When he was in distress, he begged Yahweh his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. He prayed to him; and he was entreated by him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that Yahweh was God.
Now after this, he built an outer wall to David’s city, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entrance at the fish gate. He encircled Ophel with it, and raised it up to a very great height; and he put valiant captains in all the fortified cities of Judah. He took away the foreign gods, and the idol out of Yahweh’s house, and all the altars that he had built in the mountain of Yahweh’s house, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city. He built up Yahweh’s altar, and offered sacrifices of peace offerings and of thanksgiving on it, and commanded Judah to serve Yahweh, the God of Israel. Nevertheless the people sacrificed still in the high places, but only to Yahweh their God.
Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel, behold, they are written among the acts of the kings of Israel. His prayer also, and how God was entreated of him, and all his sin and his trespass, and the places in which he built high places, and set up the Asherah poles and the engraved images, before he humbled himself: behold, they are written in the history of Hozai.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19 Thus affliction giveth understanding: for he that hated God…
Thus affliction giveth understanding: for he that hated God in his prosperity, now in his misery he seeketh unto him.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv12–19 2Ch 33:12 And when he was in affliction, he…
2Ch 33:12 And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,
Ver. 12. And when he was in affliction.] When the rod spake, he heard it {Mic 6:9} who would not hear the word. {2Ch 33:10} God sent him into the dungeon to repent; as he did David into the depths, and Jonah into the whale’s belly to pray. Adversity hath whipt many a soul to heaven, which otherwise prosperity had coached to hell.
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He besought the Lord.] There is a prayer extant that is said to be his, pia sane et elegans, saith Lavater; but it is Apocryphal, as not found in the Hebrew text.
And humbled himself greatly.] As he had sinned greatly, so his humiliation bore a proportion, being deep, downright, and such as brought him home. The prodigal changed many places ere he came home in earnest. Many came out of Egypt, that never came into Canaan. Ahab humbled himself, so did those justiciaries, {Isa 58:3} but not greatly, as Manasseh; their sorrow for sin was but skin deep.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv13, 14, 16, 18, 19 i.e. He was convinced by his own experience of…
i.e. He was convinced by his own experience of God’s power, justice, and goodness, that Jehovah alone was the true God, and not those idols which he had worshipped, by which he had received great hurt, and no good.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv12–19 And prayed unto him,.... To have mercy on him,…
And prayed unto him,.... To have mercy on him, and forgive him his sins:
and he was entreated of him, and heard his supplication; and granted his request, showed favour to him, and forgave him his sins:
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and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom; so wrought upon the heart of the king of Assyria, as to give him his liberty, and restore him to his dominions; it is very probable his captivity was not long; for, being soon brought by his affliction to a sense and confession of his sins, by the overruling providence of God, he was quickly released:
then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God; and not the idols he had served; that he was a holy God, and hated sin, and a just God in afflicting him for it, and gracious and merciful in forgiving his sins, and bringing him out of his troubles.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv12, 17, 18, 19 Besought - It becomes sinners to humble themselves before…
Besought - It becomes sinners to humble themselves before that God, whom they have offended. It becomes sufferers to humble themselves before him that corrects them, and to accept of the punishment of their iniquity.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19 Verse 12. And when he was in affliction] Here…
Verse 12. And when he was in affliction] Here is a very large addition in the Chaldee: "For the Chaldeans made a brazen mule, pierced full of small holes, and put him within it, and kindled fires all around it; and when he was in this misery, he sought help of all the idols which he had made, but obtained none, for their were of no use. He therefore repented, and prayed before the Lord his God, and was greatly humbled in the sight of the Lord God of his fathers."
