to God, and God brings him back to his throne. As the material condition of men depends upon their moral condition, improve the latter, and you improve the former. As the world gets spiritually holier, it will get secularly happier. Godliness is material as well as moral “gain.” The system that best promotes godliness is the system that best promotes man’s temporal well-being. And that system is the gospel Hence, let philanthropists adopt this as their grand instrument. When Christianity shall have won its triumph over all souls, men’s bodies will be restored to their lost inheritance of health, elasticity, force, and plenty, as Manasseh was now restored to his lost throne. There is a physical millennium for the world as well as a spiritual; the former will grow out of and reveal the latter, as trees and flowers their hidden life.
2. The tendency of penitence to make retribution; Concerning Manasseh, it is thus written: “Now after this he built a wall without the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entering in at the fish gate, and compassed about Ophel, and raised it up a very great height, and put captains of war in all the fenced cities of Judah. And he took away the strange gods,” etc. Here is restitution, and an earnest endeavor to undo the mischief which he had wrought. Thus Zacchaeus acted, and thus all true penitents have ever acted and will ever act. True penitence has a restitutionary instinct. But how little, alas I of the mischief done can ever be undone! What can we do? We cannot destroy the fact of wrong. That fact will never be erased from the moral annals of the universe; it is chronicled with unfading ink on an imperishable substance. What can we do? We cannot destroy the influence of our wrong. The wrong that is gone out from us will roll its pestilential streams down through the ages. What can we do? We can “cease to do evil;” and, thank God! we can do morewe can make some compensation for the injury we have done the creation. We can, by Heaven’s grace, open up within us a fountain for the washing away of sin and uncleannessa fountain whose streams will bless with life and beauty many generations yet to come.D.T.
2Ki 21:19-26
Amon.
“Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem.” This is a short account of the brief and wicked reign of Amon the son of Manasseh.
I. HIS REIGN WAS VERY SHORT. “He reigned two years,” etc. The wonder is that such a man should have been permitted to breathe the breath of life. The sooner a bad king dies the better.
1. The better for his own sake. It restrains his own responsibilities and the aggravation of his guilt.
2. The better for his race. A fountain of moral poison has been dried up for him; the social air is less poisonous.
II. HIS REIGN WAS VERY WICKED. “And he walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them.” Of the wickedness of kings we have had abundant examples in these sketches. It is, indeed, a fire that burns athwart the ages.
III. THE REIGN WAS VERY TRAGICAL. “And the servants of Amon conspired against him, and slew the king in his own house.” How tragic the end of this man! His “servants,” who should have guarded him, murdered him. “His own house,” that should have been his castle of defense, was the place of his execution. In this verse the people:
1. Did justice to the traitors who murdered their king.
2. Did kindness to themselves in preparing the way for Josiah.D.T.
HOMILIES BY J. ORR
2Ki 21:1-9, 2Ki 21:16
The reaction under Manasseh.
Light and dark alternate strangely in the later history of Judah. Overlooking the brief reign of Amon, Hezekiah alternates with Ahaz, and Josiah with Manasseh. The good kings are very good, the bad kings very bad. The climax of wickedness is reached in Manasseh. He had a good father, as Hezekiah had a wicked one, yet he outstripped in daring ungodliness all the kings before and after him.
I. HIS PRECOCITY IN EVIL.
1. His tendencies were evil. Manasseh’s tender years when he became king do not wholly explain the strong bent he showed towards evil He became king, it is true, when he was but twelve, a mere boy, with character unformed, and open to the seductions of wicked courtiers; but Josiah, his grandson, was only eight when he ascended the throne, and he showed a disposition the very opposite. Nor does environment explain everything. Josiah had far fewer advantages than Manasseh. Evil influences were round the young prince, but there were good ones also. Hezekiah his father would give him the best of training; his mother, Hephzibah, if it was she that suggested the prophet’s allusion in Isa 62:5, seems to have left a fragrant memory behind her; Isaiah was still living to be his instructor, if he had been willing to be guided as Josiah was (2Ki 12:2); there were also the remarkable mercies God had shown to his father and to the nation but a few years before. Contrast Josiah’s position, with Amon for a father, and the country in the state to which it was reduced after half a century of heathenism. There is no accounting for these differences through heredity, environment, or in any other way which ignores personality. While as a rule the children of the good turn out well, and the children of the wicked badly, there are startling exceptions on either side. Some from their childhood seem to be the subjects of an innate, virulent depravity, which only needs opportunity to break out into violent forms of evil.
2. His environment was evil. At the same time, it is to be admitted that the circumstances in which he was placed only afforded too much encouragement to the development of Manasseh’s ungodly tendencies. It was undeniably a disadvantage to be so early deprived of a father’s guidance, and saddled with the responsibilities of a throne. The courtly aristocratic party had never been in real sympathy with Hezekiah’s reforms, and they doubtless eagerly embraced the opportunity afforded by the accession of a young king of influencing him to a different line of conduct. Throughout the country also Hezekiah’s reformation had been largely external, and people were tired of the restraints which it imposed. The reaction which ensued has been compared to that of queen Mary’s reign after the death of Edward VI; or of the Restoration after the Puritan strictness of the Commonwealth. The upper and aristocratic classes of a country have seldom been marked by their fondness for earnest religion. The way of the world and fashion are far more ruling influences with them, and as at this time “Nineveh was to Western Asia what the Paris of Louis XIV. was to Europe,” it can easily be understood that “not to imitate it was to be provincial and vulgar” (Geikie). The moment the heathen spirit got the upper hand, and secured the countenance of the king, it was sure to prevail. The earnest followers of Jehovah shrank down into an inconsiderable minority.
II. HIS EXCESSES IN IDOLATRY. The account given of Manasseh’s doings shows to what lengths he went in undoing the arrangements of his father. He seems, in fact, to have aimed at nothing less than a complete suppression of the worship of Jehovah, and the reorganization of the religious cult of the nation upon foreign models.
1. He rebuilt the high places. These Hezekiah had pulled downa point of attainment to conformity with God’s Law not reached by any previous king. Manasseh now reversed that action of his father, and rebuilt the shrines. The centralization of worship in Jerusalem may have been felt to be irksome; perhaps, too, the bad character of many of the priests added to its unpopularity. Manasseh may have claimed to he going back to old custom, with the end of making religion more free, popular, and joyous in its character. In this he had the mass of the people, and most of the official classes with him, as “in England the bulk of the nation and of the clergy returned at once to Romanism, when restored by Mary, after the death of Edward VI.” It is a sad thing to see a nation going back from any high point of attainmentReformation or otheras, again, it is a sad thing to see one individual building again the things which he destroyed (Gal 2:18).
2. His wholesale importation of idolatries.
(1) Foreign idolatries. Manasseh exceeded even Ahaz in the zeal with which he imported idolatries of every kind from foreign nations. Baal and Astarte worship, of course, was introduced after the pattern of Ahab, and the Asherah symbol again reared itself in public view in Jerusalem. The taste of Ahaz for new altars was more than surpassed under the auspices of his successor. There was imported also, in grander style than ever, the worship of the sun and moon and heavenly bodiesthe white horses and chariots of the sun being now one of the institutions of the temple (2Ki 23:10, 2Ki 23:11). “Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods?” asks a prophet (Jer 2:11); but Judah had changed her God for senseless idols. A policy of this kind is bound to end in the dissolution of a nation. The deepest bond of nationality is religion, and when a people renounces its traditional faith, and becomes a mere receptacle for a chaos of foreign religious ideas, it is sure, ere long, to fall to pieces. The Roman Empire was in this condition before its fall.
(2) The worst idolatries. It was not merely foreign idolatries which Manasseh introduced, but the worst, the vilest, and the most cruel of these idolatries. In particular, license was given to the practice of the worst and vilest rites of the Astarte-worship, and that close by the very house of the Lord (2Ki 23:6, 2Ki 23:7); while the fearful worship of Moloch, with its human sacrifices, was revived, and the king himself gave sanction to it by devoting at least one of his sons to the fire. These were the abominations for which God had cast out the original inhabitants of the land, and now they were reintroduced in full force.
(3) The attendant superstitions of idolatry. Idolatry here, as elsewhere, brought in its train a host of other baleful superstitions. Those who forsake God have ever been prone to fall a prey to the most childish delusions and impostures. The worship of the heavenly bodies brought with it the practice of astrology; the craving for communion with the unseen world led to necromancy, witchcraft, and enchantments; boasting a false freedom, the mind fell into an abject slavery to demonism (cf. the development of spiritualism in our own day). The movers in this new introduction of idolatry would no doubt claim the praise due to minds enlightened and emancipated from the narrow ideas in which the people of Judah hitherto had been bound. They were bringing in a new era of toleration, culture, breadth of view and sentiment, and the result was to be a great improvement in the state of the nation. In reality they were loosening all religious and social bonds, and opening the floodgates to corruption.
3. His desecration of the temple. The tale of Manasseh’s iniquities is not yet ended. Not content with bringing new idolatries into vogue, Manasseh set to work systematically to overthrow the worship of Jehovah, and put his foreign gods in the place devoted to Jehovah’s honor. Neither Athaliah nor Ahaz had ventured to introduce idolatry into the temple, but Manasseh took this step beyond either of them. He set up his numerous altars in the house of the Lord. Specially he erected altars for the worship of the host of heaven in the two courts of the temple. Then, to cap all, he introduced into the very building itself an image of the Asherah he had made, replete as that was with vile associations. Insult to Jehovah could go no further. In that very place of which Jehovah had said, “In Jerusalem will I put my Name there;” “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel, will I put my Name forever; “even there, in the very dwelling-place of the holy God among men, this impure symbol was erected. The Asharah-image in the temple was, as it were, the summing-up in symbol of the whole apostasy of the people, the formal token of their breach of the covenant, on fidelity to which depended their possession of the land, and as such, the desecration is frequently alluded to (Jer 7:30; Jer 19:3-5).
4. His shedding of innocent blood. This is the final and culminating charge against Manasseh, “Be shed innocent blood very much, Sill he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another.” The words speak to a deliberate and organized persecution of Jehovah’s servantsperhaps a massacre such as that of St. Bartholomew in France, a determined attempt to crush out in blood all dissent from and opposition to the king’s measures. This is the persecution in which it is said that Isaiah perished. It is the shedding of innocent blood which, we are told further, “the Lord would not pardon” (2Ki 24:4). “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints” (Psa 116:15). We see from this example what the spirit of false toleration, of spurious culture, of the breadth of view which confounds truth and error, leads to; what real intolerance and hatred of God underlie it. Rights of conscience will meet with scant recognition under any system which denies the true God.
III. HIS LATE REPENTANCE. It is a valuable appendix to this history which we find in the Book of Chronicles. There we are told what we should not have suspected from the narrative before us, that Manasseh late in life repented of his sin, and obtained mercy from God (2Ch 33:11-17). We have had instances of kings reigning well through the greater parts of their lives and failing at the close; this is the first and only case of a Jewish king reigning ill and finally repenting. We are taught by the story of Manasseh’s repentance:
1. The seeds of early instruction may blossom after many days. Who can doubt but that it was the impressions received in early days which at last revived, and brought Manasseh back to Jehovah.
2. There is hope for the worst sinners. After Manasseh, surely any one. Nor did his conversion take place till his course was nearly run. We should despair of none. Miracles of grace as great as this have perhaps rarely been witnessed, but they have been witnessed.
3. God subdues men to himself by affliction. It was while a prisoner in Babylontaken there by the captains of the King of Assyriathat Manasseh found the Lord.
4. Repentance does not always secure the reversal of the temporal effects of sin. The wickedness of Manasseh through a long reign wrought out its effects independently of him. His conversion came too late to undo them. The blood he had shed “the Lord would not pardon.” The nation was inculpated as well as he, and though he repented, it did not. It is an awful thought that no after-repentance can obliterate the effects of words spoken and deeds done while sin still had dominion over us. Nor can the effects of sin on our own health, characters, usefulness, etc; ever be completely recalled.J.O.
2Ki 21:10-18
Prophetic denunciations.
In all that he had done, Manasseh had not only sinned himself, but had “seduced” others to sin (verse 9). Persons in high positions have this great influence. They are the natural social leaders, and their example tells powerfully for good or evil. The prophets, however, though as it proved at the risk of their lives, did not fail to warn him. It was no doubt their faithful denunciations, and the terrible evils they predicted, which brought down upon them the king’s wrath, and led to the great persecution.
I. MANASSEH MORE WICKED THAN THE CANAANITES. He had “done wickedly above all that the Amorites did.” His deeds may have been the same, but his guilt was greater than theirs, inasmuch as:
1. His light was greater than theirs. The Canaanites had the light of nature, and that, indeed, sufficed to render them inexcusable (Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:14, Rom 2:15). But Manasseh had the light of revelation. He was king of a nation to which God had made fully known the truth of his Being, character, and attributes; which had laws and statutes given to it such as no other nation possessed (Deu 4:6-8); and which enjoyed the living ministry of holy prophets. He had also had the advantage of a pious father’s example and training. For such a one to go back to the sins of the Amorites was a heinous offence. It made his wickedness greater than theirs. We shall be judged by the light we possess (Luk 12:47, Luk 12:48), and if our light is not improved it will be more tolerable for heathen nations than for us (Mat 11:21-24; Mat 12:41, Mat 12:42).
2. He was guilty of apostasy; they were not. If the Amorities did these abominations, and served these idols, it could at least be said that they had never lived under any other system. God had suffered them to walk in their own way (Act 14:16; Act 17:30). But in his evil Manasseh was guilty of a direct act of apostasy. He was going back from past attainments. He was violating a covenant made at Sinai, and repeatedly renewed. It is a different thing for a heathen to commit the vile acts in which he has been brought up, and for a Christian to renounce Christian training and baptismal engagements, and do the same acts.
3. The corruption of the best is the worst. This is another principle which explains why Manasseh’s abominations are represented as worse than those of the Amorites. A nation, being once enlightened, cannot sin as the semi-ignorant heathen do. It develops worse and more virulent evils. As a brute cannot sin in the same way as a man, or a child in the same way as an adult, so a nation enlightened by revelation can no longer sin as a nation does which has not this light. The higher consciousness reacts upon the sin and modifies it. There are evils possible under a Christian civilization which surpass anything known in heathenism. If our great cities show higher heights of virtue, they could also reveal lower depths of vice than Nineveh, Rome, Pekin, or Calcutta.
II. THE SEVERITY OF JERUSALEM‘S PUNISHMENT.
1. The grounds of the punishment. These are twofold:
(1) Manasseh’s sins as above described. “Because Manasseh King of Judah hath done these abominations,” etc. (verse 11). In this sin of the king, however, the people shared. He “made Judah also to sin with his idols.” King and people, therefore, must suffer together. There is a corporate responsibility, which involves a community in common guilt, whether the sin proceeds from the head or the members.
(2) The entail of past transgression. “Because they have done evil in my sight since the day their fathers came forth from Egypt, unto this day” (verse 15). That entail would have been cut off by timely repentance, but, in default of repentance, the guilt continues to be handed down. This is another phase of corporate responsibility. The life of the nation is continuous, and one generation has to accept its responsibilities from another. We see the same principle, e.g; in the handing down of national doubt. Christ views the Jewish nation of his day as chargeable with all the righteous blood that had been shed from the days of Abel downwards (Mat 23:35).
2. The character of the punishment. It would be:
(1) Startling. “Such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle.” Wars, sieges of cities, and captivities, with the horrors attendant on them, were common enough in those days, but this vengeance of God on Jerusalem would be so awful as to shock and amaze even those familiarized with such scenes. The very report of it would produce a stinging sound in their ears. The fulfillment of the threat was partly under Nebuchadnezzar, but completely under the Romans (Mat 24:21).
(2) Measured. “I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab.” The idea is that God would take strict account of Judah’s sin, as already he had done of that of Samaria. The measuring-line and ‘plummet are introduced for purposes of precision. God would measure exactly the transgression of the people; would note precisely the degree of their deviation from righteousness (cf. Amo 7:7-9); and to this measured guilt the punishment would be proportioned. The reason of measurement was that judgment was no more to be qualified by mercy. The nation was to bear the full load of its iniquity. It is a terrible thing when God thus “marks iniquity” (Psa 130:3); for then the case of the sinner is hopeless.
(3) Complete. “I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish,” etc. “I will forsake the remnant of my inheritance,” etc. The figure of cleansing out a dish till it is as clean as wiping can make it is a very graphic one for the utter emptying and desolation that was to overtake Jerusalem. The city would not simply be humbled, as on many previous occasions, but would be completely destroyed, and the people led away by their enemies as a prey and a spoil. The predictions, as we know, were fulfilled to the letter. Manasseh might kill the men who uttered them, but he could not hinder their words from coming true; nay, his violence put a new seal on the certainty of their fulfillment. In the temporal calamities that were to overtake Jerusalem, we find a proof that verily there “is a God that judgeth in the earth” (Psa 58:11), and we are warned lest we provoke his “wrath to the uttermost” (1Th 2:16) by our own impenitence.
