2 Kings chapter 21. 2 Kings chapter 21, we'll pick
up reading in verse 1. Manasseh was 12 years old when
he became king, and he reigned 55 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hephzibah,
and he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the
abominations of the nations whom the Lord had cast out before
the children of Israel. For he rebuilt the high places
which Hezekiah, his father, had destroyed. He raised up altars
for Baal and made a wooden image, as Ahab, king of Israel, had
done. And he worshipped all the hosts
of heaven and served them. He also built altars in the house
of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, In Jerusalem I will
put my name. and he built altars for all the
hosts of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. Also,
he made his son pass through the fire, practiced soothsaying,
used witchcraft, and consulted spiritists and mediums. He did
much evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger.
He even set a carved image of Asherah that he had made in the
house of which the Lord had said to David and to Solomon, his
son, in this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all
the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever, and I will
not make the feet of Israel wander anymore from the land which I
gave their fathers, only if they are careful to do according to
all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law
that my servant Moses commanded them. But they paid no attention,
and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than the nations
whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel. And the
Lord spoke by his servants the prophets, saying, Because Manasseh,
king of Judah, has done these abominations. He has acted more
wickedly than all the Amorites who were before him, and has
also made Judah sin with his idols. Therefore, thus says the
Lord God of Israel. Behold, I am bringing such calamity
upon Jerusalem and Judah that whoever hears of it, both his
ears will tingle. And I will stretch over Jerusalem
the measuring line of Samaria and the plummet of the house
of Ahab. I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it
and turning it upside down. So I will forsake the remnant
of my inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies,
and they shall become victims of plunder to all their enemies,
because they have done evil in my sight and have provoked me
to anger since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even
to this day. Moreover, Manasseh shed very
much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one
end to another, besides his sin by which he made Judah sin, in
doing evil in the sight of the Lord." Now the rest of the acts
of Manasseh, all that he did and the sin that he committed,
are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings
of Judah? So Manasseh rested with his fathers and was buried
in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzzah. Then
his son Amon reigned in his place. Amon was 22 years old when he
became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother's
name was Meshulameth, the daughter of Haruz of Jatba. And he did
evil in the sight of the Lord, as his father Manasseh had done.
So he walked in all the ways that his father had walked, and
he served the idols that his father had served and worshipped
them. He forsook the Lord God of his fathers and did not walk
in the way of the Lord. And the servants of Amon conspired
against him and killed the king in his own house. But the people
of the land executed all those who had conspired against King
Amon. Then the people of the land made
his son Josiah king in his place. Now the rest of the acts of Ammon,
which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles
of the kings of Judah? And he was buried in his tomb
in the garden of Uzzah. Then Josiah his son reigned in
his place." Amen. Well, we've just come off a study
in the reign of Hezekiah in chapters 18 to 20, and certainly Hezekiah
was a godly man. The problem with Manasseh is
that he didn't imitate his father, and the problem with Ammon is
that he did imitate his father. So Manasseh's reign, and then
Ammon's reign. So we'll look at those tonight,
and then tucked between the two is a prophecy against Judah.
This particular chapter advances the narrative in terms of Judah's
impending collapse. Remember, we've seen the northern
kingdom fall in 2 Kings chapter 17. There it was hinted that
Judah was committing the same sort of, well it wasn't hinted,
but it was stated that they were committing the same sort of sins.
