In The Word
Read: 2 Chronicles 33
33 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. 2 He did evil in the sight of the Lord according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord dispossessed before the sons of Israel. 3 For he rebuilt the high places which his father Hezekiah had torn down; he also set up altars for the Baals and made Asherim, and he worshiped all the heavenly lights and served them. 4 He built altars in the house of the Lord of which the Lord had said, “My name shall be in Jerusalem forever.” 5 He built altars for all the heavenly lights in the two courtyards of the house of the Lord. 6 He also made his sons pass through the fire in the Valley of Ben-hinnom; and he practiced witchcraft, used divination, practiced sorcery, and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger. 7 Then he put the carved image of the idol which he had made in the house of God, of which God had said to David and his son Solomon, “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever; 8 and I will not remove the foot of Israel again from the land which I have appointed for your fathers, if only they will take care to do everything that I have commanded them according to all the Law, the statutes, and the ordinances giventhrough Moses.” 9 So Manasseh encouraged Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the sons of Israel.
Manasseh’s Idolatry Rebuked
10 So the Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. 11 Therefore the Lord brought the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria against them, and they captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze chains, and led him to Babylon. 12 When he was in distress, he appeased the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.13 When he prayed to Him, He was moved by him and heard his pleading, and brought him back to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord alone is God.
14 Now after this he built the outer wall of the city of David on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, up to the entrance of the Fish Gate; and he encircled the Ophel with it and made it very high. Then he put army commanders in all the fortified cities in Judah.15 He also removed the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord, as well as all the altars which he had built on the mountain of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside the city. 16 He set up the altar of the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings and thanksgiving offerings on it; and he ordered Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel. 17 However, the people still sacrificed on the high places, although only to the Lord their God.
18 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel, behold, they are among the records of the kings of Israel. 19 His prayer also and how God was moved by him, and all his sin, his unfaithfulness, and the sites on which he built high places and erected the Asherim and the carved images, before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the records of Hozai. 20 So Manasseh lay down with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house. And his son Amon became king in his place.
Amon Becomes King in Judah
21 Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned for two years in Jerusalem. 22 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, just as his father Manasseh had done, and Amon sacrificed to all the carved images which his father Manasseh had made, and he served them. 23 Furthermore, he did not humble himself before the Lord as his father Manasseh had done, but Amon multiplied his guilt. 24 Finally, his servants conspired against him and put him to death in his own house. 25 But the people of the land killed all the conspirators against King Amon, and the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place.
New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Walking In The Word
Our reading today tells of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, who became king at the age of twelve. Manasseh reigned for 55 years in Jerusalem. Unlike his father, a great reformer who restored true worship back to the people of God, Manasseh did evil in the sight of the Lord. Some of the evil things he did were worshipping the gods of the nations, which the Lord had driven from the land, and rebuilding the shrines of the idols that his father had destroyed. The most egregious offense was that he also bowed down before all of the powers of the heavens and worshipped them.
It is amazing to see Manasseh choose this path even though he had a God-loving example in his father Hezekiah. Even with that God-loving example, he chose to follow the wickedness in his heart. In the midst of all the corruption, the Bible says that the Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, warning them of the error of their ways. Manasseh and the people ignored God’s warning, but the Lord did not give up. He allowed Manasseh to become a prisoner to the Assyrians and experience great suffering. Through his suffering, we see Manasseh repenting.
Much like Manasseh, we all have our own ideas of the way our lives should go, but the Bible declares in Proverbs 14:12, “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” Following the way of God can sometimes be difficult, but we have to trust and believe that it is the right way. Obeying God’s Word will always produce life. So will you obey or go your own way?