2 Kings 21
Manasseh, king who sacrificed his son
Manasseh, 12-year-old king
2 Chronicles 33:1-20 1King Hezekiah’s boy, Manasseh, was 12 years old when he became king of Judah. He reigned 55 years. [1] His mother was Hephzibah. 2Manasseh was a poor excuse of a king, in God’s eyes. Manasseh reverted to some of the old, pagan religions of nations God drove off the land. This king practiced repulsive worship rituals.
3He rebuilt hilltop shrines his dad, Hezekiah, had torn down. He built altars for worshiping the Canaanite god Baal. [2] And he erected a pole [3] used in worshiping the goddess Asherah. In doing this, he mimicked Israel’s infamous King Ahab. Manasseh also worshiped gods of the sky. [4] 4He built pagan altars, too, and put them on Jerusalem’s Temple property. The Temple is a sacred space reserved for the LORD who said, “This is my home, my resting place forever.” [5] 5Two of those altars were for gods of the sky. He put them in two of the Temple courtyards that are devoted to the LORD alone. Manasseh sacrifices his son
6Manasseh sacrificed his own son and burned the body on an altar. [6] He consulted sorcerers, wizards, fortunetellers, along with mediums who tried to contact the dead. [7] These sins made the LORD angry.
7Manasseh put a carved image of the goddess Asherah on the Temple property. This is the same Temple that the LORD told David and his son Solomon would become his home. The LORD told them that this house in Jerusalem is where he would live forever among his chosen people—Israel. 8He said this would be Israel’s home forever, just as he had promised their ancestors. But Israel’s part of the agreement was to obey the laws God gave them through Moses.
9Judah didn’t obey God. Manasseh led the way. Judah under his leadership became viler and more sinful than the nations who had lived there centuries earlier—before the LORD got rid of them to make room for Israel.
10The LORD has this to say, which he said through his prophets:
11Judah’s King Manasseh has more evil in him than all the Amorites [8] who ever lived. He’s the reason Judah sins—the reason they worship idols. 12So here’s what’s going to happen next. I’m going to bring the hammer down on Jerusalem and all of Judah. They want evil, then I’ll give them evil that will send chills up their backs.
13I will measure Jerusalem’s sins precisely like I did for Samaria. Then I will execute judgment like I did for Ahab’s sinful land. [9] I’m going to level Jerusalem like you’d wipe leftovers off a dirty plate. 14Then I’ll trash the leftovers. Judah’s enemies will capture people who survive the end of Jerusalem. 15My chosen people have chosen to constantly provoke my anger. They’ve done this since the day I freed them from slavery in Egypt. Slaughter of Jerusalem’s innocents
16Manasseh did more than worship idols. He killed enough innocent people to paint Jerusalem’s landscape red from one end of town to the other. The LORD saw it all as evil.
17The rest of Manasseh’s story, with the sins he committed, are written in the History of Judah’s Kings. 18He died and was buried with his ancestors in a garden outside his house, Uzza’s Garden. [10] Manasseh’s son Amon became the next king. Amon, Judah’s two-year king
2 Chronicles 33:21-25 19Amon was 22 years old when he became king. He held the job for two years. His mother was Meshullemeth. She was the daughter of Haruz from Jotbah. [11] 20Amon followed his father’s evil way of life—evil in the LORD’s eyes. 21He did every evil thing his dad had done. He worshipped the same idols his father had served. 22He turned his back on the LORD and walked away.
Amon killed in coup
23Some of Amon’s officials assassinated him and many in his family. 24When Judah’s citizens found out about it, they executed the people who led the coup and killed the king. Judah’s people crowned Amon’s surviving son, Josiah.
25The rest of Amon’s story is recorded in the History of Judah’s Kings. 26People buried him with his father, in Uzza’s Garden. His son Josiah became the next king. Footnotes
121:1Scholars debate the length of Manasseh’s reign. Some say 55 years is too long for the flow of dates of the kings and Assyrian history to work. One suggestion has been to say he was king for 45 years, but a co-ruler with his father Hezekiah for 10 years. Either way a reign of four or five decades for perhaps the evilest king in ancient Jewish history would have been hard to explain to people who believed God rewarded the good and punished the bad. Many Israelite people in Bible times taught that success in this life was a sign of God’s approval. And tragedy in this life, as in the case of Job, was seen as a sign of God’s punishment. That’s why Job’s friends tried to get him to repent for whatever sin he did to cause the death of his family and servants (Job 11:13-14).