And then last week, specifically in chapter 20, the prophet Isaiah
tells Hezekiah that Babylon will ultimately come and carry away
all the treasures of of Israel or of Judah. And so Manasseh
does much to further the nation in its depravity and in its wickedness. And in many respects, he becomes
the new benchmark for evil in Judah. And so let's look first
at the reign of Manasseh, verses one to nine. Secondly, the prophecy
against Judah in verses 10 to 18, and then Amon's reign in
verses 19 to 26. But we'll look first at the political
policy and then the religious policy of Manasseh. Now he reigned
from 697 to 642 BC. As we see there in verse one,
tells us it was a 55 year reign. I think if anything, this ought
to make us appreciate term limits for civil government. Term limits
for civil government is a good thing. If you have a man in there
for 55 years and he's this kind of a man, That breeds oppression,
and there is a seduction to commit idolatry that is given to us
there in verse 9. An ungodly leader exercises an
ungodly influence upon a people. Now, in terms of his political
policy, it does not tell us that he was pro-Assyrian, but Assyrian
annals or records indicate that he most certainly was. Now, there
is a period where he is judged by God, according to 2 Chronicles
33, where the Assyrians take him off to Babylon at least for
a time. 2 Chronicles 33 also records
an instance of repentance on the part of Manasseh. Now this
passage, chapter 21, doesn't indicate that. We'll take that
up later. If you're thinking about 2 Chronicles
33 and you say, but I think he repented, he did. But we'll see
why that's absent from 2 Kings 21 and then see why it's there
in 2 Chronicles 33. So at least for a time he rebelled
against Assyria and they took him off into Babylon. But he
returned from Babylon to Jerusalem. But as I said, one particular
historian states that, though Manasseh rebelled against Assyria
at least once, he is a loyal vassal of Assyria throughout
his long reign. S.R. Haddon, that's one of the
kings that followed, or the king that directly followed Sennacherib,
lists him among 22 kings required to forward building materials
for his building projects, while Ashurbanipal, that's the king
following, S.R. Haddon, names him as one of a
number of vassals who assisted his campaign against Egypt. So he was pro-Assyria. We know that's never a good thing
when the nation of Israel, whether it's the north or the south,
in this instance the southern kingdom of Judah, saddles up
with a foreign oppressor, saddles up with another country or empire,
and pays tribute to them. They don't trust in God, they
trust in the riches that they give to that particular king
in order to keep them at bay. So that's his political policy.
What the passage details, however, is his religious policy, and
it's a very pathetic and a very dark and a very degenerate policy. We note first the imitation of
the Canaanites in verse 2. Notice it says, he did evil in
the sight of the Lord according to the abominations of the nations
whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. So what
he is saying, the author is telling us, is that Manasseh has out-Canaanited
the Canaanites. He has engaged in the kinds of
immorality that brought the judgment of God upon these Canaanites
in the first place. Notice that in verse 9, we read
that they were seduced, the nation of Judah, the kingdom of Judah,
He seduced them to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord
had destroyed before the children of Israel. So, he is engaged
in conduct that is absolutely wicked. It is characteristic
of or even exceeds the wickedness of the Canaanites. We go back
for just a moment to Leviticus chapter 18. Leviticus chapter
18, there's several prohibitions here concerning sexual immorality. And then we find this statement
at the end of Leviticus 20, 18. In verse 24 he says, do not defile
yourselves with any of these things. For by all these the
nations are defiled, which I am casting out before you. For the
land is defiled, therefore I visit the punishment of its iniquity
upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants. So the land
is defiled, therefore I visit the punishment of its iniquity
upon it and the land vomits out its inhabitants. There's this
narrative or this idea that God of Israel sends forth Israel
into the land of Canaan to dispossess these poor people. that had occupied
the land, that were conducting their lives in innocency and
in pleasantness, and then at the behest of Yahweh, these Israelites
come in and just utterly engage in genocide and wipe out these
poor pathetic Canaanites. That is absolutely contrary to
the facts. The Canaanites were perverse,
they were wicked, they were abominable, so God raises up Israel to send
them in to take possession of the land, which is a form of
punishment upon the Canaanites. But as we see in our narrative
tonight, when Israel imitates or apes the Canaanites, God sends
them out of the land. His judgment is righteous and
it's just. It's not arbitrary. It is not
capricious. When the North engages in Canaanite
behavior, the North is driven out by Assyria. When the South
engages in Canaanite behavior, the South will be driven out
by Babylon. God the Lord is not mocked. If
the covenant people take on the characteristics of the Canaanites,
then they will be judged like the Canaanites. Notice in verse
26, you shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments
and shall not commit any of these abominations either any of your
own nation or any stranger who dwells among you. For all these
abominations the men of the land have done who were before you
and thus the land is defiled. lest the land vomit you out also
when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before
you. For whoever commits any of these abominations, the persons
who commit them shall be cut off from among their people."
So you see, when we get to Manasseh's reign, the author is telling
us that he has exceeded even the wickedness of the Canaanites
that were in the land prior to Israel's arrival. So the first
thing, the imitation of the Canaanites. Secondly, in terms of specific
religious sins, the reinstitution of the high places. In verse
3a, we read that very specifically, he rebuilt the high places which
Hezekiah, his father, had destroyed. Now they were tolerated among
the Judean kings. Hezekiah, however, ripped them
down. He removed them. He got rid of them once and for
all, but here comes Manasseh, son of Hezekiah, not imitating
his father, and he reinstitutes these high places as competing
places of worship with the main or central sanctuary. In this,
he functions as a new Jeroboam I. He is similar to Jeroboam
who erected the high places to begin with, the Jeroboam of the
north. Thirdly, he raises up altars
to Baal and Asherah as Ahab did. You see a pattern here. Manasseh
is following the very worst examples that he can possibly follow.
