2 Chronicles 33
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1Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem:
CHAPTER 33
2Ch 33:1-10. Manasseh's Wicked Reign.
1-2. Manasseh ... did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord--(See on 2Ki 21:1-16).
2Ch 33:11-19. He Is Carried unto Babylon, Where He Humbles Himself before God, and Is Restored to His Kingdom.
The parallel adds the name of Manasseh's mother, the well-omened name Hephzibah, "My delight is in her" (Isa_62:4).
The abominations of the heathen (see Deu_18:9-14).
2But 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.
3For 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.
He built again; literally, returned and built—the ordinary Hebrew idiom for "took again to building," etc. Made groves; i.e. as often before the stocks that set forth Ashtoreth (Deu_16:21). The parallel gives prominence to the one Asherah, ten times offensive, as set up in the house of the Lord (2Ch_33:7 there). The mention of his pantheon of the host of heaven is an addition to the wickedness of former wicked kings. It is also noted in the parallel.
4Also he built altars in the house of the LORD, whereof the LORD had said, In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever.
In Jerusalem (so 2Ch_6:6; 2Ch_7:16). The quotation is from Deu_12:11.
5And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.
6And 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.
Caused his children. Parallel (2Ki_21:6), "his son," in the singular number (see also 2Ki_16:3 compared with our 2Ch_28:3). There can be no doubt that this worst of cruel abominations, learned from Ammon and Moab, amounted to nothing less than the sacrifice of the child in the fire. It is, perhaps, something remarkable that we do not encounter anywhere any description of the exact manner of administration of this cruelty, and of its taking effect on the pitiable victim. The solemn commands of Le 2Ch_18:21 and Deu_18:10 bespeak sufficiently distinctly the prevision and earnest precaution of the Divine Ruler of Israel, through Moses, on behalf of his people. The following references all bear on the subject, and will be studied with advantage in order given: 2Ki_3:27; 2Ki_17:17; Eze_20:26; Mic_6:7; Amo_5:26; Jer_7:32; Jer_19:4; Eze_16:20; Eze_20:26. In the valley of the son of Hinnom (Jos_15:8; Jos_18:16). On an elevation at the eastern extremity of this valley it was that Solomon erected "high places" to Moloch, entailing on himself a long and dire responsibility (1Ki_11:7). Consult also our 2Ch_28:3 and note there; with added reference, Stanley's 'Sinai and Palestine,' pp. 172, 482. Also he observed times; Revised Version, and he practised augury. The Hebrew word is ועְוֹנֵן. This root is found once in piel infinitive (Gen_9:14), and is rendered (Authorized Version), "when I bring a cloud," etc.; beside, it is found in all ten times, always in poel, in preterite twice (the present passage and parallel), future once (Le 19:26), participle seven times, in which six places it is rendered (Authorized Version) "observing times," once in Isaiah and Micah with rendering "soothsayers," again in Isaiah "sorcerers," and in Jeremiah "enchanter." There is difficulty in fixing its exact meaning, though its general meaning may be embraced in the words of the Revised Version. A likely meaning, judging from derivation, may be the practising augury from observing of the clouds. The passages in Leviticus and Deuteronomy are those that of old solemnly prohibited it. And used enchantments; Hebrew, וְנִחֵשׁ; the root is the familiar word for "serpent." The verb occurs eleven times, always in piel. The prohibition to practise such "enchantment" or divination is found in Le 19:26 and Deu_18:10; the five occasions of the use of the word in Genesis, however (Gen_30:27; Gen_44:5, Gen_44:15), argue that it was not a thing intrinsically bad, but bad probably from certain, so to say, simoniacal possibilities to which it lent itself. There lay in it some assumption, no doubt, of superhuman help, and the wickedness may have consisted in assuming it where it was not real. And used witchcraft; Hebrew, וְכִשֵּׁף; Revised Version, and practised sorcery. The word is found six times in piel. The prohibition is found in Deu_18:10; the rendering of the word (Authorized Version) is by the term "sorcery" three times, and "witch" or "witchcraft" the other three times. Dealt with a familiar Spirit, and with wizards. The prohibitions are in Le 19:31; Deu_20:6, 27; Deu_18:11. See as illustrations 1Sa_28:3-21; and notice the language of Isa_8:19, "that chirp and mutter;" and Isa_19:3.
2Ch_33:7, 2Ch_33:8
(Comp. Psa_132:13, Psa_132:14; 2Sa_7:10.)
7And 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:
A carved image, the idol; translate, a carved image of the idol; i.e. the Asherah; for see the parallel (2Ki_21:7). The idol; Hebrew, סֶמֶל. This name is found here and in 2Ch_33:15; in Deu_4:16, translated (Authorized Version) "figure;" and Eze_8:3, Eze_8:5, translated (Authorized Version) "image."
