21:1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother was Hephzibah.
Manasseh was born three years after Hezekiah’s supernatural healing and God’s promise of a fifteen-year extension of Hezekiah’s life. Without this miracle, the messianic Davidic line of kings in Israel would have been stopped. The Davidic Covenant would have failed.
Manasseh co-reigned with his father for ten years. Manasseh was one of the most evil kings in Israel history, so his mother did not do a very good job of raising him. Hezekiah was the best king since David, but he was a terrible father. It was very possible that the Shekinah Glory left Israel and returned to heaven during the reign of Manasseh. Manasseh reigned for fifty-five years, so he had plenty of time to repent. In 2 Chronicles, he finally did repent. God is always patient and long-suffering. He is not willing that any should perish.
21:2 He did evil in the sight of the Lord and committed the same horrible sins practiced by the nations whom the Lord drove out from before the Israelites.
Manasseh repeated the sins of the Canaanites. This included pagan worship, temple prostitution, homosexuality, sex with animals, and human sacrifice. God vomited the Canaanites out of the land for these sins.
21:3 He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he set up altars for Baal and made an Asherah pole just like King Ahab of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the stars in the sky and worshiped them.
Jehovah was only to be worshiped at the Jerusalem temple, but Manasseh allowed altars to be built to Jehovah on the high hills. Syncretism could also have been practiced on these high hills. Baal worship was brought back to Judah. The Asherah pole was the worship of the male erect penis. Manasseh also worshiped the stars of astrology. Hezekiah had destroyed all of the pagan places of worship, causing a partial revival to take place under his influence. Manasseh reversed all of Hezekiah’s work.
21:4 He built altars in the Lord’s temple, about which the Lord had said, “Jerusalem will be my home.”
Manasseh built pagan altars inside of the Jewish Temple grounds.
21:5 In the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple he built altars for all the stars in the sky.
It was against the Mosaic Law to worship the sun, moon, starts, and sky. Astrology is making a comeback in nations all over the world.
21:6 He passed his son through the fire and practiced divination and omen reading. 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, provoking him to anger.
King Manasseh was sacrificing his sons, who were the future hopes of the of the Davidic messianic line. He was engaged in many occultic practices, such as soothsaying, witchcraft, spiritism, mediums, black magic, fortune-telling, demon contacts, and wizards. All of these practices were in direct violation of the Mosaic Law.The king believed that all forms of worship were better for the people than the exclusive worship of Jehovah demanded in the Law. Like many nations today, he was seeped into multiculturalism.
21:7 He put an idol of Asherah he had made in the temple, about which the Lord 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 an erect penis in the Jewish temple. By so doing, he gave a wooden idol the place that God alone deserved
21:8 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 my servant Moses ordered them to obey.”
The Mosaic Law was conditional. To stay in the land, Israel had to be obedient to the Law.
21:9 But they did not obey, and Manasseh misled them so that they sinned more than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed from before the Israelites.
Manasseh led Judah into being more idolatrous that the Canaanites who preceded them.
21:10 So the Lord announced through his servants the prophets: 21:11 “King Manasseh of Judah has committed horrible sins. He has sinned more than the Amorites before him and has encouraged Judah to sin by worshiping his disgusting idols.
The Amorites were the early Canaanites whom Jehovah vomited out of the land. King Manasseh led Judah into becoming worse than even the evil Canaanites. The prophets began speaking against Manasseh.
21:12 So this is what the Lord God of Israel says, ‘I am about to bring disaster on Jerusalem and Judah. The news will reverberate in the ears of those who hear about it.
Jehovah proclaimed that Jerusalem and Judah were about to be destroyed, just as Israel was destroyed.
21:13 I will destroy Jerusalem the same way I did Samaria and the dynasty of Ahab. I will wipe Jerusalem clean, just as one wipes a plate on both sides.
Just as Samaria was destroyed by the evil Assyrians, Jerusalem would be destroyed by the evil Babylonians. God said He would “wipe Jerusalem as a man wipes a dish.” God was going to do some dish washing. Jerusalem was His dish. The Israelites made it filthy. God was going to wipe them clean
There are many people who think that they are too intelligent and too sophisticated to believe in God. They say and think that they do not need God, but where would they be without God’s air, without His sunshine, without His water, without His food, without his clothing, without his shelter, and without the good health that God provides? Instead of blaspheming God, everyone should worship God.
21:14 I will abandon this last remaining tribe among my people and hand them over to their enemies; they will be plundered and robbed by all their enemies,
The other ten tribes went into exile. Judah would go into exile as well. Babylon would take them into captivity and plunder them. God says that He is going to take His finger out of the dike and let the enemy come in like a flood. This is another example in Scripture where a flood is a metaphor for a military invasion against Israel.
21:15 because they have done evil in my sight and have angered me from the time their ancestors left Egypt right up to this very day!’ ”
Jehovah has been angry at Israel ever since they left Egypt during the Exodus. They had always been rebellious, like a stubborn mule. Modern Christians are no different. They are just as stubborn as a mule. They have the completed Scriptures, but they refuse to study them on a daily basis.
21:16 Furthermore Manasseh killed so many innocent people, he stained Jerusalem with their blood from end to end, in addition to encouraging Judah to sin by doing evil in the sight of the Lord.
Manasseh killed many babies by child sacrifice. He oppressed, persecuted, and killed the weak. He killed many of the prophets. He even sacrificed his own sons and daughters in the fire. Christian tradition reported that Manasseh had the Prophet Isaiah sawn in two inside of a hollow log (Hebrews 11:37).
21:17 The rest of the events of Manasseh’s reign and all his accomplishments, as well as the sinful acts he committed, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.
"The Annals of the Kings of Judah" was an uninspired secular history book which has been lost to this day.
21:18 Manasseh passed away and was buried in his palace garden, the garden of Uzzah, and his son Amon replaced him as king.
When Manasseh died, he was not buried in the royal tombs with the good kings of Judah. Instead, he was laid to rest in his palace garden. His son became the next King of Judah.
21:19 Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned for two years in Jerusalem. His mother was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz, from Jotbah.
Amon’s mother did not raise him up to rule with righteousness.
21:20 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, just like his father Manasseh had done.
Amon followed the same path as his father.
21:21 He followed in the footsteps of his father and worshiped and bowed down to the disgusting idols which his father had worshiped.
Amon worshiped the disgusting idols of his father.
21:22 He abandoned the Lord God of his ancestors and did not follow the Lord’s instructions.
Amon did not worship Jehovah. He disobeyed Jehovah’s instructions.
21:23 Amon’s servants conspired against him and killed the king in his palace.
There was a conspiracy of men who assassinated King Amon.
21:24 The people of the land executed all those who had conspired against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah king in his place.
The Jewish leadership investigated, discovered, and executed these assassins. They most likely wanted to keep the Davidic line on the throne, since the Messiah would eventually come from this line. Josiah became the next king of Judah.
21:25 The rest of Amon’s accomplishments are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.
"The Annals of the Kings of Judah" was an uninspired secular history book which has been lost to this day.
21:26 He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzzah, and his son Josiah replaced him as king.
Amon was not buried in the royal temple with the Davidic line. Instead, he was buried with his evil father Manasseh and with Uzzah the leper.