He follows the Canaanites. He follows Jeroboam I. Here he
follows Ahab. This is just a wicked man following
the wretched examples of other people. The end of 1 Kings 16,
we read that Ahab did this very thing. He not only engaged in
these sorts of things, but he also built altars for Baal. Similarly,
Manasseh does the same thing. Fourthly, he worships the starry
host, 3C. This is forbidden by Deuteronomy
4.19. This is something unique to Assyrian
religion. They promoted astral worship. They promoted the worship of
the sun and the moon and the stars, and we see that he has
come under their sway, and he's engaged in this sort of worship
with reference to the heavens above. Fifth, he constructs rival
altars in the temple of the Lord. Notice in verses 4, 5, and 7. Verses 4 and 5, he also built
altars in the house of which the Lord had said, in Jerusalem
I will put my name. That's the place of the central
sanctuary. Deuteronomy 12 is very conspicuous. God says, build my temple in
my chosen city, and it's there that I will place my name. So
what this man is now doing is taking Baal and Asherah and putting
them in the self-same house of Yahweh of Israel. And then in
verse 5, he built altars for all the host of heaven in the
two courts of the house of the Lord. And then dropping down
in verse 7, he even set a carved image of Asherah that he had
made in the house of which the Lord had said to David and to
Solomon his son. You see, he not only engages
in these things, but he's actually brought the worship of these
things right inside the very temple of God Most High. This
man is a corrupt individual and he is leading Israel astray. Notice, sixly, he imitates his
father Ahaz, or rather, he imitates his grandfather Ahaz in terms
of child sacrifice. Notice in verse 6a, also he made
his son pass through the fire. the language of Molech worship.
It was also used with reference to Baal, as I understand. Molech
was the idol that stood amidst the fire, and persons would come
and take their babies and throw them up into the arms of Molech.
Well, certainly he couldn't catch, so they would bounce off of the
arms of Molech, into the fire, and there die. It was a form
of child sacrifice, a means by which the god was appeased or
placated, and that is precisely what the king of Judah has engaged
in. Again, Ahaz did this before him. He is simply duplicating it,
and it's certainly prohibited in Leviticus 18 at verse 21. A man is a godless man. Seventhly, he engages in witchcraft
and spiritism. Notice in 6b. Also, he practiced
soothsaying, used witchcraft, and consulted spiritists and
mediums. Now, this is something, again,
forbidden by the law of God. Deuteronomy 18, specifically
verses 9 to 13, but it's also reminiscent of King Saul. Remember
at the end of Saul's illustrious career? In the absence of the
word of the Lord coming to Saul, what does he do? In the first
place, he banishes witches from the land of Israel. But when
he hears no word from the Lord, he seeks out a witch, the witch
at Endor, so that he can get an oracle, so that he can get
a word from whoever before he goes into battle at Gebeah. And
so this man Manasseh is engaged in all manner of wickedness and
he is very similar to the worst of the kings of Israel prior
to him. House says, given this summary,
it is clear that Manasseh follows all the wrong role models. He
imitates the detestable Canaanites, Jeroboam I, the builder of high
places, Ahab, the advocate of Baal worship, Ahaz, the proponent
of child sacrifice, and Saul, the visitor of mediums. It is
hard to imagine a more damning critique. And if you look specifically
at verse 3, it says, For he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah
his father had destroyed, he raised up altars for Baal, and
made a wooden image, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and
he worshipped all the hosts of heaven and served them. And then
again at verse 6, He made his son pass through the fire, practiced
soothsaying, used witchcraft, and consulted spiritists and
mediums. Go back to chapter 17 for just a moment. And notice
in chapter 17, which is a description of the judgment of the northern
kingdom, look specifically at verses 16 and 17. So they left
all the commandments of the Lord their God, made for themselves
a molded image and two calves. made a wooden image, and worshipped
all the hosts of heaven, and served Baal. And they caused
their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft,
and soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the
Lord, to provoke Him to anger." So going back to chapter 21,
if there were no prophecy of judgment pronounced against Judah
in chapter 21, verses 10 to 18, or 10 to 16, we would still be
able to infer that there is judgment coming,
based on the fact that Manassas engaged in the very things that
were practiced in the northern kingdom, that God brought Assyria
to bear down upon them, and also in the express statement that
what they had done was worse than the Canaanites before that.
