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S E C O N D C H R O N I C L E S
CHAP. XXXIII.
In this chapter we have the history of the reign,
I. Of Manasseh, who reigned long.
1. His wretched apostasy from God, and revolt to idolatry and all
wickedness,
2. His happy return to God in his affliction; his repentance
(ver. 11-13),
his reformation
(ver. 15-17),
and prosperity
(ver. 14),
with the conclusion of his reign,
II. Of Amon, who reigned very wickedly
(ver. 21-23),
and soon ended his days unhappily,
| The Reign of Manasseh. | B. C. 662. |
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1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and
he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem:
2 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.
3 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 worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.
4 Also he built altars in the house of the LORD, whereof the
LORD had said, In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever.
5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two
courts of the house of the LORD.
6 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.
7 And he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the
house of God, of which God 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:
8 Neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from out of
the land which I have appointed for your fathers; so 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.
9 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.
10 And the LORD spake to Manasseh, and to his people: but they
would not hearken.
We have here an account of the great wickedness of Manasseh. It is the
same almost word for word with that which we had
and took a melancholy view of. It is no such pleasing subject that we
should delight to dwell upon it again. This foolish young prince, in
contradiction to the good example and good education his father gave
him, abandoned himself to all impiety, transcribed the abominations of
the heathen
(v. 2),
ruined the established religion, unravelled his father’s glorious
reformation
(v. 3),
profaned the house of God with his idolatry
(v. 4, 5),
dedicated his children to Moloch, and made the devil’s lying oracles
his guides and his counsellors,
v. 6.
In contempt of the choice God had made of Sion to be his rest for ever
and Israel to be his covenant-people
(v. 8),
and the fair terms he stood upon with God, he embraced other gods,
profaned God’s chosen temple, and debauched his chosen people. He
made them to err, and do worse than the heathen
(v. 9);
for, if the uncle an spirit returns, he brings with him seven other
spirits more wicked than himself. That which aggravated the sin of
Manasseh was that God spoke to him and his people by the
prophets, but they would not hearken,
v. 10.
We may here admire the grace of God in speaking to them, and their
obstinacy in turning a deaf ear to him, that either their badness did
not quite turn away his goodness, but still he waited to be gracious,
or that his goodness did not turn them from their badness, but still
they hated to be reformed. Now from this let us learn,
1. That it is no new thing, but a very sad thing, for the children of
godly parents to turn aside from that good way of God in which they
have been trained. Parents may give many good things to their children,
but they cannot give them grace.
2. Corruptions in worship are such diseases of the church as it is
very apt to relapse into again even when they seem to be cured.
3. The god of this world has strangely blinded men’s minds, and has a
wonderful power over those that are led captive by him; else he could
not draw them from God, their best friend, to depend upon their sworn
enemy.
11 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.
12 And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God,
and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,
13 And prayed unto him: and he was intreated of him, and heard
his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his
kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God.
14 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.
15 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.
16 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.
17 Nevertheless the people did sacrifice still in the high
places, yet unto the LORD their God only.
18 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.
19 His prayer also, and how God was intreated of him, and all
his sin, 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.
20 So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in
his own house: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.
We have seen Manasseh by his wickedness undoing the good that his
father had done; here we have him by repentance undoing the evil that
he himself had done. It is strange that this was not so much as
mentioned in the book of Kings, nor does any thing appear there
to the contrary but that he persisted and perished in his son. But
perhaps the reason was because the design of that history was to show
the wickedness of the nation which brought destruction upon them; and
this repentance of Manasseh and the benefit of it, being personal only
and not national, is overlooked there; yet here it is fully related,
and a memorable instance it is of the riches of God’s pardoning mercy
and the power of his renewing grace. Here is,
I. The occasion of Manasseh’s repentance, and that was his affliction.
In his distress he did not (like king Ahaz) trespass yet more
against God, but humbled himself and returned to God. Sanctified
afflictions often prove happy means of conversion. What his distress
was we are told,
God brought a foreign enemy upon him; the king of Babylon, that courted
his father who faithfully served God, invaded him now that he had
treacherously departed from God. He is here called king of
Assyria, because he had made himself master of Assyria, which he
would the more easily do for the defeat of Sennacherib’s army, and its
destruction before Jerusalem. He aimed at the treasures which the
ambassadors had seen, and all those precious things; but God sent him
to chastise a sinful people, and subdue a straying prince. The captain
took Manasseh among the thorns, in some bush or other, perhaps
in his garden, where he had hid himself. Or it is spoken figuratively:
he was perplexed in his counsels and embarrassed in his affairs. He
was, as we say, in the briers, and knew not which way to extricate
himself, and so became an easy prey to the Assyrian captains, who no
doubt plundered his house and took away what they pleased, as Isaiah
had foretold,
What was Hezekiah’s pride was their prey. They bound Manasseh, who had
been held before with the cords of his own iniquity, and carried him
prisoner to Babylon. About what time of his reign this was we are not
told; the Jews say it was in his twenty-second year.