III. MANASSEH‘S DEATH. The reign of more than half a century came at length to a close, and, though the last years of it were marked by repentance, it left indelible traces of evil on the condition of the people. That by which Manasseh was specially remembered was “his sin that he sinned.” He was buried in “the garden of his own house, the garden of Uzza.” Amen also was buried in this garden (verse 26). There was another garden which had a sepulcher in it (Joh 19:41); but how different the sleepers!J.O.
2Ki 21:19-26
The reign of Amen.
In this king we have
I. A PALER COPY OF HIS FATHER. The only noteworthy facts about Amen, during his brief two years’ reign, are:
1. His imitation of Manasseh‘s wickedness. His father, during the greater part of his reign, had set an evil example, but towards its close he had repented. Amen did not imitate the repentance, but imitated the sin. He walked in all the ways his father had walked in, apparently setting up again the idols which his father had latterly removed (2Ch 33:15).
2. He was the father of a good son, viz. Josiah, his successor. This is another of the surprising alternations of character already alluded to. How Josiah came out of such a home with the character he did must remain inexplicable, unless we are to attribute it to his grandfather’s influence after his return from Babylon.
II. ANOTHER VICTIM OF COURT CONSPIRACY. Joash and Amaziah among the kings of Judah had met their death by conspiracy (2Ki 12:20, 2Ki 12:21; 2Ki 14:19), and many of the king of Israel had thus perished. But no king of Judah came to this end till he had first fallen away from God. Amen had a like miserable death. His servants conspired against him, and slew him in his own house. The fact that they dared to do so may indicate a tendency to reaction in the public mind against the excesses of idolatry in which the king indulged. The people, however, had no intention of allowing conspirators to seize the throne, so they slew the murderers, and set up Josiah as king. This, again, for a time led to a great reaction for the better.J.O.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
SECOND SECTION
The Monarchy Under Manasseh, Amon, And Josiah
(2Ki 21:1 to 2Ki 23:30)
A.The Reigns of Manasseh and Amon
2Ki 21:1-26. (2 Chronicles 33)
1Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mothers name was Hephzi-bah. 2And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. 3For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove [an Astarte-image], as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. 4And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which1 the Lord said, In Jerusalem will I put my name. 5And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts 6of the house of the Lord. And [omit And] he [He also] made his son pass through the fire, and observed times [practised sooth-saying], and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards [patronized necromancers and wizards]2 Kings 2 : he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.3 7And he set a graven image [copy] of the grove [Astarte-image] that he had made in the house, of which the Lord said to David, and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name forever: 8Neither will I make the feet of Israel move [wander] any more out of the land which I gave their fathers; [,] only [omit only] if they will [only]4 observe [take care] to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them.5 9But they hearkened not: and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel.
10And the Lord spake by his servants the prophets, saying, Because Manasseh 11king 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: 12Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth or it,6 both his ears shall tingle. 13And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe [out] Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down [he wipeth it and turneth it upside down].7 14And I will forsake [throw away] 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; 15Because 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.
16Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.
17Now 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? 18And 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.
19Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. And his mothers name was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. 20And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, as his father Manasseh did. 21And he walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them: 22And he forsook the Lord God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the Lord. 23And the servants of Amon conspired against him, and slew the king in his own house. 24And the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead. 25Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah ? 26And he was buried [they buried him] in his sepulchre in the garden of Uzza: and Josiah his son reigned in his stead.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
2Ki 21:1. Manasseh was twelve years old. It is uncertain whether he was the eldest son of Hezekiah, and whether he had brothers; perhaps his elder brothers had died. Perhaps a Gebirah (queen-mother) (1Ki 15:13) assumed authority until he attained to years of discretion (Thenius). At any rate there is no hint of a regency. The name , My-delight-is-in-her, is applied symbolically to Mount Zion in Isa 62:4.From 2Ki 21:2 we see that the idol-worship which Manasseh introduced was, in the first place, that of Canaan (1Ki 14:24; 2Ki 17:8; 2Ki 16:3).Luther translates , in 2Ki 21:3, after the Vulg. (conversusque est et dificavit), and the Sept. ( ): und verkehrte sich und bauete [went astray and built]. The two words, however, form one notion by an idiomatic use: he built again the high places which Hezekiah had removed. For the rest, see 1Ki 16:32 sq. Ahab was the one who first introduced the worship of Baal and Astarte into Israel [see bracketed notes under Exeg. on 2Ki 16:3 and 2Ki 17:16.] here refers no doubt to the Astarte-statue mentioned in 2Ki 21:7. In Chronicles we find the plural and . The cause of this may be that each divinity, the male and the female, incorporated several attributes, each of which was separately worshipped. Manasseh introduced also, besides these two chief divinities, the Assyrio-Chaldean star-worship, the adoration of All the host of heaven (see 2Ki 23:5; 2Ki 23:11). [See Exeg. on 2Ki 17:16. Also 2Ki 23:12 shows that the astral worship, although extended and cultivated by Manasseh, was first introduced by Ahaz.] This does not imply that the divinities of the Canaanites had no relation to the heavenly bodies, but this relation was subordinate in them (Movers). From the star-worship arose sooth-saying and magic. Men saw in the stars the originators of all growth and all decay, and adored in them the controllers and directors of all sublunary affairs.
2Ki 21:4-7 contain a climax. The idolatrous (2Ki 21:2-3) Manasseh built idol-altars even in the house of the Lord (2Ki 21:4), and altars also for all the host of heaven, as well in the inner as in the outer court (2Ki 21:5, resumes in 2Ki 21:4), nay, he even went so far that he set up the image of Astarte (2Ki 21:7) inside of the temple, perhaps in the holy place. On the formula: I will put my name (2Ki 21:7) see Exeg. on 1Ki 14:21. On see notes on 2Ki 16:3. Sooth-saying and magic are here united with this idolatrous ceremony as they are in 2Ki 17:17 (cf. Lev 19:26). So also in Deu 18:10-11, where the necromancers and augurs are also mentioned. Manasseh gave to these persons official position ( is used as in 1Ki 12:31). On see 1Ki 14:1-20, Hist. 3. On 2Ki 21:7 see 1Ki 8:16; 1Ki 9:3. The house of Jehovah could not be so utterly desecrated in any otherway as by setting up an idol in the very sanctuary, the dwelling, (Psa 5:8; Psa 79:1). The selection of Israel to be Gods peculiar people was thereby rejected.The words in 2Ki 21:8 are explained by 2Sa 7:10, and are added in order to make more apparent the greatness of the sin. Jehovah had, at first, only a dwelling in a tent in the midst of His people; afterwards He caused a house to be built for His dwelling, as a physical sign of His covenant with Israel (see the Introd. 3, and 1 Kings 6, Hist. 3, b.); and now in this house Manasseh set up an idol.More evil than did the nations, &c. (2Ki 21:9). Not because the Canaanitish nations did not keep the law of Moses, but because they only worshipped their own national deities, while the Israelites adopted, not only the gods of the Canaanites, but also those of the Assyrians and Babylonians, and forsook their own God.
2Ki 21:10. And the Lord spake by His servants, &c. It is impossible to tell which prophets are meant, for no one of those whose writings we possess can be assigned with certainty to the reign of Manasseh. It is not certain that even Isaiah lived during any part of Manassehs reign; still less is it certain that Habakkuk did so (though Keil supposes that Hab 1:5 refers to this reign), for it is probable that he first appeared under Josiah (Winer, Delitsch), or under Jehoiakim (Knobel). The Amorites (2Ki 21:11) stand for Canaanites in general; see notes on 1Ki 21:26; cf. Eze 16:3; Amo 2:9. The expression: both his ears shall tingle, 2Ki 21:12, also occurs in 1Sa 3:11 and Jer 19:3. As a sharp, discordant note pains ones ears, so the news of this harsh-punishment shall give pain to all who hear of it.
2Ki 21:13. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria. According to Grotius this means: eadem mensura earn metiar, qua Samariam mensus sum. So also Thenius: Measuring line and plummet are here only symbols for testing by a standard, for, he says, a building is built with measuring line and plummet, but not torn down with them. However in Isa 34:11 we read: He shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion (devastation) and the stones of emptiness [plummet of desolation, Bhr], cf. also Lam 2:8. Now in the text before us, also, the reference is to devastation. The two implements of construction are employed where there is an empty space of ground, whether it be that no building has ever stood upon it, or that one which stood there has been torn down. We have to understand here a state of things symbolized by the latter of these cases. The metaphor therefore means: I will make Jerusalem even with the ground, like Samaria, so that a measuring line can be drawn over it, and its houses (families) shall perish like the family of Ahab. [Why is a measuring line or a plummet applied to a bare space of ground? Only as a preliminary to building, or re-building, upon it. There is no great applicability, therefore, in the metaphor as Bhr interprets it.It means that God will come and apply severe standards of judgment to Jerusalem as He had to Samaria; that He will insist that it shall satisfy these standards; and that He will punish inexorably all shortcomings. Samaria had been thus tested, found wanting, and swept from the face of the earth,so also should it be with Jerusalem.W. G. S.] The following figure of the dish is parallel and similar, but stronger if anything. means really something hollowed out, hence, a dish (2Ch 35:13; Pro 19:24), not a wax-tablet (Calmet). Thenius thinks that the lower city, by its configuration, might well suggest the figure of a dish. However the fact may be in regard to that, we have not to understand that it was what suggested this figure. Neither is the metaphor that of a hungry man who empties a dish and turns it wrong side up (Ewald), but that of a person who, when he no longer wants to use a dish, wipes it out, and turns it over, that not a drop may remain in it. Kimchi expressly states that this was the usage of the Jews with dishes. The figure therefore implies the complete overthrow and destruction of Jerusalem with all its inhabitants (Keil). The comparison with a dish also involves some contempt is the upper side, as it were the face, in distinction from the back (Thenius).
2Ki 21:14. The remnant of my possession is the two tribes which composed the kingdom of Judah, ten having been led into captivity. , i.e., to abandon, but with the accessory notion of throwing away (1Ki 8:57; Jdg 6:13; Eze 29:5). The nation, when abandoned by Jehovah, necessarily becomes a spoil for its enemies (Isa 42:22).
2Ki 21:16. Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood. This verse is not a continuation of the extract from the annals which was broken off at 2Ki 21:9 (Thenius). It is closely connected with what is read in 2Ki 21:10-15, and forms in a certain sense the crisis of what is narrated of Manasseh. This king not only introduced all sorts of idolatrous worship (2Ki 21:1-9), but also, when Jehovah rebuked and warned him by His prophets (1015), he not only did not profit by it, but filled the city with their blood and that of all the innocent persons who sided with them, and opposed his godlessness. as in 2Ki 10:21 from one edge to the other. Josephus (Antiq. x. 3, 1) affirms: , . The latter statement does not, of course, apply to the whole duration of his reign; but there may have been a time during which innocent blood was daily shed. According to the Jewish tradition (Guemara Jebam. iv. 13; cf. Sanhedr. f. 103), which was taken up by the church fathers (Tertul. De Patientia 14. August. De Civit. Dei xviii. 24), Isaiah was put to death under Manasseh. It is said that he was sawed in two while fastened in a cedar tree in which he had taken refuge, cf. Heb 11:37. [For the details of the legend see Stanley, II. p. 544.] But it is doubtful whether he lived under Manasseh Isa 1:1 does not say that he lived so long. He must, at any rate, have been very old. It is possible that he may have suffered a martyrs death, though not in the form asserted (cf. Winer, R.-W.-B. I. s. 554. Umbreit in Herzogs Encyc. IV. s. 508 sq.).
2Ki 21:17. sq. Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, &c. Some further and very important facts in regard to Manasseh are recorded in 2Ch 33:11-20. The historical truth and credibility of what is there recorded has indeed been denied (Gramberg, Winer, Hitzig, and others). On the other hand, Ewald, Thenius, Hvernick, Keil, and Bertheau, have, with justice, maintained the historical truth of those statements. The Chronicler appeals to the annals of the, kings of Israel, and to the as his authorities, and the entire Jewish tradition is built upon the facts which he records. It is not astonishing that we do not find any reference to those facts in the book of Kings, when we consider the brevity of the narrative there given, a brevity which is to be explained by the fact that the author passes as curtly as possible-by all periods of misfortune (Bertheau). The apparent contradiction between 2Ch 33:15 and 2Ki 23:12 disappears, if we suppose (what is very possible) that Amon set up again the idols which Manasseh had removed, and that Josiah was the first who entirely did away with them (cf. E. Gerlach in the Studien und Kritiken, 1861, III.).
2Ki 21:18. In the garden of his own house. cannot be the royal palace built by Solomon, because the garden belonging to it is called that of Uzzah, evidently referring to its former owner. must, therefore, refer to a pleasure-house belonging to Manasseh (Keil). Thenius thinks that the garden of Uzzah (the name occurs several times: 2Sa 6:8; 1Ch 8:7; Ezr 2:49; Neh 7:51) was situated in the Tyropon, at the foot of the spur of Ophel. Robinson finds it on Mt. Zion. See further the notes on 2Ki 20:21.
2Ki 21:19. Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign. The assertion that this king reigned twelve instead of two years (Ebrard in Stud. und Kritik. 1847, III. s. 644 sq.) rests upon very weak evidence, as Thenius has shown.The city of Jotbah, from which his mother, Meshullemeth (that is, Friend, sc. of God, = Pia) came, was situated, according to Jerome, in Judah.
2Ki 21:23. The servants of Amon were unquestionably his court attendants. We have to understand, therefore, that it was a conspiracy in the palace. We cannot determine what causes led to this conspiracy.By the people of the land (2Ki 21:24) Thenius understands, here as in 2Ki 11:14, the military forces of the nation, and he infers that Amon had made himself popular with the troops, and that Josiah had inspired some such hopes as Uzziah once did (2Ki 14:21). There is no more reason to think of the army here than in 2Ki 11:14. The murder of the king, who had only ruled for such a short time, by the attendants in the palace, may have embittered the people of Jerusalem so that they took revenge upon the murderers. Religious differences can scarcely have had anything to do with the matter, for the immediate attendants of the idolatrous king certainly did not belong to the persecuted Jehovah-party, and, if the kings idolatry had been displeasing to the people, they would not have put his murderers to death.
[Supplementary Note on contemporaneous history, with further information as to Manasseh from Assyrian sources. As we approach the catastrophe of the history of Judah it is necessary to pay attention to those movements among neighboring nations which (humanly speaking) caused it, and determined its form.
We saw in the Supp. Note on chap. 20 that Sennacherib, having finally reduced Babylon to submission in 682, put his son Esarhaddon on the throne of that city as viceroy; also that Sennacherib was assassinated by two other of his sons in 681. The assassins were obliged to fly; Esarhaddon hastened to Nineveh and ascended the throne. He reigned from 681 to 667. Extensive records of his reign exist in the British Museum, only part of which have, as yet, been published or read (Lenormant). His first campaign was in Syria and Phnicia (see Supp. Note on chap. 17). He conquered and plundered Phnicia, and deported the inhabitants of Syria. He repopulated the country with Chaldeans and Elamites.
During this campaign he attacked Judah; took Manasseh captive, confined him in Babylon for a time, but then set him at liberty and restored him to the throne as a vassal (2Ch 33:11). Manasseh is mentioned on one of his inscriptions as tributary. Esarhaddon became attached to Babylon from his early residence there, and made it his home. That is probably the reason why he took Manasseh there, and not to Nineveh.
Esarhaddons reign was spent in extensive and successful wars in Asia Minor, Arabia, Egypt (which he conquered), in suppressing stubborn revolts in Chaldea, and in punishing the Elamites and Susianians who assisted in them. We are not here interested in these wars further than this, that the Assyrian power was, during his reign, at its height, but that Babylon kept up a continual resistance.
Very much the same state of things continued under his successor. Esarhaddon abdicated in 668 in favor of his son, Asshurbanipal, who reigned until 647. He was warlike and able. Babylon was ruled by his brother, Shamulshamugin, as viceroy, but he revolted and headed an insurrection which included nearly all the tributary provinces. Egypt was permanently lost, Psammetichus becoming king. The remainder of the revolt, however, was speedily suppressed, though it took years to follow up and punish all the parties to it.
His successor was his son, Asshuredililani, who reigned from 647 to 625. Under him the Assyrian power declined (Lenormant). See Supp. Note on p. 285.