So there's two lines of evidence that judgment is coming upon
Judah, even without the clear testimony of verses 10 to 16,
which is a prophecy against Judah. The very conduct that these persons
are engaged in are inviting the very wrath of God. And that is
precisely what we find at the end of verse 6. He did much evil
in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. Brethren, we oftentimes
forget this very fact because God doesn't always immediately
judge. God doesn't immediately, when
we engage in sin, or we devolve or degenerate into some evil
practice, He doesn't, you know, just right away lash out against
us in judgment. And so we can forget that our
actions have consequences, and the consequence is a provocation
of God. Now, Manasseh obviously lived
in absolute rejection of this reality, but as the people of
God today, we ought to notice the end of verse 6. We ought
to realize the sort of context that we find ourselves in. I've
suggested we're standing on a building and watching two cars. The Northern
Kingdom's already crashed. We're watching the Southern Kingdom
driving into a busy intersection. It is on a crash or collision
course and we are witnessing it. And one of the things that
is indicative of that is that they continue to rebel and they
continue to sin without any thought of God whatsoever. We looked
at practical atheism on Sunday night with reference to James
chapter 4. Well, there's a practical atheism
that pervades the modern professing church. We live as if there is
no God. In the context in James 4, we
make our plans concerning today and tomorrow and a year from
now about what cities we'll visit, about buying and selling and
profiting and trading and all those sorts of things, but we
also are practical atheists when it comes to this idea that God
is nigh, God is watching, and God is provoked when we continue
to sin and reject Him. Brethren, we cannot be atheists,
practical atheists. We can be doctrinal theists confessing
there is no other God but the true and living God, but all
the while denying that God in our conduct, making our plans
without any respect to who God is, living in sin without any
respect to the provocation that we are offering to God in our
particular conduct. So Manasseh just doesn't care. I mean, we'll see that as we
move through the chapter, but for us, we ought to care, and
the thought of provoking the Lord ought to cause us to cease
and desist from engaging in that sort of activity. And then notice,
not only the specific religious sins, but there is an overarching
rejection of God. Not that you don't already get
that from this description of specific religious sins, but
this rejection of God is seen first in his failure to follow
David. Remember, David is the benchmark
of godliness that we're supposed to follow in the Judean kingdom.
He doesn't do that. Notice in verse 7, "...he even
set a carved image of Asherah that he had made, in the house
of which the Lord had said to David and to Solomon his son."
In other words, this man Manasseh is a descendant of David, and
this man Manasseh does not follow David whatsoever. This is one
thing David was always jealous for, was the pure worship of
God. David had his sins, brethren.
You know that as well as I do. If you've been here for any amount
of time, you were here in the days of 1st and 2nd Samuel, which
seems like a long time ago, you know that David was not a perfect
man. David engaged in murder, David
engaged in adultery, but one thing David never did was engage
in idolatry. He never defiled the house of
God. He was always jealous for the
true worship of God. And David was the man that should
have been followed, with reference to the kings of Judah. As well,
notice what Manasseh rejects. He rejects the blessings promised
by God to his people in verses 7, B, and 8. Notice, in this
house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the
tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. suggests his
dwelling among his people. Manasseh doesn't want that. Manasseh
would rather have Asherah and Baal in the temple complex. He says, verse 8, And I will
not make the feet of Israel wander any more from the land which
I gave their fathers. See, this was always a blessing
to be pursued in Israel. Because remember, they were in
Egypt for a long time. God led them out via Moses in
a powerful and mighty way, and he brought them to the land of
Canaan. He preserved them, and in accordance
with the promise made to Abraham in Genesis 12, 13, 17, 22, ratified
through Isaac, and Jacob, we see that they inherit
the land. And one of the blessings of the
land was the land itself. Another blessing was God's dwelling
with them in the land via the temple. And then a third blessing
was stability in the land, the ability to retain the land, to
stay in the land, to keep the land. Well, by his conduct here,
Manasseh is saying the land doesn't matter whatsoever, the dwelling
of God with us doesn't matter whatsoever, and stability doesn't
matter whatsoever. So he is rejecting the very things
that God has set forth as great blessings and things that ought
to be cherished. Again, if we jump over into the
New Covenant, What is it that we forfeit by our own sin with
reference to the good gifts that God has promised us? Dwelling? Presence? Stability? Joy? Peace? Happiness? All those things
we'll willingly relinquish for the passing pleasures of sin?
This was noteworthy about Moses. He would rather suffer affliction
with the people of God than enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.
