#580 There It Is

Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. 2 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. 3 For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had broken down, and he erected altars to the Baals, and made Asheroth, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. 4 And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem shall my name be forever.” 5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. 6 And he burned his sons as an offering in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and used fortune-telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. 7 And the carved image of the idol that he had made he set in the house of God, of which God said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever,8 and I will no more remove the foot of Israel from the land that I appointed for your fathers, if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them, all the law, the statutes, and the rules given through Moses.” 9 Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel.

Manasseh's Repentance

10 The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention. 11 Therefore the Lord brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon. 12 And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. 13 He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.

14 Afterward he built an outer wall for the city of David west of Gihon, in the valley, and for the entrance into the Fish Gate, and carried it around Ophel, and raised it to a very great height. He also put commanders of the army in all the fortified cities in Judah. 15 And he took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside of the city. 16 He also restored the altar of the Lord and offered on it sacrifices of peace offerings and of thanksgiving, and he commanded Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel. 17 Nevertheless, the people still sacrificed at the high places, but only to the Lord their God.

18 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 the Lord, the God of Israel, behold, they are in the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.19 And his prayer, and how God was moved by his entreaty, and all his sin and his faithlessness, and the sites on which he built high places and set up the Asherim and the images, before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the Chronicles of the Seers.[a] 20 So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his house, and Amon his son reigned in his place.

Amon's Reign and Death

21 Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. 22 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, as Manasseh his father had done. Amon sacrificed to all the images that Manasseh his father had made, and served them. 23 And he did not humble himself before the Lord, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself, but this Amon incurred guilt more and more. 24 And his servants conspired against him and put him to death in his house. 25 But the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon. And the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place. 2 Chronicles 33 ESV

Sister Passage 2 Kings 21

I must say, after originally reading about the life of Manasseh in 2 Kings 21, which I have included above, I did not find it in myself to feel encouraged. It was not in me at that time, in passing through, to say, that this is truly one of the most encouraging passages of scripture. Look at his life, it is horrible. He has a Godly father, who reforms the nation, but they only seem strong when there is a Godly king at the helm. He does lead, but the people do most agreeably follow as well. There is a time for civil disobedience and this king provided much just opportunity for such. The people should have refused to worship the man made gods of Assyria and Babylon, they did not. He turned the temple into a brothel for the worship of Asheroth (Venus). It is held in other historical contributions that he had multiple incestuous relationships, one of which was with his own mother. No matter how proud Freud would have been, God had declared these things as an abomination. He led the people to sin in the way of those who were driven out before them. I am a bit slow myself, but there is some really simple math there, the Canaanites were removed for such, and the northern tribes are only a remnant now, most are captive. We are doing the same things they did to invoke God's wrath, what should we expect?  Well, if we put any weight on what the Bible says, then the wages of sin is death, this was the way it was when man first embraced pride in Eden. If we don't put any weight on what the Bible says, does that really change anything? This is the way the world was in the time of Noah, up until the first drop of rain, violence and obscenity were rampant. The Bible does not describe us as truth seekers, but rather, that no one seeks the truth, that everyone has gone astray, lost, turned to their own way. It says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and no one is the least concerned or troubled over this. Men take encouragement in their own monuments, idols, what they think they know and who they believe themselves to be. Certainly I have in the first waking moment of everyday, in every sentence of this blog, in every object I have ever laid my eyes upon and said, "mine", I have called the world into disaster once again, forfeited my claims to goodness and sanity. There is no need to cast lots, if you are all "good", as you say, then it's me, I am the one, throw me off the boat. How encouraging is that? Look what else he did, it said he was guilty and brought the nation into guilt of much innocent blood as well. Wow, if that doesn't sound familiar, like my country. I will write about that more at the end of 2 Chronicles, but look at some of the blood he shed. He sacrificed to Molech, but he also sacrificed those who brought him the words of life, the prophets who were his grace, unmerited and undeserved. Jeremiah wrote:

And I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem. Jeremiah 15:4

God's judgment is sure and it was coming, so why is this so encouraging, why would I say that? God doesn't owe me the prophets, this Bible I read, a parent, friend or stranger that prays for me and proclaims the gospel. He does not owe me anything but death, and for that, all He would have to do is stand before me. I may have once pretended at stoically twisting my beard, riding at the bow of a boat, heading towards the infinite, making one last cast. I was stubborn, stupid, arrogant, mad at the world and the God I refused to believe in, but I still held some romantic view of self. I don't believe in You, God, so you can't have that. Have what, Calvin, your heart, your mind, your body, I made it all, show me what belongs to you. It's my life, God, and I will do with it what I please, if You are really Who You say You are then show yourself. If you saw me, you would surely die, for darkness has no place with light. I am Holy, and while you cannot wrap your head around that, you are not, and neither your lack of understanding nor your lack of desire to understand this help your cause, your mantra. Who is the pot anyway? We are so much further along then we deserve, the moment we open our eyes afresh. Manasseh killed the prophets, and like the blood of Abel cries out against Cain, so the blood of the prophets demands the retribution that is against Jerusalem. Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem that kills the prophets, how long have I wanted to take you under my wing. I sent those men to warn you, that you are quickly approaching true justice, that my ways are not your ways and I will not always strive with you. You asked me to stand before you, I made a Way. Oh come on, God, are you talking about that dead guy, Jesus? I wasn't even alive back then, how am I supposed to believe that? I sent your mother who told you from early on, preachers and teachers who you despised. You said "they" were too prideful, but you were too prideful and they would not change my words to tickle your ears. Oh, God, I am glad I remembered this, you had me nervous for a while there, but what about those other pastors, remember, the ones that said I was ok because I said that prayer with them? They were so nice, but I quit going because they said you wanted me to be rich and healthy, but instead you made me an epileptic and poor. I never sent them, those weren't my Words, I will honor My words. 

The anger of the LORD will not diminish until He has fully accomplished the purposes of His heart. In the days to come you will understand it clearly. 21I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied. 22But if they had stood in My council, they would have proclaimed My words to My people and turned them back from their evil ways and evil deeds.”… Jeremiah 23:21

After all of this, the people and Manasseh did not repent. Like the people in the desert they loathed the word of God, like those loathed the manna. Christ had no beauty that I would desire him, he came lowly, and I despised him. God did meet man face to face, clothed in the form of sinful man, covering the majesty of the eternal God in rags, so that we who are being saved could see the glory of humility. Born in a manger, what's that smell? It's dung, it's straw, mold and earth, his parents offered two pigeons, that means they were poor. That's not good enough for you, you say, but here is the encouragement for me, I was an idiot, I was proud like that, chased stupid idols and ideals. It says that he was imprisoned, the king was brought low, and he humbled himself before the Lord his God, and God heard him. God's wrath is still against sin, but he pardoned this sinner. His judgment is coming, but Manasseh escaped it. He returned home and strengthened the walls around Jerusalem. He probably thought little of that before, but now he realized how much this was worth protecting. He welcomed the Assyrians and Babylonians before he realized that he was going to be their slave. It is sad it says of his son that saw all these things, the former and the latter, but he did evil, he was wicked in the eyes of the Lord and his reign was fast. Trapp puts it well for all of us:

“Glycas saith that Amon hardened himself in sin by his father’s example, who took his swing in sin, and yet at length repented. So, thought he, will I do; wherefore he was soon sent out of the world for his presumption, dying in his sins, as 2 Chronicles 33:23.” (Trapp)

He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103: 10-12