(See parallel, 2Ch_33:11-15.)
8Neither 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.
9So 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.
10And the LORD spake to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not hearken.
11Wherefore 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.
11. the captains of the host of the king of Assyria--This king was Esar-haddon. After having devoted the first years of his reign to the consolidation of his government at home, he turned his attention to repair the loss of the tributary provinces west of the Euphrates, which, on the disaster and death of Sennacherib, had taken the opportunity of shaking off the Assyrian yoke. Having overrun Palestine and removed the remnant that were left in the kingdom of Israel, he despatched his generals, the chief of whom was Tartan (Is 20:1), with a portion of his army for the reduction of Judah also. In a successful attack upon Jerusalem, they took multitudes of captives, and got a great prize, including the king himself, among the prisoners.
took Manasseh among the thorns--This may mean, as is commonly supposed, that he had hid himself among a thicket of briers and brambles. We know that the Hebrews sometimes took refuge from their enemies in thickets (1Sa 13:6). But, instead of the Hebrew, Bacochim, "among the thorns", some versions read Bechayim, "among the living", and so the passage would be "took him alive."
bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon--The Hebrew word rendered "fetters" denotes properly two chains of brass. The humiliating state in which Manasseh appeared before the Assyrian monarch may be judged of by a picture on a tablet in the Khorsabad palace, representing prisoners led bound into the king's presence. "The captives represented appear to be inhabitants of Palestine. Behind the prisoners stand four persons with inscriptions on the lower part of their tunics; the first two are bearded, and seem to be accusers; the remaining two are nearly defaced; but behind the last appears the eunuch, whose office it seems to be to usher into the presence of the king those who are permitted to appear before him. He is followed by another person of the same race as those under punishment; his hands are manacled, and on his ankles are strong rings fastened together by a heavy bar" [Nineveh and Its Palaces]. No name is given, and, therefore, no conclusion can be drawn that the figure represents Manasseh. But the people appear to be Hebrews, and this pictorial scene will enable us to imagine the manner in which the royal captive from Judah was received in the court of Babylon. Esar-haddon had established his residence there; for though from the many revolts that followed the death of his father, he succeeded at first only to the throne of Assyria, yet having some time previous to his conquest of Judah, recovered possession of Babylon, this enterprising king had united under his sway the two empires of Babylon and Chaldea and transferred the seat of his government to Babylon.
The contents of this and the following six verses (to the seventeenth) are not in the parallel, though their place there is plain. That parallel, however, supplies in its 2Ch_33:16 a very forcible narration of the evil conduct of Manasseh in Jerusalem itself, so that he "filled" it with "innocent blood" from "one end to another." The King of Assyria; i.e. either Esarhaddon, B.C. 680, or (though it is not probable) his son, Assur-banipal, B.C. 667-647. Among the thorns; i.e. with hooks or rings (so 2Ki_19:28, where the same word is used; as also in Exo_35:22; Isa_37:29; Eze_19:4, Eze_19:9; Eze_29:4; Eze_38:4).
12And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,
12-13. when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God--In the solitude of exile or imprisonment, Manasseh had leisure for reflection. The calamities forced upon him a review of his past life, under a conviction that the miseries of his dethronement and captive condition were owing to his awful and unprecedented apostasy (2Ch 33:7) from the God of his fathers. He humbled himself, repented, and prayed for an opportunity of bringing forth the fruits of repentance. His prayer was heard; for his conqueror not only released him, but, after two years' exile, restored him, with honor and the full exercise of royal power, to a tributary and dependent kingdom. Some political motive, doubtless, prompted the Assyrian king to restore Manasseh, and that was most probably to have the kingdom of Judah as a barrier between Egypt and his Assyrian dominions. But God overruled this measure for higher purposes. Manasseh now showed himself, by the influence of sanctified affliction, a new and better man. He made a complete reversal of his former policy, by not only destroying all the idolatrous statues and altars he had formerly erected in Jerusalem, but displaying the most ardent zeal in restoring and encouraging the worship of God.
13And 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.
And prayed unto him. The apocryphal "Prayer of Manasses" is not at all likely to be authentic. And brought him again to Jerusalem. The Targum gives many mythical tales as to how this deliverance was effected. Then Manasseh knew that. Did he not know, well know, before? So far as the mode of expression may in any degree warrant such a stretch of charity, what an idea it gives of the force with which grossest error will captivate even the taught; and with what force of a furious wind did the contaminating influence of idolatries all around sweep betimes before them—these very kings and chief men of Judah and Jerusalem! It is evident that there was always among the people a "remnant" who kept the faith. See here, e.g; the reference to the "innocent blood" shed in Jerusalem, no doubt bleed of those who would not consent to idolatry—blood of noble martyrs.