221:3Baal and Asherah were native Canaanite gods worshiped by the people who lived in what is now Israel and the Palestinian Territory before Joshua led the Hebrew (Jewish) invasion into the land to take it from the locals. Many of these locals considered Baal a god of fertility in family, flocks, and fields. He sent the storms and the rain. Some scholars say the idea behind one worship ritual was to entertain Baal by letting him watch people have sex. They did this so he would make it rain. Priests apparently served as sacred prostitutes assigned to helping worshipers please their god. Asherah was a Canaanite fertility goddess of motherhood. She was the love interest of Baal.
321:3Asherah poles may have been trees or poles meant to represent trees, as symbols of a Canaanite fertility goddess known as Asherah.
421:3“You lift your idols in a procession, Sky gods Sikkuth and Kiyyun” (Amos 5:26).
521:4Psalm 132:13-14; 2 Chronicles 7:16.
621:6God told his people not to sacrifice humans, even though other local religions did so (Leviticus 20:2-4; Deuteronomy 18:14). Manasseh’s grandfather had done the same (2 Kings 16:3). So, good and godly King Hezekiah was sandwiched between these two kings who were despicable, as Bible writers report their stories.
721:6Bible writers said God didn’t want his people consulting the dead or fortunetellers. He wanted them to consult him (Leviticus 19:31).
821:11Amorites were nomadic herders who seem to have migrated to Canaan’s hill country (Numbers 13:29), coming from the river valleys in what is now Iraq. Scholars know very little about them, so far.
921:13The northern nation of Israelites/Jews, known as Israel, was erased from the map in 722 BC, possibly when Manasseh was a young boy (scholars debate the date). Assyrian invaders captured the cities and deported the Israelite survivors. They never came back to reconstitute their nation. They became known as the Lost Tribes of Israel.
1021:18Who’s Uzza? Who knows?
1121:19Location of Jotbah is uncertain. Contenders, based on similarities of the name, are all outside of Judah’s territory. One is Taba, in northern Sinai by the right rabbit ear of the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aqaba. The other is Yodefat, in Galilee. If either location is correct, Amon may have been influenced by his non-Israelite mother. A modern parallel might be an Israeli prime minister raised by an Arab mother.
Discussion Questions
- Sorry, there are currently no questions for this chapter.
Maps/Guides
Jerusalem with Hinnom, Kidron Valleys
Photo of Gehenna Valley
Map of Jerusalem 3D styleVideos
3He rebuilt hilltop shrines his dad, Hezekiah, had torn down. He built altars for worshiping the Canaanite god Baal. [2] And he erected a pole [3] used in worshiping the goddess Asherah. In doing this, he mimicked Israel’s infamous King Ahab. Manasseh also worshiped gods of the sky. [4] 4He built pagan altars, too, and put them on Jerusalem’s Temple property. The Temple is a sacred space reserved for the LORD who said, “This is my home, my resting place forever.” [5] 5Two of those altars were for gods of the sky. He put them in two of the Temple courtyards that are devoted to the LORD alone.
Manasseh sacrifices his son
6Manasseh sacrificed his own son and burned the body on an altar. [6] He consulted sorcerers, wizards, fortunetellers, along with mediums who tried to contact the dead. [7] These sins made the LORD angry.7Manasseh put a carved image of the goddess Asherah on the Temple property. This is the same Temple that the LORD told David and his son Solomon would become his home. The LORD told them that this house in Jerusalem is where he would live forever among his chosen people—Israel. 8He said this would be Israel’s home forever, just as he had promised their ancestors. But Israel’s part of the agreement was to obey the laws God gave them through Moses.
9Judah didn’t obey God. Manasseh led the way. Judah under his leadership became viler and more sinful than the nations who had lived there centuries earlier—before the LORD got rid of them to make room for Israel.
