Israel: Drive through History Pt 2

2 Chronicles 33:1-25

• It’s been 29yrs of King making mostly Godly decisions that resulted in a spiritual revival, for remember before him the temple had been closed, the Levitical Priesthood wasn’t being followed, and the Passover hadn’t been practiced in centuries, until Hezekiah reopened the temple, reinstituted both the Priesthood and Passover, and it resulted in Judah turning away from Idolatry, immorality, and a rebellious lifestyle that caused their northern neighbors to go into slavery to the Assyrians. Now his son Manasseh has taken the throne, but will he follow in his father’s Godly footsteps or will he attempt to carve out his own path, let’s take a look.

V1-25

• V1-2 Manasseh was only twelve when he took over the throne which means he was born after Hezekiah became ill and asked the Lord for more time that he may produce an heir and the Lord granted him fifteen more years and in those years He also gave him Manasseh. Also Manasseh had the longest reign of any of the Kings of Judah including and , and yet we read that he didn’t use those added years to lift up the Lord, but instead to rebel against the Lord.

• Were told that Manasseh’s father was buried in the chief tombs afforded to the Kings that’s how much the people thought of his father, and 31:21, 32:30 that he prospered in all his works, and despite all of that success that Manasseh saw, grew up in and heard he still chose not to follow in his Dad’s noble and blessed footsteps why? V3-5 give us details into specific sins that Manasseh committed and it gives us insight as to why he wouldn’t follow Hezekiah’s example.

• The first rebellious thing we read that he did was rebuild the high places where the worship of “Ashtoreth” the goddess of sexuality and war, that occurred mostly at night looking up and worshipping the stars in the groves, trees, and hillsides while practicing sexual immorality. V6-9 he thoroughly polluted God’s city (), God’s temple, and God’s people with his idols and perversions as he introduced new forms of idolatry that Judah had never seen before. Notice it was bad enough to allow idol worship in Judah, but worse he corrupted the worship of the true God inside the temple as well by making it a place dedicated to astrology and cults.

• For he built altars to the host of heaven worshipping the stars and this no doubt is in line to the rise of the Babylonian Empire and its influence on worship and lifestyle. This led to the worship of “Molech” and the sacrificing of children resulting in Manasseh even sacrificing his own son Hezekiah’s grandson in the fire. Once you’ve gone this far witchcraft is no longer taboo as Manasseh invited Satanic influences into the Kingdom by consulting sorcerers, witches, and holding séances, causing this generation to do more evil than any of the nations that the Lord had destroyed because of these very sins in order to give the land to the children of Israel. • V10 in His mercy the Lord spoke to Manasseh through the prophet but he wouldn’t listen > 2 Kings 21: 10-15 says Manasseh did more evil than all the nations He judged before that He was going to bring such judgment upon Judah that those who hear it will need it repeated again because they won’t believe what they just heard, and He will wipe them out so thoroughly that it will be like us cleaning a dish on both sides that you can’t tell that food was ever on it wow!

• We often wonder why does God show such patience with them who seemingly love to sin and hurt others and what we forget is > 2 Pet 3:9- He’s longsuffering not willing that nay should perish but that all should come into a right relationship with Him. 2 Kings 21:16- it says on Manasseh was a murderer meaning he had no problem with taking other people’s lives and we saw that with him causing his own children to be sacrificed into the fire for his enjoyment.

• V11-13 God speaks to us both in our pleasures and our pains, but sadly we usually only listen once we’ve received the consequences of our disobedience. Manasseh finally is all ears but after God has used the Assyrians to humble him and carry him away in judgment but not until they put a hook in his nose bound him in chains and led him away in front of everyone like a steer going to the slaughter and its through this humiliation that we read Manasseh cried out to God.

• V14-17 this was in response to what God said in 2Chron 7:14- for He is true to His Word, so Miraculously the Assyrians let Manasseh go back to Jerusalem but it wasn’t until the Lord dealt with that pride and its and an example of Ps 119:67, 71, once Manasseh returns he makes some serious changes. He seeks to fortify Jerusalem and Judah by building up its defenses on the outside and the inside by building up the outer walls and by removing the false altars and idols from inside the temple. Then he rebuilt the correct altar of the Lord and offered sin and peace offerings as he was so thankful for the Lord in hearing his prayer and bringing him back home.

• V18-20 what a testimony of grace, it’s interesting how we can forget how God restored Manasseh in his later years only remembering his worst and compare it to our best, but we need to let this remind us of our worst and how God forgave us and allowed us to eventually offer our best. He went from promoting the worship of idols and tearing down truth to tearing down idols and promoting true worship but after he was humbled. V21-25 unfortunately it’s too late for Judah to change the direction it was going in as its on a collision course with , all it could do was save people now but not the nation, and Amon is an example of this. He has a short two year ungodly reign before he is assassinated in his own bed and without repentance.