2 Kings 21

2 KINGS CHAPTER 21

Judah’s King Manasseh

• • • Manasseh was 12 years old when he began to reign and he reigned for 55 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. He did what was evil in Yahweh’s eyes, in accordance with the detestable practices of the nations whom Yahweh had driven out before the Israelites. He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed, set up altars for Baal, made an Asherah pole just like Israel’s King Ahab had done, and worshiped and served all the host of heaven. He built altars in the house of Yahweh, about which Yahweh had said, “I will put My Name in Jerusalem.” He built altars to all of the heavenly host in the two courtyards of Yahweh’s house. He sacrificed his son in the fire, practiced divination, and sought omens. He set up a ritual pit to conjure up underworld spirits and appointed magicians to supervise it. He did a great amount of evil in the sight of Yahweh, provoking Him to anger.

• • • • HCSB notes, “Manasseh co-reigned with Hezekiah from 697-686 BC. He reigned in his own right until 642 BC.”

• • • • ESV Study Bible writes, “Manasseh is the very worst of the Judean kings, indulging in all that has been most reprehensible in the religion of Israel (both north and south) in the preceding chapters of 1-2 Kings, and adding to it (despicable practices of the nations). His father’s reforms are reversed as the high places are rebuilt…so that idolatry can resume there, and a new Asherah…replaces the one that Hezekiah removed…Manasseh built altars for all the host of heaven…in the two courts of the temple (both in the inner court described in 1 Kings 6:36 and in the ‘middle court’ described in 2 Kings 20:4). His grandfather Ahaz is his role model, as he sacrifices his own son in the fire…and uses fortune-telling and omens…Ahab…stands behind Ahaz; and King Saul’s reign is also echoed in the reference to mediums and necromancers…, divination by inquiring of the dead. The Lord of hosts…has become to Manasseh merely a god among hosts, with a consort goddess for company (Asherah) and open to manipulation by occult means. If the Lord previously drove out before the people of Israel the nations that did these things…, what will happen now to Judah?”

• • • • On the heavenly host that Manasseh was worshiping and serving, NIV Cultural Backgrounds says, “In the ancient Near East generally, the stars and the planets were identified with specific gods and goddesses and worshiped as such, and their movements were carefully studied for astrological reasons. The sun was worshiped in Mesopotamia as Shamash, the moon as Sin and the planet Venus as Ishtar (the goddess of love and sexuality). At Ugarit in Syria the sun was worshiped as the goddess Shapash, the moon as Yarikh and Venus as Astarte. Israel encountered astral worship of this kind as soon as it entered Canaan…Ashtoreth is the Biblical name for Astarte, and the plural refers to various local manifestations of the goddess…The cult was revived during the monarchic period by Solomon (1 Kgs 11:5, 33) and may well have been promoted, along with other aspects of astral worship (2 Kgs 23:11), under Manasseh, in part to display his loyalty to the Assyrian king…”

• • • • I’ve gone with the NET Bible’s rendering of verse 6. Their textual note for this verse explains, “Heb ‘and he set up a ritual pit, along with conjurers.’ The Hebrew (ʾov), ‘ritual pit,’ refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits. In 1 Sam 28:7 the witch of Endor is called a (baʿalat ʾov), ‘owner of a ritual pit.’ See H. Hoffner, ‘Second millennium Antecedents to the Hebrew, ʾÔḆ’ JBL 86 (1967), 385-401.”

• • • • Other translations render that portion of the verse variously as “dealt with mediums and necromancers” (ESV), “consulted mediums and spiritists” (NIV), “dealt with them that had familiar spirits” (RV), etc. Since we’ve discussed the tendency of some commentators to opt for an anti-supernatural view of Scripture, this seems like a great place to note Dr. Heiser’s discussion of the Hebrew words and how they actually affirm the reality of the existence of the spiritual beings being channeled through the people referred to as mediums, necromancers, spiritists, etc. The following citations are from Heiser’s work, “Demons,” pp. 17-18:

• • • • • “Deuteronomy 18:9-14 lists a number of ‘abominable practices’ forbidden to Israelites. One prohibition is utilizing the services of so el ‘ob we-yid-de ‘oni (literally ‘one who inquires of a spirit or knowing one’; Deut 18:11) The term yidde ‘oni (from y-d-‘ , ‘to know’) means ‘knowing (one)’ and occurs eleven times, always with the term ‘ob.”

