The Second Book of the Chronicles
2 Chronicles 33
Chapter XXXIII · Vol. II, pp. 883–885
1 Manasseh's wicked reign. 3 He setteth up idolatry, and would not be admonished. 11 He is carried captive to Babylon. 12 Upon his prayer to God he is released, and putteth down idolatry. 18 His acts and prayer. 20 He dying, Amon succeedeth him. 21 Amon reigning wickedly is slain by his servants. 25 The murderers being slain, Josiah succeedeth him.
1 Manasseh wasa twelve years old when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem:
B.C. 698.
a 2 Ki.21.1-9. Ec.10.16. Is.3.4,5,12, with 1 Ch.3.13. Mat.1.10.
2 But did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, like unto the babominations of the heathen, whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.
b De.18.9,10. Le.18.3-28. ch.28.2-4.
3 For che built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had dbroken down, and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made 1groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven,2 and served them.
c Heb. he returned and built, Ec.2.19.
d 2 Ki.18.4; 21.3. ch.31.1; 32.12.
e With De.16.21. Je.32.34,35. ch.28.2-4.
1 'Made groves;' this will appear a strange statement to the thoughtful reader. The real meaning of the Hebrew is, 'he made images of Astarte,' which many of the Israelites had adopted as their tutelary deity. Baal represented the sun, Astarte the moon, and all the host of heaven the stars.—P.
2 The splendour of sun, moon, and stars, especially in a bright eastern sky, together with their acknowledged influence on the seasons of the year, soon suggested to a people who 'did not like to retain God in their knowledge,' that these heavenly hosts were proper objects of their worship.—C.
4 Also he built altars in the house of the LORD, whereof the LORD had said, fIn Jerusalem shall my name be for ever.
5 And he built galtars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.
g ch.28.2-4,24,25. Je.2.28.
6 And he hcaused 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,3 and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
h Le.18.21. De.18.10. 2 Ki.21.6; 23.10. Is.8.19. Je.7.31; 32.30-35.
3 That is, allowed himself to be cheated by a juggler, pretending to converse with a familiar spirit. Such wicked pretenders have in all ages, even to the present, found ignorant and superstitious dupes to admit their claims and sanction their impostures.—C.
7 And he set a carved image4 (the idol which he had made) in the house of God, of which iGod had said to David, and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen before all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever:
4 From 2 Ki. 21. 7 we learn that this image was not a statue of himself, as the Targumists suppose, but an image of the Phœnician Astarte, equivalent to the abominable Grecian Venus.—C.
i 2 Sa.7.10. Ps.132.13,14. 1 Ki.8.23. ver.4.
8 Neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from out of the land which I have appointed for your fathers; kso that they will take heed to do all that I have commanded them, according to the whole law, and the statutes, and the ordinances, by the hand of Moses.
A.M. 3306. B.C. 698.
k Le.26.1-13. De.28.1-14; 4.1,4. Is.1.19.
9 So Manasseh lmade Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err,5 and to do worse than the heathen, whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel.
l 2 Ki.21.9. Pr.29.12. 1 Ki.14.16; 15.26; 16.19,25-33. Mi.6.16.
5 That is, he made them sin through his example and influence; but having the law of God 'they were without excuse.'—C.
10 Andm the LORD spake6 to Manasseh, and to his people; but they would not hearken.
m 2 Ki.21.9-15. ch.36.15,16. Je.44.4,5.
6 He spake by his prophets and his providence, by his law and their own consciences.—C.
11 Wherefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the host nof the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh oamong the thorns,7 and boundp him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.
n Ne.9.32. De.28.36. Is.5.26-30; 7.20.
7 The Syriac and Arabic have it—he 'took Manasseh alive.' Our Hebrew text and translation seem, however, sufficiently intelligible. He took him among 'the thorns,' to which he had fled, in his own idolatrous 'groves.' C.——The Hebrew word translated 'thorns,' also signifies 'a hook' or 'ring,' and an instrument used for binding and leading captives. This latter may be its meaning in this place, and so it was understood by the ancient Jewish rabbins, by the authors of the Septuagint and Vulgate versions.—P.
12 Andq when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,
q Mi.6.9. Ho.5.15; 14.1-3,8. Lu.15.16-18. Je.31.18-20; 3.23. 2 Co.7.11.
13 And prayed unto him: and he rwas entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. sThen Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God.