Now, brethren, listen to what the author tells us there in
Hebrews 11. There is a pleasure attached to sin. You and I don't
sin because we absolutely despise it. I mean, on one level we do,
but on another level there is something about it that is enticing
to us. He calls it the passing pleasures
of sin. You see, Moses was able to say,
would I rather have passing pleasures of sin or the enduring riches
that God holds out to me? Well, I'd rather have that, so
I'll suffer with the people of God and take a pass on that stuff. That's the mindset that we ought
to adopt. We ought not to reject or resist
the good things that God offers us the way that Manasseh does. He sacrifices dwelling. He sacrifices
stability. He sacrifices the very land that
was covenanted to Israel by God's blessed word to Abraham. And
then notice he rejects the Mosaic Law. 8b, there was a stipulation
attached. God will dwell, God will give
them, God will provide stability. Verse 8, only if they are careful
to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according
to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them." Now, I
think this functions in two ways. In the first, it just shows us
the base and gratitude and abject wickedness of Manasseh. I mean,
he's just failing to obey the Mosaic law. I mean, it was pretty
cut and dry. Do this, blessings come. Do that,
curses come. You choose that, you'll be cursed.
So it functions to define for us the wickedness of Manasseh,
but it also functions for us to see the justice of God. In
other words, when we get to this prophecy against Judah in verses
10 to 16, there is nobody who can say, well, that doesn't seem
fair. That seems like an overreaction. I can't believe it. For a little
misstep on the part of Manasseh, God's going to bring Babylon
in and judge and shut down Judah? The law was very clear. It was
very well defined. And if you trace the history
of Israel, it was very much an exercise in God's patience that
they lasted this long. I mean, it doesn't take long
for them to become Canaanites. You look at the book of Judges.
Joshua is very positive, very favorable. They go in, they start
dispossessing the land of the Canaanites, and then in Judges,
what do we find? They start to devolve. They start
to degenerate. They start to take on the very
characteristics of the Canaanites that they were supposed to dispossess. We see through the books of 1
and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings this increasing Canaanization
of the nation of Israel. And as a result, they are now
excommunicated from the land. It's going to vomit them out
the way that God specified in Leviticus chapter 18. So it shows
us, in his rejection of the Mosaic Law, that he's a wretch, but
that God is just in bringing this judgment to bear upon them. And then, in terms of his rejection
of Yahweh, we saw this a little bit with Ahaz. Ahaz got a hankering
for some new kind of worship in chapter 16. Well, so does
Manasseh. He brings in Asherah, he brings
in Baal. And for those of you who have
not been here, Baal is the male deity and Asherah is the female
deity. And copulation was a big deal
with reference to Baal and Asherah. The way that one worshipped these
particular gods was through fornication. The idea being is that the worshippers
fornicated to try to get Baal and Asherah to engage likewise
and then there would be fertility upon the land. It was absolute
wickedness and wretchedness and so for Manasseh to bring this
into the very temple of the Lord is another exhibition of just
how bad he is. In verse 7, the way the author
tells us, he even set a carved image of Asherah that he had
made in the house of which the Lord had said to David and to
Solomon his son. It's almost as if the author himself is saying,
you can't even believe what this guy is doing. You can't even
understand the great lengths to which he has degenerated. So he is a religious innovator. Now, if you know me, you'll know
that I don't appreciate religious innovation. God hates innovation
when it comes to worship. God hates creativity. Now, I
know that would meet with a lot of objection in the modern church
in terms of their arts and communications sectors in their, you know, upon
their, in their staffs, but I'm going to tell you flat out, God
loathes creativity and innovation in worship. God wants one thing
in worship from us, and that's obedience, the way he says it. Don't add to it, don't take away
from it. But Lord, we have better ways
of doing things. Don't add to it, don't take away
from it. What's so tough about that principle? Deuteronomy 12,
32, 1 Timothy 3, Hebrews 12, when will we learn that God is
the king of his house and he gets to tell us how to approach
him? I mean, it's very common in our homes. We don't allow
people to come in and jump on our couches. We don't allow people
to come in and just start making bacon. We don't allow people
to come in and just do whatever it is they want to do. We have
rules in our home, and when we invite persons into our home,
we have this expectation that they'll obey our rules. And if
they do start making bacon, we'll tell them, we're not going to
have bacon right now, so please put that away. And yet when it
comes to the church, it's a free-for-all. When it's the church, we can
repel in if we're the hip pastor with the head mic on. If it's
the church, we can have puppets, ponies, and programs instead
of the centrality of preaching God's Word. Why is it that Deuteronomy
12, 32, 1 Timothy 3, and Hebrews 12 don't matter anymore? Because
we're creative and we're innovative, and God gave us these gifts.
