2 Kings
Chapter 21
Manasseh, King of Judah (698-643)
Manasseh was twelve years old when he began his reign and reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah.
He mistreated the Lord, imitating the wretched practices of the people the Lord had driven out from the land to give it to the Israelites.
He built altars in the courtyard of the house of the Lord, about which the Lord had said, “Jerusalem shall be the dwelling place of my Name.”
He built altars for all the stars of heaven in the two courtyards of the house of the Lord.
He rebuilt the Sanctuaries on the hills, which Hezekiah, his father, had destroyed. He built altars to the god Baal and made a sacred pillar similar to the one Ahab, the king of Israel, had made. He knelt before all the stars of heaven and worshiped them.
I shall no longer let Israel wander out of the land I gave to their fathers, provided that you try to live according to all the Law, I gave you through my servant Moses.”
But they did not listen, and Manasseh led them into doing things worse than those nations had done whom the Lord had expelled before the Israelites.
So the Lord spoke through the mouth of his servants, the prophets, saying,
“Manasseh, king of Judah, has multiplied the wretched practices and has acted worse than the Amorites. He has made the people of Judah sin with his repugnant images.
Therefore, I shall bring upon Jerusalem and upon Judah an evil so great that the ears of those who hear of it shall buzz.
Jerusalem and its kings shall suffer the fate of Samaria and the family of Ahab. I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a plate to clean it and then turn it upside down.
I shall drive away the rest of my people and give them over into the hands of their enemies so that they shall become their prey and booty.
For they did what displeased me and made me angry from the day when their ancestors came out of Egypt to this day.”
Manasseh also shed innocent blood in such quantity that it filled up Jerusalem from one end to the other, besides the sins he made Judah commit, doing what is wrong in the sight of the Lord.
The rest regarding Manasseh, all that he did and the sins he committed, is written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah.
When Manasseh died, they buried him in his house’s garden, and Uzza and his son Amon reigned in his place.
Amon of Judah (643-640)
Amon was twenty-two years old when he began his reign, and he reigned for two years in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Meshullemeth, daughter of Haruz, of the city of Jotbah.
He mistreated the Lord, as his father Manasseh had done.
He completely followed in his father’s footsteps—he served the idols his father had served and bowed down before them.
He abandoned the Lord, the God of his ancestors, and did not walk in the way of the Lord.
The officials of Amon conspired against him and murdered him in his house.
But the citizens killed all who had plotted against the king, and they proclaimed his son Josiah king in his place.
The rest regarding Amon and all he did is written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah.
They buried him in his tomb, in the garden of Uzza, and his son Josiah reigned in his place.
Commentaries
Manasseh of Judah.
The sin, downfall, and future punishment of the people of Judah originate with Manasseh. Despite being the son and successor of the incomparable Hezekiah (cf. 18:3-8), Manasseh took it upon himself to restore everything his father had abolished during his reign of more than fifty years: local cults, idolatry, pagan customs, and the contamination of worship with statues and altars in the very Temple of Jerusalem. There is a crucial detail worth noting. While denouncing the king’s harmful actions and blaming him for the evils that will befall the people, the Deuteronomist suggests that the people follow him willingly (8ff); this serves as a reminder to the narrator that the people have been sinful and rebellious since they left Egypt (15). Once again, regarding Manasseh’s behavior, the prophecy that Isaiah had already pronounced before Hezekiah gains strength: Judah and Jerusalem will not have a good end (10-15).
Amon of Judah.
It was very challenging for Amon, the successor, to replicate a reign as long as Manasseh’s. He found it easier to continue in the same way as his father did during his brief reign. Amon also receives a negative assessment from the Deuteronomist, portrayed as a king who opposes the ideals of the Jewish believer and is contrary to the model of a king who rules according to the Lord’s commandments.