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19 2Ch 33:12. When he was in affliction he besought…
2Ch 33:12. When he was in affliction he besought the Lord his God — Being “deprived of his authority and liberty, and secluded from his evil counsellors and companions, and from all his pleasures, in chains, and in a prison, without any other prospect than of ending his days in that wretched situation, he had leisure to reflect on what had passed. He then, no doubt, recollected the honour, prosperity, and deliverances with which his father had been favoured; his own good education, with the instruction and warnings of the prophets; and his atrocious, multiplied, and daring crimes: and he remembered that his miseries had been foretold by his faithful monitors. Thus, by the special grace of God, his solitude and affliction brought him to view his own conduct and character in another light than before, and he began to cry for mercy and deliverance, humbling himself greatly before the God of his fathers.” — Scott. Bishop Hall remarks, from this verse, the truth of that saying of the prophet, Affliction giveth understanding. “If the cross bear us not to heaven,” says he, “nothing can. What use were there of the grain, but for the edge of the sickle, wherewith it is cut down; the stroke of the flail, wherewith it is beaten; the weight and attrition of the mill, wherewith it is crushed; the fire of the oven, wherewith it is baked? Say now, Manasseh, with that grand-father of thine, It is good for me that I have been afflicted; thine iron was more precious to thee than thy gold; thy jail was a more happy lodging to thee than thy palace; Babylon was a better school to thee than Jerusalem. How foolish are we to frown upon our afflictions! These, how severe soever, are our best friends: they are not indeed for our pleasure, they are for our profit; their issue makes them worthy of a welcome. What do we care how bitter that potion is which brings us health?”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv14, 17, 18, 19 Rather, “he built the outer wall of the city…
Rather, “he built the outer wall of the city of David on the west of Gihon-in-the-valley.” The wall intended seems to have been that toward the northeast, which ran from the vicinity of the modern Damascus gate across the valley of Gihon, to the “fish-gate” at the northeast corner of the “city of David.”
We may gather from this verse that, late in his reign, Manasseh revolted from the Assyrians, and made preparations to resist them if they should attack him. Assyria began to decline in power about 647 B.C., and from that time her outlying provinces would naturally begin to fall off. Manasseh reigned until 642 B.C.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv12, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19 Distress. "When he had been conducted to Babylon, and…
Distress. "When he had been conducted to Babylon, and cast into a brazen vessel full of holes, over a fire, he called upon all the names of the idols, which he was accustomed to adore; and, as he was not heard, nor set free by them, he recollected what he had often heard repeated by his father: When though shalt call upon me in tribulation, and shalt be converted, I will hear thee graciously; as it is written in Deut., (see C. iv. 29.; H.) and his prayer was thus heard by the Lord, and he was delivered and brought back to his kingdom, like Habacuc." S. Jerom, Trad. --- The author of the imperfect work on S. Matthew, (among the works of S. Chrysostom, hom. 1.; (H.) says, that Manasses was barely allowed as much barley bread, and water mixed with vinegar, as would keep him alive. Whereupon, remembering the Lord, he had recourse to his clemency, and a miraculous flame surrounded him, and dissolving his chains, set him at liberty. Saos-duchin, the successor of Azarhaddon, probably restored him to his throne, some years after his captivity, or perhaps that very year, so that his repentance continued thirty-three years. C. --- Prayed, a proof of the efficacy of sincere repentance. W.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv12, 14, 17 when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord…
when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God--In the solitude of exile or imprisonment, Manasseh had leisure for reflection. The calamities forced upon him a review of his past life, under a conviction that the miseries of his dethronement and captive condition were owing to his awful and unprecedented apostasy (Ch2 33:7) from the God of his fathers. He humbled himself, repented, and prayed for an opportunity of bringing forth the fruits of repentance. His prayer was heard; for his conqueror not only released him, but, after two years' exile, restored him, with honor and the full exercise of royal power, to a tributary and dependent kingdom. Some political motive, doubtless, prompted the Assyrian king to restore Manasseh, and that was most probably to have the kingdom of Judah as a barrier between Egypt and his Assyrian dominions. But God overruled this measure for higher purposes. Manasseh now showed himself, by the influence of sanctified affliction, a new and better man. He made a complete reversal of his former policy, by not only destroying all the idolatrous statues and altars he had formerly erected in Jerusalem, but displaying the most ardent zeal in restoring and encouraging the worship of God.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv13, 14, 18, 19 13. Brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom…
13. Brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom — Ewald suggests that this restoration of Manasseh was done by Esar-haddon’s successor, as an act of clemency at the beginning of his reign; just as Evil-merodach signalized the beginning of his reign with an act of kindness to the captive Jehoiachin. 2Ki_25:27-30. But whether restored by Esar-haddon or his successor, Manasseh was so effectually humiliated that the king anticipated from him no further trouble.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 12. affliction] R.V. distress, as in 2Ch_28:22.
