14 `And I have left the remnant of Mine inheritance, and given them into the hand of their enemies, and they have been for a prey and for a spoil to all their enemies,
And when this people, or the prophet, Or a priest, doth ask thee, saying, What `is' the burden of Jehovah? Then thou hast said unto them: Ye `are' the burden, and I have left you, An affirmation of Jehovah.
And Thou, Thou hast cast off, and dost reject, Thou hast shown Thyself wroth With Thine anointed, Hast rejected the covenant of Thy servant, Thou hast polluted to the earth his crown, Thou hast broken down all his hedges, Thou hast made his fenced places a ruin. Spoiled him have all passing by the way, He hath been a reproach to his neighbours, Thou hast exalted the right hand of his adversaries, Thou hast caused all his enemies to rejoice. Also -- Thou turnest back the sharpness of his sword, And hast not established him in battle, Hast caused `him' to cease from his brightness, And his throne to the earth hast cast down. Thou hast shortened the days of his youth, Hast covered him over `with' shame. Selah.
`It may be Jehovah thy God doth hear all the words of the chief of the butlers with which the king of Asshur his lord hath sent him to reproach the living God, and hath decided concerning the words that Jehovah thy God hath heard, and thou hast lifted up prayer for the remnant that is found.'
and Thou givest them into the hand of their adversaries, and they distress them, and in the time of their distress they cry unto Thee, and Thou, from the heavens, dost hear, and, according to Thine abundant mercies, dost give to them saviours, and they save them out of the hand of their adversaries. `And when they have rest, they turn back to do evil before Thee, and Thou dost leave them in the hand of their enemies, and they rule over them; and they turn back, and call Thee, and Thou from the heavens dost hear, and dost deliver them, according to Thy mercies, many times, and dost testify against them, to bring them back unto Thy law; and they -- they have acted proudly, and have not hearkened to Thy commands, and against Thy judgments have sinned, -- which man doth and hath lived in them -- and they give a refractory shoulder, and their neck have hardened, and have not hearkened. `And Thou drawest over them many years, and testifiest against them by Thy Spirit, by the hand of Thy prophets, and they have not given ear, and Thou dost give them into the hand of peoples of the lands, and in Thine abundant mercies Thou hast not made them a consumption, nor hast forsaken them; for a God, gracious and merciful, `art' Thou. `And now, O our God -- God, the great, the mighty, and the fearful, keeping the covenant and the kindness -- let not all the travail that hath found us be little before Thee, for our kings, for our heads, and for our priests, and for our prophets, and for our fathers, and for all Thy people, from the days of the kings of Asshur unto this day; and Thou `art' righteous concerning all that hath come upon us, for truth Thou hast done, and we have done wickedly; and our kings, our heads, our priests, and our fathers, have not done Thy law, nor attended unto Thy commands, and to Thy testimonies, that Thou hast testified against them; and they, in their kingdom, and in Thine abundant goodness, that Thou hast given to them, and in the land, the large and the fat, that Thou hast set before them, have not served Thee, nor turned back from their evil doings. `Lo, we -- to-day -- `are' servants, and the land that Thou hast given to our fathers, to eat its fruit and its good -- lo, we `are' servants on it, and its increase it is multiplying to the kings whom Thou hast set over us in our sins; and over our bodies they are ruling, and over our cattle, according to their pleasure, and we `are' in great distress.
`Fallen, not again to rise, hath the virgin of Israel, Left on her land -- she hath no raiser up.'
His hand spread out hath an adversary On all her desirable things, For she hath seen -- Nations have entered her sanctuary, Concerning which Thou didst command, `They do not come into the assembly to thee.'
Her adversaries have become chief, Her enemies have been at ease, For Jehovah hath afflicted her, For the abundance of her transgressions, Her infants have gone captive before the adversary.
Against a profane nation I send him, And concerning a people of My wrath I charge him, To spoil spoil, and to seize prey, And to make it a treading-place as the clay of out places.
And the anger of Jehovah Is kindled against His people, And He doth abominate His inheritance. And giveth them into the hand of nations, And those hating them rule over them, And their enemies oppress them, And they are humbled under their hand. Many times He doth deliver them, And they rebel in their counsel, And they are brought low in their iniquity.
In Thee, O Jehovah, I have trusted, Let me not be ashamed to the age. In Thy righteousness Thou dost deliver me, And dost cause me to escape, Incline unto me Thine ear, and save me. Be to me for a rock -- a habitation, To go in continually, Thou hast given command to save me, For my rock and my bulwark `art' Thou. O my God, cause me to escape From the hand of the wicked, From the hand of the perverse and violent. For Thou `art' my hope, O Lord Jehovah, My trust from my youth. By Thee I have been supported from the womb, From my mother's bowels Thou dost cut me out, In Thee `is' my praise continually. As a wonder I have been to many, And Thou `art' my strong refuge.