The explanation of the incessant revolts of Babylon is, that that city had a sacred character as the home of the gods. It was so regarded by the Assyrians themselves, who knew how ancient it was, and revered it as their own place of origin. This veneration for Babylon served to keep the Babylonians continually restive under the supremacy of Assyria, and also to stay the hands of the conquerors whenever they were ready to destroy the city as a punishment for rebellion.
At the point which we have now reached (640), the time of Amons death and Josiahs accession, the Assyrian power had barely begun to decline. The Median empire had been founded by Phraortes in 657. It had secured independence, and had made important conquests in Central Asia. Just about this time Phraortes thought himself strong enough to attack Assyria, but he was totally defeated in 635 (Lenormant). In Egypt, Psammetichus became independent of Assyria, and put an end to the Dodekarchy, about 650. Babylon was, for the time being, crushed, but it was only recovering strength for another revolt.W. G. S.]
HISTORICAL AND ETHICAL
1. King Manassehs reign lasted longer than that of any other king in either kingdom, but we have relatively the very briefest account of it. The author restricts himself to a statement of Manassehs disposition towards Jehovah and the Jehovah-worship. The explanation of this may be that, in general, the Old Testament historians pass more hastily over periods which it is sad for them to recall (Ewald). This shows, however, at the same time, that the disposition towards Jehovah is the main point of interest to the author in the history of each reign, and that everything else is subordinate to this, inasmuch as nothing else touches the soteriological development in the history. Manassehs reign forms an epoch in that development, for, under him, the apostasy reached its height. If David was the model king, then Manasseh was his inverted image. It is true that many of his ancestors had tolerated idolatry, and practised it themselves. His grandfather, Ahaz, had even removed the ancient altar of burnt-offering and set up in its place another one which he had himself caused to be made on a heathen pattern, and had also sacrificed his son to Moloch (chap. 16); but Manasseh went so far as even to establish a special place of sacrifice for this god in the valley of Hinnom (2Ki 23:10; Jer 7:31; Jer 19:6). Moreover he set up an idol in the temple itself, and that, too, an image of that goddess whose worship was connected with licentious rites and practices. In fact he made Jerusalem, the city which Jehovah had chosen for His own abode, the place for collecting and practising all forms of idolatry. He was a violent enemy of the Jehovah-worship, which he sought to abolish. He formally introduced all sorts of idolatrous abominations, and he compelled his people to practise them. This had never been done even in the kingdom of the ten tribes, but now, there arose in Judah, the only remaining support of the true religion, the most open and violent hostility to its most sacred principles, on the part of the king himself! The heart of the ancient religion had never before been so sharply and violently smitten (Ewald). The sin of Manasseh, in which apostasy reached its culmination, became typical (2Ki 21:16; 2Ki 23:26; 2Ki 24:3; 2Ch 33:9; Jer 15:4), just like the sin of Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin by introducing the worship of the calves (1Ki 12:28 sq.; 2Ki 14:16; 2Ki 15:26; 2Ki 15:30, &c.), and the way of Ahab, who first introduced the worship of Baal (1Ki 16:30 sq.; 1Ki 22:53; 1Ki 8:27). With his reign, therefore, began a new epoch in the history of the kingdom of Judah, during which it moved on steadily towards its fall (Von Gerlach). Under his rule the kingdom became the very contrary of that which, according to its original plan, it was intended to be (Deu 17:20).
2. A great change seems to have taken place under Manasseh in the circumstances of the people, when we compare the status under him with that under Hezekiah. No king since David had labored, as Hezekiah did during his reign of twenty-nine years, for the pure and legitimate Jehovah-worship. The people had approved of and participated in his efforts, and had come together from all sides to the passover festival which he instituted (2Ch 30:12-13). The reformation seemed to be thorough and complete; idolatry was forever uprooted. Immediately after his death there was a complete change. The new king made idolatry, with all its abominations, the established religion of the kingdom, and was violent against the national worship and law, and against all who supported them. The people made no opposition to this, but joined in it for a half century. It had indeed come to pass before this time, that the people had fallen into idolatry which was favored by the rulers, as, for instance, under Athaliah and Ahaz, but such a general and complete change, especially after the saving power of Jehovah had just been so clearly and startlingly manifested, has no parallel in history. Yet this remarkable fact is explained, although no explanation of it is offered in the historical books, when we take into consideration the descriptions of the state of things at that time which are offered by the prophets. There had been for a long time, at least since the reign of Ahaz, a party in Judah which sought support for the little kingdom from one of the two great world-monarchies of the timeeither from Egypt or Assyria. The persons of rank, and office, and wealth, and influence especially belonged to this party. They had adopted heathen notions, and had fallen into immoral and licentious modes of life. Isaiah says of the people, even before Manassehs accession: The whole head is sick and the-whole heart faint, &c. (Isa 1:4-6). King Hezekiah had held this party in restraint, and had therefore been supported by the prophet Isaiah. After the death of the pious king and the great prophet, the opposition made a strenuous effort to control the policy of the nation. It was not difficult to insnare and seduce the king, a boy of twelve years, especially as he appears to have been inclined by nature to sensual enjoyments. When he was once caught he became the seducer of his people, while he himself sank lower and lower. It appears, therefore, that Hezekiahs reformation was one accomplished by external pressure. It did not spring naturally from a religious need which was deeply felt in the popular heart. It had, therefore, no firm ground, and the cultus continued to be only an external ceremony. On the other hand, the luxurious and sensuous idol-worship was far better adapted to please the people than the austere Jehovah-worship. We have-still further to take into consideration the inconsistent character of the people (Deu 9:12-13; Deu 31:20; Deu 32:6; Isa 1:2-3, &c.), at one moment obstinate, at the next fickle and capricious. If we take all this into consideration, the sudden change under Manasseh is not so astonishing, but is satisfactorily explained by the circumstances. Dunckers conception of the course of the development of the national religion (Gesch. des Alterthums, I. s. 502) is entirely false. He asserts that for the first two centuries after the settlement of the Hebrews in Palestine the worship of Jehovah and that of Syrian divinities existed side by side; that the first Hebrew prophets opposed with the most violent zeal and fanaticism the introduction of the Baal-worship; that then the later prophets opposed the deepened and sharpened conception of the national. God to the renewed attempt of idolatry to find a foothold and succeeded in keeping it out; and that now, under Manasseh, these two hostile tendencies once more appeared in open conflict. This conception, which overturns the entire soteriological development, rests upon the assumption that, in Israel, monotheism and polytheism stood originally side by side in equal honor. It cannot be established unless we strike Moses out of history, throw aside the Israelitish lawthe constitution of the nation, deny the calling of the nation in human history, and make of the prophets fanatical disturbers of the public peace. Ewald has explained the changed circumstances under Manasseh somewhat differently (Gesch. III. 666 [third Ed. 716 sq.]). He says: He [Manasseh] sought to become acquainted with all foreign heathen religions, and to introduce them into Judab. He therefore sent to the most distant lands wherever a celebrated worship was practised, and spared no pains to acquire it. Every new religion brought not only a new form of oracle, or of sensuous indulgence and lust, but also its own form of wisdom, and the desire for wisdom had grown so much since the time of Solomon, that it is not strange if the desire awoke to learn the secrets of all religions, and so to acquire a wealth of wisdom which the simple Jehovah religion did not seem to offer. Then, too, Manasseh sought to make all these religions accessible and agreeable to the people. It would appear then, on this showing, that the abominable and unheard-of apostasy of Manasseh and his people, the cultus of licentiousness and child-sacrifice, the cultivation of augury and sooth-saying, the patronage of necromancers and augurs, and all the rest of his senseless, superstition, arose from a desire for wisdom, and a wish to penetrate into all secrets, and become acquainted with all knowledge. No proof is needed to show that this conception contradicts the Scriptures flatly. There is no hint in them that Manasseh sent into foreign lands to import heathen religions. Isa 57:5-10; Jer 2:10-13, from which this is said to be evident, does not contain a word about it. Manasseh did not, for instance, borrow anything from Egypt. He introduced especially the cultus of the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel (2Ki 21:9), that is of the Canaanites. Neither is there any proof that he tried to make the heathen religions acceptable to the people; on the contrary, he used violence and shed innocent blood, so that Jerusalem was filled with it from one end to the other (2Ki 21:16).
[The Scriptures contain no explanation of the facility with which the people followed and acquiesced in the different attitudes of different kings toward the Jehovah religion, whether they were enthusiastically faithful or fanatically hostile. It does not seem worth while, therefore, to wage a polemic against an hypothesis like this of Ewald, which certainly has as much, if not more, in its favor than the one offered by the author. Ewalds theory does not flatly contradict Scripture, because Scripture makes no statement in regard to the matter. The passages quoted from Isaiah and Jeremiah bear very strong testimony to such a disposition on the part of the people to follow strange gods, to go to a distance to seek strange forms of worship, and to take up with any foreign novelty or device rather than to adhere to their own religion. The wisdom of the ancients was almost always bound up in religion. It was the mystery at the heart of a cultus. It was esoteric and select, only imparted to the chosen few. It had the fascination, therefore, of an acquisition in knowledge and of the discovery of a secret closely kept by an elect few. It was at once a sign of the truth of the Jehovah-religion and a reason why the Hebrews were so easily led to despise it in comparison with the religions of the heathen, that it was simple and open. No doubt also it seemed to them hard and cold and austere. The heathen religions were warm, voluptuous, and sthetic. The latter, therefore, had all the weaknesses of human nature on their side of the balance. Still further, it is very-probable that Manasseh did introduce Egyptian novelties. The name of his son Amon is the strongest testimony to a familiarity with and taste for Egyptian religion. 2Ki 21:9 does not say that he introduced Canaanitish gods, but that he made the Jews sin worse than the Canaanites, probably by practising still more foreign and abominable rites. See Exegetical notes on that verse. Moreover the idols which are enumerated in 2Ki 23:13 as having been destroyed by Josiah bear witness to the fact that Manasseh had sought out and introduced numerous foreign divinities of various kinds. Finally, the shedding of innocent blood does not prove that he did not try to make heathenism acceptable to his people. Persecution always has the aim to recommend the rival of the persecuted religion, strange and unwise as the attempt may be. There are, therefore, suggestions in this theory of Ewald which are well worth attention from any one who desires to understand the phenomenon in question, and the counter-considerations above adduced have little if any force.W. G. S.]
3. The reign of Manasseh was, to say the least, the saddest period in Jewish history since the time of David. We hear of no important events, of no victory over enemies, of no extension of the frontier, of no new beneficent institutions, during his time. The only event recorded is that an Assyrian army took Manasseh prisoner and carried him away in chains to Babylon (2Ch 33:11). The nation had never before sunk so low, religiously and morally, as at this time. In the national life the most terrible decay extended continually farther and farther. A deep and deadly corruption had affected the nation (Eisenlohr, Das Volk Isr. II. s. 310). The wildest superstition and the coarsest unbelief went hand in hand. The corruption had pervaded all ranks. Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city! cries the prophet Zephaniah. She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the Lord; she drew not near to her God. Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones until the morrow [they spare not for the morrow]. Her prophets are light and treacherous persons; her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law (Zep 3:1-4; cf. Mic 3:11). The origin of many important parts of the Old Testament canon has recently been ascribed to this time of corruption, decay, moral disease, and death. First of all, the book of Deuteronomy is said to have been written at this time (Ewald, Riehm, Bleek), also the book of Job, an entire series of the most noble Psalms, part of the Proverbs, and detached fragments of the book of Isaiah, especially Isa 52:13 to Isa 53:12 (Ewald and Eisenlohr). It is said: The deeper the corruption became and the farther it spread the more decidedly did the genuine spirit of prophecy rise up, with all the divine force with which it was endowed, in opposition to it. This is not the place to enter into a critical investigation of the time when these books were written. We have to do here only with the time of Manasseh, but in regard to it the test applies: Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? It is true that faithful servants and prophets of Jehovah were not wanting at this time (2Ki 21:10), but not a single great prophet, not one of those whose writings we still possess, was active during Manassehs reign. Isaiahs life closed soon after his accession, if not indeed still earlier. Zephaniahs first appearance was in Josiahs reign, and Jeremiahs still later. How could a time of deep corruption, which ran through all ranks of society, be a time of great literary activity and produce works of the intellect which are only possible in the midst of the richest and most active intellectual life? It has been justly said that this was a time in which bloody persecution raged. Blood flowed in streams. Of course this persecution fell first of all upon the prophets, and especially upon the most prominent amongst them. The number of the faithful must, therefore, have been small, and we know of not a single prominent person amongst them. It may be that in this small circle hymns of affliction and persecution arose, but it is inconceivable that such persons should have produced the book of Job, that model of religious reflection, and of the literary art which proceeds in its creations according to the most definite plan, and which marks the Chokmah-literature of the Hebrews (Delitsch). Still less can the book of Deuteronomy have been written at this time of oppression and misery, a book which is described as marked by a tranquil fulness of detail, an extraordinarily light and flowing style, as well as by breadth and fluency (Vaihinger). In its long repetition and development of the Mosaic Law there is not a sign of lamentation, nor a sound of affliction. It might be asserted with far more justice that there was no period in Hebrew history less capable of producing the book of Deuteronomy than the degenerate times of Manasseh.
4. The brief reign of king Amon was in every respect a continuation of the wicked and untheocratic reign of his father, Manasseh. It was distinguished by no fact or event. From the words, 2Ch 33:23 [see Supp. Note after the Exeg. section above]: And humbled not himself before the Lord, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself, but Amon trespassed more and more, we infer that he was even worse than Manasseh. The description of the moral and religious status which is given by the prophet Zephaniah, who made his appearance under the next following king, Josiah (Zep 1:1; Zep 1:4 sq.; 12; 2Ki 3:1 to 2Ki 5:11), shows that no improvement had taken place. This also appears from the description in 2Ki 23:4 sq. of all the steps which Josiah had to take in order to restore the state of things prescribed by the Law. The statement of the Chronicler (l. c.) in regard to Manassehs reformation must, therefore, be understood as referring to his own person, for it had no effect upon the mass of the people, else it would have been impossible to say that Amon had surpassed his fathers guilt. [The meaning of that passage is that Manasseh, in spite of all his wickedness, humbled himself and repented, but Amon never did so. He persisted in his wickedness. He went on from trespass to trespass without interruption. Hence he was worse than his father.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
2Ki 21:1-16. The Kingdom of Judah under Manasseh. (a) King and People (return to heathenism and the cause thereof, 2Ki 21:1-9). (b) The Prophets (their courageous opposition and their testimony against the general corruption in spite of persecution, 2Ki 21:10-16). 2Ki 21:1-9. Manasseh the seduced and the seducer.Even God-fearing parents often have perverse children without any fault of their own. So much the greater is the guilt of those who lead infant children astray, after the death of their parents, instead of giving them care and good training. It is especially important that princes should be guided in their youth by good counsellors and governors. God is not confined with His word to any land or people. If His word is not received with love and gratitude, and if it is not feared, then He will come soon and remove the candlestick from its place (Rev 2:5), so that men may go astray and become a prey to terrible errors. As Judah, which the Lord had chosen to be His people and to bear His name before the heathen, and before kings, and before the children of Israel, committed more terrible abominations than any of the heathen whom the Lord had cast out, so now also, a people, although it has the word of God and the means of grace, may fall lower than another which has never heard of His word (e.g., the horrors of the French revolution).To fall is easier than to rise. If the infection comes from above it spreads with greater celerity. Where God punishes a people he gives them bad rulers (Isa 3:4; Ecc 10:16).When the evil spirit is cast out and then returns, he brings with him seven others worse than himself. It is so with individuals, and it is so with families; they become worse and worse from generation to generation (Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh), Mat 12:43 sq.Wrt. Summ.: There are nowadays Evangelical Christians who are in many respects worse than Papists, or even than Jews and Turks, for they curse and blaspheme, they drink and commit adultery, and do other things which Turks and Jews avoid. How will such Christians stand before Gods judgment-seat when Jews and Turks are placed by their side?Cramer: Those who are ungrateful towards God, and blind to the clear light of truth, are given over to the dominion of error, so that they give their faith to falsehoods (2Th 2:11).
2Ki 21:6. The Scriptures place sooth-saying and augury by the side of sacrifices to Moloch. They belong properly to the darkest times of heathenism. Nevertheless they are found in the midst of modern Christendom. Those who believe in them and practise them have become heathen.
2Ki 21:7. Calw. Bibel: Ahaz had once closed the temple and built altars in the city. Manasseh set up idols in the temple itself. Thus Antichrist shall advance (2Th 2:3-4).Manasseh set up an image of the goddess of licentiousness in the temple of the living God. If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy (1Co 3:17). Those houses of God are desecrated in which, instead of the living God who revealed Himself to us in Christ, a God of mans invention is preached.
