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| 1 A son of twelve years is Manasseh in his reigning, and fifty and five years he hath reigned in Jerusalem; |
Was twelve years old – If properly trained he should have had by this time a fairly well-developed character for righteousness. R3598:3
When he began – Isaiah, his supposed grandfather, having died previously. R2386:3
To reign – The brightest children the most precocious, are in greatest danger if placed in positions of responsibility and influence early in life, without experienced advisors. R2386:6
Fifty and five years – Link No.40 in the chain of Bible chronology. B50; R1980:4
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| 2 and he doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, like the abominations of the nations that Jehovah dispossessed from the presence of the sons of Israel, |
That which was evil – Hezekiah, though a good man, was evidently a poor father. R3598:2, R4839:2
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| 3 and he turneth and buildeth the high places that Hezekiah his father hath broken down, and raiseth altars for Baalim, and maketh shrines, and boweth himself to all the host of the heavens, and serveth them. |
He built again – Probably within 10 years of his accession to power. R2386:6
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| 4 And he hath built altars in the house of Jehovah of which Jehovah had said, 'In Jerusalem is My name to the age.' |
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| 5 And he buildeth altars to all the host of the heavens in the two courts of the house of Jehovah. |
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| 6 And he hath caused his sons to pass over through fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and observed clouds and used enchantments and witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and a wizard; he hath multiplied to do the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger. |
Children to pass – Children were sometimes offered in sacrifice to the false deities on the outstretched arms of a great, hollow brass image, heated by fires built underneath. R4840:1
Son of Hinnom – In Greek, Ge-Hinnom or Gehenna, illustrating the Second Death. R4840:4
Used witchcraft – It is sufficient that God warns us not to have anything to do with occult powers. R5800:1, R265:4
A familiar spirit – A wicked spirit, who pretended to be able to give him superhuman wisdom and advice. R2387:2
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| 7 And he placeth the graven image of the idol that he made in the house of God, of which God said unto David, and unto Solomon his son, 'In this house, and in Jerusalem that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I put My name to the age, |
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| 8 and I add not to turn aside the foot of Israel from off the ground that I appointed to your fathers, only, if they watch to do all that I have commanded them to all the law, and the statutes, and the ordinances by the hand of Moses.' |
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| 9 And Manasseh maketh Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, to do evil above the nations that Jehovah destroyed from the presence of the sons of Israel. |
To do worse – More evil. Sin is constitutional derangement. Through the fall the whole human family is prone to sin so that it requires continual effort under the guidance of the Lord not to go backward into sin. R3598:6
Than the heathen – The nations. The Amalekites, the Perizzites, the Hittites, and all those nations whom the Lord drove out of Canaan to make room for Israel. R3598:6
A lesson for spiritual Israel: there is a continual warfare between the flesh and the spirit and we must be continually on guard. R3599:1
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| 10 And Jehovah speaketh unto Manasseh and unto his people, and they have not attended, |
The LORD spake – Probably through the prophets Micah and Nahum. R2387:3
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| 11 and Jehovah bringeth in against them the heads of the host that the king of Asshur hath, and they capture Manasseh among the thickets, and bind him with brazen fetters, and cause him to go to Babylon. |
To Babylon – The very story of the Chronicles has been found written on clay tables. R2101:5*
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| 12 And when he is in distress he hath appeased the face of Jehovah his God, and is humbled exceedingly before the God of his fathers, |
Was in affliction – The judgment of the Lord as a punishment for sin which came upon Manasseh eventuated in a blessing for the evil-doer, illustrating the principle that will go into effect in the Millennial age. R3599:1
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| 13 and prayeth unto Him, and He is entreated of him, and heareth his supplication, and bringeth him back to Jerusalem, to his kingdom, and Manasseh knoweth that Jehovah He [is] God. |
Was intreated of him – Illustrating the mercy of God to the truly repentant. R3599:4
Then Manasseh knew – The clear intimation is that previously he did not know; that his sins were largely of ignorance. R2388:1
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| 14 And after this he hath built an outer wall to the city of David, on the west of Gihon, in the valley, and at the entering in at the fish-gate, and it hath gone round to the tower, and he maketh it exceeding high, and he putteth heads of the force in all the cities of the bulwarks in Judah. |
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| 15 And he turneth aside the gods of the stranger, and the idol, out of the house of Jehovah, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of Jehovah and in Jerusalem, and casteth [them] to the outside of the city. |
And he took away – 674 BC, corresponding to the antitypical cleansing of the sanctuary in 1846. R3574:4*
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| 16 And he buildeth the altar of Jehovah, and sacrificeth upon it sacrifices of peace-offerings and thank-offering, and saith to Judah to serve Jehovah, God of Israel; |
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| 17 but still the people are sacrificing in high places, only to Jehovah their God. |
In the high places – The evil effects of Manasseh's reign were never thoroughly effaced before his death. R3599:4
Many of the Lord's jewels are today suffering for sins that are past and forgiven. R3599:5
The degradations coming to the world through sin will survive the forgiveness of their sins. R3599:5
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| 18 And the rest of the matters of Manasseh, and his prayer unto his God, and the matters of the seers, those speaking unto him in the name of Jehovah, God of Israel, lo, they are [on the book of] the matters of the kings of Israel; |
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| 19 and his prayer, and his entreaty, and all his sin, and his trespass, and the places in which he had built high places, and established the shrines and the graven images before his being humbled, lo, they are written beside the matters of Hozai. |
They are written – Showing that the prophets did not confine themselves to oral teachings. R1145:3
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| 20 And Manasseh lieth with his fathers, and they bury him in his own house, and reign doth Amon his son in his stead. |
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| 21 A son of twenty and two years [is] Amon in his reigning, and two years he hath reigned in Jerusalem, |
Two years – Link No.41 in the chain of Bible chronology. B50; R1980:4
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| 22 and he doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, as did Manasseh his father, and to all the graven images that Manasseh his father had made hath Amon sacrificed, and serveth them, |
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| 23 and hath not been humbled before Jehovah, like the humbling of Manasseh his father, for Amon himself hath multiplied guilt. |
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| 24 And his servants conspire against him, and put him to death in his own house, |
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| 25 and the people of the land smite all those conspiring against king Amon, and the people of the land cause Josiah his son to reign in his stead. |
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