II. The expressions of his repentance
(v. 12, 13):
When he was in affliction he had time to bethink himself and
reason enough too. He saw what he had brought himself to by his sin. He
found the gods he had served unable to help him. He knew that
repentance was the only way of restoring his affairs; and therefore to
him he returned from whom he had revolted.
1. He was convinced the Jehovah is the only living and true God:
Then he knew (that is, he believed and considered) that the
Lord he was God. He might have known it at a less expense if he
would have given due attention and credit to the word written and
preached: but it was better to pay thus dearly for the knowledge of God
than to perish in ignorance and unbelief. Had he been a prince in the
palace of Babylon, it is probable he would have been confirmed in his
idolatry; but, being a captive in the prisons of Babylon, he was
convinced of it and reclaimed from it.
2. He applied to him as his God now, renouncing all others, and
resolving to cleave to him only, the God of his fathers, and a God on
covenant with him.
3. He humbled himself greatly before him, was truly sorry for his sins,
ashamed of them, and afraid of the wrath of God. It becomes sinners to
humble themselves before the face of that God whom they have offended.
It becomes sufferers to humble themselves under the hand of that God
who corrects them, and to accept the punishment of their iniquity. Our
hearts should be humbled under humbling providences; then we
accommodate ourselves to them, and answer God’s end in them.
4. He prayed to him for the pardon of sin and the return of his favour.
Prayer is the relief of penitents, the relief of the afflicted. That is
a good prayer, and very pertinent in this case, which we find among the
apocryphal books, entitled, The prayer of Manasses, king of Judah,
when he was holden captive in Babylon. Whether it was his or no is
uncertain; if it was, in it he gives glory to God as the God
of their fathers and their righteous seed, as the Creator of
the world, a God whose anger is insupportable, and yet his
merciful promise unmeasurable. He pleads that God has promised
repentance and forgiveness to those that have sinned, and has
appointed repentance unto sinners, that they may be saved, not
unto the just, as to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but to
me (says he) that am a sinner; for I have sinned above the
number of the sands of the sea: so he confesses his sin largely,
and aggravates it. He prays, Forgive me, O Lord! forgive me, and
destroy me not; he pleads, Thou art the God of those that
repent, &c., and concludes, Therefore I will praise thee for
ever, &c.
III. God’s gracious acceptance of his repentance: God was entreated
of him, and heard his supplication. Though affliction drive us to
God, he will not therefore reject us if in sincerity we seek him, for
afflictions are sent on purpose to bring us to him. As a token of God’s
favour to him, he made a way for his escape. Afflictions are continued
no longer than till they have done their work. When Manasseh is brought
back to his God and to his duty he shall soon be brought back to his
kingdom. See how ready God is to accept and welcome returning
sinners, and how swift to show mercy. Let not great sinners
despair, when Manasseh himself, upon his repentance, found favour with
God; in him God showed forth a pattern of long-suffering, as
IV. The fruits meet for repentance which he brought forth after
his return to his own land,
1. He turned from his sins. He took away the strange gods, the
images of them, and that idol (whatever it was) which he had set up
with so much solemnity in the house of the Lord, as if it had
been master of that house. He cast out all the idolatrous altars that
were in the mount of the house and in Jerusalem, as detestable
things. Now (we hope) he loathed them as much as ever he had loved
them, and said to them, Get you hence,
Isa. xxx. 22.
“What have I to do any more with idols? I have had enough of
them.”
2. He returned to his duty; for he repaired the altar of the
Lord, which had either been abused and broken down by some of the
idolatrous priests, or, at least, neglected and gone out of repair. He
sacrificed thereon peace-offerings to implore God’s favour, and
thank-offerings to praise him for his deliverance. Nay, he now used his
power to reform his people, as before he had abused it to corrupt them:
He commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel. Note, Those
that truly repent of their sins will not only return to God themselves,
but will do all they can to recover those that have by their example
been seduced and drawn away from God; else they do not thoroughly (as
they ought) undo what they have done amiss, nor make the plaster as
wide as the wound. We find that he prevailed to bring them off from
their false gods, but not from their high places,
v. 17.