For Jehovah is loving judgment, And He doth not forsake His saintly ones, To the age they have been kept, And the seed of the wicked is cut off.
and I have set My face against you, and ye have been smitten before your enemies; and those hating you have ruled over you, and ye have fled, and there is none pursuing you.
and they are mocking at the messengers of God, and despising His words, and acting deceitfully with His prophets, till the going up of the fury of Jehovah against His people -- till there is no healing. And He causeth to go up against them the king of the Chaldeans, and he slayeth their chosen ones by the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and hath had no pity on young man and virgin, old man and very aged -- the whole He hath given into his hand.
and he goeth out before Asa, and saith to him, `Hear, me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; Jehovah `is' with you -- in your being with Him, and if ye seek Him, He is found of you, and if ye forsake Him, He forsaketh you;
and Jehovah sendeth against him the troops of the Chaldeans, and the troops of Aram, and the troops of Moab, and the troops of the sons of Ammon, and He sendeth them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of Jehovah, that He spake by the hand of His servants the prophets;
And the anger of Jehovah burneth against Israel, and He giveth them into the hand of spoilers, and they spoil them, and He selleth them into the hand of their enemies round about, and they have not been able any more to stand before their enemies; in every `place' where they have gone out, the hand of Jehovah hath been against them for evil, as Jehovah hath spoken, and as Jehovah hath sworn to them, and they are distressed -- greatly.
and Mine anger hath burned against it in that day, and I have forsaken them, and hidden My face from them, and it hath been for consumption, and many evils and distresses have found it, and it hath said in that day, Is it not because that my God is not in my midst -- these evils have found me?
thine ox `is' slaughtered before thine eyes, and thou dost not eat of it; thine ass `is' taken violently away from before thee, and it is not given back to thee; thy sheep `are' given to thine enemies, and there is no saviour for thee. `Thy sons and thy daughters `are' given to another people, and thine eyes are looking and consuming for them all the day, and thy hand is not to God! The fruit of thy ground, and all thy labour, eat up doth a people whom thou hast not known; and thou hast been only oppressed and bruised all the days;
`Jehovah giveth thee smitten before thine enemies; in one way thou goest out unto them, and in seven ways dost flee before them, and thou hast been for a trembling to all kingdoms of the earth;
I have caused to testify against you this day the heavens and the earth, that ye do perish utterly hastily from off the land whither ye are passing over the Jordan to possess it; ye do not prolong days upon it, but are utterly destroyed; and Jehovah hath scattered you among the peoples, and ye have been left few in number among the nations, whither Jehovah leadeth you,
`And those who are left of you -- I have also brought a faintness into their heart in the lands of their enemies, and the sound of a leaf driven away hath pursued them, and they have fled -- flight from a sword -- and they have fallen, and there is none pursuing. And they have stumbled one on another, as from the face of a sword, and there is none pursuing, and ye have no standing before your enemies, and ye have perished among the nations, and the land of your enemies hath consumed you.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » John Gill's Exposition of the Bible » Commentary on 2 Kings 21
Commentary on 2 Kings 21 John Gill's Exposition of the Bible
INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 21
In this chapter a short history is given of the two wicked reigns of Manasseh and Amon; Manasseh is charged with great idolatry, with enchantments and witchcrafts, and seducing the children of Israel, 2 Kings 21:1 and a prophecy is given out of the destruction of Jerusalem for his sins, 2 Kings 21:10, and an account is given of his death and burial, 2 Kings 21:17, and of his son and successor Amon, and the evils committed by him, 2 Kings 21:19 and of the conspiracy against his life, which succeeded, and Josiah his son reigned in his stead, 2 Kings 21:23.
Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign,.... So that he was born three years after Hezekiah's recovery from his sickness, and in the seventeenth year of his reign:
and reigned fifty five years in Jerusalem: among which must be reckoned the time of his captivity in Babylon; his reign was the longest of any of the kings of Judah: and his mother's name was Hephzibah; the name the church goes by, and signifies, "my delight or pleasure is in her", Isaiah 62:4, no doubt she was a good woman, or Hezekiah would not have made choice of her for a wife; it is a tradition of the JewsF1Hieron. Trad. Heb. in lib. Paralipom. fol. 86. F. , that she was the daughter of Isaiah, whose name, they say, is not mentioned, because so wicked a king was unworthy of such a grandfather.
And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord,.... Was guilty of idolatry:
after the abomination of the Heathen, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel: the old Canaanites; he committed idolatry in imitation of them, and as the Phoenicians now did before the children of Israel: the old Canaanites; he committed idolatry in imitation of them, and as the Phoenicians now did.