2Ki 21:8. Starke: Men are such that they hold fast the covenant of Gods rich promises, but will not remember the other covenant of the obedience which He requires.
2Ki 21:10. Even in the worst times God takes care (since He does not desire that any one should perish, but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live, Eze 18:23) that faithful persons shall not be wanting to warn the wicked, to exhort them to repentance, and to make known to them the coming judgment of God.
2Ki 21:12-13. Wrt. Summ.: The just God threatens the idolatrous city, Jerusalem, with the line and plummet of Samaria;like sins deserve like punishment (Luk 23:41).The Lord is good and ready to forgive (Psa 86:5), but He does not cease to be a just God, who causes every individual as well as whole cities and peoples to reap that which they have sown, for righteousness and judgment are the habitation [foundation] of his throne (Psa 97:2). This generation wants to hear only of a God who is nothing but love, but it will not hear, in spite of its apostasy, of a God who is also a consuming fire (Heb 12:29). Whose ears tingle nowadays when he hears of the judgments of God? (Heb 10:26-27).Berleb. Bibel: A dish is turned over when there is nothing more in it. That is the hardest punishment which God can inflict on a soul which turns away from Him. There is then no longer a drop to be found in it of that which was in it before.
2Ki 21:16. Starke: Idolatry and tyranny are closely allied.Osiander: Those whom Satan has in his toils he leads from one sin to another. Enmity to the word of God is not merely a different opinion or contradiction in regard to religious matters, but a devilish power which impels even to the shedding of innocent blood. It is possible to kill the preachers of truth, but not the truth itself. He who was the truth was nailed to the cross, but His words remain, though heaven and earth pass away. The blood of the martyrs only fertilized the soil of the Church, so that it has borne richer and more abundant fruit.All innocent blood cries to heaven as that of Abel did. He who dwells in heaven answers: Vengeance is mine; I will repay.
2Ki 21:19-26. How wretchedly a king appears of whom history has nothing more to record than his godlessness.Wrt. Summ.: When men will not heed either good words or bad, and will not be induced to repent by warning or example, then God comes with His punishment and recompenses wickedness as it deserves. Let men take heed and repent, let them become wise by the sight of others calamities, that they be not overtaken in their sins by death before they have repented. As is the king so are his officers; as is the governor so are the citizens; a depraved king ruins his country (Sir 10:2-3).Wrt. Summ.: Unfaithfulness is punished by unfaithfulness. Amon was not faithful to God; unfaithfulness was his punishment. He was murdered by his own servants, and these in their turn were punished by their own sinthey also were murdered. (See Mat 26:52; Luk 6:28.) Therefore be faithful both to God and man and do good, then thou shalt be rewarded with good both in time and eternity. Tumult and murder, perpetrated now by the authorities, now by the people, those are the natural fruits which are produced in a land which has abandoned God, and in which His word is no longer respected.
Footnotes:
[1]2Ki 21:4. [ accus. after a verb of speaking, denoting that in respect to which. Cf. 2Ki 21:7 and Gen 22:14 (Ew. 282, a. 2).
[2]2Ki 21:6. [That is, he trained men by special education for this work and then gave them official position.
[3]2Ki 21:6. [The flow of the narrative is arrested in this verse in order to enumerate Manassehs faults. Hence the use of the perf. consec. Ew. 342, 6, 1.
[4]2Ki 21:8. [ , if only, cf. Deu 15:5; 1Ki 8:25.
[5]2Ki 21:8. [ .That which I commanded and the law which Moses commanded are not two different things. serves to gather up and recapitulate, so that it is equivalent to namely or I mean, cf. Gen 9:10; Gen 23:10; 1Ch 13:1; 1Ch 28:1 : 2Ch 7:21 ( is wanting in 1Ki 9:8); Ezr 1:5; Jer 19:13 (Ew. 310, a).
[6]2Ki 21:12. [The chetib presents an irregularity of gender, the masc. suff. referring to . The keri corrects this.
[7]2Ki 21:13. [The perf. is very noticeable, especially in view of the accents. We should expect and that it would be connected with what follows (Ew. s. 833, nt. 2).W. G. S.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
The reign of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, is contained in this chapter; and an awful reign of sin it is. He is succeeded by Amon his , son, such another awful character as the father. His death is also recorded, and Josiah his son succeeds him in the kingdom.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
I bring the whole of a life so flagitious as that of Manasseh within one point of view, both for the sake of shortness, and for gathering all the instruction it affords before the Reader at once. But as the Holy Ghost hath been graciously pleased to give the church further particulars concerning Manasseh than what is here said of him in the 2Ch 33 . I very earnestly beg the Reader to read the whole of what is there said of Manasseh at the time he peruseth this chapter. And the more so, indeed, because here we only learn his worthlessness. There we discover the penitence he manifested in affliction. And by comparing both parts of his history together, we learn, under the teaching of the blessed Spirit, as illustrious an example of the triumphs of grace in his recovery, as we behold the most woeful instance of the fall of man in his vileness. So that blended in one and the same point of view, we behold the truth of what the apostle was commissioned to tell the church, that where sin abounded grace doth much more abound: that as sin reigneth unto death so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom 5:20-21 . I cannot refrain stopping the Reader in the perusal of this passage to remark the graciousness of God in his determined punishment of Jerusalem. The Lord saith that he will wipe it as a man wipeth a dish, turning it upside down. Do, Reader, observe those expressions. Jerusalem shall be wiped, not broken, not east away, not destroyed; but wiped. It shall be much tossed about, indeed, from the highest to the lowest fairly upside down; but nevertheless all this is with a view to cleansing. It is all in mercy, all in love, all in tenderness. The Lord saith in the after age; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies. Zec 1:16 . And he hath opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, a fountain for sin and for uncleanness. Zec 13:1 . And where is this but in thy blood, precious Jesus! thou art the Lamb of God that takest away sin. And thou art the mercy promised. Luk 1:72 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2Ki 21
Annotated Text
The remainder of the Second Book of Kings so strongly resembles former portions, and refers for amplification of its bare memoranda to the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, that it will be sufficient to present it as thus annotated:
1. Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign [therefore he was born during Hezekiah’s dangerous illness], and reigned fifty and five years [a number confirmed by Josephus] in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hephzibah [in whom is my delight].
2. And he [falling under the influence of the chief Jewish nobles] did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.
3. For he built up again the high places [where Jehovah was worshipped with idolatrous rites] which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. [Star-worship from this time became a favourite idolatry.]
4. And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord said, In Jerusalem will I put my name.
5. And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord [not in the temple, but in the outer and inner courts].
6. And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times [forbidden by the law ( Lev 19:26 )], and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards [forbidden ( Lev 19:31 )]: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.
7. And he set a graven image of the grove [the carved work of the grove] that he had made in the house, of which the Lord said [see 2Sa 7:10-13 ; 1Ki 8:29 ] to David, and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever:
8. Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers; only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them.
9. But they hearkened not: and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel.
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 [I will punish Jerusalem as I punished Samaria, and her kings as the house of Ahab], 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 [a metaphor signifying that Jerusalem was to be wholly swept away].
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. [“Manasseh’s reign has been compared with some justice to that of Mary Tudor. The idolatrous party, which had remained sullen and discontented during the reforms of the preceding reign, came suddenly into power, and, burning with resentment, endeavoured to annihilate their adversaries by a furious persecution…. From end to end of Jerusalem were to be seen traces of the blood of the prophets…. According to tradition, Isaiah was among the first to perish.”]
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? [(1) He called his son Amon, or Ammon, after the noted Egyptian god. (2) He not only allowed the establishment of human sacrifices to Molech, but dedicated to the purpose a special place in the valley of Hinnom, known as Tophet. (3) He removed the Ark of the Covenant from the Temple. (4) He destroyed all the copies of the law which he could find.]
18. And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza [the catacomb of David was probably full]: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.
19. Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Meshulle-meth [friend of God], the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.
20. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, as his father Manasseh did.
21. And he walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them:
22. And he forsook the Lord God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the Lord.
23. And the servants of Amon conspired against him, and slew the king in his own house.
24. And the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead.
25. Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
26. And he was buried in his sepulchre in the garden of Uzza: and Josiah his son reigned in his stead.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
XVIII
THE REIGNS OF MANASSEH, AMON, AND JOSIAH
2Ki 21:1-23:30
We take up in this chapter the reigns of Manasseh, Amon, and Josiah. We saw at the close of the last chapter the complete vindication of Isaiah as a prophet, the miraculous deliverance of Judah and Jerusalem from the hand of the Assyrians by the destruction of the army, and the apparent triumph of the principles of right and of good in the kingdom of Judah, the continued prosperity of the reign of Hezekiah, and the paramount influence of the prophet Isaiah.
One would naturally expect a period of great religious revival and national prosperity to follow such a good king as Hezekiah; that he would leave an heir worthy of his name, also that Judah would now enter upon a long career of prosperity and ascendancy among the nations of the world. But we must not deceive ourselves as to the condition of the people in Judah and Jerusalem. We read in Isaiah a description of the people: “In that day did the Lord God of Hosts, call to weeping and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth: and, behold, joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine: Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we may die.” There is still an utter absence of faith in Jehovah: “And it was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of hosts. Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die, said the Lord God of Israel.” We see by this that the masses of the people were still practically incorrigible in their religious deterioration. “Wherefore, the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men, therefore behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people.” These passages give a little glimpse into the inner life of the people. But the magnificent work of Isaiah and the goodness of Hezekiah have had one splendid result, viz: Judah and Jerusalem have been saved from the yoke of the Assyrians. They are now free and for many years they pay no tribute to that foreign power.
Manasseh was twelve years old when he came to the throne and his was the longest reign fifty and five years of any king of Judah. Uzziah reigned fifty-two years altogether. We would expect a good boy to be raised up in such a home as that of Hezekiah, but instead, he was just the opposite of his father in almost every respect, which shows that, perhaps, even in the palace of Jerusalem there was a taint of Baal worship and there were those who adhered to it and taught it to the young prince. The description of Manasseh’s reign is terrible. The idolatrous party attains the ascendancy almost as soon as he comes to the throne, and Manasseh begins at once to undo all the work that had been done by Isaiah and Hezekiah. There is a great revival of idolatry. We are reminded of Rev 20:1-10 , the first resurrection representing a great revival of righteousness throughout the world as if there were life from the dead, and the second resurrection the loosing of Satan ushering in a revival of evil. This is on a small scale the same thing. Notice what Manasseh did: “For he built again the high places which Hezekiah destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made an Asherah” an image representing the female deity, the worship of which was really licentiousness. He worshiped all the hosts of heaven, something apparently new among those kings. Probably this kind of worship was imported from Assyria or from Babylon, quite probably from Babylon. We recall that Ahaz imported something from Damarcus, a new style of altar. Now Manasseh imports the new system of worship of the hosts of heaven from Assyria or Babylon. He built altars in the house of Jehovah, equaling Ahaz in his desecration of that sacred place. He built altars for all the hosts of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord, “And he made his son to pass through the fire, and practiced augury, and used enchantments, and dealt with them that had familiar spirits, and with wizards” went after the fortunetellers, which is about as sure a sign of the deterioration of character as we find. It is a great offense against Almighty God to go to these people to find out his will, when he has given right ways of finding it out. “And he set the graven image of Asherah, that he made, in the house of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son. In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name forever.” Thus we see the idol worship re-established in Judah with its center in the Temple, and the result is: “And Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, so that they did evil more than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel.”
Next we notice the change of rulers in Assyria. Sennacherib was slain by his two sons in an insurrection that was intended to place a new monarch on the throne of Assyria. They escaped, and after five months of insurrection and revolt and disturbance Esarhaddon, another son, took his place upon the throne. We are told in one of the lists of Esarhaddon that Manasseh king of Judah paid him tribute. We are not sure just when Manasseh began to pay tribute, but in one of his western expeditions Esarhaddon must have come close to Judah and Jerusalem, and Manasseh in order to keep his throne, began to pay him regular tribute. How long he did this we are not told, but we know that Esarhaddon conquered Egypt with all the western states of Asia and made them pay tribute, and we know also that when his son succeeded him upon the throne, that was a signal for a general revolt among those nations, and it seems almost certain that Manasseh was one of those who revolted and refused to pay tribute. As a consequence Manasseh was taken captive by the king of Assyria and led away in chains to Babylon. During all this time there were some servants of God, prophets, warning him: “And the Lord spake by his servants the prophets, saying, 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: therefore thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, Behold I bring such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, and whosoever hears of it, both his ears shall tingle. 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. And I will cast off the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies.” That was to be the result of Manasseh’s idolatry and wicked reign. The doom is settled, the fate of Jerusalem is inevitable. The seeds of idolatry have been sown in the people’s hearts, and so grown in their hearts and lives that they are incorrigible and salvation is impossible. It is possible for a nation to go so far into sin that God must withdraw his mercy from it; it is also possible for an individual to go so far that even the Spirit of God cannot stem the tide of evil within him.
As a result of this rebellion Manasseh is taken captive by the king of Assyria, and as a result of his captivity and imprisonment Manasseh comes to himself and repents. When he was in distress “He sought the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers and he prayed unto him.” In the Apocrypha we have that prayer. Here is a part of it: “O Lord Almighty, that art in heaven, thou God of our fathers, of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and of their righteous seed. . . . Thou, O Lord, according to thy great goodness hast promised repentance and forgiveness to them that have sinned against thee: and of thine infinite mercies hast appointed repentance unto sinners, that they may be saved. Thou therefore, O Lord, thou art the God of the just, hast not appointed repentance to the just, to Abraham, and Jacob, which have not sinned against thee. But thou hast appointed repentance unto me that am a sinner: for I have sinned above the number of the sands of the sea. My transgressions are multiplied, O Lord: my transgressions are multiplied and I am not worthy to behold and see the height of heaven for the multitude of iniquities. . . . I have provoked thy wrath and done that which is evil in thy sight. I did not thy will neither kept I thy commandments. . . . I bow the knee of mine heart, beseeching thee of grace; I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned, and I acknowledge mine iniquities: but, I humbly beseech thee, forgive me, O Lord, forgive me, and destroy me not with mine iniquities.” That prayer may or may not be genuine, but it certainly is a penitent one. It is not an inspired prayer. Manasseh was restored to his kingdom on his pledge of fealty and payment of tribute to the Assyrian monarch, for under no other conditions would an Assyrian king release him and restore him to his kingdom.
Now he seeks to undo in the rest of his life all the evil that he had done. He builds the outer wall of the city of David, which had doubtless been thrown down or injured by the Assyrians. He compassed about Ophel, which is the southeastern division of the city of Jerusalem, put captains in all the fenced cities of Judah, “And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the Lord, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city. And he built up the altar of the Lord, and offered thereon sacrifices of peace offerings and of thanksgiving, and commanded Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel.” But it was too late. Manasseh died, having to some extent redeemed the evil of his early reign, but was not buried in the sepulchers of the kings. During that terrible revival of idolatry and of evil, there was a severe persecution against all the righteous people, especially the prophets, so severe that the blood of the prophets and righteous people was spilled like water in Jerusalem. During that period, tradition says, Isaiah was sawn asunder. It is a tradition which goes far back, and is probably true. Thus during that terrible persecution in the reign of Manasseh, Isaiah met his death.
Now we take up the reign of Amon, son of Manasseh. He reigned but two years and walked in the footsteps of his father Manasseh, kept up the idolatrous worship, promulgated heathenism, learned no lessons from his father’s sins, repentance, remorse, and reformation, and at the end of two years by means of a palace insurrection not an insurrection among the people, but a palace insurrection he was put to death. Why this insurrection came, and why they sought to put Amon to death we do not know. Certainly it could not have been the work of the prophetic class, who were true to Jehovah. That class of men do not murder, and yet what class of people were there who desired the death of Amon since he favored idolatry? We have so little light that we cannot settle the question. The people at once rose up and the murderers of the king were put to death, and Josiah, only eight years old) the son of Amon was put on the throne.
So now we come to the reign of Josiah, the best of all the kings, a man against whom nothing can be said; we have a description of his character: “And he did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and walked in all the ways of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.