They still sacrificed in them, yet to the Lord their God only;
Manasseh could not carry the reformation so far as he had carried the
corruption. It is an easy thing to debauch men’s manners, but not so
easy to reform them again.
V. His prosperity, in some measure, after his repentance. He might
plainly see it was sin that ruined him; for, when he returned to God in
a way of duty, God returned to him in a way of mercy: and then he
built a wall about the city of David
(v. 14),
for by sin he had unwalled it and exposed it to the enemy. He also put
captains of war in the fenced cities for the security of his country.
Josephus says that all the rest of his time he was so changed for the
better that he was looked upon as a very happy man.
Lastly, Here is the conclusion of his history. The heads of
those things for a full narrative of which we are referred to the other
writings that were then extant are more than of any of the kings,
A particular account, it seems, was kept,
1. Of all his sin, and his trespass, the high places he
built, the groves and images he set up, before he was humbled.
Probably this was taken from his own confession which he made of his
sin when God gave him repentance, and which he left upon record, in a
book entitled, The words of the seers. To those seers that
spoke to him
(v. 18)
to reprove him for his sin he sent his confession when he repented, to
be inserted in their memoirs, as a token of his gratitude to them for
their kindness in reproving him. Thus it becomes penitents to take
shame to themselves, to give thanks to their reprovers, and warning to
others.
2. Of the words of the seers that spoke to him in the name of the
Lord
(v. 10, 18),
the reproofs they gave him for his sin and their exhortations to
repentance. Note, Sinners ought to consider, that, how little notice
soever they take of them, an account is kept of the words of the seers
that speak to them from God to admonish them of their sins, warn them
of their danger, and call them to their duty, which will be produced
against them in the great day.
3. Of his prayer to God (this is twice mentioned as a
remarkable thing) and how God was entreated of him. This was
written for the generations to come, that the people that should be
created might praise the Lord for his readiness to receive
returning prodigals. Notice is taken of the place of his burial, not
in the sepulchres of the kings, but in his own house; he
was buried privately, and nothing of that honour was done him at his
death that was done to his father. Penitents may recover their comfort
sooner than their credit.
| The Reign and Death of Amon. | B. C. 641. |
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21 Amon was two and twenty years old when he began to reign,
and reigned two years in Jerusalem.
22 But he did 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 served
them;
23 And humbled not himself before the LORD, as Manasseh his
father had humbled himself; but Amon trespassed more and more.
24 And his servants conspired against him, and slew him in his
own house.
25 But 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.
We have little recorded concerning Amon, but enough unless it were
better. Here is,
I. His great wickedness. He did as Manasseh had done in the days
of his apostasy,
Those who think this an evidence that Manasseh did not truly repent
forget how many good kings had wicked sons. Only it should seem that
Manasseh was in this defective, that, when he cast out the
images, he did not utterly deface and destroy them, according to
the law which required Israel to burn the images with fire,
Deut. vii. 2.
How necessary that law was this instance shows; for the carved
images being only thrown by, and not burnt, Amon knew where to find
them, soon set them up, and sacrificed to them. It is added, to
represent him exceedingly sinful and to justify God in cutting him off
so soon,
1. That he out-did his father in sinning: He trespassed more and
more,
v. 23.
His father did ill, but he did worse. Those that were joined to idols
grew more and more mad upon them.
2. That he came short of his father in repenting: He humbled not
himself before the Lord, as his father had humbled himself. He fell
like him, but did not get up again like him. It is not so much sin as
impenitence in sin that ruins men, not so much that they offend as that
they do not humble themselves for their offences, not the disease, but
the neglect of the remedy.
II. His speedy destruction. He reigned but two years and then his
servants conspired against him and slew him,
v. 24.
Perhaps when Amon sinned as his father did in the beginning of his days
he promised himself that he should repent as his father did in the
latter end of his days. But his case shows what a madness it is to
presume upon that. If he hoped to repent when he was old, he was
wretchedly disappointed; for he was cut off when he was young. He
rebelled against God, and his own servants rebelled against him. Herein
God was righteous, but they were wicked, and justly did the people
of the land put them to death as traitors. The lives of kings are
particularly under the protection of Providence and the laws both of
God and man.
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