Manasseh Turns To God

God warned Manasseh and Judah what would happen but like a lot of people, they didn’t listen, as II Chronicles 33:10-11 tells us.  “And the LORD spake to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not hearken.   Wherefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.”  Like many children, he was assuming God was just threatening them but would not actually do what he said. 

When he realized God meant what he said, began to pay attention to him, turning to God just as his father had doen, as II Chronicles 33:12-16 tells us.  “And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, And prayed unto him: and he was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God.  Now after this he built a wall without the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entering in at the fish gate, and compassed about Ophel, and raised it up a very great height, and put captains of war in all the fenced cities of Judah.  And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the LORD, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city.  And he repaired the altar of the LORD, and sacrificed thereon peace offerings and thank offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel.”

Manasseh was like many people who have grown up in good homes, never realizing the good things were the result of their parent’s attitudes and standards.   When he realized that, he made the necessary changes and began experiencing the blessings for himself.  Hezekiah had been able to get the people to completely turn away from worshipping in the high plces.  They went back to it when Manasseh became king, and he was never able to stop it completely, as II Chronicles 33:17 tells us.  “Nevertheless the people did sacrifice still in the high places, yet unto the LORD their God only.”  Once you have encouraged something that is wrong, it is very hard to correct it completely.  Though the people worshippe only God, they would never follow him completely, readily turning away when Manasseh’s son led them away. 

God forgave Manasseh when he repented and turned to God, but the consequences of his sin would carry on for many years, affecting Judah’s future.  As often happens, people remembered his life before he turned to God more than the things he did afterward, as II Chronicles 33:18-19 describe.  “Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer unto his God, and the words of the seers that spake to him in the name of the LORD God of Israel, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel.  His prayer also, and how God was entreated of him, and all his sins, and his trespass, and the places wherein he built high places, and set up groves and graven images, before he was humbled: behold, they are written among the sayings of the seers.”  Manasseh reigned fifty five years, yet these are the main things that are remembered about him. 

While he was a fairly good king during most of his reign, he did not have a great impact on the nation, and was buried in a private garden rather than with the other great kings, accorcing to II Kings 21:18.   “And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.”