Manasseh was the son of Hezekiah. He became king at the age of twelve and reigned fifty-five years. Hezekiah by his piety and steadfastness had been a blessing to the nation, so that since the time of Solomon there had been nothing like his day in the history of Judah. (2 Chronicles 30:26) His son "Manasseh, seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel." (2 Kings 21:9)
We are not told how it was that the son of Hezekiah proved so different from himself, but we may learn from the circumstances that prosperity is not always good. When Hezekiah was anointed king, the house of God was deserted and out of repair, and the kingdom was harassed on every side, while Manasseh found himself on the throne of a powerful state, with well-filled treasuries and storehouses. Youth is seldom fitted to exercise power, because it has not learned that in reality the ruler is the servant of the governed. When power is used only to minister to self-exaltation and self-indulgence it is a curse.
False Friends
There is never any lack of evil counselors and flatterers to fill the mind of a king with false notions of his relations to his people, and Manasseh was misled by these. The Lord spoke to him also by His prophets, but he would not hear them.
Hezekiah had employed men to copy out some of the proverbs of Solomon, and among these wise sayings were several which related to the office of a king. They are found in the 25th to the 29th chapters of Proverbs. One of the proverbs reads, "Take away the wicked from before the king, and his throne shall be established in righteousness." (Proverbs 25:5)
This may explain why Manasseh's throne was not established. He listened rather to counsels that favored his own inclinations than to the faithful warnings uttered by servants of God.
Led Captive by Satan
Manasseh stopped at nothing in his departure from the Lord, and his case is a warning to those who think that because they have been brought up respectably they can refuse to serve God, and yet never become so abandoned as others who have sunk to the depths of shame and degradation.
Manasseh had a good father and godly training, but turning from the Lord, he went altogether to the bad. He built again the high places which his father had broken down, and reared altars for the worship of the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. As if this was not enough, "he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God." (2 Chronicles 33:7)
He caused his children to be sacrificed unto devils, in obedience to the cruel dictates of heathenism. He dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards. The evils for which the Amorites had been cast out were reproduced in Manasseh. "Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another." (2 Kings 21:16)
Perilous Times
In these last days the prophecies tell us that before Christ comes, it will be as it was in the days of Noah, when "the earth was filled with violence, ... and every imagination of the thoughts of men's hearts was only evil continually." (Genesis 6:11,5)
Some may think that it would take a very long time to undo all the work of civilization, and bring the world to such a depth of depravity, but we see in the case of Manasseh that it did not take very long to descend from an exceptionally high standard to one that went beyond the excesses of the unspeakable Amorites.
All the good there is in the world is due to the Spirit of God. Men do not recognize this fact, and attribute all signs of good to themselves, but the Spirit strives with them, and though it is seldom allowed to appear as a positive power, its negative influence is always at work, smothering to some extent the manifestations of the carnal heart. As the world finally hardens itself against the work of the Spirit, it will quickly be seen how little restraining power there is in the boasted growth of civilization. "This know, that in the last days perilous times shall come. ... All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived." (2 Timothy 3:1,12-13)
A Broken Staff
There was only one hope of saving Manasseh. He had rejected the true God for false ones. He must be left to make practical trial of their value. The captains of the host of the king of Assyria came, conquered him, bound him in chains and carried him away to Babylon. This must have brought forcibly to his mind the uselessness of serving idols.
Hezekiah had met the armies of that same nation in the strength of Jehovah and one of His angels had laid them low. Manasseh had served his false gods diligently, had even sacrifice his children to them, but now in his distress they did nothing for him. It must have come home to him then that all these years he had been following nothing. He had exchanged the truth of God for a lie. What insanity of folly!
Promises to the Penitent
Man's extremity is God's opportunity. In captivity, bemoaning his fate, Manasseh was more accessible to the Spirit of God. There were no flatterers at hand now to fill his ears with vanity. God loved Manasseh still, and His Spirit came, not to fill his mind with the terrors of a vain remorse, but to whisper thoughts of comfort, and forgiveness. "And when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers." (2 Chronicles 33:12)
Perhaps he remembered reading, in the book of Deuteronomy, the promise of God that if, when the curse had fallen on any for disobedience, they should call His words to mind and return unto Him, the Lord would turn their captivity. "If any of your be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord your God gather you, and from thence will He fetch you." (Deuteronomy 30:4)
The history of Manasseh is recorded that no one should despair. From the height of opportunity and privilege, he fell to the depths of deserved ruin; yet from those depths his plea for mercy was heard at the throne of grace. And God was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord He was God.
Manasseh's repentance was sincere, and during the rest of his long reign we read of no relapse on his part. The people also returned to the worship of God, although they sacrificed still in the high places.
A Royal Love
The greatness of God's love is seen in His treatment of the repentant sinner. He does not say, "You are forgiven, but I can never trust you again."
There is no humiliation attached to His forgiveness, for with it He bestows the love that casts out fear. He not only forgives the sin but remembers it no more. He restores the years that the locust has eaten: "And I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you." (Joel 2:25)
He says of Israel, "I will bring them again to place them and they shall be as though I had not cast them off." (Zechariah 10:6)
Manasseh not only received forgiveness but was restored to more honor than he had before. So to Nebuchadnezzar, when he learned that the heavens do rule, was given greater honor than that which before had lifted up his heart in vanity. "For the glory of my kingdom, my honor and brightness returned unto me; and my counselors and my lords sought unto me and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me." (Daniel 4:36)
The Lord does not fill His kingdom with shame-faced, amnestied criminals, but with a royal nation, a holy priesthood, "kings and priests unto God." (Revelation 1:6) "You have ascended on high, You have led captivity captive: You have received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them." (Psalm 68:18)
Abundant Pardon
None should feel discouraged because they find themselves in evil case, and have certain evidence that their own sinfulness and folly has brought them there. Satan tries to persuade such that it is useless to expect help from God, when it is the very rejection of His counsel that has brought them into distress. God brings people into such places for the very purpose of helping them, and because there is no other way of getting them to accept His help. "Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are, afflicted. ... Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble." (Psalm 107:17,19)
Does He reply, "You should not have been such fools. If you had obeyed me you would not have got into trouble. Now you must bear the consequences."?
No. "and He saves them out of their distresses. He sent His Word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men." (Psalm 107:19-21)
Israel would not listen to the voice of God, so by means of the things that fascinated them, He allured them into the wilderness. There, in distress, He spoke comfortably to them. It was not for the sake of punishing Israel that they were allured into the wilderness, but that God might give them their vineyards from thence. "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt." (Hosea 2:14-15)
So Manasseh went into the wilderness, and received his kingdom from thence. Knowing from whom He received it, and acknowledging the Giver, he was established in the possession of it as he never had been before.--Present Truth, November 10, 1898--Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons, November 20--2 Chronicles 33:9-16
E.J. Waggoner