3 For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; and he reared up altars for the Baals, and made Asheroth, and worshiped all the host of the sky, and served them.
Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah, and broke in pieces the pillars, and hewed down the Asherim, and broke down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.
You shall not plant you an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of Yahweh your God, which you shall make you.
They arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense took they away, and cast them into the brook Kidron.
He put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of the sky. He brought out the Asherah from the house of Yahweh, outside of Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and beat it to dust, and cast the dust of it on the graves of the common people.
while their children remember their altars and their Asherim by the green trees on the high hills.
But God turned, and gave them up to serve the host of the sky, as it is written in the book of the prophets, 'Did you offer to me slain animals and sacrifices Forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
and the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled, shall be as the place of Topheth, even all the houses on whose roofs they have burned incense to all the host of the sky, and have poured out drink-offerings to other gods.
and lest you lift up your eyes to the sky, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the host of the sky, you are drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which Yahweh your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole sky.
and they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of the sky, which they have loved, and which they have served, and after which they have walked, and which they have sought, and which they have worshiped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried, they shall be for dung on the surface of the earth.
Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroys much good.
Who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have rule over all of my labor in which I have labored, and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.
but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made also molten images for the Baals. Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh cast out before the children of Israel. He sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.
He took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entrance of the house of Yahweh, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the precincts; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.
For they also built them high places, and pillars, and Asherim, on every high hill, and under every green tree;
The children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and served the Baals; and they forsook Yahweh, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the peoples who were round about them, and bowed themselves down to them: and they provoked Yahweh to anger. They forsook Yahweh, and served Baal and the Ashtaroth.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » John Gill's Exposition of the Bible » Commentary on 2 Chronicles 33
Commentary on 2 Chronicles 33 John Gill's Exposition of the Bible
INTRODUCTION TO 2 CHRONICLES 33
This chapter gives an account of the reign of Manasseh, of his idolatries and impieties, 2 Chronicles 33:1, of his captivity, humiliation, repentance, and reformation, 2 Chronicles 33:11 of his last end, death, and burial, 2 Chronicles 33:18 and of the wicked reign of Amon his son, and of his death by his servants, 2 Chronicles 33:21.
Manasseh was twelve years old,.... From hence to the end of 2 Chronicles 33:9 the same things are recorded, almost word for word, as in 2 Kings 21:1, see the notes there. See Gill on 2 Kings 21:1.
And the Lord spake to Manasseh, and to his people,.... By his servants the prophets, see 2 Kings 21:10, where what was said to them is recorded:
but they would not hearken; to what was said, to reproofs, admonitions, and exhortations to repent and reform.
Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria,.... Who was Esarhaddon, the son and successor of Sennacherib; this, according to the Jewish chronologyF6Seder Olam Rabba, c. 24. p. 67. , was in the twenty second year of Manasseh's reign:
which took Manasseh among the thorns; in a thicket of briers and thorns, where, upon his defeat, he had hid himself; a fit emblem of the afflictions and troubles his sins brought him into:
and bound him with fetters; hands and feet; with chains of brass, as the Targum, such as Zedekiah was bound with, 2 Kings 25:7, not chains of gold, with which Mark Antony bound a king of Armenia, for the sake of honourF7Vell. Patercul. Hist. Roman. l. 2. :
and carried him to Babylon; for now the king of Assyria was become master of that city, and added it to his monarchy, and made it the seat of his residence; at least some times that and sometimes Nineveh, Merodachbaladan being dead, or conquered; though, according to SuidasF8In voce μανασσης. , it was he that took Manasseh; and by an Arabic writerF9Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. Dyn. 3. p. 67. So Suidas, ib. , he is said to be carried to Nineveh.
And when he was in affliction,.... In prison; however, in fetters; according to the Targum, the Chaldeans made an instrument of brass with holes in it, and put him in it, and fire about it, something like the brasen bull of Perillus; and the above Arabian writerF11Abulph. & Suidas, ib. (Hist. Dynast. Dyn. 3. p. 67.) calls it a tower of brass:
he besought the Lord his God; by prayer and supplication:
and humbled himself greatly before the Lord God of his fathers; confessing his sins, expressing great sorrow and repentance for them.
And prayed unto him,.... To have mercy on him, and forgive him his sins:
and he was entreated of him, and heard his supplication; and granted his request, showed favour to him, and forgave him his sins:
and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom; so wrought upon the heart of the king of Assyria, as to give him his liberty, and restore him to his dominions; it is very probable his captivity was not long; for, being soon brought by his affliction to a sense and confession of his sins, by the overruling providence of God, he was quickly released:
then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God; and not the idols he had served; that he was a holy God, and hated sin, and a just God in afflicting him for it, and gracious and merciful in forgiving his sins, and bringing him out of his troubles.