And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.” But in spite of the fact that there was such a king upon the throne, as nearly perfect in character as any king ever was, the sin of Judah still remained, too deep dyed and too great to be forgiven by the Lord, though God defers the evil day till Josiah has passed from the earth. Josiah began in the eighth year of his reign to make reformations in his kingdom, and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from all its high places, and the image of Asherah, and the graven images and the molten images, and brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence, and even took the bones of the priests that were buried there, and burned them upon the altars, desecrating them so that they would not use them any more. He carried on a drastic reformation as early as he was able to do so, beginning at sixteen years of age, and when twenty, redoubling his vigor. The next work was to repair the Temple. When twenty-six years of age he gave orders for it to be repaired, and the man that carried on the reformation and renovation of the Temple was Hilkiah of whom we shall speak later. Behind Josiah, working with and among the people, is another great prophet, Jeremiah. No doubt he was one of the powers behind the throne, one of the great forces which inspired Josiah to carry on his work, for in this period Jeremiah was in the first part of his career. So Josiah, helped by Hilkiah and Jeremiah, repaired the Temple, built it, rededicated it, sacrificed and kept the Passover, etc.
While that was going on one of the principal events of his reign occurred. The Temple had been desecrated for nearly forty years. It had been broken down, and now while they were repairing it, clearing away the rubbish from the altars, perhaps into the holy of holies, and to the ark of the covenant, Hilkiah the high priest found a book. It was the book of the Law given by the hand of Moses. Hilkiah at once spoke to Shaphan the scribe and handed the book to him, and Shaphan took it before the king. It is certain that the book discovered there contained the book of Deuteronomy. The book of Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 27-28) contains the curses that would come upon the nation (Israel) if it forsook the law of God. I have no doubt that this section was read before king Josiah, and no monarch could but tremble and shudder if he heard those words of Moses. Josiah rent his clothes, and he sent for the prophetess, Huldah. Josiah remembered that the kingdom had committed all the sins Moses here mentioned. He knew that the evils threatened must inevitably come, and that meant his kingdom and his throne would go down in utter and overwhelming shame.
They went to the prophetess, Huldah, and she said, “These things are true; they shall come to pass,” but adds this: “Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, Tell ye the man that sent you unto me, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah; because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore is my wrath poured out upon this place, and it shall not be quenched. But unto the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: as touching the words which thou hast heard, because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his word against this place and against the inhabitants thereof, and hast humbled thyself before me, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me, I also have heard thee, saith the Lord. Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place.”
Thus Josiah trembling beneath the terrible curse that must inevitably come, had this assurance, which leaves some hope and courage in his heart, that it would not come in his day, but that he should see peace. Then what does Josiah do? The next thing is to gather together all the elders of all Judah and Jerusalem and have the book read before them. There were probably many idolatrous men among them, but when summoned thus by the king they came and on hearing the book of the law read with curses there pronounced, they concurred with Josiah and the nation thus represented, renewed its covenant with God. The old covenant that had been broken was now renewed and they vowed that they would keep his commandments and testimonies and statutes with all their heart and soul. This was an epoch in the life of Josiah and of the nation and in the life of Jeremiah also, for we find in Jer 11 that it had a great effect upon his preaching. He had been prophesying several years before this, and in chapter II we see that his preaching took a new turn: “Thus saith the Lord, hear ye the words of his covenant, and speak unto the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.”
This furnished Jeremiah with a text, and he goes forth preaching with marvelous power on the basis of this great covenant renewed because of the finding of the Law. As soon as the Law was found Josiah carried on his reformation even more drastically than before. The work had never been completed. Now Josiah carries it to completion. Notice what he does: brings forth out of the Temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for the worship of Baal and for the Asherah and all the hosts of heaven; put down all the idolatrous priests; brought out the image of Asherah from the Temple; broke down the houses of the Sodomites where they carried on their abominations under the name of religion; degraded the priests that bad been officiating at the high places; defiled Topheth, the place where they had been causing their sons to pass through the fire to the god, Molech; took away the horses that the king of Judah had made and had given to the sun, images of horses representing a part of the idolatrous worship of some of their deities; removed all the altars and destroyed the high places and desecrated them by burning the bones of the priests thereon. It was as drastic and as complete as could be made.
But it is only outward. Josiah didn’t turn the people’s hearts, and Jeremiah who had been prophesying all this time at last comes to the conclusion the first man in the history of revelation that “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it?” And the only way that Israel could be saved was to be saved through a new covenant which would write the laws of God upon their hearts and put them in their minds.
In connection with his great reformation Josiah went to the Northern Kingdom and defiled the altar of Bethel in fulfilment of the prophecy of the old man of God who had come up from Judah and warned Jeroboam against his departure from the worship of Jehovah in going after the calves of Dan and Bethel. But he spared the old prophet’s monument. Now he kept the Passover as it had not been kept for many years; he gathered together all the people of Israel far and near, even from the north. Notice in 2Ch 35:7 that he “gave to the children of the people, of the flock, lambs and kids, all of them for the passover.” To the poor people who could not afford it, Josiah gave offerings for the passover, “and the princes gave freewill offerings.” The Passover was kept, as it had not been kept since the days of Samuel.
Now we would expect this to result in a revival, a long period of blessing and of the true worship of God, but it was only outward; it was not deep in heart; it was not lasting; Josiah did his noblest, and his name is one of the most blessed in all the annals of kings. He tried to prevent the awful doom of Judah, but “the times were out of joint,” and the sin of Judah was so deep and terrible that nothing could check it. The tears of Jeremiah, the most pathetic of all the figures in prophetic history, after forty years of effort, failed to do it.
We now come to the death of Josiah. It is quite probable that Josiah had to pay tribute to the kingdom of Assyria during all his reign. Manasseh did, and it is quite probable that Josiah felt himself under obligation to the king of Assyria, and this fact may account for the strange action which led to his death. During this time Egypt had risen to power; a very able king was on the throne, Pharaoh-necoh, and the old time rivalry between Egypt and Assyria had revived. Egypt wanted all the world and Assyria wanted all the land next to hers, and those two great nations, one in the Nile Valley and the other in the Mesopotamian Valley, were always trying to conquer each other. Now Pharaoh-necho was coming up the coast of Palestine to meet the Assyrians. It seems that Josiah felt himself duty bound to help Assyria and check Pharaoh’s progress, for he marched out against him to fight a little kingdom, Judah, little more than the city of Jerusalem itself against the king of Egypt. The king of Egypt warned him: “Now, don’t you meddle with me. I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war; and God hath commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me: that he destroy thee not.” For some reason Josiah determined to fight him and check him on his way. They met in the valley of Esdraelon, then called the valley of Megiddo; the battle was joined; Josiah, though he disguised himself, was wounded by the archers and turned about to flee to Jerusalem and died. He was cut off after a reign of not more than thirty years, in the middle of one of the most glorious and useful reigns that Judah ever witnessed. There was great grief. All Jerusalem and Judah mourned for Josiah. Jeremiah lamented sorely, and we can understand why. Jeremiah wept because he could see plainly the hope of the kingdom was gone, and the doom now was swift and sure. “All the singing men and singing women speak of Josiah in their lamentations until this day,” meaning, of course, when this was written. “And they made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations.” The book of Lamentations written by Jeremiah, is not referred to here; it must have been a collection of songs of that nature written and preserved. We do not possess them now, as they have been lost. It seemed that the light of Judah had gone out, and the only thing to be done was to wait patiently until the end came, and it came before very long.
QUESTIONS
1. Give a general statement of the condition of Judah at the end of Hezekiah’s reign.
2. What was the result of the work of Isaiah and Hezekiah?
3. Who succeeded Hezekiah, what was his mother’s name and what its meaning?
4. What was his character and work?
5. What change in the throne of Assyria during his reign?
6. What was Jehovah’s message to Judah through the prophets?
7. Give an account of Manasseh’s further crimes, imprisonment, and
8. What was the spiritual condition of the people at this time?
9. What of his repentance and where do we find his prayer recorded?
10. Who succeeded Manasseh and what was his character and death?
11. Who succeeded Amon, and what his character, how old was he when he began to reign and when was he converted?
12. What of his early reformation?
13. What book found m repairing the Temple and what effect of the discovery on Josiah?
14. What great prophet begins his work in this period and what other contemporaneous with him?
15. What prophetess appears here and what were her prophecies?
16. Give an account of the making of the covenant.
17. What was Josiah’s further reformation?
18. Why did he send the ashes of the images of Baal to Bethel?
19. What did he do with the powder of Asherah?
20. What was the meaning of “horses given to the sun”?
21. What prophecy fulfilled in Josiah’s acts at Bethel?
22. Who was the prophet “that came out of Samaria”?
23. Give an account of Josiah’s passover.
24. What circumstances of Josiah’s death?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
2Ki 21:1 Manasseh [was] twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name [was] Hephzibah.
Ver. 1. Manasseh was twelve years old. ] He was born three years after his father’s great recovery, 2Ki 20:6 and about twenty-four years after the ruin of the kingdom of Israel, 2Ki 18:2 ; 2Ki 18:10 till at length Ephraim was utterly broken from being a people; Isa 7:8 Ezr 4:2 ; Ezr 4:10 much about the time that Manasseh was taken among the thorns, and carried captive to Babylon. 2Ch 33:11
And reigned.
Fifty and five years.
And his mother’s name was Hephzibah.] a Who was daughter to the prophet Isaiah, say the Hebrews; but that is uncertain. She was a good woman, likely, because Hezekiah’s wife: and therefore Manasseh’s sin was the greater, because he came of so godly parents.
a See Isa 62:4 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Manasseh = forgetting. So named because God had made Hezekiah forget his troubles (compare Joseph, Gen 41:51). A sad name for him who became the worst of Judah’s kings. His name appears second in a list of kings who brought gifts to Esar-haddon.
twelve years. Therefore not born till the third of Hezekiah’s fifteen added years. See note on 2Ki 20:18.
Hephzi-bah = my delight is in her. Compare reference to the marriage in Isa 62:4. A prophecy, given at the time of Hezekiah, foretelling a happier time; even the “good” of 2Ki 20:19, and note.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 21
Now Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign ( 2Ki 21:1 ),
Manasseh was the son of Hezekiah, and here is something that I think is interesting for speculation. Would it have been better for Hezekiah had he died instead of being healed? Was the healing of Hezekiah God’s perfect will and plan? God had sent the message; “You’re going to die.” Hezekiah began to weep and of course, in Hezekiah he says that he all night long, he sort of chattered like a dove and all, you know, and just weeping before God and all. And so God sent Isaiah back and say, “I’ve seen his tears; I’ve heard his prayer. I’ll give him fifteen years.” Was that really God’s real purpose and plan? Would it not have been much better had Hezekiah died at that time?
For his son Manasseh began to reign when he was twelve years old, which means Manasseh was conceived and born after Hezekiah had his life extended. Had Hezekiah died at that point, Manasseh would never have been born. And I say that because we read concerning Manasseh,
He did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel. He built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; he raised up altars for Baal, he made a grove, as did Ahab the king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. He built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD said, In Jerusalem I will put my name. He built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD. He made his son pass through the fire, he observed times, used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. Made the graven images ( 2Ki 21:2-7 ),
And it was because of Manasseh’s leading the people into such depths of sin they could never recover. And thus, Judah fell as a result of Manasseh’s leading them to the depths of sin. Now what would have happened to the nation had Hezekiah not insisted in prayer that God heal him? The whole story of the nation could have been much different. The whole history could have been much different. But here is a man insisting with tears, begging, “Oh God, heal me please. Lord, I’ll serve you. I love you. Please heal me, God.” This is a part of the problem that evolves when I start ordering God rather than taking orders from God.
When I think that prayer is that instrument and tool whereby I am to get my will done, rather than the instrument whereby we can get God’s will done, I wonder how much damage is done by these insisting prayers that we hear so much about today. The nation could have been spared the horrors of Manasseh had Hezekiah died. It’s something to contemplate and think about. I don’t have any answers for it, but it’s just something to think about.
But Manasseh was an extremely wicked king and God testified in verse twelve.
I am going to bring such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever hears about it, their ears will tingle. For I’m going to stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, the plummet of the house of Ahab: I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipes a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down. 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 of their enemies; Because they have done that which was evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger ( 2Ki 21:12-15 ),
And so forth. Now in the New Testament we read of the prophets of God, men of faith in Hebrews chapter eleven, men of great faith who stop the mouths of lions, who survived through the fires. And yet it says they were stoned, they were sawed in two. According to tradition, and extra-curricular scriptures, Isaiah was the man referred to who was sawed in two. And this was done by Manasseh, the wicked son of Hezekiah. This glorious prophet Isaiah, he had him sawn in two. Evil, wicked man who never would have existed had Hezekiah not insisted on God healing him.
Manasseh died, was buried in the garden of his own house, and his son Amon reigned in his stead. He was twenty-two years old when he began to reign; he reigned for two years in Jerusalem. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, walking after the ways of his father Manasseh. He served the idols that his father had served; he worshipped them ( 2Ki 21:18-21 ):
Actually he grew up in it. He was one of the children of Manasseh who Manasseh made to pass through the fire to this pagan in the rites to these pagan gods.
And the servants of Amon conspired against him ( 2Ki 21:23 ),
The walk, fire-walking and all, causing your children to do the fire walk, and you know, they get into these trances and so forth, and walk across coals, but you notice it also says along with these things that they dealt with familiar spirits or with demon spirits and all. And this is all a part of demonology. He reigned for two years. His servants conspired against him.
and killed him in his own house. And Josiah his son began to reign as king in his stead ( 2Ki 21:23-24 ). “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
2Ki 21:1
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Here we have the story of reaction. It manifested itself in two reigns, both utterly evil, Manasseh’s, lasting fifty- five years, and Amon’s, lasting two years.
The story of Manasseh’s sin was not merely of personal wrongdoing, but also of the deliberate undoing of what his father had been at such pains to accomplish. What we have hinted at more than once as issuing from such failure as that of the chosen people is here declared in so many words. Manasseh seduced them to do evil more than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel. Nothing can be clearer as a warrant for the absolute righteousness of the judgment that fell upon them when they were driven out.
After Manasseh, Amon became king. Some of his servants conspired against him, and slew him. But so utterly depraved had become the people of the land, and so completely were they in sympathy with the evil ways of these evil kings, that they slew the man who had slain Amon.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
an Evil Leaders Terrible Influence
2Ki 21:1-15
It seems incredible that the good Hezekiah should have had such a son; but the young prince was evidently under the power of that reactionary party which, during Hezekiahs reign, had been kept in check only by the strong influence of Isaiah. Hence, on becoming king, Manasseh reintroduced the worst forms of idolatry which had disgraced the nations of Canaan and were rife in neighboring countries. It was the height of presumptuous impiety to place an Asherah, such as Ahab made, 1Ki 16:32, in the very precincts of the Temple, and to patronize the Chaldean astrologers who poured into the country from Babylon. See Eze 8:1-18.
Vigorous protests were raised against these shameful abominations by Hosea, Joel, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Isaiah; but in vain. Nothing could stay the mad fanaticism of the people for licentious rites, and their doom became inevitable. The gentle voice of love was of none avail, and the brazen clangor of Babylonian captivity must speak in tones that could not be silenced. For Manassehs end consult 2Ch 33:1-25. Surely none need despair, since he found mercy. But alas! nothing can restore the years that the locust hath eaten.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Manasseh
(Forgetting)
(2Ki 21:1-18; 2Ch 33:1-20)
Contemporary Prophet, Joel.
The king sent and loosed him; even the ruler of the people, and let him go free.-Psa 105:20.
Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem: but did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, like unto the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.
Extremes meet: here, it would seem, is one of the worst and most cruel of kings that ever reigned- succeeding Hezekiah, of whom it was said, After him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him (2Ki 18:5). Had this good king been able to foresee the wickedness of his unworthy son, he would doubtless have had no desire to recover from his sickness. Better by far die childless than beget a son such as Manasseh proved to be. We must not presume to judge Gods honored servant, but it does appear as if he would have done better to have meekly submitted to Gods will in his sickness. He could surely have left it with God to care for the succession, as he knew the covenant made with David, ordered in all things and sure, and have spared the nation that he loved the tears and blood (to say nothing of Gods honor in the matter) that his desired descendant brought them to. Nothing to his honor is recorded as done by him after his recovery from his sickness. True, his healing was in answer to prayer, and a wonderful miracle was done in pledge of it. But so it was with Israel when they requested flesh to eat. God gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul (Psa 106:15). A miracle was performed for them too (that of the quails), in order that they might have what they persisted in desiring. But there was only One who ever and always said, Not My will, but Thine, be done. (Comp. Psa 21:4.)
Manasseh quickly, it would seem, undid the work of his fathers early reign-which was also done suddenly. For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves, and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served them. Also he built altars [for idolatry] in the house of the Lord, whereof the Lord had said, In Jerusalem shall My name be for ever. And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. And he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God.