For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed,.... The temples and altars upon them, see 2 Kings 18:4,
and he reared up altars for Baal; in the high places he rebuilt:
and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel: which was either an idol itself, or a shade of trees where idols were placed; or rather Asherah, rendered "a grove", is the same with Astarte, the goddess of the Zidonians, the figure of which he made and worshipped; for groves were not so soon and easily planted, raised, and made; so the same in 1 Kings 16:33.
and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them: the sun, moon, and stars, particularly the planets Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, and Venus.
And he built altars in the house of the Lord,.... In the holy place, as distinct from the courts in the next verse; and these were sacred to the idols of the Gentiles:
of which the Lord said, in Jerusalem will I put my name; in the temple there, devoted to his service, called by his name, and where his name was called upon, see Deuteronomy 12:5 and to erect altars to idols here must be very abominable to him.
And he built altars for all the host of heaven,.... Sun, moon, and stars:
in the two courts of the house of the Lord; in the court of the priests, and in the court of the people; and all this must be supposed to be done, not as soon as he began to reign, but when he was grown up to man's estate, and had children, as the next verse shows; unless it can be thought that those nobles in Judah, who liked not the reformation made by Hezekiah, took the advantage of his youth, and advised him to these idolatries.
And he made his son pass through the fire,.... To Molech, after the manner of the old Canaanites and Phoenicians; his son Amon, that succeeded him, and other children, as appears from 2 Chronicles 33:6, where mention is made of the place where it was done, the valley of the son of Hinnom:
and observed times; lucky or unlucky, which was judged of by omens, and by the position of the stars:
and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards; to get knowledge of things to come; all which are forbid and condemned by the law of Moses; see Deuteronomy 18:10,
he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger; in all those evils before mentioned, which were very abominable in the sight of God.
Which was either an image that had been placed in a grove planted by him, and now removed into the house or temple of the Lord; or, as some think, this was a representation of a grove, a carved grove of gold or silver, in the midst of which an image was placed in the temple; though what Selden observesF2De Dis Syris, Syntagm. 2. c. 2. p. 233. , seems best of all, that this was an image of Asherah, as in the original text; that is, of Astarte or Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, 1 Kings 11:5, the same the Phoenicians are said to call Astroarche, and affirm it to be the moonF3Herodian. l. 5. c. 15. : in 2 Chronicles 33:7 it is called a carved image the idol he had made; and an Arabic writerF4Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. Dyn. 3. p. 66. says, it had four faces, which seems to be a figure of the cherubim; but, according to SuidasF5In voce μανασσηςα. , it was the statue of Jupiter, who also says it had four faces:
of which the Lord said to David, and to Solomon his son: that is, of which house or temple:
in this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name forever; see 1 Kings 8:29; see Gill on 2 Kings 21:3.
Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers,.... Or suffer them to be carried captive into another land, as in the times of the judges; that is, on the following condition:
only if they will observe to do according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them by obedience to which they had the tenure of the land of Canaan, Isaiah 1:19.
But they hearkened not,.... To the voice of God in his law by Moses, and were not obedient to it:
and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel: he set up more idols, and drew the people into more and greater idolatries, than the old Canaanites; and these were the more aggravated by having a law given to them, and prophets sent to instruct them in it, and by the benefits and blessings bestowed upon them by the lawgiver, which laid them under greater obligations to him; see Jeremiah 2:11.
And the Lord spake by his servants the prophets,.... Who prophesied in the days of Manasseh; and were, according to the Jewish chronologyF6Seder Olam Rabba, c. 20. p. 55. , Joel, Nahum, and Habakkuk:
saying: as follows.
Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations,.... Before named, 2 Kings 21:3,
and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did that were before him; one of the seven nations of Canaan, a principal of them, and which is put for all the rest:
and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols: the worship of them, as the Targum; which he did both by his edicts, and by his example.
Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel,.... Who, though kind and gracious to Israel as their covenant God, is yet just and righteous, as well as he is a sovereign Being and Lord of all:
behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle; it will make such a noise in the world, and be so horrible and terrible; and if, he report of it would be so dreadful as to make a man's ears tingle, and his heart tremble, what must it be to endure it! Ezekiel 22:14.
And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria,.... The Targum is, the line of destruction; and the sense is, that the same measure should be measured to Jerusalem as was to Samaria; that is, the same lot and portion should befall one as the other, that is, be utterly destroyed:
and the plummet of the house of Ahab; the Targum is, the weight or plummet of tribulation; signifying, that the same calamities should come upon the families of Jerusalem, and especially on the family of Manasseh as came upon the family of Ahab. It is a metaphor from builders that take down as well as raise up buildings by rule and measure, see 2 Samuel 8:2.
and I will wipe Jerusalem, as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down; as when one takes a dish or cup that has broth in it, or any liquid, as oil; and the Septuagint render it alabaster, in which ointment used to be put; and wipes it clean, that nothing may appear in it; and then turns it with its mouth downward, that, if any thing should remain, it might drain out; signifying hereby the emptying o Jerusalem of its palaces and houses, wealth and riches and of all its inhabitants; and yet the empty dish being preserved, seems to denote the restoration of Jerusalem after the seventy years' captivity. According to the Vulgate Latin version, the metaphor is taken from the blotting out of writing tables, and turning and rubbing the style upon them till the writing is no more seen.
