2 Kings 21 Evil Evil Forgiven

seekeroftruth

Well-Known Member
2 Kings 21:1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. 2 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. 3 He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he also erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole, as Ahab king of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them. 4 He built altars in the temple of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem I will put my Name.” 5 In the two courts of the temple of the Lord, he built altars to all the starry hosts. 6 He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced divination, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.

7 He took the carved Asherah pole he had made and put it in the temple, of which the Lord had said to David and to his son Solomon, “In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my Name forever. 8 I will not again make the feet of the Israelites wander from the land I gave their ancestors, if only they will be careful to do everything I commanded them and will keep the whole Law that my servant Moses gave them.” 9 But the people did not listen. Manasseh led them astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.

10 The Lord said through his servants the prophets: 11 “Manasseh king of Judah has committed these detestable sins. He has done more evil than the Amorites who preceded him and has led Judah into sin with his idols. 12 Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. 13 I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab. I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. 14 I will forsake the remnant of my inheritance and give them into the hands of enemies. They will be looted and plundered by all their enemies; 15 they have done evil in my eyes and have aroused my anger from the day their ancestors came out of Egypt until this day.”

16 Moreover, Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end—besides the sin that he had caused Judah to commit, so that they did evil in the eyes of the Lord.

17 As for the other events of Manasseh’s reign, and all he did, including the sin he committed, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? 18 Manasseh rested with his ancestors and was buried in his palace garden, the garden of Uzza. And Amon his son succeeded him as king.​

The commentary this morning is from the easy English site.

By means of the prophets, God warned the people that he would punish them. He would do that in the same manner as he had punished the people in the northern kingdom. God would remove the inhabitants from Jerusalem. Jerusalem had become like a dirty dish. In order to clean that dish, nothing can remain in it. And so everyone would have to leave Jerusalem. God would allow the people’s enemies to capture them. The enemies would take all the people’s possessions.

In the end, God had to punish Judah. The sins had become too terrible. They were even worse than the sins of the original inhabitants of the country. God destroyed those nations when he gave their country to the Israelites. And now the people in Judah were carrying on the same sins, and worse sins too. Their punishment was certain. The Bible says, ‘If we continue to sin, there is no sacrifice for sin. We can only expect punishment from God… The Lord will be the judge over his people. It is a terrible thing to suffer God’s punishment.’ (Hebrews 10:26-31).

And it was not enough for Manasseh to sin because of his evil religion. He also became a murderer. In fact, Manasseh killed many innocent people. They probably included those people that opposed his sins. In the Jews’ tradition, they say that Manasseh sawed the prophet Isaiah in half. (Some people think that Hebrews 11:37 is referring to Isaiah’s death.)

In 2 Chronicles 33:11-13, we read that later Manasseh repented of his sin. That happened after Assyria’s army had taken him as a prisoner. They took him to Babylon. And because of his troubles, Manasseh became very humble. He prayed to God, who answered his prayer. God allowed Manasseh to return to Jerusalem, and there was a complete change in Manasseh’s attitudes. Manasseh removed the idols that he had made. He worshipped the Lord, and he ordered the people to worship the Lord too. Manasseh allowed the people to worship on the hills, but he would not let them worship false gods even there. The changes that Manasseh made were astonishing. God can rescue even the most wicked people from their sins. But they must be completely humble. They must repent in a sincere manner. And they must invite God into their lives.

In 2 Kings, however, the writer does not mention that Manasseh repented. The changes that Manasseh made were great. But still, they could not change the Lord’s judgement against Judah. Manasseh changed the people’s actions, but he could not change the attitude of their hearts. As soon as Manasseh died, the people began to worship their idols again.

People buried Manasseh in the garden of the palace. Perhaps people could not bury him in the royal graves because he had too many sins for that. The result of Manasseh’s rule was that God punished Judah.​

It says over in Chronicles that they put a hook thru his nose and shackles on his wrists and led him through Babylon... and that's what humbled him.... even this horrible pig gets humble when being led around by the nose.

:coffee:
 
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