Then use them in your home. Use him anywhere else but in
the house of God where he has commanded how we are to approach
him. Innovation and creativity has
no place in the house of God. Proven makes this observation. He says, Manasseh does not simply
follow the example of others. However, he himself is the supreme
innovator in religious practice. He practices sorcery and consults
mediums and spiritists. And he takes it upon himself
to install the starry hosts, sun, moon, and stars as objects
fit for worship alongside the Lord and the Asherah pole in
the temple. The Lord of hosts has thus become
merely a God among hosts. with a consort goddess for company,
open to manipulation by occult means. It is the religion of
a man who has entirely ceased to believe in the one true God,
the creator of heaven and earth, transcendent in respect of the
natural world and beyond all human control. Now, brethren,
make no mistake about it. If we were to be there at this
particular time, we would probably perceive there are some more
nefarious ends in view than just the bastardization of the worship
of Yahweh. It was probably a means to control
people, probably a means to appease Assyria, probably a means whereby
he exercised this kind of sort of manipulation both over the
gods and over the persons that he was king over. And then notice
in terms of the seduction of Judah in verse 9. So this wicked
man seduced Judah to do even more wickedness than the nations
that were cast out before them. In other words, Manasseh led
Judah to do worse than the Canaanites. Matthew Henry said, those will
have a great deal to answer for that not only are wicked themselves,
but help make others so. Now, Manasseh's a terrible human
being. I mean, there's no doubt. I mean,
he's wicked, he's vile, he's wretched. I can't say enough
bad about the guy because look at, you know, verses 2 to 8.
But brethren, Judah was seducible. See, an ungodly leader can't
make a godly people sin. You know that whole idea, well,
the devil made me do it. No, he didn't. He may have presented
some temptations, but your wicked heart led you astray. Well, my
friends made me do it. No, they didn't, unless they
held you down and poured that bottle of whiskey down your throat.
They didn't make you do it. You wanted to do that. Look at
verse nine. But they, that's a plural form. not him, they paid no attention. And Manasseh seduced them to
do more evil than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed before
the children of Israel. One of the brothers tonight prayed
about the wickedness of our political leaders. Isn't it intriguing
how many people follow these wicked leaders? See, a wicked
leader can't make a godly people do wicked stuff. A wicked leader
can seduce wicked people, and that's precisely what's happening.
And again, not enough bad to say about Manasseh, but when
the end comes, it's not only because of Manasseh. Now later,
in the second Kings, or in the latter chapters, when we get
to the fall or collapse of Judah, we see blame laid right at the
feet of Manasseh. But if you look at verse 15,
Notice, it's not all Manasseh's fault. I mean, we can't just
say, well, you know, everything was great until Manasseh came
along. Because they have done evil in
my sight and have provoked me to anger since the day their
fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day. So yes, this wicked
wretch of a man seduced Judah, but they were seducible. Brethren,
it is possible to be a godly man or a godly woman in an ungodly
regime. We are never forced to sin. We are never forced to commit
acts of iniquity. If people follow godless leaders,
it's because those people want to follow godless leaders. When
you look around and you see everybody running after the beast, know
that they want to run after the beast. These people were seducible. Let's look at the prophecy against
Judah. Notice this prophecy of judgment
in verses 10 to 16. It's intriguing. Verse 10, the
Lord spoke by His servants, the prophets saying. This phrase
is used four times in Kings. It's used with reference to the
fall of Samaria twice, and it's used with reference to the fall
of Jerusalem twice. The same sort of language Jesus
uses going into the Olivet Discourse. I think another sort of at least
indirect affirmation that what Jesus is dealing with in Matthew
24 is not in our future. It was with reference to the
destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. He's using the same literary
techniques that are found here in 2 Kings with reference to
the fall of Samaria and the fall of Jerusalem when he rehearses
the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, but that's a digression or
a study for another time. But notice the reason for judgment. Because Manasseh, king of Judah,
has done these abominations, he has acted more wickedly than
all the Amorites who were before him and has also made Judah sin
with his idols. The author here is very pastoral
or very apologetic, and by apologetic I don't mean he's sorry, but
he is defending, he is telling us. I mean, I think most readers
by the end of verse nine are saying, you know, is God gonna
judge these people? I mean, look at this, this is
just terrible. But every step of the way, the
author is telling us they've committed abominations, they've
done wickedness, they've done evil. So when we get to 2 Kings
25 and the collapse of Judah, nobody can say, well, why did
this happen? And one of the particular purposes
of 1 and 2 Kings is to instruct the people why they're in exile.
