2 Kings 21:1 - Meaning and Application

We left the last reign with glad thoughts. We saw Zion in its glory, meaning its purity and triumphs, and we saw the king in his beauty, that is, Hezekiah (Isaiah 33:17). Jerusalem was a quiet home because it was a city of righteousness (Isaiah 1:26; 2 Kings 21:20). Now the story turns dark. The beauty of Jerusalem is stained, and her glory, joy, and honor are gone.

This reign stands in sharp contrast to the last one, and it almost undoes it. Manasseh began to reign when he was only twelve years old (2 Kings 21:1). He was born when his father was about forty-two, three years after Hezekiah’s sickness. If Hezekiah had older sons, they were either dead or were seen as unlikely to rule. Manasseh was young, and that likely helped lead him astray, though it did not excuse him. His grandson Josiah came to the throne even younger, yet he did well.

Because he was young, Manasseh was proud of his honor and impressed with his own power. He thought himself wise because he was great, and he took pride in undoing what his father had done. Young rulers are often lifted up with pride and then fall under the devil’s judgment. He was also easy for deceivers to influence. Those who hated Hezekiah’s reforms and still loved the old idol worship flattered Manasseh and gained control of him. Many people have been ruined by receiving power too early.

Manasseh reigned for fifty-five years, longer than any other king of Judah. This was the longest reign, and it was also the worst in many ways. Joram ruled only eight years, and Ahaz sixteen. We may hope that early in Manasseh’s reign, things still followed the course Hezekiah had set, and that toward the end, after his repentance, true religion began to recover. Even at the darkest point, God still had a remnant who stayed faithful. Manasseh also spent part of this time as a prisoner in Babylon, which should count as a loss, though those years are included because he repented there and began to reform.

He ruled very badly. He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, even though he had been well taught and should have known better (2 Kings 21:2). He kept doing much wickedness in the Lord’s sight, as if he meant to anger God on purpose (2 Kings 21:6). He followed the disgusting practices of the nations around him (2 Kings 21:2), and he acted like Ahab, the wicked king of Israel (2 Kings 21:3). He did not learn from the destruction of Canaan or from the fall of Ahab’s house, both of which came because of idolatry. In fact, he did more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before Israel. When God’s own people fall away, they often become worse than the ungodly around them.

More specifically, he rebuilt the high places that his father had destroyed (2 Kings 21:3). In doing this, he insulted the memory of his godly father, even though he knew how much God had favored Hezekiah and how much people had honored him. He probably agreed with Rabshakeh’s view that Hezekiah had done wrong in tearing down those high places (2 Kings 18:22), and he may have claimed that rebuilding them would honor God and help the people. But he only went further into evil.

He set up other gods, Baal and Ashtoreth, which the text calls a grove, and he also worshiped the whole host of heaven, the sun, moon, planets, and stars (2 Kings 21:3). He gave their names to the images he made, then bowed to them and asked them for help. He built altars for them (2 Kings 21:5) and offered sacrifices there. He made his son pass through the fire, giving him to Molech in open contempt for the sign of circumcision, by which he had been marked as belonging to God. He also turned to evil spiritual guides, using magic and seeking help from mediums and spiritists, like Saul did (2 Kings 21:6). Fortune-tellers and conjurers, people who pretended to read the future from stars, clouds, birds, or animal organs, became important to him. He listened to them, trusted them, and let their advice shape his plans.

Later we are told that he shed very much innocent blood (2 Kings 21:16), likely to satisfy his own anger and revenge. Some may have been murdered in secret, and others killed under legal pretense. Much of this blood was probably from those who opposed idolatry and testified against it, refusing to bow to Baal. Jerusalem is especially blamed for the blood of the prophets, and Manasseh likely killed many of them. Jewish tradition says he caused the prophet Isaiah to be sawn in two, and many think Hebrews 11:37 points to this suffering.

Three things make his idolatry even worse. First, he set up his images and altars in the house of the Lord, in the two temple courts, in the very house where God had said to Solomon, “I will put my name here” (2 Kings 21:4-7). He openly defied God and placed his false gods right under God’s eye. He dishonored what had been made holy and, in effect, pushed God out of his own house and let rebels take over. When faithful worshipers came to the place God had chosen, they found other gods waiting to receive offerings, which must have filled them with grief and fear. God had promised to place his name there and keep it there, and Manasseh did all he could to erase that memory.

Second, he treated God’s word and covenant with great contempt. God had shown kindness to Israel by placing his name among them, and he intended to keep them in that good land. His expectation was simple and fair: they were to obey all that he commanded them (2 Kings 21:7-8). Manasseh’s actions despised that mercy and broke that covenant.

At that time, Israel stood in a good relationship with God and had as promising a future as any nation could hope for. But they would not listen (2 Kings 21:9). They would not stay close to God, neither by his commands nor by his promises. They pushed both aside.

This also meant that Manasseh, king of Judah, led God’s people into sin and idolatry (2 Kings 21:9). He caused Judah to sin (2 Kings 21:11), just as Jeroboam had caused Israel to sin. His example was enough to corrupt most thoughtless people, who simply followed what their king did, whether it was right or wrong. Anyone who wanted advancement would copy the court, and others would go along out of fear of making the king their enemy.

In this way, one means or another, the holy city became like a prostitute, and Manasseh was the one who made her so. Those who are wicked themselves, and who also help make others wicked, will have a heavy account to give.