12. affliction] R.V. distress, as in 2Ch_28:22.
12, 13. fathers, and prayed] R.V. fathers. And he prayed.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19 (12) When he was in affliction.—See this phrase in…
(12) When he was in affliction.—See this phrase in 2Ch_28:22.
He besought.—Literally, stroked the face, a curious realistic phrase occurring in Exo_32:11.
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The God of his fathers.—Whom he had forsaken for the gods of aliens. Some MSS., and the Syriac, Targum, and Arabic insert “Jehovah” before this phrase.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv13, 14, 15, 17, 18 And prayed unto him. The apocryphal "Prayer of Manasses"…
And prayed unto him. The apocryphal "Prayer of Manasses" is not at all likely to be authentic. And brought him again to Jerusalem. The Targum gives many mythical tales as to how this deliverance was effected. Then Manasseh knew that. Did he not know, well know, before? So far as the mode of expression may in any degree warrant such a stretch of charity, what an idea it gives of the force with which grossest error will captivate even the taught; and with what force of a furious wind did the contaminating influence of idolatries all around sweep betimes before them these very kings and chief men of Judah and Jerusalem! It is evident that there was always among the people a "remnant" who kept the faith. See here, e.g. , the reference to the innocent blood" shed in Jerusalem, no doubt bleed of those who would not consent to idolatry blood of noble martyrs.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv12, 18 2Ch_33:12; 2Ch_33:18
2Ch_33:12; 2Ch_33:18
And when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God.
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Manassehs wickedness and penitence
I. Mansssehs career in crime.
II. His return to and acceptance of God.
III. The gracious results of his penitence. Improvement.
1. The lamentable wickedness and duplicity of the human heart.
2. The freeness, fulness, and efficacy of Divine grace.
3. The consequences of salvation are reformation and obedience. (T.B. Baker.)
Manasseh
Manasseh is an eminent instance of the power, richness, and freeness of the Divine mercy. Observe--
I. The sins which he committed.
1. Their contributory cause. His early freedom from restraint, his coming to supreme power when only twelve years of age.
2. Their special nature. The catalogue is appalling.
3. Their aggravated nature.
(1) They were committed in defiance of religious education, and of the admonitions and example of his father.
(2) They were of more than common enormity.
(3) They were productive of more than ordinary evil to others.
(4) They were in defiance of the expostulations of the prophets (verse 10).
II. The repentance which he exercised.
1. Its cause.
(1) Its more remote cause was probably his religious education. The case of Manasseh is not discouraging to training children in the way they should go.
(2) The immediate cause was affliction.
2. Its nature.
(1) Deep conviction of sin.
(2) Deep contrition.
(3) Earnest prayer.
(4) Reformation of life.
III. The mercies which manasseh received.
1. Temporal nature.
2. Spiritual He was brought to the spiritual knowledge of the God of his salvation. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord He was God. This knowledge led him to fear, trust, love, and obey. This obedience was accompanied by the deepest self-renunciation and abasement to the end of his life. Lessons.
1. To those who are insensible of their sinfulness.
2. To those who are ready to sink into despair under the weight of their sinfulness.
3. To those who are disposed to presume on the mercy of God. Manassehs son Amon was quickly cut off in the midst of his sins (verses 21-28). He seems to be a beacon set up close by the side of his penitent and accepted father, to warn all persons against presuming on the mercy manifested to Manasseh. (Homilist.)
Manassehs repentance
I. His character as a sinner.
1. He was a notorious sinner.
2. He was not a hopeless sinner.
II. His conduct as a penitent.
1. The period of his repentance is specified. When he was in affliction.
2. The nature of his repentance is described.
(1) Deep humility.
