1Manasseh's wicked reign and great idolatry. 10Prophecies uttered against Judah because of his wickedness. 17He dieth: Amon succeedeth him. 19Amon's wicked reign. 23He is slain by a conspiracy of his servants; the people slay the murderers, and make Josiah king. 25Amon's acts and burial.
1MANASSEHa1was twelve years old when he began to reign, and 2reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was 3Hephzi-bah.
a 2 Chron. 33:1.
1 Hebr. a son of twelve years.
2 Comprehend herein the time, in which he was prisoner at Babel, 2 Chron. 33:11.
3 Hebr. Chephtsi-Ba.
2And he did that which was 4evil in the sight of the LORD, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.
4 See 1 Kings 11 on verse 6.
3For he 5built up again the 6high places whichb Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for 7Baal, and made a 8grove, asc did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all 9the host of heaven, and served them.
5 Hebr. he returned and built; that is, he built again. See Num. 11 on verse 4.
6 See Lev. 26 on verse 30.
b 2 Kings 18:4.
7 See Judges 2 on verse 11.
8 See of the idolatrous groves, Deut. 7 on verse 5, which God had expressly forbidden to be made, Deut. 16:21.
c 1 Kings 16:31, 32, 33.
9 Understand the sun and moon, with the rest of the planets and stars. See Deut. 4:19, and the annotation.
4And he builtd altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD said, Ine Jerusalem will I put 10my name.
d Jer. 32:34.
e Deut. 12:5, 11; 2 Sam. 7:13; 1 Kings 8:29; 9:3; 2 Chron. 7:12; Psalm 132:13, 14; Jer. 32:34.
10 Understand the Name of the Lord only, and not together with the idols. See the meaning of these words, 1 Kings 8 on verse 29.
5And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the 11two courts of the house of the LORD.
11 Whereof the first or inner court was the priests’ court, standing next to the temple; the other, the peoples’ court outside joining to the first. See of both 1 Kings 6 on verse 3, and 1 Kings 6 on verse 36.
6And he made his son pass 12through the fire, and observed 13times, and used enchantments, and 14dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke 15him to anger.
12 Namely, in the valley of the son of Hinnom, 2 Chron. 33:6, to the honor of the idol Molech. See Lev. 18 on verse 21.
13 See of the signification of the Hebrew word, and also of the following words used enchantments, Lev. 19 on verse 26.
14 Hebr. he made. See of the Hebrew word familiar spirits, and the next following, Lev. 19 on verse 31. These Manasseh is said to have made, because he publicly ordained and appointed them, in order that they might be ready to wait and attend upon all men with their devilish arts.
15 This word is here inserted out of 2 Chron. 33:6.
7And he set 16a graven image of the grove 17that he had made in the house, of which the LORD said to David, and to Solomon his son, Inf this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of 18all tribes of Israel, will I put 19my name 20for ever:
16 Or, the carved image, pointing at a certain image from the idolatrous grove.
17 See verse 3.
f 2 Sam. 7:10; 1 Kings 8:16, 29; 9:3; 2 Kings 23:27.
18 That is, out of all places and cities which are inhabited by the tribes.
19 See on verse 4.
20 That is, during the time of the law. See Gen. 13 on verse 15.
8Neither will I make the feet of Israel 21move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers; only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to 22all the law that my servant Moses commanded them.
21 Or, as it is said in 2 Chron. 33:8, to remove, or to take away; that is, to make the Israelites remove, wander, and shift up and down, out of this land; as befell the ten tribes, 2 Kings 18:11.
22 Understand the moral, ceremonial, and the civil laws. See the annotation at 2 Chron. 33 on verse 8.
9But they hearkened not: and Manasseh seduced them to do 23more evil than did the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel.
23 Namely, because they most treacherously rejected the light of the true knowledge of God, and the prescript of pure religion, which the heathen had not, and exceeded the heathen in the abomination of idolatry, who served not so many strange idols, containing themselves for the most part with their own. Other, doing worse; which may also be understood of king Manasseh, as verse 11.
10¶And the LORD spake 24by his servants the prophets, saying,
24 Hebr. by the hand.
11Because Manassehg king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the 25Amorites did, which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his 26idols:
g Jer. 15:4.
25 Under the name of this one nation are often comprehended all infidels and pagan nations of the land of Canaan. See Gen. 15 on verse 16.
26 See Lev. 26 on verse 30.
12Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, 27that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle.
27 Understand such an evil that shall cause so great astonishment, fear and terror in all men’s hearts, that their senses shall be amazed and distracted, as a man’s hearing is wont to be deafened by an exceeding loud sound, and vehement noise, made just before or against his ear. See the same comparison, 1 Sam. 3:11; Jer. 19:3.
13And I will stretch over Jerusalem the 28line of Samaria, and the 29plummeth of the house of Ahab: and 30I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it 31upside down.
28 By the line here is meant the measure or rule, that is, the quality and likeness of the punishment. The meaning is: Such a punishment as I brought upon the ten tribes and their capital city Samaria, shall I bring upon Judah and Jerusalem, that the land shall be dominated, the city taken, and the inhabitants carried away captive. It is a comparison taken from carpenters and masons or bricklayers, who both break down and raise their work by line and measure. Compare Isa. 34:11; Amos 7:7, 8; Zech. 1:16.
29 The previous similitude is still retained, to show that similar punishment would befall Jerusalem, as befell Ahab’s house.
h a measuring line having a weight at the end
30 The meaning is: As dishes, which are employed for a clean use, are washed and scoured from all filth, and after that turned upside down that no unclean thing may fall into them, so shall Jerusalem by transportation be purged from wicked inhabitants, and the government thereof, turned upside down, that the uppermost part shall lie under.
31 Hebr. upon its face.
14And I will forsake the 32remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies;
32 Understand the tribe of Judah, or the Jews, who alone, with those that sided with them, were left of the Israelites, bearing the name of the people of God. God calls this His inheritance, because they were as dear unto Him, as an inheritance is to a man.
15Because they have done that which was evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day.
16Moreover Manasseh shed in-nocent 33blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem 34from one end to another; beside his 35sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the LORD.
33 Namely, of those who would not follow his abominations.
34 Hebr. mouth to mouth. See 2 Kings 10 on verse 21.
35 Understand idolatry, which by way of special eminence is called sin, because it directly opposes and crosses the Majesty of God; it is in the highest degree hated, forbidden and not left unpunished by Him. See 1 Kings 11 on verse 6 and 1 Kings 12 on verse 30.
17¶Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his 36sin that he sinned, 37are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
36 Understand especially his idolatry against God and his tyranny against men.
37 Understand herewith also his captivity, repentance and conversion, and his actions that followed thereon, of which see also 2 Chron. 33:11, 12, etc.
18And Manassehi 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.
i 2 Chron. 33:20.
19¶Amon was 38twenty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz of 39Jotbah.
38 Hebr. a son of two and twenty years.
39 Some are of the opinion that this may have been Jotbath, where the Israelites had a resting place, when they journeyed from Egypt through the wilderness toward the promised land, Num. 33:33; Deut. 10:7.
20And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh did.
21And he walked in 40all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them:
40 Namely, the evil way of idolatry, unbelief, and manifold wicked practices. See 1 Kings 15 on verse 26.
22And he forsook the LORD God of his fathers, and 41walked not in the way of the LORD.
41 See 1 Kings 11 on verse 33.
23¶And the servants of Amon conspired against him, and slew the king in his own house.
24And the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead.
25Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
26And he was buried in his sepulchre in the garden of Uzza: and Josiahj his son reigned in his stead.
j Mat. 1:10.