I'm just going to tell you flat out, that's why repentance is
in 2 Chronicles 33 and it's not in 2 Kings 21. Why does the author leave it
out? Well, it doesn't matter at this point. Judah's doom is
sealed. But as well, 1st and 2nd Kings
are written to basically explain why the nation is in captivity
in Babylon. 1st and 2nd Chronicles are written
to encourage the people after the exile to rebuild, to get
going, to own their god, to own their temple, to own their king,
to do those things that are consistent with the religion of Yahweh.
So there's different theological emphases in terms of 1 and 2
Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles. That's why some positive things
in the Chronicles aren't mentioned in Kings. It's not that there's
discrepancy or contradiction. It's that there's a theological
sort of a focus that the authors are highlighting. And what 1
and Kings want to tell the people in exile is, here's why you're
in exile. Here's why you're in Babylon.
Here's why you're growing, you know, whatever it is you're growing
there in Babylon. Here's why you're in this basic
slave state. It's because of all this stuff.
So no one would ever be able to say, well, I don't know why
we're here. Well, absolutely you know why you're there, because
you continue to violate the covenant that God had ordained or God
set forth. And so the author continually tells us what is
going to happen and why it is happening. And then note with
reference to the description of the judgment. He says their
wickedness exceeds even the Amorites. Now, the Amorites were one of
the seven cities mentioned, one particularly under the ban in
Deuteronomy chapter 7. In other passages, the Amorites
seem to be sort of the chief of the pagan nations. I mean,
if you had to have, you know, the worst of the Canaanites,
the Amorites would be that. And so the author's saying Judah's
worse than the Amorites. It's like he couldn't heap up
enough derision upon Manasseh and Judah at this particular
time. I mean, the amazing thing in
the remainder of 2 Kings, it's not judgment, it's Josiah. That's
what's truly amazing. I mean, when we get to chapter
22 next week, that's when we really ought to sing amazing
grace. Because Josiah wears a billboard
that says God's gracious. The fact that Josiah comes after
Manasseh and Ammon and this prophecy against Judah is proof positive
of the long suffering of God. If anybody ever tells you, well,
the Old Testament, it's all full of war and blood and mayhem and
doom. Take them to 2 Kings 22 and say, man, this was a perfect
opportunity for war and chaos and doom, and God sends Josiah. That's patience, brethren. So
notice the description of the judgment in verses 12 to 15.
I'm leaning on Davis here. He has a great little section
on this particular section. In the first place, it is a terrifying
judgment. That's the literary convention
of verse 12. Behold, I am bringing such calamity
upon Jerusalem and Judah that whoever hears of it, both his
ears will tingle. That's used twice in the Old
Testament, along with this particular passage. It's in 1 Samuel 3.11.
It's in Jeremiah 19.3. The particular word for tingle
is a bit difficult to nail down. In Habakkuk 3.16, it is translated
quiver. So the idea is probably fear.
Ear tingling doesn't necessarily mean that your ears started to
buzz or whatever. You know, you hit your funny
bones sometimes, it feels like your elbows buzz. That's not
what's happening. The idea is terror. Whoever hears
this, they're going to quiver. Their ears are going to tingle.
They're going to shake or quake in their boots when they see
the judgment and wrath of a god who has been provoked by such
wickedness. Secondly, it is an inevitable
judgment. Notice in verse 13, I will stretch
over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria and the plummet
of the house of Ahab. Davis says, Yahweh uses building
imagery, but of deconstruction rather than construction. And
I shall stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria
and the level of the house of Ahab. Yahweh had already made
history of both Samaria and of Ahab's dynasty, and Jerusalem
was next in his demolition program. The measuring's been done. It's
coming. It's inevitable. Thirdly, it
is a complete judgment. Notice in verse 13b, I will wipe
Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside
down. You lick the plate, right? You
lick it clean of all the good stuff and then you turn it upside
down and nothing falls off. I'm sorry. Some of us lick plates
when nobody else is around. My wife's such a good cook. You
see what he's saying. He's going to wipe the plate
and turn it over. I think you used to test the
kids. Well, I'm done. Well, take your
plate and turn it over. If food falls off, you ain't
done. You've got to eat. You've got to finish. So he moves
from the construction site metaphor to the kitchen, just so everybody's
following. And then notice fourthly, it
is a just judgment, verses 14 and 15. So I will forsake the
remnant of my inheritance and deliver them into the hand of
their enemies, and they shall become victims of plunder to
all their enemies because they have done evil in my sight and
have provoked me to anger since the day their fathers came out
of Egypt even to this day. It's just because the book of
Deuteronomy specifies clearly in chapter 28 verses 47 to 67
what Israel can expect should they go into the land and they
become Canaanites. And then notice, before we move
on to the end of Manasseh, it's almost as if the author wants
to tell us it wasn't just religious sins or cultic abuses, but it
was ethical problems too. Moreover, Manasseh, verse 16,
shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem
from one end to another, besides his sin, by which he made Judah
sin, and doing evil in the sight of the Lord. Now, I think that
some of you have heard me emphasize this reality. A forsaking of
the first table of the law inevitably leads to a forsaking of the second
table. In other words, when we become
idolaters and we reject the living and the true God, we don't care
about image bearers. When we reject commandments 1
to 4, 6 to 10, 5 to 10 don't matter. If we're going to bring
Baal and Asherah into the very temple of the Lord, we're going
to kill people in the streets. That's just the way it goes.