(2) Fervent prayer. These invariably distinguish the conduct of every true penitent (Jer_31:18-19; Luk_18:13; Act_9:11).
III. His salvation as a believer.
1. He obtained the pardoning mercy of God.
2. He received a saving knowledge of God (Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons.)
Manasseh humbled
I. The benefit of afflictions in bringing the sinner to a true sense of his condition and converting him to God.
II. The mercy of God in so bringing and receiving him.
III. The remaining and lasting portion of the evil of sin, even after the individual is pardoned. In the Second Book of Kings it is repeatedly declared that Judah was destroyed on account of the sons of Manasseh.
1. A man looks back with sorrow and contrite concern upon the follies and sins of his youth; but what of his companions in guilt? Some, perhaps, whom he seduced into sin, and many whom he encouraged and confirmed in sin.
2. Some writers have employed their pens in the odious cause of immorality and irreligion. Such persons have lamented their errors; but the publication has done its work; the poison has been circulated, and the corruption is incurable. (J. Slade, M. A.)
The conversion of Manasseh
I. That early advantages may be succeeded by complicated sin.
II. That sin is frequently the cause of severe affliction.
III. That affliction, when sanctified, exalts to prayer, and promotes humiliation.
IV. That prayer and humiliation are always attended with distinguished blessings, and produce valuable effects.
V. From the whole.
1. The patience of God.
2. The sovereignty of God.
3. The wisdom of God in adapting means to the conversion of men.
4. The mercy of God in saving the chief of sinners. (S. Kidd.)
The repentance of Manasseh
We will connect the important change which took place in the mind of Manasseh--
I. With his early advantages. John Newton states somewhere, When I was in the deepest misery, and when I was committing the most atrocious sin, I always seemed to feel the hand of my sainted mother pressing my head.
II. With the afflictions by which it was produced.
III. With the effects which it unfolded.
IV. With the sovereignty of Divine Grace. (A. E. Farrar.)
Manasseh brought to repentance
I. His life of sin.
1. It was in direct contrast to the good reign of his father.
2. His sin involved many in guilt. He made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err.
3. He was not moved by the sight of the same wickedness in those whom he despised (2Ki_21:9).
4. His sin was not checked by Gods punishment of others. The heathen had been driven out from the land because of their wickedness. Judah occupied their place and adopted their vice.
II. The life of manasseh under Gods chastisement. We learn from recently discovered Assyrian inscriptions what is meant by among the thorns. The word thus translated means a hook, which was put through the under lips of captives. The depths of Manassehs degradation may be imagined. Yet it was sent in mercy to turn him to God.
III. His repentance and restoration.
IV. His re-establishment of the worship of God. Lessons.
1. Never to be ashamed of repentance.
2. We see the meaning of Gods chastisements.
3. The power of a single man when he has turned from sin to God.
4. The necessity of solitary communion with God.
5. The patient love of God. (Monday Club Sermons.)
The conversion of an aged transgressor
I. Let us attend to the circumstances which by the grace of God led to the conversion of Manasseh.
1. Affliction.
2. Solitary reflection.
3. Prayer.
II. Consider next how the grace of God operated in Manasseh.
1. He humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.
2. He was made to know that the Lord was God.
3. He brought forth fruits meet for repentance.
III. The circumstances which made his conversion peculiarly striking.
1. It was the conversion of an atrocious sinner.
2. Of an aged sinner.
3. It took place at a distance from the ordinary means of grace. (H. Belfrage, D.D.)
Manasseh
God contents not Himself to have left on record in His word declarations and promises of grace as beacons of hope to the sinner. We have examples also of His acts of grace. Abounding iniquity, and more abounding grace, are the special features presented to us in this history of Manasseh.