14 Now after this he tbuilt a wall without the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entering in of the fish-gate, and compassed about uOphel, and raised it up a very great height, and put captains of war in all the fenced cities of Judah.
t ch.32.5; 11.5,11,12.
u Or, the tower, ch.27.3. Ne.3.26,27,31; 11.21. 1 Ch.9.2.
15 And xhe 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.
x Ho.14.3,8. Is.2.16-21. ver.2-7. Ps.119.67.
16 And he yrepaired the altar of the LORD, and sacrificed thereon peace-offerings and thank-offerings, and zcommanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel.8
y 1 Ki.18.30. Le.7.12.
z ch.14.4, with ver.9. Lu.22.32. ch.34.30-32. Ge.18.19.
8 To have been 'kept back' from sin (Ps.19.13) by restraining grace, is the greatest blessing; to have been led to repentance, is the next; and to make the best and fullest reparation in our power is the only evidence to man that our profession is sincere. Manasseh failed of the first; but, by the grace of God, he happily exemplified the other two.—C.
17 Nevertheless athe people did sacrifice still in the high places, yet unto the LORD their God only.
a 1 Ki.15.14; 22.43. 2 Ki.12.3; 14.4; 15.4,35.
18 Nowb the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer unto his God, and cthe words of the seers9 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;
b ch.32.32,33; 28.26,27; 27.7,9; 26.22,23; 28.26,27; 32.32,33.
c De.18.19. ch.36.15. Je.44.4.
9 'The words of the seers' are summarily recorded (2 Ki. 21. 10-15), with a sad recital of 'the rest of his acts' (ver. 16); but his 'prayer' is not extant. The prayer attributed to him in the Apocrypha is, by universal consent, admitted to be spurious. Is then a portion of Holy Scripture lost? No, nor does this and similar texts necessarily lead to such a conclusion. The words, are written, are supplied by the translators, and the Hebrew might as well be translated were written. Why they were expunged does not appear, nor is it of any importance for us to inquire or to know.—C.
19 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 dseers.1
A.M. 3361. B.C. 643.
d Or, Hosai, 1 Sa.9.9.
1 Manasseh's prayer is not preserved in the sacred writings. That which bears his name in the Apocrypha can hardly be identical with the one here referred to. It would rather seem to have been an attempt made by some later writer to supply a suitable prayer.—P.
20 So Manasseh eslept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house:2 and Amon his son reigned in his stead.3
e ch.9.31; 12.16; 16.13; 21.20; 25.28; 26.23; 28.27; 32.33.
2 Not in his palace, but in some detached and favourite summer-house situated in his garden, 2 Ki.21.18.—C.
3 B.C. 643.
22 But he gdid that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as did Manasseh his father: for Amon sacrificed unto all the carved images which Manasseh his father had made, and 4served them;
g ver.2-9. Eze.20.18.
4 How astonishing is this! With his father's example before his eyes, he copied his father's vices, but not his repentance.—I.
23 And hhumbled not himself before the LORD, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but Amon itrespassed more and more.
h ver.12. Je.8.12. Zec.7.11,12.
i Heb. multiplied trespass, 2 Ti.3.13. ch.28?.22; ver.6.
24 And khis servants conspired against him, and slew him in his own house.
k 2 Sa.4.5-7. 2 Ki.12.20,21. ch.24.25; 25.27,28. Ps.55.23. Job 15.32,33.
Notes
Reflections.—What a grief it would be to many godly parents to return from death and behold the abominations of their children! Nations and churches readily relapse into their wonted abominations, from which they had been reformed with infinite pains. They become inhuman, unnatural, and infatuated when God gives them over to their own hearts' lusts. They turn from and provoke God, their best friend, and depend on Satan, their worst enemy. How quickly Hezekiah's boasted treasures are carried to Babylon, and his son to attend them! But O the mercy of God, in giving repeated warnings to the most vile and obstinate sinners; or in afflicting them, in order to awaken them! He can convert and forgive the greatest monsters of wickedness. But bitter are the griefs, and visible the fruits, of real repentance, particularly when the subjects were once remarkably wicked. What care to restore the worship of God which they have defaced, and to reform the persons whom they have seduced! Though God cast their sin behind his back, they never forget it themselves, nor think themselves worthy of ordinary honours, whether in life or in death. And it may be useful for us to remember that our sins, with their aggravating circumstances, as well as our returns to our duty, are exactly marked in the registers of heaven. But with what a dreadful career and unremitting obstinacy do some men post to eternal ruin! They greedily copy their parents' wickedness, but never their repentance.