It is a terrible portrait to paint of any man; but of a king of Judah, and a son of Hezekiah the Good, it seems almost incredible. It makes the heart turn sick almost, to read the list of his abominations. He made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel. It was the worst of all corruptions-the corruption of the best. The higher the fall, the deeper the plunge. Alas, in the Corinthian church too there was such sin as was not so much as named among the Gentiles. I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly, one said (Pro 5:14). Worse than an unbeliever, wrote another (1Ti 5:8). Language like this may sound strange to some- strangely sad, indeed, that such things can be, and have been. Look at Rome, and see it verified. One within the pale of Rome has even said, The annals of the church are the annals of hell! And what must the surrounding nations have thought of these annals of Judah-worse than the heathen? Of Manasseh and Judah it could then truly be said, as the apostle, by the Spirit, declared seven hundred years later, The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you.
And the Lord spake to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not hearken. He spoke, as usual, through His prophets (2Ki 21:10). This was their message: Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did [how terrible!], which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols: 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. 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. 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; 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.
It was an appalling, though absolutely just, arraignment, and should have brought the nation to repentance. Its threats, if nothing more, should have startled them from their sins. They knew the fate of Samaria-already fallen; and Jerusalem should receive like punishment. The house of Ahab had perished, and their kings should not escape a similar judgment. But the message was evidently lost upon them; they proved themselves a more perverse people than the men of Nineveh who one hundred and fifty years before had repented at the preaching of Jonas.
What prophets God used at this time is not known. Isaiah was still alive, possibly, though very aged, and the tradition maybe true which says he was sawn asunder-with a wooden saw. Josephus does not mention this, though he does say that Manasseh barbarously slew all the righteous men that were among the Hebrews. Nor would he spare the prophets. (Ant. x.:3, i) Moreover, says the inspired historian, Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the Lord(2Ki 21:16). Wicked as his grandfather Ahaz had been, he did not, so far as we know, redden his hands with blood like this human monster Manasseh. But the reaping came at last, though harvest-time was late, perhaps, in the long-suffering patience of God. Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon. They refused to hear the word, so they were compelled to feel the rod. As befitted this monster of evil, Manasseh was brought in chains to Babylon.
Scripture gives no hint as to the time of this event, but it appears from Assyrian monuments to have been somewhere about the middle of his reign. It was the old and oft-demonstrated law of retribution working itself out: the occasion of the sin becoming the instrument of its punishment. Hezekiah sinned in the matter of the ambassadors from Babylon, and it is to Babylon that his son Manasseh goes as a captive.
And when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed unto Him: and He was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that Jehovah He was God. He humbled himself greatly as well he might, for his guilt indeed was very great. When he was in affliction-no doubt, he owned the justice of his punishment. I know, O Lord, he could say, that Thy judgments are right, and that Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me (Psa 119:75).
We have no details of Manassehs sufferings in his Babylonian captivity. God takes no pleasure in the punishment of His people, and very tenderly covers with the veil of silence all that can be profitably kept back. He heard Manassehs bitter cry of repentance and entreaty, and restored him to his kingdom. This was grace indeed-grace abounding.
On his return to Jerusalem he began to build and fortify, and put captains of war in all the fenced cities. But, what was better, he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the Lord, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city. And he repaired the altar of the Lord, and sacrificed thereon peace-offerings and thank-offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel. He undertook to undo, as far as possible, his former works of wickedness. His name Manasseh means forgetting; and Josephus says: When he was come to Jerusalem, he endeavored, if it were possible, to cast out of his memory his former sins against God; of which he now repented. But the innocent lives that he had taken he could never restore, nor could he ever wholly undo the evil of his former course. So great had been his iniquity, and that of Judah with him, that God never forgave it, nationally (2Ki 23:26; 24:4; Jer 15:4). Personally, through his confession and humiliation before God, Manasseh was forgiven; and it is good to see the great change in his after life, and that he did not forget his indebtedness to God for His matchless grace to him, as his thank-offerings on the restored altar indicate. He was the Old Testament chief of sinners, a pattern at that time in whom God showed forth all long-suffering, to any who should turn to Him in penitence and faith. Newtons lines, no doubt, would well express the spirit of his grateful thoughts:-
Amazing grace! how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see!
Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer unto his God, and the words of the seers that spake to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel. His prayer also, and how God was entreated of him, and all his sins, and his trespass, and the places wherein he built high places, and set up groves and graven images, before he was humbled: behold, they are written among the sayings of the seers (or, Hozia a prophet.- Kelt). His mothers name was Hephzibah (my delight is in her). See Isa 62:4. She may have been a pious woman, and so her name not have been inappropriate to her character; but if so, she had very little influence over her son-unlike the Eunice (victorious) of a later day, and many more besides.
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. His body found no place of rest among the kings, showing how the consequences of sin follow men even to the grave.
The so-called Prayer of Manasseh in the Apocrypha is a fiction, and was even declared so by so credulous a body as the Council of Trent.
Kings on the throne;
Yea, He doth establish them for ever, And they are exalted.
And if they be bound in fetters,
And be holden in cords of affliction; Then He showeth them their work,
And their transgressions that they have exceeded.
He openeth also their ear to discipline, And commandeth that they return from iniquity.
If they obey and serve Him,
They shall spend their days in prosperity,
And their years in pleasures.
But if they obey not,
They shall perish by the sword,
And they shall die without knowledge.
-Job 36:7-12
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
4. Manasseh and Amon
CHAPTER 21
1. Manassehs reign of wickedness (2Ki 21:1-9; 2Ch 33:1-9)
2. The word of the LORD against it (2Ki 21:10-15)
3. Manassehs end (2Ki 21:16-18; 2Ch 33:18-20)
4. Reign and death of Amon (2Ki 21:19-26; 2Ch 33:20-25)
Hezekiah had a wicked father and his son Manasseh did not follow the example of his father, but became even more wicked than Ahaz, his grandfather. Manasseh means forgetting. No doubt Hezekiah named him thus because the LORD had delivered him and thus made him forget his troubles and trials. He was born three years after Hezekiahs recovery from sickness. And now Manasseh forgot all the goodness and mercy of the LORD and plunged headlong into the worst apostasy. All the vile practices of the Canaanites and the Sodomites were revived by him. The Moloch-worship flourished, sorcery and the practice of demonism as well. The corruption was more vile than the corruption of Samaria. It was even worse than the corruption of the Canaanites. Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel. And still more evil is recorded of this king. Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another (verse 16). Josephus declares that he killed all the righteous in Jerusalem and it is not unlikely that the tradition of aged Isaiahs violent death under Manassehs reign is correct. Then the LORD sent to him His judgment message, announcing the coming doom of Jerusalem. Of his conversion and subsequent reign nothing is said in Kings. We find the record of these interesting events in Chronicles. His conversion was indeed a miracle of grace.
After his death Amon ruled as king and followed all the wickedness of his father Manasseh. Terrible is the record of this lost soul. And he humbled not himself before the LORD as Manasseh his father had humbled himself, but Amon trespassed more and more (2Ch 33:23). He was murdered by his servants.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
am 3306-3361, bc 698-643
was twelve: 2Ki 20:21, 1Ch 3:13, 2Ch 32:33, 2Ch 33:1-9, Mat 1:10, Manasses
Hephzibah: Pro 5:19, Isa 62:4, *marg.
Reciprocal: 1Sa 8:3 – his sons 2Ki 22:1 – eight years old 2Ch 33:22 – as did Manasseh
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
JUDAH UNDER JOSIAH
HIS IMMEDIATE PREDECESSORS (2Ki 21:1-26)
Manassehs history shows that a good father does not always make a good son. The summary of his reign (2Ki 21:1-9) ranks him with Ahaz, as the two
wickedest kings Judah had known. Note that the same punishment which had fallen on Israel is soon to overtake Judah (2Ki 21:13), and this despite Manassehs humbleness, as indicated in 2Ch 33:11-19.
The brief reign of Amon (2Ki 21:19-26) was in character a continuation of that of his father, and marks the lowest period in the history of the nation until that time.
HIS RESTORATION OF THE TRUE WORSHIP (2 Kings 22)
The youth of Josiah suggests that he may have been under a regency at first as in the case of Joash (2Ki 12:3) though there is no mention of it. The temple had not been repaired since that king, 250 years before, which explains certain things in this chapter, especially when the wickedness and idolatry of some of the intervening reigns are considered.
The book of the law (2Ki 22:8) is regarded by scholars as the Pentateuch, which during the apostasy had been lost to public knowledge except as a tradition. Some of the older rabbis held that it was the original manuscript of Moses. Another theory is that Manasseh had ordered all copies to be destroyed, but that some faithful priest had concealed this copy until now.
Jeremiah and Zephaniah were prophets contemporaneous with Josiah, but the reason Huldah was inquired of, and not they, is probably because she dwelt in Jerusalem (2Ki 22:14), while the others may not have been there at this time.
HIS EXTENSION OF THE REFORM MOVEMENT (2Ki 23:1-28)
It will be noticed that after the king had put an end to all illegal worship in Judah, he extended the reform, or the revival, to the former kingdom of Israel, where that worship had originally arisen (2Ki 23:15-20).
Observe from 2Ki 23:26-27 that God has not changed His purpose concerning the removal of Judah, which proves that, although in this reign the law was kept externally, yet the nation was by no means converted.
HIS DEATH AND THE SUCCESSION (2Ki 23:29-37)
The story of Josiahs death (2Ki 23:29-30) is more fully related in 2 Chronicles. One reason he marched against Pharaoh was that although the latters objective was Assyria, he was trespassing on Jewish soil to attain it.
Jehoahaz, whom the people preferred as his successor (2Ki 23:30), was a younger son, but he was soon deposed by the Egyptians, who placed his brother on the throne, making him their vassal (2Ki 23:34-35).
QUESTIONS
1. How long did Manasseh reign?
2. What chastisement befell him during his lifetime, and why?
3. What effect had this upon his spirit?
4. What decree is now uttered against Judah?
5. What earlier king of Judah does Josiah suggest?
6. Name two or three parallel incidents in their histories.
7. How would you explain the loss of the book of the law?
8. With what is this book identified?
9. What two prophets, whose books have come down to us, were contemporaneous with this reign?
10. Did Josiah die a natural death?
Fuente: James Gray’s Concise Bible Commentary
2Ki 21:1. Manasseh reigned fifty and five years In which time the years, wherein he was a captive in Babylon, are comprehended. He must, according to his age mentioned here, have been born three years after Hezekiah was miraculously restored, and had his life lengthened.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ki 21:1. Manasseh was twelve years old. He was the sixteenth king of Judah, ruined in his education, it would seem, by some apostate priests. These tutors ruined the church also, and ruined their country, as well as their prince, and ultimately they ruined themselves. There was now no illustrious priest, like Zachariah and his brothers, to die as martyrs sooner than outlive the purity of their religion. This young man followed therefore the way of Ahab, and of Ahaz, to ruin. Isaiah, now old and feeble, if we may follow Jerome in his comment on this prophet, chap. 6., did make resistance, and on that account was sawn asunder with a wooden saw. His enemies, the apostates, alleged against him a charge of blasphemy for saying, I saw the Lord; Moses having recorded the divine declaration, No man can see my face and live. Exodus 32. The objection against this tradition is, that Isaiah could not live to the commencement of this reign. It is replied that Jotham reigned twenty five years, Ahaz only sixteen, and Hezekiah twenty nine; in all seventy years. Therefore Isaiah might be little more than ninety when Manasseh began to reign. We find him in the full exercise of his ministry fourteen years before the death of Hezekiah. St. Paul also refers to some illustrious person who was sawn asunder. Heb 11:37. For this and other crimes, Esarhaddon carried Manasseh captive to Babylon, and shut him up seven or eight years in prison, where he is said to have repented, and composed his penitentiary prayer, and to have reigned well after his restoration. See the Jewish book, Seder-Olam, ch. 24. Also 2 Chronicles 33., where this history is more largely given.
2Ki 21:7. A graven image of the grove, of Astart or Venus. Selden, on the gods of Syria, contends, and justly too, that the Hebrew word should be so rendered.
2Ki 21:16. Manasseh shed innocent blood. He had probably taken away the life of Isaiah the prophet, as already intimated, and also the life of other good men, who opposed the iniquity of his apostate court. By getting rid of so many faithful men, they thought to enjoy their wickedness in peace, but the Lord brought the Chaldeans on a cowardly king and army, and Manasseh fled to hide himself among the thorns of the desert. See the Notes and Reflections on 2 Chronicles 33.
REFLECTIONS.On reading the history of the Israelites in their passage through the wilderness, we are astonished at their unbelief and hardness of heart, amidst such a profusion of miracles and of mercies, and wonder how they could presume to tempt the Lord and to grieve his Holy Spirit in the manner they did, for the space of forty years; yet it seems that these provocations were only a specimen of their general character, and served the purpose of illustrating the great goodness and longsuffering of God towards them. With some few exceptions in the early part of their national history, during the reign of David and Solomon, and some others, we observe the same incorrigible spirit of unbelief and of rebellion against God, with encreasing proofs of the awful depravity and corruption of human nature, down to the latest period of their social existence.
Jehoiakim, the son of good king Josiah, whose untimely death all Judah lamented, was a most profligate and unprincipled tyrant, guilty of every species of oppression towards the people, and of impiety towards God. His odious reign of eleven years had filled the nation with such abhorrence, that the common rites of sepulture were denied him at his death; his carcase was cast out of the city like so much dung, and left apparently to rot above-ground, the greatest indignity that could be offered to human nature. Jer 22:13-19.
The son of this degraded prince was Jehoiachin, sometimes called Jeconiah, and by way of contempt Coniah, Jer 22:24; but in the evangelical genealogy he is called Jechonias. Mat 1:11. Incapable of moral improvement, this Jehoiachin took no warning whatever from the example of his father, whose memory was shaded with the deepest infamy, but abandoned himself to vice and profligacy. After a short reign of little more than three months, he was dethroned by Nebuchadnezzar, and carried into Babylon, where he died in captivity, an awful monument of divine displeasure. In the former siege of Jerusalem, during the reign of Jehoiakim his father, Nebuchadnezzar carried away upwards of three thousand of the principal people, and the more valuable part of the vessels of the sanctuary. In the present instance the Chaldean monarch made more than ten thousand captives, and carried off what still remained in the temple. Thus the day of Jerusalems destruction, so long and frequently foretold, was now rapidly approaching, and the time of the Lords anger was hastening on.
Mattaniah, brother of Jehoiachin, was nominated to the vacant throne by Nebuchadnezzar, being merely his viceroy, the dominion having in effect passed into the hands of the king of Babylon. This Mattaniah, whose name the conqueror changed to Zedekiah, was the last of the kings of Judah; with him the kingdom of the two tribes totally ceased, and all went into captivity. This deputy king exhibited the same inveterate depravity as his predecessors, took no warning from their fearful example, but set at defiance the denunciations of the prophets, and even dared the vengeance of heaven. Having filled up the measure of his iniquity, after a turbulent reign of eight years, and violating his covenant with Nebuchadnezzar, he was hurled from this throne, was summoned into the presence of Nebuchadnezzar at his camp in Riblah, where his eyes were ordered to be put out; and he was then consigned to the dungeons of Babylon. In this third and last siege Jerusalem was utterly destroyed by the Chaldeans, all that remained in the temple was carried away, with numerous of the inhabitants; and thus terminated the awful catastrophe, the particulars of which are enumerated in the following chapter.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ki 21:1-26. Reigns of Manasseh and Amon.The fact that the reformation begun by Hezekiah was so thoroughly undone at his death, and that his son was able to reign undisturbed for fifty-five years, proves that his reforms were only superficial and could not have been popular. The thoroughly Deuteronomic tone of this chapter is very noticeable. The idolatry of Manasseh is specially condemned in Deu 4:19; Deu 17:13; Deu 18:10 f. He is the only king of Judah who is compared to Ahab (2Ki 21:3 and 2Ki 21:13). According to 2Ch 33:1-20, Manasseh repented when he was in captivity in Baby Ion, was restored to his kingdom, and on his return reformed Jerusalem and the Temple, very little being said of their purification by Josiah. The progress of the reforms in Judah, as described in Kings, is comparable to the swing of the pendulum during our Reformation. Hezekiah removed the high places and destroyed some of the idolatrous objects in the Temple. Manasseh and his son reverted to the older practices, and for seventy-five years nothing was done. Then came the drastic reformation under Josiah; but after his death, to judge from Jeremiah, things drifted into their ancient condition till the fall of the city. The kings of Assyria in Manassehs reign were perhaps Sennacherib (705681), Esarhaddon (681668), and Assur-bani-pal (668626). Manasseh, in one case as king of the city of Judah, appears in Assyrian inscriptions by Esarhaddon (677 B.C.) and Assur-bani-pal (668 B.C.).
