The Book of 2 Chronicles

Word Study

"a familiar spirit," Hebrew ov (אוֹב), a medium's spirit of the dead. Manasseh, son of the godly Hezekiah, undid everything his father had built. He "built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down" (v3), reared altars to Baal and the host of heaven, and set idols in the very house of God. Verse 6 catalogs the depths: he "caused his children to pass through the fire", child sacrifice, the same abomination as Ahaz, in the same valley of Hinnom. He plunged into the whole world of the occult: "observed times" (astrology/soothsaying), "enchantments," "witchcraft," and a "familiar spirit" (ov, necromancy).

"wizards," yiddeoni (יִדְּעֹנִי), a knowing spirit, spiritist. To the mediums Manasseh added "wizards" (yiddeoni), the knowing spirits consulted for hidden knowledge. These were the very practices for which God had driven out the Canaanites (Deuteronomy 18:9-12).

"wrought much evil," harbah la-asoth ha-ra (הִרְבָּה לַעֲשׂוֹת הָרַע), he multiplied doing evil. The summary is damning: "he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger." He did not merely sin; he multiplied sin, deliberately provoking God. This is a portrait of a soul at the furthest reach from God, the last person one would expect to find mercy. And that is exactly why what follows is so amazing.

Explanation

Manasseh reversed all his father Hezekiah's reforms and descended into the deepest wickedness: idolatry, sacrificing his own children in the fire, and every form of occult practice, sorcery, witchcraft, mediums, and spiritists. He set idols in the temple itself and led the whole nation into sin worse than the pagans God had destroyed. He "wrought much evil," deliberately provoking God to anger. He stands in Scripture as the worst king Judah ever had, seemingly the least likely candidate for God's mercy.

Gospel Focus

Manasseh's catalog of sin, child sacrifice, witchcraft, necromancy, idolatry in God's own house, marks him as a man who "wrought much evil... to provoke him to anger," and yet he becomes one of Scripture's great trophies of grace. This is the Gospel's scandal and glory: "where sin abounded, grace did much more abound" (Romans 5:20). No depth of sin puts a soul beyond the reach of God's mercy if it will turn. Paul called himself the "chief" of sinners, "a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious," and yet "obtained mercy... that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him" (1 Timothy 1:13-16). Manasseh is an Old Testament pattern of the same truth. His story warns us that a godly heritage (he was Hezekiah's son) does not save, and that the occult and idolatry lead into terrible darkness. But it also holds out hope to the most hardened: the man who multiplied evil to provoke God found God ready to receive him when he turned. If Manasseh was not too far gone, neither are you, nor is anyone you are praying for.

Word Study

"besought," Hebrew chillah (חִלָּה), entreated, sought the favor of. The turning point is affliction: "when he was in affliction (tzar, distress), he besought the LORD his God." God had brought the captains of Assyria who "took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon" (v11). In that pit, the proud idolater broke, and the man who had courted every other spirit at last sought the favor of the LORD.

"humbled himself greatly," va-yikkana meod (וַיִּכָּנַע מְאֹד). He "humbled himself greatly", the same verb, kana, that distinguished the repentant from the hardened all through Chronicles, here intensified by "greatly."

"was intreated of him," va-yeather lo (וַיֵּעָתֶר לוֹ), He let Himself be entreated, He yielded to his prayer. And the wonder of grace: "he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication." God, whom Manasseh had spent a lifetime provoking, let Himself be entreated and heard the prayer of the man who had filled His temple with idols. More than that, He "brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom." The result is one of the most beautiful lines in the book: "Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God." All his sorcery and idols had taught him nothing; affliction and mercy together taught him the one thing needful, that the LORD, and none of his idols, is God. Grace reached the unreachable.

Explanation

God disciplined Manasseh by letting Assyria capture him and drag him in chains to Babylon. There, broken and afflicted, the worst king in Judah's history turned to God: he prayed, and "humbled himself greatly." And astonishingly, God heard him, forgave him, and even restored him to his throne in Jerusalem. Through it all Manasseh finally learned the truth his idols could never teach: "the LORD he was God." This is one of the clearest pictures of God's amazing, undeserved mercy in the entire Old Testament, forgiveness reaching the very worst of sinners who truly humbles himself.

Gospel Focus

"He humbled himself greatly... and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication", this is the Gospel written in the life of the worst of men. God receives the sinner who humbles himself and prays, no matter how deep the guilt. "The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit" (Psalm 34:18); "a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise" (Psalm 51:17). Manasseh had provoked God for a lifetime, yet the moment he humbled himself, God "was intreated of him." This is the very heart of the cross: "the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7); "him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37). Notice too the instrument of grace: "when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD." God used the chains and the pit to bring Manasseh to his knees, so that the fetters of Babylon became the mercy of God. "Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God", and often it is only in affliction that we learn it. If you have wandered far, or love someone who has, take heart from Manasseh: the arms of mercy are wide enough even for the chief of sinners who humbles himself and prays.

