UNROLL
Dawn over Jerusalem seen from across the Kidron valley: the city's flat roofs on its ridge and, small at the top, the long, plain stone house of the temple with one single straight thread of pale smoke rising from its court into a calm, clear sky.

The Book of

2 Chronicles 33

The worst king Judah ever had, taken away in chains, and the prayer God answered.

25 verses≈ 6 min3 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

  1. 1SolomonWisdom asked at Gibeon
  2. 2–5The templeBuilt on Mount Moriah
  3. 6–7DedicationIf My people humble themselves
  4. 8–9Solomon's gloryThe queen of Sheba
  5. 10–16DivisionRehoboam to Asa
  6. 17–20JehoshaphatThe battle is God's
  7. 21–24Dark yearsJehoram to Joash
  8. 25–28Proud kingsAmaziah to Ahaz
  9. 29–32HezekiahDoors opened, Passover kept
  10. 33–35Manasseh to JosiahMercy and the Book foundChapter 33
  11. 36Exile and returnMay he go up

Manasseh Reigns in Judah

Morning in a cedar-beamed hall of the king's house in Jerusalem: the twelve-year-old Manasseh sits very straight on a cedar throne too big for him, his feet not reaching the floor, his mother Hephzibah standing at his shoulder, courtiers in dyed wool robes along the walls.

Judah

Manasseh of Judah · 55 years

  1. Twelve, fifty-five years in Jerusalem

    Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years.

  2. did evil

    The abominations of the nations

    And he did evil in the sight of the LORD by following the abominations of the nations that the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.

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He sacrificed his sons in the fire in the Valley of Ben-hinnom. He practiced sorcery, divination, and witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did great evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.

Manasseh even took the carved image he had made and set it up in the house of God, of which God had said to David and his son Solomon, “In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will establish My Name forever. I will never again cause the feet of the Israelites to leave the land that I assigned to your fathers, if only they are careful to do all that I have commanded them through Moses—all the laws, statutes, and judgments.”

So Manasseh led the people of Judah and Jerusalem astray, so that they did greater evil than the nations that the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites.

2 Chronicles 33:9

Reflect

Undone in a generation

Hezekiah had torn the high places down. Within a few years his son “rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had torn down,” and led a whole city with him. What have you been given by those who went before you that you need to make your own? And whose faith is watching yours?

Manasseh’s Repentance and Restoration

And the LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they did not listen.

Evening on the flat Euphrates plain: the long mud-brick walls and flat roofs of old Babylon low on the far bank, date palms and a reed-fringed canal in front, the wide river still, and far off on the river road a tiny line of travelers and pack donkeys under a golden sky.

So the LORD brought against them the military commanders of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.

First light in a bare room of sun-dried brick: an old man with a long gray beard, in a plain coarse wool tunic and barefoot, kneels with his forehead to the earth floor and his open hands beside his head, seen from behind and the side, a straw mat and a clay water jar near him.

And in his distress, Manasseh sought the favor of the LORD his God and earnestly humbled himself before the God of his fathers. And when he prayed to Him, the LORD received his plea and heard his petition. So He brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God.

0:18

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God.

2 Chronicles 33:13

Nevertheless, the people still sacrificed at the high places, but only to the LORD their God.

As for the rest of the acts of Manasseh, along with 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, they are indeed written in the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. His prayer and how God received his plea, as well as all his sin and unfaithfulness, and the sites where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and idols before he humbled himself, they are indeed written in the Records of the Seers.

And Manasseh rested with his fathers and was buried at his palace. And his son Amon reigned in his place.

Mercy for the worst king

Manasseh’ssinsworse than thenationsThe LORDspokethey did notlistenTaken toBabylonin his distressHe humbledhimselfand prayed toHimThe LORDheardreceived hispleaBroughtbackto Jerusalemand his kingdomHe knewthe LORD is God

Whiteboard

The king who led Judah to do “greater evil than the nations” was the one God brought home. When “he prayed to Him, the LORD received his plea and heard his petition.” Manasseh’s prayer is the plainest picture in the book of what Solomon asked and the LORD promised: when His people humble themselves and pray, He hears.

Question

Quick question

The LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, “but they did not listen.” Then distress came.

Where was Manasseh when he humbled himself before the LORD?

Amon Reigns in Judah

Judah

Amon of Judah · 2 years

  1. Twenty-two, two years in Jerusalem

    Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem two years.

  2. did evil

    As his father Manasseh had done

    And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh had done.

  3. His father’s idols

    Amon served and sacrificed to all the idols that his father Manasseh had made,

but he did not humble himself before the LORD as his father Manasseh had done; instead, Amon increased his guilt.

Then the servants of Amon conspired against him and killed him in his palace. But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah king in his place.

Pray

No one too far gone

Thank the LORD that no one is too far gone for Him to hear when they humble themselves. Pray for anyone who thinks they have done too much evil to come back. And ask Him for a heart that turns quickly: one that does not wait for distress, as Manasseh did, or refuse to bend, as Amon did.

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2 Chronicles 33

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A verse to carry with you

And in his distress, Manasseh sought the favor of the LORD his God and earnestly humbled himself before the God of his fathers. And when he prayed to Him, the LORD received his plea and heard his petition. So He brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God.

2 Chronicles 33:12–13

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