3. the host of heaven: the worship of the heavenly bodies is forbidden in Dt., but there are no allusions to it till we reach the times of the Assyrian invasions. It is (if we except Amo 5:26) first mentioned in connexion with Manasseh, and after his time it was the form of idolatry most prevalent in Judah. G. A. Smith (Jerusalem, vol. ii. pp. 181ff.) says that Jerusalem stands in a position peculiarly fitted for observing the rise of the heavenly bodies. The worship was conducted on roofs, where altars were placed, and in private houses. See Deu 4:19, Jer 7:18; Jer 44:17 ff. (worship of the queen of heaven), Zep 1:5, Eze 8:16 (worship of the sun). Esarhaddon formally established his own religion in Zidon, and possibly Manasseh became a worshipper of the host of heaven to please his master.
2Ki 21:5. the two courts: this is supposed to be a post-exilic gloss, as there was but one court in the older Temple. But there was both an inner (1Ki 6:36) and an outer court there, and G. A. Smith (Jerusalem, vol. ii. p. 181, note) does not consider the post-exilic theory necessary.
2Ki 21:13. the line . . . plummet: cf. Amo 7:8*, Isa 34:11*, Lam 2:8. In all of these passages the metaphor is destruction. But it is hard to see why the line and plummet, which are used for construction, should have this meaning. Perhaps they are used as tests or standards, and here Jerusalem and Ahaz are to be submitted to the same crucial moral test and punishment as Samaria and the house of Ahab. (See HDB, Plummet.)
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
MANASSEH’S WICKED REIGN
(vv.1-18)
Manasseh was 12 years old when he began to reign, therefore he was born three years after Hezekiah’s sickness and recovery. But in contrast to his father, he was the most wicked king to ever reign over Judah. We may well wonder what his mother Hephzibah was like. His reign was a long one, – 55 years, – but he followed the example of the ungodly nations whom the Lord had dispossessed to give Israel the land (v.2). He rebuilt the high places that his father had destroyed, he made a wooden image and worshiped all the constellations of the heavens, the sun, moon and stars. He also built idolatrous altars in the house of the Lord and in the two courts of the house (vv.4-5).
Besides this, he made his son pass through the fire (offering him to the god Molech), practised soothsaying and witchcraft and consulted with spiritists and mediums. Thus he committed himself wholly to the gross wickedness of the idolatry of the nations, even setting a carved image of Asherah in the house of the Lord, the house which the Lord had chosen as His centre in Israel. In doing this his desire was to keep Israel from wandering from the Lord and being scattered (v.8)! How foolish an attitude, for Israel’s preservation was dependent on their being careful to obey the commandments of the Lord as given through Moses.
But Manasseh showed utter contempt for God in the way he treated God’s temple. He so seduced the people that they paid no attention to God’s commands, but practised worse evil than the ungodly nations whom God had destroyed so that Israel could take the land (v.9).
The Lord therefore spoke by the prophets (not only by one prophet), declaring with awful solemnity that because Manasseh had engaged in greater wickedness than the Amorites and had caused Judah to sin with his idols, therefore the Lord would bring such calamity on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of all who heard of it would tingle. This judgment of Jerusalem would be no less severe than that of Samaria and the house of Ahab, Jerusalem being wiped clean as a dish when wiped and turned upside down. Supposing Manasseh did reign for 55 years (v.1), that made no difference to the certainty of God’s judgment. God’s patience is too often mistaken for indulgence or indifference, but the longer He shows patience, the more awesome and terrible we can expect His judgment to be.
What contrast would this be to the preserving, protecting care of God over Hezekiah when he was attacked! God would forsake the remnant of His inheritance, the small number who had first proven faithful to Him but had turned away in foolish subjugation to the folly of their wilful king (v.14). Their enemies would defeat and plunder them because of their evil in provoking God to anger from the time of their deliverance from Egypt and throughout their history.
Added to this guilt in the case of Manasseh was his cruelty in shedding much innocent blood. Thus, violence accompanied his corruption. It is usually true that when one becomes corrupt in his attitude toward God, he will become violent toward others.
This book of Kings says nothing about the repentance of Manasseh, which 1 Chronicles 33:12-13 records, for Kings deals mainly with the matter of responsibility, while Chronicles emphasises the grace of God. There we learn that Manasseh was taken captive by Assyria and imprisoned in Babylon. In his affliction he humbled himself and turned to the Lord, so that his character was changed for the last short time of his life. It is amazing that one so wicked would be brought to genuine repentance, but the grace of God is able to save the most guilty. Sad to say, however, it is an exceptional case, for one who has lived a totally wicked life has so hardened himself against God that he will not give up his rebellion. No doubt, however, Manasseh owed a great deal to the godliness of his father, and though it took long to break him down, yet the training of earliest years eventually had its effect.
When his 55 year reign was finished, he died and was buried in the garden of his own house, and his son Amon became king. How sad that a long reign of 55 years produced really nothing but evil, so that though Manasseh will be in heaven, nearly all of his life’s work wilt be burned up.
AMON’S SHORT REIGN
(vv.19-26)
Amon was 22 years old when taking the throne of Judah, and reigned only for two years, in sharp contrast to the 55 years of his father’s reign. He followed his father’s example of wickedness, but with no repentance such as his father showed (vv.20-21). He did have the advantage of knowing of his father’s repentance, but this had no effect on him. The Lord evidently knew that two years was sufficient for Amon to repent. But nothing is said of him to his credit. He walked in cold refusal of the ways of God, choosing idols instead, and his own servants conspired against him and killed him in his own house (vv.22-23). How sad an end for one who had a godly grandfather!
However, Amon’s servants were not able to take control of the government. The people of the land intervened and executed the servants responsible for Amon’s death. This appears to be the energy of faith, for they made sure that one of the true line of David took the throne (v.24), even though he (Josiah) was only eight years old.
Other acts of Amon were evidently written in a book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah, but not in the scriptural book of Chronicles, for nothing more is said there than in this book of Kings. But his burial was honourable, for he was of the line of David.
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
B. Manasseh’s Evil Reign 21:1-18
Manasseh began reigning as vice-regent with his father Hezekiah when he was 12 years old in 697 B.C. This arrangement continued for 11 years until Hezekiah died in 686 B.C. For a total of 55 years Manasseh was king of Judah. He reigned longer than any Hebrew king, and he was Judah’s worst king spiritually.
"Manasseh was ’the Ahab of Judah’ and the antithesis of the great David." [Note: Wiseman, p. 291.]
Among his other serious sins, Manasseh built idol altars in Yahweh’s temple (2Ki 21:4). This diminished the reputation of Yahweh considerably, as well as diverting worship from Him. Canaanite idolatry, Ahab’s Baalism, Canaanite astral worship, Ahaz’s human sacrifice, and Saul’s spiritism were all heresies he revived even though the Law of Moses condemned them (Exo 20:3-5). He did not follow David’s example, he defiled the temple with idolatry, and he rejected the Mosaic Covenant. Thus he not only acted opposite to Hezekiah, but he also scorned the examples of Moses, Joshua, David, and Solomon. In his day the people were more wicked in their religious practices than even the Canaanites had been (2Ki 21:9).
Isaiah and Micah were two of the prophets that God had used to warn the nation before Manasseh’s reign, and their influence undoubtedly continued after their deaths. According to Jewish tradition, Manasseh sawed Isaiah in two (cf. Heb 11:37). The early church father Justin Martyr (ca. A.D. 150) wrote that the Jews sawed him to death with a wooden saw. [Note: See also The Martyrdom of Isaiah , 5:1ff.] However, this tradition is quite late and may be inaccurate. We have no record that any prophets ministered during Manasseh’s reign, with the possible exception of Nahum, whose recorded ministry was against Assyria. Some scholars believe Nahum ministered at about the same time as Jeremiah, Zephaniah, and Habakkuk, namely, after Manasseh’s reign. I think Nahum probably ministered during Manasseh’s reign (ca. 660-650 B.C.).
Not only did Manasseh apostatize himself, he also led the nation in departing from God (2Ki 21:11). The "line of Samaria" (2Ki 21:13) refers to the righteous standard God had used to measure Samaria’s fidelity to His will. The "plummet of Ahab’s house" (2Ki 21:13) was the same plumb line of righteousness by which God had judged Ahab’s family. God would abandon His people temporarily but not permanently (2Ki 21:14; cf. Deu 28:63-64).
Manasseh’s murders included those of his own children (2Ki 21:6) as well as Isaiah, evidently. Manasseh’s many sins stained Judah deeply. Even Josiah’s later reforms could not avert God’s judgment (2Ki 23:36). His "garden variety" burial reflects the fact that his behavior resulted in his people esteeming him lightly. God had disciplined him personally (cf. 2Ch 33:11-13), and he had become a channel of God’s discipline for Judah.
Perhaps we should view the fact that God allowed such a wicked king to rule his people so long, as an evidence of His longsuffering desire that Manasseh and Judah would repent. The king did repent later in life (2Ch 33:12-19). His long life was not a blessing for faithfulness, as Hezekiah’s had been, but an instrument of chastening for Judah.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
MANASSEH
B.C. 686-641
2Ki 21:1-16
“Shall the throne of wickedness have fellowship with Thee,
That frameth mischief by statute?
They gather themselves in troops against the soul of the righteous,
And condemn the innocent blood.”
Psa 94:20-21
“Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small:
Though with patience long He waiteth, with exactness grinds He all.”
MANASSEH was born after Hezekiahs recovery from his terrible illness. He was but twelve years old when he began to reign. Of his mother Hephzibah we know nothing, nor of the Zechariah who was her father; but perhaps Isaiah in one passage {Isa 62:4} may refer to her name, “My delight is in her.” The son of Hezekiah and Hephzibah was the worst of all the kings of Judah and had the longest reign. The tender age of Manasseh when he came to the throne may account for the fact that the “forgetfulness” which his name implied was not a forgetting of other sorrows, but of all that was noble and righteous in the attempted reformation which had been the main religious work of his fathers life. In Judah, as in England, a king was not supposed to be of age until he was eighteen. {2Ch 34:1-3} For six years Manasseh must have been to a great extent under the influence of his regents and counselors. There always existed in Jerusalem, even in the best times, a heathenizing party, and it was, unfortunately, composed of princes and aristocrats who could bring strong influence to bear upon the king. They did not deny Jehovah, but they did not recognize Him as the sole or the supreme God of heaven and earth. To them He was the local deity of Israel and Judah. But there were other gods, the gods of the nations, and their aim always was to recognize the existence of these deities and to pay homage to their power. If their favor could not be purchased except by their immediate votaries, at least their anger might be averted. These politicians advocated a fatal and incongruous syncretism, or at least an unlimited tolerance for heathen idols, for which they could, unhappily, quote the precepts and example of the Wise King, Solomon. If any one questioned their views as a dangerous idolatry, and an insult to
“Jehovah thundering out of Zion, throned
Between the cherubim,”
they had but to point from the walls of Jerusalem to the confronting summit of Olivet, where still remained the shrines which the son of David had erected three centuries earlier to Chemosh, and Milcom, and Ashtoreth, who, since his day, had always found, even in Jerusalem, some worshippers, open or secret, to acknowledge their divinity.
And these worldlings, in their tolerance for the intolerable, could always appeal to two powerful instincts of mans fallen nature-sensuality and fear-“lust hard by hate.” There was something in the worship of Baal-Peor and of Moloch which appealed to the undying ape and tiger in the unregenerate human heart.
The true worship of Jehovah is exactly that form of religion which man finds it least easy to render to Him-the religion of pure morality. Services, rites, functions look like religious diligence, and readily secure a reverent outward devotion. Even self-maceration, fasts, and flagellation are a cheap way of escaping the “endless torments” which always loom so hugely in terrifying superstition.
Such superstitions are children of the fear and faithlessness which hath torment. They are the corruptions with which every form of false religion, and with which also a corrupt and perverted Christianity, are always tainted. And they demanded the easy expiation of physical ritual. But all the best and most spiritual teachers of Scripture-alike the Hebrew Prophets and. the Christian Apostles-are at one with the Lord Christ in perpetual insistence on the truth that “mercy is better than sacrifice,” and that true religion consists in that good mind and good life which are the sole proof of genuine sincerity.
If Jehovah would but be contented with gifts, men would gladly offer Him thousands of rams and tens of thousands of rivers of oil. But the prophets taught that He was above all mean bribes, and that such offerings never could be anything to One whose were all the beasts of the forests and the cattle upon a thousand hills. It was not easy, then, to bribe such a God, or to make Him a respecter of persons.
How easy, again, would it be, if He would even accept human sacrifices. A child was but a child. How easy to kill a child, and place it in the brazen arms which sloped over the fiery cistern! Moloch and Chemosh were supremely to be won by such holocausts; and surely Moloch and Chemosh must be lords of power! But here again the prophets of Jehovah stepped in, and said it was of no avail with the High, the Holy, the Merciful, to give even our firstborn for our transgressions, or the fruit of the body for the sin of the soul.
Asceticism, then occasional fasting, severe self-deprivations- surely the gods would accept these? And they were as nothing compared to the burden of sin and the agony of conscience! Baal and Asherah could command agonized devotees, and could approve of them. By Jehovah and His prophets such bodily service is discouraged and forbidden.
Pleasure, then?-the consecration of the natural impulses, the devotion in religious cultus of the passions and appetites of the flesh-why should that be so abhorrent to Jehovah? Other deities exulted in licentiousness. Was not the temple of Astarte full of her women-worshippers and of her eunuchs? Was there no fascination in the voluptuous allurements, the orgiastic dances, the stolen waters, the bread eaten in secret, when not only was the conscience lulled by the removal therefrom of all sense of guilt and degradation, but such orgies were even crowned with merit, as part of an acceptable worship? After all, there was “a fascination of corruption” in these idols of gold and jewels, of lust and blood!
How stern, how cold, how bare, by comparison, was the moral law which only said, “Thou shalt not,” and emphasized its prohibition with the unalterable sanctions, “This do, and thou shalt live”; “Do it not, and thou shalt die”! What could they make of a religion which was so eloquently silent as to the meritoriousness of ritual?
And how chill and simple and dreary was that which-according to Micah – Jehovah had shown to be good, and which He required of every man, – which was nothing more than to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God!
And what right had the prophets-so asked these apostates-to lord it over Gods heritage in this way? Solomon was the greatest king of Israel and Judah; and Solomon had never been so exclusive in his religionism, though he had built the Temple of the Lord; nor Rehoboam; nor the great Phoenician Queen Athaliah; nor the cultivated and aesthetic Ahaz; nor, in the kingdom of Israel, the lordly warrior Ahab; nor the splendid and. longlived victor Jeroboam II. Had not Manasseh plenty of examples of religious syncretism, to which he might appeal in the joy of his youthful age?
Not impossibly there lay in the background another reason why the young king might be inclined to listen to these evil counselors. Micah may still have been living; but of Isaiah we hear no more. Probably he was dead. It is not recorded that he delivered any prophecy during the reign of Manasseh, not: is it certain that he outlived the former king. Tradition, indeed, in later days, asserted that he had confronted Manasseh, and been doomed to death; that he had taken refuge in a cedar tree, and in that cedar had been sawn asunder; but the tradition is wholly without a vestige of authority. One of Micahs sternest oracles was perhaps uttered in the days of Manasseh. {Mic 7:1-20} But Micah was only a provincial prophet of Moresheth-Gath. He never moved in the midst of princes as Isaiah had done, or possessed a tithe of the authority which had rested for so many years on the shoulders of his mighty contemporary.
Moreover-so the heathen party might suggest-had not Isaiahs prophecies been falsified by the result? Had he not distinctly promised and pledged his credit to two things? and had not both turned out to be unworthy of reliance?
i. Surely he had prophesied the utter downfall of the Assyrians. And it was true that after his disaster on the confines of Egypt, Sennacherib had fled in haste to Nineveh, and his occupations with rebels on his own frontiers had left Judah unmolested, and he had been murdered by his sons. But, on the other hand, in no sense of the word had Assyria fallen. On the contrary, she had never been more powerful. Not one of his predecessors had seemed more irresistible than Esarhaddon. He was undisputed king of Babylon and of Nineveh. There would be no more embassies from Merodach-Baladan, or any revolted viceroy! And rumor would early begin to narrate that Esarhaddon had not forgotten the catastrophe at Pelusium, but intended to avenge it, and to teach Egypt the forgotten lessons of Raphia (B.C. 720) and Altaqu (B.C. 701).
ii. And as for Judah, where was the golden Messianic age which Isaiah had promised? Where did they see the Divine Prince whom he had foretold, or the lion lying down with the lamb, and the child laying his hand on the cockatrices den?
