33:1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem.

 

God gave Hezekiah 15 more years to live. During this extended time period of extra-life, Hezekiah gave birth to Manasseh.

 

33:2 He did evil in the sight of the Lord and committed the same horrible sins practiced by the nations whom the Lord drove out ahead of the Israelites. 

 

Manasseh was a very evil king. He practiced the same sins as the Canaanites, meaning homosexuality, human sacrifice, sexual prostitution temples, worshiping of demons, dabbling in the occult, and sex with animals. It would have been better for Israel if Hezekiah would have died when God first called him home. During Hezekiah’s next 15 years of extra life, he became a father to this very wicked son.

 

33:3 He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he set up altars for the Baals and made Asherah poles. He bowed down to all the stars in the sky and worshiped them. 

 

Jehovah was worshiped on top of the high places, but this was not the one appointed place which the Mosaic Law commanded. The Baals were the Phoenician gods which Jezebel brought into Israel. The Asherah Poles were erect male organs, similar to that of the totem poles found around the world.

 

33:4 He built altars in the Lord’s temple, about which the Lord had said, “Jerusalem will be my permanent home.”

 

Altars to demonic gods were built inside of the Temple.

 

33:5 In the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple he built altars for all the stars in the sky. 

 

The astrological signs were worshiped in the temple courtyards. There are many intelligent people today who look to guidance from the superstition of Astrology.

 

33:6 He passed his sons through the fire in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom and practiced divination, omen reading, and sorcery. 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 the Lord and angered him.

 

Manasseh dabbled in the occult. Sorcery was seeking to gain power from evil spirits. Divination was seeking to interpret the future by omens. Witchcraft was the seeking to control others through communication with evil spirits. All of these occultic rituals were practiced in foreign nations, but they were forbidden by the Mosaic Law. Basically, Judah had taken a deep step into satanism.

 

The “Valley of Ben-Hinnom” has been around since the time of Joshua. It is very possible that the original son of Hinnom was a Jebusite who practiced pagan sacrificial rituals in this same valley. The Jebusites were Canaanites whom Israel was supposed to exterminate, but failed to do so. Later, David conquered the Jebusites in Jerusalem and built his capital there.

 

33:7 He put an idolatrous image he had made in God’s temple, about which God had said to David and to his son Solomon, “This temple in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will be my permanent home.

 

Manasseh placed a demonic idol in the Jewish Temple. This is very similar to what the Antichrist will accomplish during the Great Tribulation.

 

33:8 I will not make Israel again leave the land I gave to their ancestors, provided that they carefully obey all I commanded them, the whole law, the rules and regulations given to Moses.” 

 

The author repeated the conditional stipulations of the conditional Mosaic Covenant. Israel would stay in the land and prosper, as long as they were obedient to the Law. If Israel was disobedient, then they would be removed. The northern tribes had already been removed by Assyria. God would relocate the southern tribes very soon for the same sins as that of Israel.

 

33:9 But Manasseh misled the people of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem so that they sinned more than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed ahead of the Israelites. 

 

The sins of Judah were were worse than the sins of the Canaanites whom God vomited out of the land. The Shechinah Glory most likely left the Temple during Manasseh’s 55-year reign.

 

33:10 The Lord confronted Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. 

 

Jehovah sent prophets to Manasseh and the people of Judah, but they refused to listen. These prophets constantly warned the people that they had broken God’s Law and they were headed towards captivity.

 

33:11 So the Lord brought against them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria. They seized Manasseh, put hooks in his nose, bound him with bronze chains, and carried him away to Babylon. 

 

Archaeologists have excavated the name of Manasseh as one who had been placed in servitude to the king of Assyria. Engravings found by archaeologists show that one of the practices of the cruel Assyrians was to lead the captive leaders by means of hooks in their noses. In 2 Kings 19:28, the Assyrian king was warned that Jehovah would place a hook in his nose.

 

33:12 In his pain Manasseh asked the Lord his God for mercy and truly humbled himself before the God of his ancestors.

 

This repentance was too little and too late.  After the reign of Manasseh, his son led Judah right back into paganism again.

 

33:13 When he prayed to the Lord, the Lord responded to him and answered favorably his cry for mercy. The Lord brought him back to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh realized that the Lord is the true God. 

 

Manasseh started off as an evil king, but Jehovah’s judgments brought him into salvation knowledge.

 

33:14 After this Manasseh built up the outer wall of the City of David on the west side of the Gihon in the valley to the entrance of the Fish Gate and all around the terrace; he made it much higher. He placed army officers in all the fortified cities in Judah. 

 

Manasseh fortified Jerusalem in order to protect the city from future enemies.

 

33:15 He removed the foreign gods and images from the Lord’s temple and all the altars he had built on the hill of the Lord’s temple and in Jerusalem; he threw them outside the city. 

 

Manasseh removed the demonic gods from the temple and from the city of Jerusalem.

 

33:16 He erected the altar of the Lord and offered on it peace offerings and thank offerings. He told the people of Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel. 

 

Jehovah worship was reinstituted in Jerusalem.

 

33:17 The people continued to offer sacrifices at the high places, but only to the Lord their God. 

 

Even though the high places were used to worship Yahweh, this was a violation of the Mosaic Law. Offerings could only be offered at one appointed place, which was the Temple.

 

33:18 The rest of the events of Manasseh’s reign, including his prayer to his God and the words the prophets spoke to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel, are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Israel. 33:19 The Annals of the Prophets include his prayer, give an account of how the Lord responded to it, record all his sins and unfaithful acts, and identify the sites where he built high places and erected Asherah poles and idols before he humbled himself.

 

The Book of Kings does not record this prayer, so this must be another lost book. There is an apocryphal book known as “The Prayer of Manasseh” which may reflect some of this original prayer.

 

33:20 Manasseh passed away and was buried in his palace. His son Amon replaced him as king. 

 

Amon became the next king of Judah. He was still a part of the Davidic messianic seed line.

 

33:21 Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned for two years in Jerusalem.

 

Amon only ruled for two years. His father reigned for 55 years, so Amon took the throne later than most kings.

 

33:22 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, just like his father Manasseh had done. He offered sacrifices to all the idols his father Manasseh had made, and worshiped them. 

 

Like father, like son. Manasseh’s conversion must have come years after Amon was educated as a child in the king’s court.

 

33:23 He did not humble himself before the Lord as his father Manasseh had done. Amon was guilty of great sin.

 

Manasseh later humbled himself, turned away from idolatry, and followed Jehovah. Amon did not.

 

33:24 His servants conspired against him and killed him in his palace. 

 

Amon only ruled for two years, because assassins killed him. Evil kings are often assassinated by those that they have wronged.

 

33:25 The people of the land executed all who had conspired against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah king in his place. 

 

Amon was God’s anointed king, so the nation of Israel arrested and executed the assassins. Josiah was coronated as the next King of Judah. He was also a Davidic king who carried the messianic seed.