• • • • “English translations at times render this word as ‘medium,’ which obscures something of note about its meaning. Several passages clearly have the terms referring to the spirit entities being channeled, not to the human channeler. Passages in Leviticus illustrate this point:

• • • • • “Do not turn to the spirits [‘obot], to those who have knowledge [yidde ‘oni]; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am Yahweh your God. (Lev 19:31)”

• • • • • “If a person turns to the spirits [‘obot], to those who have knowledge [yidde ‘oni], whoring after them, I will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people. (Lev 20:6)”

• • • • • “A man or woman who has a spirit [‘ob] or knowing one [yidde ‘oni] in them shall surely be put to death They shall be stoned with stones; their blood shall be upon them. (Lev 20:27)”

• • • • “The point made here should not escape the reader. While yidde ‘oni, ‘knowing (one),’ and ‘ob may at times be used of human mediums, the failure to note that they also refer specifically to supernatural entities results in missing Old Testament terminology for evil spirits.”

• • • He put the carved image of Asherah that he had made in the house about which Yahweh had said to David and his son Solomon, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all of the tribes of Israel, I will put My Name forever. And if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them, and in accordance with all the law My servant Moses commanded them, then I will not again make the Israelites wander from the land that I gave to their ancestors.” But they didn’t listen, and Manasseh seduced them to stray and do more evil than the nations Yahweh had destroyed before the Israelites.

• • • • Guzik remarks, “This describes the basic attitude of the people of Judah during the 55-year reign of Manasseh. They paid no attention to the generous promises of God, promising protection to His obedient people. In addition, they were willingly seduced by Manasseh’s wickedness and were attracted to do more evil. He was indeed a wicked king, but perhaps the greater sin was on the part of the people who accepted this seduction willingly. 2 Chronicles 33:10 says, And the LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they would not listen. God spoke to both the people and the leader, but they rejected His word…This was a transformation of the culture from something generally God-honoring to a culture that glorified idolatry and immorality. In general, we can say this happened because the people wanted it to happen. They didn’t care about the direction of their culture.”

Manasseh’s Idolatry Denounced

• • • So Yahweh spoke through His servants the prophets saying, “King Manasseh of Judah has committed these detestable sins. He has done more evil than the Amorites who lived in this land before him and has caused Judah to sin with his idols. Therefore this is what Yahweh, the God of Israel says: ‘Look, I am about to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the mason’s line used against the house of Ahab. I will wipe Jerusalem just like one wipes a dish- wiping it, then turning it upside down to wipe it. I will abandon the remnant of My inheritance and give them into the hands of their enemies. They will be looted and plundered by their enemies because they have done what is evil in My eyes and have provoked My anger from the day their ancestors came out of Egypt right up to this very day.’”

• • • • NLT Illustrated Study Bible writes, “God responded to Manasseh’s detestable religious practices with his righteous judgment, just as he had with the northern kingdom (2 Kgs 17:18-20). The Amorites were the pre-Israelite inhabitants of the land, known for their wickedness…Based on what had happened to the northern kingdom (17:7-23) and to Ahab’s family (9:24-26, 30-37; 10:1-8; 1 Kgs 22:37-38), Manasseh should fully expect God to execute justice against Judah.”

• • • • On the measurement vocabulary, NET Bible says, “Heb ‘I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria, and the plumb line of the house of Ahab.’ The measuring line and plumb line are normally used in building a structure, not tearing it down. But here they are used ironically as metaphors of judgment, emphasizing that he will give careful attention to the task of judgment.”