All this, they would argue, had greatly shaken Isaiahs prophetic authority. Judah was a mere vassal-safe only in so far as she remained a vassal, and did not join Tyre or any other rebellious power, but abode safe under the shadow of Assyrias mighty wings.
Was it not, then, as well to look facts in the face? To accept things as they were? And-so they would argue, with false plausibility-since the triumph, after all, had remained with the gods of the nations, might it not be as well to dethrone Jehovah from His exclusive dominion, and at least to propitiate the potent and less exacting deities, the charming Di faciles who smiled at lewd aberrations, and even flung over them the glamour of devotion?
With these bolder renegades would be the whole body of the priests of the bamoth. Those old sanctuaries had been repressed by Hezekiah without any compensation; for in those days life-interests were little, or not at all, regarded. Multitudes of priests and Levites must have been flung out of employment and reduced to poverty by the recent religious revolution. It is not likely that they bore without a murmur the obliteration of forms of worship sanctioned by immemorial custom, or that they made no efforts to procure the re-establishment of what the people loved.
Thus a vast weight of evil influence was brought to bear upon the boy-king; and it was also the more powerful because repeated indications exist that, while the king was nominally a despot, and was surrounded with external observance, the real control of affairs was, to a large extent, in the hands of an aristocracy of priests and princes, except when the king was a man of great personal force.
Manasseh went over to these retrogressionists heart and soul, and he contentedly remained a tributary of Assyria. Even when Esarhaddons forces marched to the chastisement of Egypt, he felt secure in his allegiance to the dominant tyrant of Babylon and Nineveh, whose interest it would be not to disturb a faithful subject.
There followed a reaction, an absolute rebound from the old monotheistic strictness and righteousness. The nation emancipated itself from the moral law as with a shout of relief, and plunged into superstition and licentiousness. The reign of Manasseh resembled at once the recrudescence of Popery in the reign of Mary Tudor, with its rekindling of the fires of Smithfield, and the foul orgies of debauchery at the Restoration of 1600, when human nature, loving degraded license better than strenuous liberty, flung away the noble freedom of Puritanism for the loathly mysteries of Cotytto. The age of Manasseh resembled that of Charles II, in the famous description of Lord Macaulay. “Then came days never to be recalled without a blush, the days of servitude without loyalty, and sensuality without love, of dwarfish talents and gigantic vices, the paradise of cold hearts and narrow minds, the golden age of the coward, the bigot, and the slave. In every high place worship was paid to Belial and Moloch, and England propitiated these obscene and cruel idols with the blood of her best and bravest children.” Sensuous intoxication is in all cases closely connected with fiendish cruelty, and the introducer of voluptuous idolatries naturally became the first persecutor of the true religion.
1. The first step of the king, and probably the one which the people welcomed most, was the restoration of the chapelries under the trees and on the hills, which, more strenuously than any of his predecessors, Hezekiah had at least attempted to put down. For this step Manasseh might have pleaded the sanction of ages to which the Book of Deuteronomy had either been wholly unknown, or during which its laws had become as utterly forgotten as though they had never existed. To many worshippers these old shrines had become extremely precious. They felt it to be either an actual impossibility, or at the best intolerably burdensome, to make their way by long, dreary, and difficult journeys to Jerusalem, when they desired to pay the most ordinary rites of worship They knew no reason, and had never known of any reason, why Jehovah should be worshipped in one Temple only. All their religious instincts led them the other way. They could point to the example of all the highly honored saints who had worshipped God at Gilgal, Shechem, Bethel, Hebron, Beersheba, Kedesh, Gibeah, and many another shrine; and of all the saintly kings who had not dreamt of interfering with such free worship. Why should Jerusalem monopolize all sanctity? It might be a politic view for kings to maintain, and highly profitable for priests to establish; but none of their great prophets, not even the princely Isaiah, had said one syllable against the innocent high places of Jehovah. In those days there were no synagogues. The extinction of the high places doubtless seemed to many of the people an extinction of religion in daily life, and they were more than half disposed to agree with the Rabshakeh that Jehovah was offended by what they regarded as a burdensome, unwise, and sweeping innovation. If it be necessary to answer arguments which might have seemed natural, against a custom which might have seemed innocent, it must suffice to say that it was the chief mission of Israel to keep alive among the nations of the world the knowledge of the One True God, and that, amid the constant temptations to accept the gods of the heathen as they were adored in groves and on high places, the faith of Israel could no longer be kept pure except by the Deuteronomic institution of one central and exclusive shrine
2. But Manasseh did far worse than rehabilitate the worship at the high places which his father had discouraged. “He reared up altars for Baal, and made an Asherah, as did Ahab, King of Israel.” This was the first bad element of the new cosmopolitan eclecticism. It involved the acceptance of the Phoenician nature-worship with its manifold abominations. The people had grown familiar with it under Athaliah, {2Ki 11:18} and under Ahaz 2Ch 28:2; but Manasseh, as we infer from the account given of Josiahs reformation, had gone further than either. He had actually ventured to introduce the image of Baal into the Temple, and to set up the Asherah-pillar in front of it. {2Ki 23:4} Worse even than this, he had erected in the very Temple houses devoted to the execrable Qedeshim (Vulg., effeminati), in which also the women wove broidered hangings to adorn the shrines of the idol image, as in the worship of the Assyrian Mylitta. He, at the same time, displaced the altar and removed the Ark. To the latter circumstances is perhaps due the Rabbinic legend that Hezekiah hid the Ark till the coming of the Messiah.
3. To this Phoenician worship he added Sabaism, the worship of the stars, “all the host of heaven, whom he served.” This was an entirely new phase of idolatry, unknown to the Hebrews till they came in contact with Assyria. It came rapidly into vogue, and exercised over their imaginations the spell of a seductive novelty, as we see from the strong testimony of the prophet Jeremiah. {Jer 7:18; Jer 8:21; Jer 9:13; Zep 1:5} This is why it is so emphatically forbidden in the book of Deuteronomy. {See Deu 4:19; Deu 17:3} The king built altars to the stars of the Zodiac (Mazzaroth), both in the outer court of the Temple, and in the court of the priests, and on these altars incense or victims were continually burned. He also introduced or encouraged the introduction into the Temple precincts of the horses and chariots dedicated to the sun. {2Ki 23:11-12}
When we read of the actual invasion of the Temple-precincts in this as in preceding and subsequent reigns, we cannot but ask, Were these atrocities committed with the sanction or with the connivance of the priests? We are not told. Yet how can it have been otherwise? If the high priest Azariah could muster eighty priests to oppose King Uzziah, when he merely wished to burn incense in the Temple, as Solomon had done before him, and as Ahaz did after him-if Jehoiada could, according to the Chronicler, muster a perfect army of priests and Levites to dethrone Athaliah, and could so stir up the people that they rose en masse to tear down the temple of Baal, and slay Mattan, his high priest, -how was it possible for Manasseh to perpetrate these flagrant acts of idolatrous apostasy, if the priests were all ranged in opposition to his power? Was their authority suddenly paralysed? Did their influence with the people shrivel into nothing when Hezekiah had been carried to his tomb? Or did these priests follow the easy and profitable course which they seem to have followed throughout the whole history of the kings without an exception?-did they-simply answer the kings according to their idols?
4. Another, and the most hideous, element of the new mixture of cults was the reintroduction of the ancient Canaanite worship of Moloch with its human sacrifices. Manasseh, like Ahaz, made his son-or, according to the Chronicler and the Septuagint, “his sons”-pass through the fire to this grim Ammonite idol in Tophet of the Valley of Hinnom, so as to leave no chance untried. And herein he was far more inexcusable than his grandfather; for Ahaz had at least been driven by desperate extremity, to this last expedient, but Manasseh was living, if not in prosperity, at least in unbroken peace. Moreover, he not only did this himself, but did his utmost to make a popular institution of children sacrifice, so that many practiced it in the dreadful valley and amid the rocks outside Jerusalem. {See Jer 7:31-32; Jer 19:2-6; Jer 32:35 Psa 106:37-38}
5. Even this did not suffice him. To these Assyrian, Phoenician, and Canaanite elements of idolatry he added Babylonian novelties. He practiced augury, and used enchantments, and he dealt with familiar spirits and wizards, as though without Egyptian necromancy and Mesopotamian shamanism his eclectic worship would be incomplete.
6. Thus “he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord to provoke Him to anger.” He placed a graven image of his Asherah inside the Temple, and utterly profaned the sacred house, and seduced his people “to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel.”
Whatever was the conduct of the priests, the prophets were not silent. They denounced Manasseh for having done worse than even the ancient Amorites, and declared that, in consequence of his crimes, God would bring upon Jerusalem such evil as would cause both the ears of him that heard it to tingle, {1Sa 3:11 Jer 19:3} that He would stretch over Jerusalem for ruin the line and the level of Ahab; He would cast off even the remnant, and deliver them to their enemies; that He would wipe out Jerusalem “as a man wipeth a dish, wiping and turning it upside down.”
The finest oracles of Micah {Mic 6:1-16; Mic 7:1-7} were probably uttered in the reign of Manasseh, and give the simplest and purest expression to the supremacy of morality as the one true end and test of religion. Micah is as indifferent as the Decalogue to all claims of rites, ceremonies, and outward worship. “Jehovah demands nothing for Himself; all that He asks is for man: this is the fundamental law of the theocracy.”
The apostasies of the king and the denunciation of the prophets thus came into fierce collision, and led naturally to persecution and bloodshed. Perhaps in Mic 7:1-7 we catch the echoes of the Reign of Terror. The king resorted to violence, using, no doubt, the tyrants devilish plea of necessity. He made blood run like water in the streets of Jerusalem from end to end, and, in the exaggerated phrase of Josephus, was daily slaying the prophets. It was during this persecution, according to Rabbinic tradition, that Isaiah received the martyrs crown.
And no miracles were wrought to save the martyrs. Elijah and Elisha had been surrounded with a blaze of miracles, but in Judah no prophet arose who could so wield the power of Heaven.
At this point the narrative of the historian about Manasseh ends. If he shared the current opinion of his day, which connected individual and national prosperity with well-doing, and regarded length of days as a sign of the favor of Heaven, while, on the other hand, misfortune and misery invariably resulted from the wrath of Jehovah, he could not have been otherwise than surprised, and perhaps even pained, to have to relate that Manasseh reigned fifty-five years. Not only was his reign longer than that of any other king of Israel or Judah; not only did he attain a greater age than any of them; but, further, no calamity seems to have marked his rule. A contented and protected vassal of Esarhaddon, secure from his attacks, and also, unmolested by the weakened and subjugated nations around him, he would seem, in the story of the Kings, to have enjoyed an enviable external lot, and to have presided over a people who were happy, in that, during his rule, they had no history. But whatever the writer may have felt, he tells us no more, and lets us see Manasseh sink peacefully into his grave “in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza,” and leave to his son Amon a peaceful realm and an undisputed crown. Such a career would undoubtedly perplex and confound all the preconceived opinions of Jewish orthodoxy. The prosperity of Manasseh would have presented as great a problem to them as the miseries of Job. They looked to temporal prosperity as the reward of righteousness, and to acute misery as the retribution of apostasy and sin. They had little or no conception of a future which should redress the balance of apparent earthly inequalities. Alike the sight of Manassehs long reign and Josiahs undeserved death in battle would give a powerful shock to their fixed convictions.
Far different is the end of the story in the Book of Chronicles. The records of Esarhaddon tell us that in 680 he made an expedition into Palestine to restore the shaken influence of his father, and about 647 he mentions among his submissive tributaries the kings of Tyre, Edom, Moab, Gaza, Ekron, Askelon, Gebal, Ammon, Ashdod, and Manasseh, King of Judah (“Minasi-sar-Yahudi”), as well as ten princes of Cyprus. Whether the King of Judah rebelled later on, and intrigued with Tirhakah, we do not know; 2Ch 33:11 we read that Esarhaddon sent his generals to Jerusalem, took Manasseh by stratagem, drove rings through his lips, bound him in chains, and brought him to Babylon, where Esarhaddon was holding his court. We find from the “Eponym Canon” that Tyre revolted from Assyria in the tenth year of Esarhaddon, and Manasseh may have been drawn away to join in the revolt; or he may have joined Shamash-shum-ukin, the Viceroy of Babylon, in his revolt against his brother Assurbanipal. As a rule, the lot of a conquered vassal at the Assyrian Court was horrible, and in his utter misery Manasseh repented, humbled himself, and prayed. His prayer was heard. The despots of Nineveh were capricious alike in their insults and in their favors, and Esarhaddon not only pardoned Manasseh, but sent him back to Jerusalem, thinking that he would be more useful to him there than in a Babylonian dungeon. After this reprieve he lived like a penitent and a patriot. Esarhaddon was preparing for his expedition against Tirhakah, and would not attack a king who was now bound to him by gratitude as well as fear. But the times were very troublous. Manasseh prepared for eventualities by building an outer wall on the west of the city of David, unto Gihon in the Valley, by surrounding Ophel with a high wall, and by garrisoning the fenced cities. All this was necessary and patriotic work, considering that Judah might be attacked by other enemies as well as the Assyrians. She was like a grain of corn amid the grinding mills of the nations. Media and Lydia were rising into strong kingdoms. Babylon was becoming daily more formidable. Dim rumors reached the East of movements among vast hosts of Cimmerian and Scythian barbarians. Jerusalem had no human strength for war. She could only rely upon her battlements, on the natural strength of her position, and on the protection of her God. Almost in the last year of Manasseh, the powerful Psammetichus I, king of a now united Egypt, made an assault on Ashdod; but he did not venture on the difficult task of besieging Jerusalem.
The religious reformation of Manasseh attested the sincerity of his amendment. He flung out the Asherah from the Temple, put away the strange gods, destroyed the altars, burnt sacrifices to God, and used all his power to restore the worship of Jehovah. He did not, however, destroy the high places. For this story the Chronicler refers to “the words of Chozai,” according to the present text, which some suppose to have meant “the story of the Seers.” He also refers to a prayer of Manasseh, which cannot of course be the Greek forgery of the second or third century which goes by that name in the Apocrypha. His repentance doubtless secured his own salvation. “Whoso saith Manasseh hath no part in the world to come,” said Rabbi Johanan, “discourageth the penitent”; but the partial reformation was too late to save his land.
Is this a literal history, or an edifying Haggadah? The non-historical character of the story is maintained by De Wette, Graf, Noldeke, and many others. Both views have been taken. This we can, at any rate, assert-that there seems to be nothing in the story which is inconsistent with probability. The Chronicler may have derived it from genuine documents or traditions, though it is difficult to account for the silence of the elder and more trustworthy historian. Nor is it only his silence for which we have to account; it is the continuance of his positive statements. It would be, in any case, a strange conception of history which, after narrating a mans crimes, omitted alike the retribution which befell him on account of them, the heartfelt penitence for the sake of which they were forgiven, and the seriously earnest endeavor to undo at least something of the evil which he had done. Not only does the historian make these omissions, but in no subsequent allusion to Manasseh does he so much as indicate that he is aware of his amendment. {2Ki 23:12} He says that Amon “did evil in the sight of the Lord, as his father Manasseh did.” {2Ki 21:20}
He speaks of the altars to the hosts of heaven which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the Temple as still standing in the reign of Josiah, though the Chronicler tells us that Manasseh had cast them all out of the city. {2Ch 33:15} He says that, notwithstanding all that Josiah did, “the Lord turned not from the fierceness of His great wrath, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal,” {2Ki 23:26} and that on this account God cast off Jerusalem. Never, even by the most distant allusions, does he refer to Manassehs captivity, his prayer, his penitence, or his counter-efforts. Had he been aware of these, his silence would have been neither generous nor just. Nay, he even leaves apparent facts at conflict with the Chroniclers story, for he makes Josiah do all that the Chronicler tells us that Manasseh himself had done in the removal of his worst abominations.
Even now we have not exhausted the historic difficulties which surround the repentance of Manasseh. During his reign Jeremiah received his call, and while still a young boy began his work. Neither he, nor Zephaniah, nor Habakkuk drop the slightest hint that the wicked, idolatrous king had ever turned over a new leaf. Jeremiahs silence is specially difficult to account for. He, too, records Jehovahs final and irrevocable decree, that He would give up Judah to death, to exile, and to famine, to the sword to slay, to the dogs to tear, to the fowls of the heaven and the beasts of the earth to devour and to destroy. {Jer 15:1-9} And the cause of the pitiless doom pronounced by a Judge weary of repenting is “because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, King of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.”
The judgment was not long delayed.
It was the vast movement of the Scythians in Media and Western Asia, and the rumors of it, which gave to Manasseh and Amon such respite as they had; and even this respite was full of misery and fear.