2 Chronicles 33:10-20--Manasseh's Repentance

2 Chronicles 33:10-20
English Standard Version

Manasseh's Repentance
10 The LORD spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention. 11 Therefore the LORD brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon. 12 And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. 13 He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.

14 Afterward he built an outer wall for the city of David west of Gihon, in the valley, and for the entrance into the Fish Gate, and carried it around Ophel, and raised it to a very great height. He also put commanders of the army in all the fortified cities in Judah. 15 And he took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the house of the LORD and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside of the city. 16 He also restored the altar of the LORD and offered on it sacrifices of peace offerings and of thanksgiving, and he commanded Judah to serve the LORD, the God of Israel. 17 Nevertheless, the people still sacrificed at the high places, but only to the LORD their God.

​18 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, behold, they are in the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. 19 And his prayer, and how God was moved by his entreaty, and all his sin and his faithlessness, and the sites on which he built high places and set up the Asherim and the images, before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the Chronicles of the Seers. 20 So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his house, and Amon his son reigned in his place.

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Last time we mentioned how it was surprising that Manasseh, being so evil, was allowed to live and reign for so long.  Perhaps we have some or all of the answer here to that question as Manasseh is going to repent of his sin.  The text starts off by telling us that Manasseh and the people refused to listen to the LORD, even when the LORD sent prophets to speak to them.  Because they would not listen to the Law and the Prophets, the LORD sent the king of Assyria to take Manasseh captive and lead him away by hooks and bonds and bronze chains on him so they could lead him around where they wanted, but he could not escape their custody.

Only after he had been taken away into captivity in Babylon (the first of the people of Judah to experience this) did he humble himself before the LORD and cry out to Him for help.  That sounds just like us getting ourselves into a mess and then only calling on God to come and clean up the mess we've made.  However, the LORD knows that Manasseh's repentance is genuine.  He can see the hearts and minds of men even more clearly than we can see with our natural eyes.  Nothing is hidden from Him--He will even discern and judge the motives behind which we act on the day of judgment.  The text doesn't tell us how it happened, but the LORD arranged Manasseh to be released and to be allowed to return back to Jerusalem and be able to regain the throne.  The text tells us, "Then Manasseh knew the LORD was God."  It's hard to believe that he missed that growing up in Hezekiah's household, but apparently, he did.

In the years that he had left, he built up the walls of Jerusalem and he stationed commanders of the army in every city in Judah--it's like he knew war was coming and coming quickly.  He wanted to be ready no matter where the enemy came from, even the west side of Jerusalem, which was the least likely approach as most of the enemies were to the south and east and few to the north.

Now the part that we've been waiting for--he removed the idols that he had put in the LORD's Temple and removed all the other foreign gods that he had placed around Jerusalem and Judah, and he destroyed all the altars of pagan worship that he had built in all the high places.  It says he threw these things outside the city, but it does not talk about him pulverizing them or burning them with fire like we saw with other kings--hopefully he didn't leave them in a condition where the people could easily go back and retrieve them at a later time when their hearts turned away from the LORD again.

With the idols out of the LORD's Temple, Manasseh returned to the Temple to offer sacrifices on the LORD's altar there.  All kinds of sacrifices!  I'm sure he offered sin offerings and guilt offerings, but the text tells us that he offered peace offerings (fellowship offerings) and offerings of thanksgiving.  He wanted to thank the LORD for saving him from himself and returning him from slavery and restoring him to his position as king.  This does in some ways seem to mirror the story of salvation that we see in ourselves and is its own version of the story of the Lost Son.  Manasseh was spiritually lost before he ever was taken into slavery--he was already in spiritual bondage but didn't realize it until he was in physical bondage as well.  Sometimes the LORD works in this way to allow "bad" things to happen to us for our good and His glory.

The text then wraps up by telling us that we should read more about this king in the official book of the Kings as well as the writings of the prophets that spoke to Manasseh and the Chronicles of the Seers.  They did not bury Manasseh among the good kings in Jerusalem, but instead they buried him in his house (probably his palace).  His son Amon then ruled in his place as his successor.  Which example will Amon follow after?  We'll find out next time.