Now after this he built a wall without the city of David,.... Which perhaps had been broken down by the Assyrian army, when it came and took him; VitringaF12Comment. in Jesaiam, c. 22. 9. thinks this is the wall of the pool of Siloah, Nehemiah 3:15 which seems to be the first and oldest wall, as JosephusF13De Bello Jud. l. 5. c. 4. sect. 9. ; for that turning to the north bent towards the pool of Siloam; an Arabic writerF14Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. Dyn. 3. p. 67. calls it the southern wall:
on the west side of Gihon; on the west side of the city, towards Gihon; for that was to the west of it, 2 Chronicles 32:30,
in the valley, even to the entering in at the fish gate; through which the fish were brought from Joppa, and where, according to the Targum, they were sold:
and compassed about Ophel; the eastern part of Mount Zion; some say it was the holy of holies, 2 Chronicles 27:3,
and raised it up a very great height; built the wall very high there:
and put captains of war in all the fenced cities of Judah; this he did to put his kingdom in a posture of defence, should it be attacked by the Assyrian army again.
And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the Lord,.... Which he had set there, 2 Chronicles 33:7.
and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the Lord, and in Jerusalem; see 2 Chronicles 33:4,
and cast them out of the city; perhaps into the brook Kidron; all this he did to show the sincerity of his repentance for his idolatry, and his abhorrence of it.
And he repaired the altar of the Lord,.... Which was fallen to ruin, being neglected and disused in his times of idolatry: or, according to the Keri, or marginal reading, and so the Targum, "he built it"; which perhaps he had before pulled down and destroyed:
and sacrificed thereon peace offerings and thank offerings; to the Lord, for bringing him out of captivity, and restoring him to his kingdom; and especially for converting him from his idolatries, giving him repentance for them, and forgiveness of sins:
and commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel; and him only; another instance of the truth of his repentance, in endeavouring to reform those whom he had misled, and restore the true worship of God among them, and bring them back to that.
Nevertheless, the people did sacrifice still in the high places,.... Not in those that were built for idols, at least did not sacrifice to them; for it follows:
yet unto the Lord their God only; the Targum is,"to the name of the Word of the Lord their God.'
Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh,.... Good and bad, what were done by him both before and after his conversion:
and his prayer unto his God; which it seems was taken and recorded, but now lost; for as for that which is among the apocryphal writings, there is no reason to believe it to be his, though it is thought to be so by manyF15Vid. Fabritii Bibliothec. Graec. l. 3. c. 31. p. 738,739. :
and the words of the seers; or the prophets, as the Targum; and the prophets in his days, according to the Jewish chronologyF16Seder Olam Rabba, c. 20. , were Joel, Nahum, and Habakkuk:
that spake to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel; words of admonition and reproof before his humiliation, and words of comfort, advice, and instruction, after it; the Targum is,"that spake to him in the name of the Word of the Lord God of Israel:"
behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel; not in the canonical book so called, where none of the above things, namely, his prayer, and the speeches of the prophets, are to be found, at least not all; but in the annals of the kings of Israel, now lost.
His prayer also,.... Was not only recorded in the above annals, but in the writings of another person after mentioned:
and how God was entreated of him; heard his prayer, and showed him favour both in a temporal and spiritual way; for though the Jews would not allow that he was saved, or had a part in the world to come, eternal lifeF17Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 11. sect. 2. , yet there appears no just reason why it should be so thought:
and all his sin, and his trespass; his impieties, idolatries, and murders: and the places wherein he built high places; see 2 Chronicles 33:3.
and set up groves; statues in groves:
and graven images, before he was humbled; see 2 Chronicles 33:7,
behold, they are written among the sayings of the seers; or of Hosea, the name of a prophet who wrote the history of his own times; so the Targrim and Vulgate Latin version; and, according to the Jewish chronologyF18Seder Olam Zuta, p. 105. Ed. Meyer. , there was a prophet of this name in the times of Amon the son of Manasseh.
So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house,.... That is, in the garden of his house; see Gill on 2 Kings 21:18; there; to which may be added, that the JewsF19Cippi Heb. p. 43. in later times buried in a garden; though it was the custom of the ancients, both GreeksF20Plato in Minoe. and RomansF21Servius in Virgil. Aeneid. 5. "praeterea si nova", & in l. 6. "sedibus hunc refer", &c. , to bury the dead in their own houses; hence sprung the worship of the Lares and Penates, the household gods: from hence to the end of the chapter is the same with 2 Kings 21:18.