So you see, if you are not faithful to your God, you're not going
to be faithful to your fellows. And that is brought out. It's
intriguing. Gil says, putting to death the
prophets that reproved him. Most commentators suggest that
that's more than likely the bulk of the blood that he shed. Remember,
Jesus said it's impossible that a prophet should die outside
of Jerusalem, Luke 13, 33. Again, Jesus, when he's doing
the Olivet Discourse, or as he's on his journey to Jerusalem,
it just sounds so much like 1 and 2 Kings. It sounds so much like
the prophet Jeremiah, because it's the same subject matter.
You see, what God does here is He sends them into Babylon. After
70 years, He brings them out of Babylon. They then become
Babylon in Jerusalem. They haven't changed, they haven't
reformed, they haven't been, you know, remedied. They continue,
and it finds its pinnacle in the rejection of Messiah and
the crucifixion. That's why God brings judgment
to bear upon them in AD 70. It is a curse of the covenant. It is the days of vengeance that
the prophet Isaiah wrote of. So we see that Manasseh filled
up Jerusalem with the blood mostly of prophets. So Gil says, 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. Hebrews 11.37 speaks
of one being sawn in two. Commentators, as he said, Jewish
and Christian, say that that was Isaiah under Manasseh. Now,
I mean, if verses two to eight don't convince you, or two to
nine don't convince you that Manasseh's wicked, I mean, the
man who killed the man who wrote Isaiah 53, that's just, how do
you do that? You've got to really, really
be degenerate to kill the prophet Isaiah. And then the end of Manasseh
is recorded for us in verses 17 and 18. It's a standard formula. In fact, in 1 and 2 Kings, the
summary formula occurs 15 times, or thereabouts. Now the rest
of the acts of Manasseh, all that he did and the sin that
he committed, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles
of the kings of Judah? So Manasseh rested with his fathers and was
buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzzah.
Then his son Amon reigned in his place. That standard formula
that we have seen many, many times. Well, within that formula,
there is an occasional tidbit of information about the reign
of that particular person. For instance, in 1 Kings 15,
we learn of Asa that he had diseased feet. In 1 Kings 22, again, in
that little summary statement, that little formula, 1 Kings
22, we learn that Jehoshaphat was good at war. Already recently,
in 2 Kings 20, at verse 20, what do we learn about Hezekiah? For
those of you who were here last week, he built a very advanced
aqueduct or tunnel or water system to bring water into the city
in times of siege. Look at what's included with
reference to Manasseh in terms of the tidbit of information.
The rest of the acts of Manasseh, all that he did, and the sin
that he committed. I mean, Hezekiah is known for
his waterway. Jehoshaphat is known for his
battle on the fields. Asa is known for the disease
in his feet. And what's Manasseh known for?
The sin that he committed. Davis again says, that does not
mean the rest of Judah's kings were stalwarts of righteousness
But only that Manasseh was so much the epitome of wickedness
that one could not tell his story without wallowing in the details
of his wickedness. The sin which he sinned was written,
recorded in clear and fluent Hebrew in all its shame and scandal. What a memory to leave. Manasseh,
the only king, specially noted for his sin. That's a pathetic
thing, isn't it? That is just absolutely terrible
that he ends this way. And then the reign of Amon, it
won't take long. He reigned from 642 to 640. It
doesn't take long because he just did exactly what his father
did. Manasseh sinned by not imitating his father Hezekiah. Amon sinned
by imitating his father Manasseh. And you see, I think that this
passage, at least this section, teaches us something about family.