And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance,.... The whole land of Canaan was the Lord's inheritance; ten tribes in it were already removed, only Judah with Benjamin was left, and the Lord threatens to forsake that remnant:
and deliver them into the hands of their enemies, and they shall become a prey and spoil to all their enemies; which was fulfilled in their captivity in Babylon.
Because they have done that which was evil in my sight,.... Committed idolatry:
and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even to this day; being always prone to idolatry, so provoking to God, and which they were guilty of quickly after they came out of Egypt, in the worship of the golden calf, and had ever since at times been criminal this way; and now the measure of their iniquity being almost up, would be reckoned for together.
Moreover, Manasseh shed innocent blood very much,.... Putting to death the prophets that reproved him and his people for their idolatries, and such who would not comply therewith; and it is commonly said, both by Jewish and Christian writers, that Isaiah was slain, and even sawn asunder by him; see Gill on Hebrews 11:37,
till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; a metaphor taken from filling a vessel brimful:
beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the Lord; the sin of idolatry he drew them into, and even obliged them to commit.
Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and all that he did,.... Both good and bad, for he repented, and was humbled, and did many good things afterwards, though not recorded in this book:
and his sin that he sinned; his idolatry:
are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? in which were recorded the most memorable events of their reigns; and in the canonical book of Chronicles are many things concerning Manasseh, which are not written here; see 2 Chronicles 33:11.
And Manasseh slept with his fathers,.... Or died, after a reign of fifty five years, and a life of sixty seven:
and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza; whether the burial of him here was his own choice, judging himself unworthy to lie with the kings of Judah, who had been guilty of such great sins, or whether the will of others, on the same account, is not certain; and as much at a loss are we for the reason of this garden being called the garden of Uzza, whether from Uzzah that died for touching the ark, 2 Samuel 6:6 or from King Uzziah, 2 Kings 15:7. The Jews buried in gardens in the times of Christ, who himself was buried in one, John 19:41. The Romans had sometimes sepulchres in their gardensF7Vid. Kirchman. de Funer. Romas. l. 2. c. 22. p. 274. , Galba the emperor was buried in his gardensF8Eutrop. Hist. Roman. l. 7. Sueton. Vit. Galb. c. 20. Tacit. Hist. l. 1. c. 49. ; and so had other nations. Cyrus king of Persia was buried in a gardenF9Strabo. Geograph l. 15. p. 502. :
and Amon his son reigned in his stead; of whom we have the following account.
And Amon was twenty two years old when he began to reign,.... Being born in the forty fifth of his father's life, and in the thirty third of his reign:
and he reigned two years in Jerusalem; which, as Abarbinel observes, was the usual time the sons of wicked kings reigned, and instances in the son of Jeroboam, Baasha, and Ahab, 1 Kings 15:25. An Arabic writerF11Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. Dyn. 3. p. 67. says, he reigned twelve years, but according to the Jews only two:
and his mother's name was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah; there was a place called Jotbath, which was one of the stations of the children of Israel in the wilderness, Numbers 33:33 but it can scarcely be thought to be the same place.
And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord,.... Committed idolatry:
as his father Manasseh did: he imitated him in that, but not in his repentance and humiliation, 2 Chronicles 33:23.
And he walked in all the ways that his father walked in,.... In his wicked way, his idolatry, witchcraft, and murders:
and served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them; Baal, Ashtoreth, and all the host of heaven, and all the carved images his father made, which it seems he only removed, but did not break in pieces, 2 Chronicles 33:22.
And he forsook the Lord God of his fathers,.... Of David, Solomon, &c.
and walked not in the way of the Lord; prescribed by him in his law for the worship of him.
And the servants of Amon conspired against him,.... Some of his domestic servants, and perhaps his courtiers, not on account of his idolatry, but for some ill usage of them:
and slew the king in his own house: which they had an opportunity to do, being his servants.
And the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against King Amon,.... On occasion of his death, there seems to have been an insurrection of the people in a body, to avenge the death of their king, who might be beloved on account of his idolatry, so depraved was the nation; or it may be only to avenge his death because he was their king, whose life these men ought not to have taken away: and the rather this may be thought to be the reason by what follows:
and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead; who had been prophesied of by name above three hundred years before, see 1 Kings 13:2.
Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? See Gill on 2 Kings 21:17.
And he was buried in his sepulchre, in the garden of Uzza,.... Where his father Manasseh was buried, 2 Kings 21:18,
and Josiah his son reigned in his stead; of whom many things are said in the two following chapters.