R² k 1. Introduction. Accession.
l 2-9. Events. Personal. Evil-doing.
m 10-15. Threatening of Yahaveh.
l 16. Events. Personal. Evil-dong.
k 17,18. Conclusion. Record and death.588 to 583 B.C.
2 Kings 21)
1 Manasseh (= forgetful. So named because God had made Hezekiah forget his troubles [cp. Joseph, Gen. 41:51]. A sad name for him who became the worst of Judah's kings. His name appears second in the list of kings who brought gifts to Esar-haddon) [was] twelve years old when he began to reign (therefore not born till the third of Hezekiah's 15 addd years. See 20:18), and reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name [was] Hephzi-bah (= my delight is in her. Cp. reference to the marriage in Isa.62:4. A prophecy, given at the time of Hezekiah, foretelling a happier time; even the "good" of 20:19).
2 And he did [the] evil (generally associated with idolatry) in the sight of the Lord (Yehovah), after the abominations of the nations, whom the Lord cast out before the sons of Israel.
3 For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed (see 18:4,22); and he reared up altars for Baal, and made an ‘asherah (see Ex.34:13), according as did Ahab king of Israel (see 11:18, and cp. 1 Kings 16:31,32); and worshiped all the host of heaven (never done before in Judah. Cp. Deut. 4:19; 17:3), and served them.
4 And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord said, “In Jerusalem will I put My name.”
5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord (see 1 Kings 7:12).
6 And he made his sons pass through the fire (Cp. 2 Chron. 33:6. As Ahaz had done [16:3; cp. 23:10. Deut.18:10]. The name of Moloch was common at this time [Zeph. 1:5]), and observed times (cp. Deut. 18:10), and used enchantments (the same as modern spiritism. Cp. Lev. 19:31. Deut .18:11), and dealt with familiar spirits (Heb. a familiar spirit. See Lev.19:31) and mediums: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord, to provoke [Him] to anger.
7 And he set a carved ’asherah that he had made in the house (see v.3. Removed by Josiah [23:6]), of which the Lord said to David, and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel, will I put My name for ever:
8 Neither will I make the feet of Israel wander any more out of the land which I gave their fathers; only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that My servant Moses commanded them” (see Num. 12:7).
9 But they did not listen: and Manasseh seduced them (not said of any previous king) to do the evil more than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the sons of Israel.
10 And the Lord spoke through his servants the prophets, saying,
11 Because Manasseh king of Judah has made these abominations, [and] has done wickedly above all that the Amorites did (one of the 7 nations of Canaan, descendants of the Nephilim. See Gen.6:2,4), which [were] before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his filthy (or manufactured) idols:
12 Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel, “Behold, I [am] bringing [such] evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever hears of it, both his ears shall tingle (cp. 1 Sam.3:11).
13 And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as [a man] wipes a dish, wiping [it], and turning [it] upside down (emphasizing completeness of the work).
14 And I will forsake the remnant of My inheritance (cp. 19:30. Jerusalem survived the calamities of 18:13, but would not survive those that were coming), and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies;
15 Because they have done [that which was] evil in My sight, and have provoked Me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even to this day.’ ”
16 Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much (tradition says the Isaiah was one who suffered martyrdom [Jos. Ant. x. 3:1]), till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing [that which was] evil in the sight of the Lord.
17 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh (cp. 2 Chron. 33:12-19. His captivity in Babylon, &c.), and all that he did, and his great sin, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
18 And Manasseh slept with his fathers (his father was the best of Judah's kings, and he was the worst. See Deut.31:16), and was buried in the garden of his own house (not in the sepulchers of the kings), in the garden of Uzza: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.
R³ n 19. Introduction. Accession.
o 20-22. Events. Personal. Evil-doing.
o 23,24. Events. Political. Retribution.
n 25,26. Conclusion. Burial.533 to 531 B.C.
19 Amon (= builder) [was] twenty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name [was] Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah (cp. Num. 33:33. Deut. 10:7).
20 And he did [that which was] evil in the sight of the Lord, as his father Manasseh did.
21 And he walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshiped them:
22 And he forsook the Lord God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of God.
23 And the servants of Amon conspired against him, and slew the king in his own house.
24 And the People of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon; and the People of the land made Josiah (= whom Yahaveh heals) his son king in his stead.
25 Now the rest of the acts of Amon and all that which he did, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
26 And he was buried in his sepulchre in the garden of Uzza (Heb. keber, a [not "the"] grave, or tomb. Cp. 22:20): and Josiah his son reigned in his stead.