II Kings 21, Manasseh, A Plate to Wipe Clean

The date is about 695 BC. The northern kingdom is gone but the southern kingdom, Judah, survives. After the good king, Hezekiah, comes Manasseh, and the final decay begins.

2 Kings 21: 1-5, Manasseh, a bad king

Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. His mother's name was Hephzibah. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, following the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites. He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he also erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole, as Ahab king of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them. He built altars in the temple of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, "In Jerusalem I will put my Name." In both courts of the temple of the LORD, he built altars to all the starry hosts.
 

Manasseh becomes king at a young twelve years and will reign for fifty-five years. A careful computation of dates and years suggests that ten of these years were a coregency with his father, Hezekiah (says Hubbard.)

Manasseh returns to the old ways of idolatry, following Asherah and Molech, and building altars to the stars. But the idolatry of Manasseh goes further -- he puts altars within the temple of YHWH!

Both Babylonian and Assyrian religion included astrology, the study of the stars, assuming that the movement of the planets allowed one to divine the plans of the gods. (Babylonian astrology divided the sky into 360 segments, based on the apparent daily motion of the stars; it is from the Babylonians that we get our 360 degrees for a circle.) Manasseh's worship of "all the starry hosts" was probably influenced by Babylon and Assyria.

2 Kings 21: 6-9, Manasseh and people do not listen

He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced sorcery and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the LORD, provoking him to anger.

He took the carved Asherah pole he had made and put it in the temple, of which the LORD had said to David and to his son Solomon, "In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my Name forever. I will not again make the feet of the Israelites wander from the land I gave their forefathers, if only they will be careful to do everything I commanded them and will keep the whole Law that my servant Moses gave them."

But the people did not listen. Manasseh led them astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites.

The evil of Manasseh is described and emphasized. He sacrifices a son and even puts an Asherah pole inside the very temple which Solomon had devoted to YHWH. (We are reminded of the words of YHWH from I Kings 9: 3-10 in the dedication of the temple.) The Jewish reader, having read of the idolatry of earlier kings, must still be shocked by the Manasseh's affront to God. Sure YHWH will respond....

2 Kings 21: 10-15, "I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish"

The LORD said through his servants the prophets: "Manasseh king of Judah has committed these detestable sins. He has done more evil than the Amorites who preceded him and has led Judah into sin with his idols. Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 

I am going to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. 

I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab. 

I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. 

I will forsake the remnant of my inheritance and hand them over to their enemies. They will be looted and plundered by all their foes, because they have done evil in my eyes and have provoked me to anger from the day their forefathers came out of Egypt until this day."

Manasseh's guilt and the people's sin is too much. Even Judah will be plundered, just as Samaria was.  What happens will make people's ears "tingle". Jerusalem will be measured with a plumb line like one measures a wall. (The metaphor here: A plumb line is a string with a weight attached. One drops it from the top of a wall to see if the wall is straight. If it is not straight, the wall needs to be torn down and rebuilt.) Jerusalem will be wiped clean as one washes out a plate and turns it over to dry. Manasseh's evil will lead to the total destruction of the remaining southern kingdom.

2 Kings 21: 16, Innocent blood shed

Moreover, Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end--besides the sin that he had caused Judah to commit, so that they did evil in the eyes of the LORD.

Manasseh is accused of shedding innocent blood, lots of innocent blood.

2 Kings 21: 17-18,  Manasseh rests

As for the other events of Manasseh's reign, and all he did, including the sin he committed, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? Manasseh rested with his fathers and was buried in his palace garden, the garden of Uzza. And Amon his son succeeded him as king.

We finish, as always, with a statement that more details are in the "annals of the kings of Judah" and that Manasseh "rested with his fathers." Hubbard suggests that the garden of Uzza was devoted to an astral deity, probably Venus.

2 Kings 21: 21-23, Amon

Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem two years. His mother's name was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz; she was from Jotbah. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, as his father Manasseh had done. He walked in all the ways of his father; he worshiped the idols his father had worshiped, and bowed down to them. He forsook the LORD, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the LORD.
 

Amon's officials conspired against him and assassinated the king in his palace.

Manasseh's son, Amon, only lives to be twenty-four, assassinated by his own staff. At this time, the major world powers bordering Judah were Assyria (to the north and east) and Egypt to the southwest.) Hubbard suggests that the reigns of Manasseh and Amon leaned towards Assyria and that there were people within the government who wanted to negotiate with Egypt instead. Those officials intended to install a pro-Egyptian king.

2 Kings 21: 24-26, Josiah

Then the people of the land killed all who had plotted against King Amon, and they made Josiah his son king in his place.

As for the other events of Amon's reign, and what he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? He was buried in his grave in the garden of Uzza. And Josiah his son succeeded him as king.

Amon, like his father, is buried in the garden of Uzza.

After the assassination of Amon, the people revolt and kill the assassins. The dynasty is restored by the coronation of Amon's son, Josiah.  (Since Amon died at 24, his son must be very young.) The reign of Josiah is described in the next chapter.

A parallel passage to this chapter is 2 Chronicles 33.