I. Abounding iniquity marked Manassehs course.
1. He was the son of Hezekiah the servant of the Lord. We place this foremost as an aggravation of his sin, that in spite of a fathers example he cast off the fear of the Lord and sinned with a high hand against his God. That father, indeed, was early taken from him, for Manasseh was but twelve years old when he began to reign; still, the memory of Hezekiahs piety could not have been utterly forgotten. Too marked had been the interposition of Jehovah in that fathers deliverance from Assyria and in his recovery from sickness for the report to have passed away. But Manasseh heeded not these things; he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord to provoke Him to anger.
2. Manasseh added to his disregard of a godly parent this iniquity also, that he led his children unto sin, he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom. . . . Some godless parents have shown a happy inconsistency, in that whilst pursuing themselves that path whose end is destruction, they have desired for their offspring that they should seek the Lord. The force of example, indeed, meeting as it does with the evil that is bound up in the heart of a child, will in such eases often prove too powerful to be withstood. But Manasseh took no such course, but dedicated his children as well as himself to the service of the false gods. Alas, the reproducing power of evil! Thou that art a citizen of the world, intent on gain or pleasure, can it be expected but that thy children should walk after thee in the same destructive road?
3. Manasseh bade defiance to Jehovah in His own sanctuary. Not only did he build again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed, but he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God. It was not enough that he himself should bow down to idols, and that his children should also do them homage, but with yet more prsumptuous sin he declared himself, in the face of all Israel, an idolater, and desecrated to this base end the very temple, of which the Lord had said, My Name shall be there. It is the very character of Jehovah that He is a jealous God, His glory will He not give to another.
4. But further, Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another. The faithful who warned him were doubtless the ones especially sacrificed to his vengeance, and it is supposed that Isaiah suffered death under this fearful persecutor of the Church of God. For the wickedness of Manasseh could not plead this even in palliation that he was unrebuked: The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they would not hearken. What depth of malignity is there in the unchanged soul! what pollutions! what ingratitude! what rebellion! Were it not for the restraining grace of God, what a scene of bloodshed and of all enormity would this earth be!
II. More abounding still the grace of God.
1. In chastisement the first faint streak of mercy manifested itself. The voice of plenty had spoken to him in vain, the voice of warning had been treated with neglect, but now the voice of correction speaks in tones not to be gainsaid. The alarm of war is heard in that guilty court.
2. His deep penitence bore witness to the workings of grace. He humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers That word greatly speaks much as recorded by the Spirit of truth. As with the gospel itself, so with the chastenings of the Lord, they are either a savour of life unto life, or of death unto death.
3. The voice of prayer went up from that prison-house, He besought the Lord . . . and prayed unto Him. Tears, many it may be, fell before one prayer was uttered.
4. Abounding grace, shone forth, too, in the answer granted to prayer. God was intreated of him. He heard his cry, and hope sprung up in his downcast soul.
5. The workings of Gods grace were further evidenced by the fruits of faith in life according to godliness. Manasseh restored to his kingdom, has now but one object in view, the glory of God, and that object he consistently pursued. The idol is east out from the temple, and the altars of the false gods out of the city, and the people are commanded to serve the Lord God of Israel. He turned not aside from his purpose to bring back to Jehovah those whom formerly he had led away to sin; and this godly course he pursued unto the end.
Lessons.
1. The first is, that there is a fulness of grace in God as our reconciled Father in Christ Jesus beyond the power of heart to conceive, or of tongue to utter.
2. But this history also reminds us of the dreadful nature of sin. Deep are its furrows, lasting its effects. Manasseh is pardoned, but,could he repair the evil he had done? (F. Storr, M.A.)
Manasseh
We shall consider Manasseh--
I. As a sinner.
1. He sinned against light, against a pious education and early training. It is a notorious fact that when men do go wrong after a good training they are the worst men in the world. The murder of John Williams at Erromanga was brought about by the evil doings of a trader who had gone to the island, and who was also the son of a missionary. He had become reckless in his habits, and treated the islanders with such barbarity and cruelty that they revenged his conduct upon the next white man who put his foot upon their shore.