14Now 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.
14. he built a wall without the city ... on the west side of Gihon ... even to the entering in at the fish gate--"The well-ascertained position of the fish gate, shows that the valley of Gihon could be no other than that leading northwest of Damascus gate, and gently descending southward, uniting with the Tyropoeon at the northeast corner of Mount Zion, where the latter turns at right angles and runs towards Siloam. The wall thus built by Manasseh on the west side of the valley of Gihon, would extend from the vicinity of the northeast corner of the wall of Zion in a northerly direction, until it crossed over the valley to form a junction with the outer wall at the trench of Antonia, precisely in the quarter where the temple would be most easily assailed" [Barclay].
The wall without; or, Revised Version, the outer wall, is probably one with that of Hezekiah (2Ch_32:5), which now Manasseh repairs, or rebuilds, and perhaps lengthens as well as heightens. The fish gate (Neh_13:16), left on the north of Jerusalem, and opened on the main road for the sea. The wall traversed the north and east sides to Ophel, "on the wall" of which, it is said (2Ch_27:3), "Jotham built much." Hezekiah also built much there, and now Manasseh raised it up a very great height.
15And 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.
It will be noted how the mount of the house of the Lord is here differenced from the city. "The city" seems to have comprised the two hills east and west of the Tyropoean valley, and the "fore" city enclosed by the new wall (see Dr. Murphy's valuable little 'Handbook to Chronicles'). The strange gods, the idol, and the altars have all been mentioned in 2Ch_33:3-7.
16And 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.
17Nevertheless the people did sacrifice still in the high places, yet unto the LORD their God only.
17. the people did sacrifice still in the high places, yet unto the Lord their God only--Here it appears that the worship on high places, though it originated in a great measure from the practice of heathenism, and too often led to it, did not necessarily imply idolatry.
2Ch 33:20-25. He Dies and Amon Succeeds Him.
Compare Hezekiah's good work (2Ch_31:1) with his son's bad work (2Ch_33:3); the latter could undo his father's good, but now could not undo his own evil! The illegitimate worshippings and offerings of high places, though they had been "winked at" from time to time by some of even the better of the kings, were of course essentially counter to the one national worship in the one temple, and to the offerings and sacrifices of the one national altar.
18Now 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.
The parallel again obtains (2Ki_21:17, 2Ki_21:18), but in shorter form. His prayer. This is for the present, at any rate, lost, the apocryphal and the Septuagint manuscript version of it alike not genuine. The words of the seers. So again our compiler shows undesigned correspondence with the writer of the parallel, as above quoted (2Ki_21:10-15). As to the original authorities quoted here, book of the kings, etc; and next verse, "the sayings of the seers," see Introduction, vol. 1. § 5.
19His prayer also, and how God was intreated 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 seers.
20So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.
20-21. Manasseh slept with his fathers ... Amon began to reign--(See on 2Ki 21:19).
In his own house. The parallel has, "In the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza;" i.e; with little doubt, what had been formerly the garden of one Uzza.
21Amon was two and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned two years in Jerusalem.
The long reign of Manasseh of fifty-five years—a signal and merciful instance of space given for repentance—ended, his death met him presumably at the age of sixty-seven. The son who succeeded him was twenty-two years old, born therefore not before his father was forty-five years old. This may be an indication that it was indeed not one son only whom Manasseh "caused to pass through the fire" (verse 6). He emulated the sins of the former life of his father, but did not, like him, repent. It will be noted that in verse 19 of the parallel his mother's name is given as "Meshulle-meth, the daughter of Haruz, of Jotbah," of whom nothing is known.
22But 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;
23And humbled not himself before the LORD, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but Amon trespassed more and more.
24And his servants conspired against him, and slew him in his own house.
His servants conspired. So also Joash and Amaziah had been punished, the latter avenging the death of his father on those servants who had caused it (2Ki_1:14 :5; 2Ch_24:25, 2Ch_24:26; 2Ch_25:27).
25But 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.
The people of the land. The emphatic expression here used (as also in the parallel), with its repetition in same verse malting it more so, may either betray the unfortunate sympathy that the worse element of the nation felt with the bad king and his evil ways, or it may mean that the healthier element of the people insisted on the right respect being observed to the proper succession. The conduct of Josiah from very tender years, which could not have been entirely his own, but must be credited in part to those who taught and influenced him, throws the balance of probability, perhaps, into this latter and more charitable view. The parallel contains two closing verses (25, 26) additional to what we have, giving the authority as the "book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah," and stating that Amen also "was buried in his sepulchre, in the garden of Uzza."
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