Word Study

"took away," Hebrew va-yasar (וַיָּסַר), removed. Manasseh's repentance was not mere words; it bore fruit in action. He "took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built." The very idols he had spent a lifetime erecting, he now tore down. Repentance undoes, as far as it can, the works of sin.

"cast them out," va-yashlekh (וַיַּשְׁלֵךְ), threw them out. Removal was not enough; he "cast them out of the city." The idols were not stored away for a change of mind but thrown out of Jerusalem altogether.

"repaired," va-yiven (וַיִּבֶן), rebuilt. Then, positively, "he repaired the altar of the LORD, and sacrificed thereon peace offerings and thank offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD." He rebuilt what he had ruined and restored the true worship he had abandoned. His thank offerings show a heart genuinely grateful for mercy received. There is realism here too: verse 17 notes the people still sacrificed in the high places, though now "unto the LORD their God only", the reformation was real but not total, and years of Manasseh's evil could not be fully undone. Still, the direction of his life was reversed. True repentance turns from sin to God in deed, not word only, tearing down the idols and rebuilding the altar.

Explanation

Manasseh's changed heart produced changed actions. He removed the foreign gods and the idol from the temple, tore down the pagan altars he had built, and threw them all out of the city. Then he rebuilt the LORD's altar, offered peace and thank offerings on it, and led Judah back to serving the true God. His repentance was proven by its fruit: he undid what he could of his former sins and restored right worship. Though the damage of his earlier reign could not be entirely reversed, the whole direction of his life was now toward God.

Gospel Focus

Manasseh "took away the strange gods... and cast them out of the city. And he repaired the altar of the LORD", true repentance always bears fruit. John the Baptist demanded, "bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance" (Matthew 3:8), and Paul preached that men "should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance" (Acts 26:20). Genuine turning to God is proven not by feelings alone but by a changed life: the idols cast out, the altar rebuilt. And notice the two sides of Manasseh's repentance, the negative and the positive, both essential. He tore down the false (took away the idols) and he built up the true (repaired the altar and offered thank offerings). So the Gospel calls us both to "put off... the old man" and to "put on the new man" (Ephesians 4:22-24), to mortify sin and to pursue holiness. And his "thank offerings" are the fitting response of a soul that has received mercy: gratitude. When God forgives a great debt, the forgiven heart loves much (Luke 7:47) and serves gladly. If God has shown you mercy, show it by casting the idols out of the city of your heart and rebuilding the altar of true worship.

Word Study

"humbled not himself," Hebrew lo nikhna (לֹא נִכְנַע), he did not bow, submit. Amon, Manasseh's son, "did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as did Manasseh his father" (v22), he copied his father's sins, sacrificing to the carved images Manasseh had made. But here is the fatal difference, stated with pointed clarity: he "humbled not himself before the LORD, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself." Manasseh sinned greatly and humbled himself greatly, and found mercy. Amon sinned like his father but would not do the one thing his father did that mattered most, he would not bow. The contrast between Manasseh and Amon is the contrast between the whole book's two roads: humbling and hardening. The dividing line between the saved and the lost is often just this: humbling oneself, or not.

"trespassed more and more," hirbah ashmah (הִרְבָּה אַשְׁמָה), he multiplied guilt. Instead of turning, he "trespassed more and more," multiplying guilt. Within two years he was murdered by his own servants. It was not the greatness of Manasseh's sin that ruined a man, for Manasseh's sin was greater, but the refusal to humble himself. Amon imitated his father's early wickedness but not his later repentance, and that refusal was his undoing.

Explanation

Amon copied his father Manasseh's early sins but not his later repentance. The Chronicler draws the contrast sharply: Manasseh "humbled himself," but Amon "humbled not himself before the LORD," and instead of turning back he only sinned more and more. The difference was decisive. Manasseh, though far more wicked, found mercy because he bowed; Amon, refusing to humble himself, was soon assassinated. It was not the size of the sin but the refusal to repent that destroyed him. The one thing that saved his father was the one thing he would not do.

Gospel Focus

The tragedy of Amon, "humbled not himself... but trespassed more and more," throws the mercy shown to Manasseh into sharp relief and teaches the most important lesson of the chapter: the dividing line is humility. "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble" (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5). Manasseh's sin was greater than Amon's, yet Manasseh was saved and Amon was not, because Manasseh bowed and Amon would not. This is a searching truth: it is not the magnitude of our sin that keeps us from God, for no sin is too great for the blood of Christ, but the refusal to humble ourselves and repent. "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy" (Proverbs 28:13). The Pharisee who trusted himself went home unjustified; the publican who beat his breast and cried "God be merciful to me a sinner" went home justified, "for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted" (Luke 18:14). Do not be an Amon, who saw his father's sin but not his father's repentance. Whatever you have done, humble yourself before the LORD, and, like Manasseh, you will find Him ready to be entreated.