| Scripture |
Expanded Comments |
| |
|
| 1 Twelve years old, was Manasseh when he began to reign,–and, fifty-five years, reigned he 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
|
| 2 And he did the thing that was wicked in the eyes of Yahweh,-according to the abominable ways of the nations, whom Yahweh dispossessed from before the sons of Israel. |
That which was evil – Hezekiah, though a good man, was evidently a poor father. R3598:2, R4839:2
|
| 3 And he again built the high places, which Hezekiah his father had thrown down,–and set up altars to the Baalim, and made Sacred Stems, and bowed in prostration unto all the army of the heavens, and served them; |
He built again – Probably within 10 years of his accession to power. R2386:6
|
| 4 and built altars in the house of Yahweh,–as to which Yahweh had said, In Jerusalem, shall be my Name, unto times age-abiding. |
|
| 5 Yea he built altars unto all the army of the heavens,–in the two courts of the house of Yahweh. |
|
| 6 And, he, caused his sons to pass through the fire, in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and practised hidden arts and used divination, and practised sorcery, and appointed a necromancer, and a wizard,–he exceeded in doing the thing that was wicked in the eyes of Yahweh, 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
|
| 7 and he set a resemblance-image which he had made,–in the house of God, as to which God had said unto David, and unto Solomon his son, In this house and in Jerusalem which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my Name, unto times age-abiding.
|
|
| 8 So will I not again remove the foot of Israel away from the soil which I appointed for their fathers. Only they must observe to do all that I have commanded them, even all the law and the statutes and the regulations, by the hand of Moses. |
|
| 9 And so Manasseh led astray Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem,–to commit wickedness beyond the nations which Yahweh had destroyed from before 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
|
| 10 And Yahweh spake unto Manasseh and unto his people, but they did not give ear. |
The LORD spake – Probably through the prophets Micah and Nahum. R2387:3
|
| |
|
| 11 So Yahweh brought in upon them, the captains of the army that belonged to the king of Assyria, and they captured Manasseh with hooks,–and bound him captive with a pair of bronze fetters, and took him away to Babylon. |
To Babylon – The very story of the Chronicles has been found written on clay tables. R2101:5*
|
| 12 But, in his distress, he appeased the face of Yahweh his God,–and humbled himself greatly, 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
|
| 13 and, when he prayed unto him, then was he entreated of him, and hearkened unto his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem, unto his own kingdom, and so Manasseh came to know, that, Yahweh, 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
|
| 14 And, after this, he built an outer wall to the city of David on the west of the Gihon in the ravine, even to the entering in through the fish-gate, and went round to Ophel, and carried it up very high,–and put captains of valour in all the fortified cities, throughout Judah. |
|
| 15 And he removed the gods of the foreigner and the image, out of the house of Yahweh, and all the altars that he had built in the mountain of the house of Yahweh, and in Jerusalem,–and he cast them forth outside the city. |
And he took away – 674 BC, corresponding to the antitypical cleansing of the sanctuary in 1846. R3574:4*
|
| 16 And he built the altar of Yahweh, and sacrificed thereon peace-offerings, and thanksgiving sacrifices,-and gave word to Judah to serve Yahweh, God of Israel. |
|
| 17 Howbeit, still were, the people, sacrificing in the high places,–only unto Yahweh 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
|
| 18 But, the rest of the story of Manasseh, and his prayer unto his God, and the story of the seers who spake unto him in the name of Yahweh God of Israel, there they are, in the story of the kings of Israel: |
|
| 19 both his prayer and how [God] was entreated of him–and all his sin and his treacherous act, and the sites whereon he built high places, and set up the Sacred Stems and the images, before he humbled himself, there they are, written in the story of the seers. |
They are written – Showing that the prophets did not confine themselves to oral teachings. R1145:3
|
| 20 And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the garden off his own house,–and Amon his son reigned in his stead. |
|
| |
|
| 21 Twenty-two years old, was Amon when he began to reign,–and, two years, reigned he in Jerusalem. |
Two years – Link No.41 in the chain of Bible chronology. B50; R1980:4
|
| 22 And he did the thing that was wicked in the eyes of Yahweh, as Manasseh his father had done,–and, unto all the images which Manasseh his father had made, Amon offered sacrifice, and did serve them. |
|
| 23 But he did not humble himself before Yahweh as Manasseh his father humbled himself,–for, he, Amon, made guilt abound. |
|
| 24 And his servants conspired against him, and put him to death, in his own house. |
|
| 25 But the people of the land smote all the conspirators against King Amon,–and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead. |
|