• • • • On the remnant, the same source continues, “In this context the Lord’s remnant is the tribe of Judah, which had been preserved when the Assyrians conquered and deported the northern tribes. See 17:18”

• • • Furthermore, Manasseh killed so many innocent people that Jerusalem was filled from one end to the other with their innocent blood. This was in addition to the sin he caused Judah to commit so that they did what was evil in Yahweh’s eyes.

• • • • Guzik comments, “This puts Manasseh, king of Judah, in the same spiritual family as Ahab, king of Israel. Under both of these kings – among others – the people of God were persecuted by the religion of state-sponsored idolatry. The extent of it was so great that it could be metaphorically said, he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another with the blood of his victims.”

• • • The rest of the events of Manasseh’s reign and all of his accomplishments, including the sin that he committed, are recorded in the book, “Annals of the Kings of Judah.” Manasseh rested with his ancestors and was buried in the garden of his house- the garden of Uzza. His son Amon succeeded him as king.

• • • • NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible includes this interesting note, “This burial site is of uncertain location, but the implication may be that it lay outside the ‘City of David’ (i.e., the original settled area on the southern hill), which is noted as the resting place of preceding kings (e.g., Ahaz in 16:20). It is tempting, in view of Manasseh’s worship of astral deities…, to associate Uzza with the Arabian goddess al-‘Uzza, who was identified with Venus, and to speculate that the garden of Uzza was an enclosure dedicated to her on the temple mount. An equally plausible suggestion is that this enclosure was at the southern end of the Kidron Valley, just outside the city walls, where we know that there was a ‘king’s garden’ (25:4; Ne 3:15).”

• • • • Guzik adds, “This was the terrible legacy of Manasseh, who was born of one of the better kings of Judah (Hezekiah). 2 Chronicles 33:11-19 describes a remarkable repentance on the part of Manasseh. Because he and his people would not listen to the warnings of God, the LORD allowed the Babylonians to bind King Manasseh and take him as a captive to Babylon. There, when he was in affliction, he implored the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers (2 Chronicles 33:12) and God answered his prayer and restored him to the throne. Manasseh then proved that his repentance was genuine by taking away the idols and the foreign gods from Jerusalem, and he commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel (2 Chronicles 33:16). This is a wonderful example of the principle, Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6). Manasseh was raised by a godly father, yet he lived in defiance of his father’s faith for most of his life. Nevertheless, at the end of his days he truly repented and served God. In this way, we can say that it was very true that Manasseh rested with his fathers.”

Judah’s King Amon

• • • Amon was 22 years old when he began to reign and he reigned for 2 years in Jerusalem. His mother, who was from Jotbah, was named Meshullemeth and her father was Haruz. He did evil in Yahweh’s eyes just as his father Manasseh had done. He followed all the ways of his father, worshiping and serving the same idols his father had. He abandoned Yahweh, the God of his ancestors, and didn’t follow the way of Yahweh. Amon’s servants conspired against him and assassinated him in his own house. The people of the land executed those who had conspired against King Amon, and made his son Josiah king in his place.

• • • • NLT Illustrated Study Bible writes, “Amon’s brief reign (642-640 BC) simply perpetuated his father’s wickedness. Manasseh’s repentance and reforms came too late to have any effect on Amon or on the people of Judah. Amon became a total apostate (see also 2 Chr 33:23).”

• • • The rest of the events of Amon’s reign, including his accomplishments, are recorded in the book, “Annals of the Kings of Judah.” He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and his son Josiah succeeded him as king.

• • • • Guzik remarks, “Amon sinned as Manasseh had sinned, without having the repentance that Manasseh repented. It is likely that one of the greatest sorrows to the repentant Manasseh was that his sons and others who were influenced by his sin did not also repent…Though King Amon was assassinated, God did not yet allow Judah to slip into the same pit of anarchy that Israel had sunk into. Because of the righteous action of the people of the land, there was no change of dynasty, and the rightful heir to the throne of David received the throne.”

Image via NLT Illustrated Study Bible

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