10The LORD has this to say, which he said through his prophets:
11Judah’s King Manasseh has more evil in him than all the Amorites [8] who ever lived. He’s the reason Judah sins—the reason they worship idols. 12So here’s what’s going to happen next. I’m going to bring the hammer down on Jerusalem and all of Judah. They want evil, then I’ll give them evil that will send chills up their backs.
13I will measure Jerusalem’s sins precisely like I did for Samaria. Then I will execute judgment like I did for Ahab’s sinful land. [9] I’m going to level Jerusalem like you’d wipe leftovers off a dirty plate. 14Then I’ll trash the leftovers. Judah’s enemies will capture people who survive the end of Jerusalem. 15My chosen people have chosen to constantly provoke my anger. They’ve done this since the day I freed them from slavery in Egypt.
Slaughter of Jerusalem’s innocents
16Manasseh did more than worship idols. He killed enough innocent people to paint Jerusalem’s landscape red from one end of town to the other. The LORD saw it all as evil.17The rest of Manasseh’s story, with the sins he committed, are written in the History of Judah’s Kings. 18He died and was buried with his ancestors in a garden outside his house, Uzza’s Garden. [10] Manasseh’s son Amon became the next king.
Amon, Judah’s two-year king
2 Chronicles 33:21-25 19Amon was 22 years old when he became king. He held the job for two years. His mother was Meshullemeth. She was the daughter of Haruz from Jotbah. [11] 20Amon followed his father’s evil way of life—evil in the LORD’s eyes. 21He did every evil thing his dad had done. He worshipped the same idols his father had served. 22He turned his back on the LORD and walked away.
Amon killed in coup
23Some of Amon’s officials assassinated him and many in his family. 24When Judah’s citizens found out about it, they executed the people who led the coup and killed the king. Judah’s people crowned Amon’s surviving son, Josiah.
25The rest of Amon’s story is recorded in the History of Judah’s Kings. 26People buried him with his father, in Uzza’s Garden. His son Josiah became the next king. Footnotes
121:1Scholars debate the length of Manasseh’s reign. Some say 55 years is too long for the flow of dates of the kings and Assyrian history to work. One suggestion has been to say he was king for 45 years, but a co-ruler with his father Hezekiah for 10 years. Either way a reign of four or five decades for perhaps the evilest king in ancient Jewish history would have been hard to explain to people who believed God rewarded the good and punished the bad. Many Israelite people in Bible times taught that success in this life was a sign of God’s approval. And tragedy in this life, as in the case of Job, was seen as a sign of God’s punishment. That’s why Job’s friends tried to get him to repent for whatever sin he did to cause the death of his family and servants (Job 11:13-14).
221:3Baal and Asherah were native Canaanite gods worshiped by the people who lived in what is now Israel and the Palestinian Territory before Joshua led the Hebrew (Jewish) invasion into the land to take it from the locals. Many of these locals considered Baal a god of fertility in family, flocks, and fields. He sent the storms and the rain. Some scholars say the idea behind one worship ritual was to entertain Baal by letting him watch people have sex. They did this so he would make it rain. Priests apparently served as sacred prostitutes assigned to helping worshipers please their god. Asherah was a Canaanite fertility goddess of motherhood. She was the love interest of Baal.
321:3Asherah poles may have been trees or poles meant to represent trees, as symbols of a Canaanite fertility goddess known as Asherah.
421:3“You lift your idols in a procession, Sky gods Sikkuth and Kiyyun” (Amos 5:26).
521:4Psalm 132:13-14; 2 Chronicles 7:16.
621:6God told his people not to sacrifice humans, even though other local religions did so (Leviticus 20:2-4; Deuteronomy 18:14). Manasseh’s grandfather had done the same (2 Kings 16:3). So, good and godly King Hezekiah was sandwiched between these two kings who were despicable, as Bible writers report their stories.
721:6Bible writers said God didn’t want his people consulting the dead or fortunetellers. He wanted them to consult him (Leviticus 19:31).
821:11Amorites were nomadic herders who seem to have migrated to Canaan’s hill country (Numbers 13:29), coming from the river valleys in what is now Iraq. Scholars know very little about them, so far.