2. He was a very bold sinner.
3. He had the power of leading others to a very large extent astray.
II. As an unbeliever. He did not believe that Jehovah was God alone.
1. The unlimited power that Manasseh possessed had a great tendency to make him a disbeliever.
2. His pride was another cause.
3. Another cause was his love for sin.
III. As a convert. He believed in God--
1. Because God had answered his prayer.
2. Because He had forgiven his sin. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Manassehs repentance
Manasseh is unique alike in extreme wickedness, sincere penitence, and thorough reformation. The reformation of Julius Caesar or of our own Henry V, or to take a different class of instance, the conversion of Paul, was nothing compared to the conversion of Manasseh. It was as though Herod the Great or Caesar Borgia had been checked midway in a career of cruelty and vice, and had thenceforward lived pure and holy lives, glorifying God by ministering to their fellow-men. (W. H. Bennett, M.A.)
He was intreated of him.
Pardon for the greatest guilt
The story of Manasseh is a very valuable one. I feel sure of this, because you meet with it twice in the Word of God. God would have us again and again dwell upon such wonders of sovereign grace as Manasseh presents to us.
I. Let us examine the case before us.
1. Manasseh was the son of a good father.
2. He undid all his fathers actions.
3. He served false gods.
4. He desecrated the Lords courts. There are some to-day who do this; for they make even their attendance at the house of God to be an occasion for evil.
5. He dedicated his children to the devil. Nobody here will dedicate his children to the devil, surely; yet many do. Have I not seen a father dedicate his boy to the devil, as he has encouraged him to drink? And do not many in this great city, dedicate their children to the devil by allowing them to go into all kinds of licentiousness, until they become the victims of vice?
6. He fraternised with the devil, by seeking after all kinds of supernatural witcheries and wizardries.
7. He led others astray.
8. He persecuted the people of God. It is said,--we do not know whether it was so or not,--but it is highly probable, that he caused Isaiah to be cut asunder with a wooden saw.
9. In short, Manasseh was a compound of every sort of wickedness.
10. Notwithstanding all this Manasseh was pardoned. How it came about?
(1) Being in great trouble, he turned to Jehovah his God.
(2) He humbled himself greatly.
(3) He prayed.
II. Let us consider why there should be others like Manasseh. Judging from many probabilities, that God will save other great sinners as He saved Manasseh.
1. Because He speaks to such great sinners and commands them to repent (Isa_1:16-18). Because of the great promises God has given to great sinners.
3. Because of the nature of God.
4. From what I know of the value of the blood of Jesus. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Then Manasseh knew that the Lord He was God.--
Forgiveness and the knowledge of God
Men first begin to know God when they are forgiven. What did the prodigal know about his father when he asked for the portion of goods that fell to him, or while he was wasting his substance in riotous living? Because love and forgiveness are more strange and unearthly than rebuke and chastisement, the sinner is humbled by pardon far more than by punishment; and his trembling submission to the righteous Judge deepens into profounder reverence and awe for the God who can forgive, who is superior to all vindictiveness, whose infinite resources enable Him to blot out the guilt, to cancel the penalty, and annul the consequences of sin. (W. H. Bennett, M.A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv12, 14, 16, 18 to beg for help
implored
to beg for help
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He prayed to him; and God was begged by him
The second phrase intensifies the first phrase and emphasizes the earnestness of Manasseh's prayer. This can be stated in active form. AT: "He prayed to God and begged him" (See: Doublet and Active or Passive)
into his kingship
"to rule again as king"
translationWords
Manasseh
humble
pray
beg
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv12, 13, 14, 18, 19 33:12-17 The book of Kings does not mention Manasseh’s…
33:12-17 The book of Kings does not mention Manasseh’s repentance, telling only of the promise of judgment resulting from his wicked deeds (see 2 Kgs 21:10-16). Chronicles tells the good things he did after he repented, following his father Hezekiah’s example. However, Manasseh’s actions were unable to turn the hearts of the people back to the Lord or to avert God’s judgment on Judah (2 Chr 33:17).
33:12 Manasseh’s response followed the requirements of Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the Temple (7:14).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.