Manassah Was Captured And Repents in His Last Days
August 8, 2021
Commentary
Then one day God decided that enough was enough so He sent the of King of Assyria to invade Jerusalem. Manasseh was captured, and they put a hook in his nose and chains on his hands and feet and took him to Babylon (v. 11). All the riches and power which he once had meant nothing. None of the idols he had made could do anything to help him. His situation was hopeless.
Manasseh remembered that the God of Israel was a second chance God. This murderous, lying, abuser of people, had the nerve to think that if he humbledhimself, God might hear his prayer. He sought the favor of the Lord, his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers (vv. 12-14). And when he prayed, the Lord was moved and listened to his plea; so God brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Manasseh knew that the Lord is God.
A person whose life had been a complete moral and spiritual disaster, got a second chance from a second chance God and he spent the rest of his life attempting to lead his people back to God (vv. 15-19). We may have blown it in the past but all of us have the opportunity to make a positive difference in what takes place from here on out. Manasseh died and his son Amon became king at the age of 22. Manasseh had turned back to God but Amon disobeyed the Lord, just as his father had done (vv. 20-23). After two years some of his own servants plotted against him and killed him in his own house (v. 24) Then the people of Judah killed the murders of Amon and made Josiah king (v. 25). Even if we have blown it for the past 20 or 40 years. We don’t have to end up that way.
Application
If I mess up God is always there to forgive me and give me a second chance. He not only forgives but forgets the past and will give me an opportunity to make a positive difference in the future.
2 Chronicles 33:11– 25 (NET)
11 So the Lord brought against them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria. They seized Manasseh, put hooks in his nose, bound him with bronze chains, and carried him away to Babylon. 12 In his pain Manasseh asked the Lord his God for mercy and truly humbled himself before the God of his ancestors. 13 When he prayed to the Lord, the Lord responded to him and answered favorably his cry for mercy. The Lord brought him back to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh realized that the Lord is the true God.
14 After this Manasseh built up the outer wall of the City of David on the west side of the Gihon in the valley to the entrance of the Fish Gate and all around the terrace; he made it much higher. He placed army officers in all the fortified cities in Judah.
15 He removed the foreign gods and images from the Lord’s temple and all the altars he had built on the hill of the Lord’s temple and in Jerusalem; he threw them outside the city. 16 He erected the altar of the Lord and offered on it peace offerings and thank offerings. He told the people of Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel. 17 However, the people continued to offer sacrifices at the high places, but only to the Lord their God.
18 The rest of the events of Manasseh’s reign, including his prayer to his God and the words the prophets spoke to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel, are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Israel. 19 The Annals of the Prophets include his prayer, give an account of how the Lord responded to it, record all his sins and unfaithful acts, and identify the sites where he built high places and erected Asherah poles and idols before he humbled himself. 20 Manasseh passed away and was buried in his palace. His son Amon replaced him as king.
21 Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned for two years in Jerusalem. 22 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, just as his father Manasseh had done. Amon offered sacrifices to all the idols his father Manasseh had made, and worshiped them. 23 He did not humble himself before the Lord as his father Manasseh had done. Amon was guilty of great sin. 24 His servants conspired against him and killed him in his palace. 25 The people of the land executed all who had conspired against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah king in his place.
Illustration: The Witness Who Fled
The great attorney, orator, and statesman Daniel Webster was such an imposing figure in court that he once stared a witness out of the courtroom. Apparently Webster knew the man was there to deliver false testimony, so he fixed his “dark, beetle-bowed” eyes on the man and searched him. According to the story, later in the trial “Webster looked around again to see if [the witness] was ready for the inquisition. The witness felt for his hat and edged toward the door. A third time Webster looked on him, and the witness could sit no longer. He seized his chance and fled from the court and was nowhere to be found.” (Today in the Word, Moody Bible Institute, Jan, 1992, p. 31).