921:13The northern nation of Israelites/Jews, known as Israel, was erased from the map in 722 BC, possibly when Manasseh was a young boy (scholars debate the date). Assyrian invaders captured the cities and deported the Israelite survivors. They never came back to reconstitute their nation. They became known as the Lost Tribes of Israel.
1021:18Who’s Uzza? Who knows?
1121:19Location of Jotbah is uncertain. Contenders, based on similarities of the name, are all outside of Judah’s territory. One is Taba, in northern Sinai by the right rabbit ear of the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aqaba. The other is Yodefat, in Galilee. If either location is correct, Amon may have been influenced by his non-Israelite mother. A modern parallel might be an Israeli prime minister raised by an Arab mother.
Discussion Questions
- Sorry, there are currently no questions for this chapter.
Maps/Guides
Jerusalem with Hinnom, Kidron ValleysPhoto of Gehenna ValleyMap of Jerusalem 3D styleVideos
Amon killed in coup
23Some of Amon’s officials assassinated him and many in his family. 24When Judah’s citizens found out about it, they executed the people who led the coup and killed the king. Judah’s people crowned Amon’s surviving son, Josiah.25The rest of Amon’s story is recorded in the History of Judah’s Kings. 26People buried him with his father, in Uzza’s Garden. His son Josiah became the next king.
Footnotes
Scholars debate the length of Manasseh’s reign. Some say 55 years is too long for the flow of dates of the kings and Assyrian history to work. One suggestion has been to say he was king for 45 years, but a co-ruler with his father Hezekiah for 10 years. Either way a reign of four or five decades for perhaps the evilest king in ancient Jewish history would have been hard to explain to people who believed God rewarded the good and punished the bad. Many Israelite people in Bible times taught that success in this life was a sign of God’s approval. And tragedy in this life, as in the case of Job, was seen as a sign of God’s punishment. That’s why Job’s friends tried to get him to repent for whatever sin he did to cause the death of his family and servants (Job 11:13-14).
Baal and Asherah were native Canaanite gods worshiped by the people who lived in what is now Israel and the Palestinian Territory before Joshua led the Hebrew (Jewish) invasion into the land to take it from the locals. Many of these locals considered Baal a god of fertility in family, flocks, and fields. He sent the storms and the rain. Some scholars say the idea behind one worship ritual was to entertain Baal by letting him watch people have sex. They did this so he would make it rain. Priests apparently served as sacred prostitutes assigned to helping worshipers please their god. Asherah was a Canaanite fertility goddess of motherhood. She was the love interest of Baal.
Asherah poles may have been trees or poles meant to represent trees, as symbols of a Canaanite fertility goddess known as Asherah.
“You lift your idols in a procession, Sky gods Sikkuth and Kiyyun” (Amos 5:26).
Psalm 132:13-14; 2 Chronicles 7:16.
God told his people not to sacrifice humans, even though other local religions did so (Leviticus 20:2-4; Deuteronomy 18:14). Manasseh’s grandfather had done the same (2 Kings 16:3). So, good and godly King Hezekiah was sandwiched between these two kings who were despicable, as Bible writers report their stories.
Bible writers said God didn’t want his people consulting the dead or fortunetellers. He wanted them to consult him (Leviticus 19:31).
Amorites were nomadic herders who seem to have migrated to Canaan’s hill country (Numbers 13:29), coming from the river valleys in what is now Iraq. Scholars know very little about them, so far.
The northern nation of Israelites/Jews, known as Israel, was erased from the map in 722 BC, possibly when Manasseh was a young boy (scholars debate the date). Assyrian invaders captured the cities and deported the Israelite survivors. They never came back to reconstitute their nation. They became known as the Lost Tribes of Israel.
Who’s Uzza? Who knows?
Location of Jotbah is uncertain. Contenders, based on similarities of the name, are all outside of Judah’s territory. One is Taba, in northern Sinai by the right rabbit ear of the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aqaba. The other is Yodefat, in Galilee. If either location is correct, Amon may have been influenced by his non-Israelite mother. A modern parallel might be an Israeli prime minister raised by an Arab mother.
Discussion Questions
- Sorry, there are currently no questions for this chapter.
Maps/Guides
Videos
