Often a period of revival is followed by a faster pace down the pathway of decline; and remarkably, it is not said that God especially emphasizes this state of things by His judgments. The reign of Manasseh, characterized by a real overflow of idolatry, is the longest reign registered in the history of the kings of Judah and of Israel. One cannot judge men’s condition by the greater or lesser severity of God’s ways toward them. This was precisely the error of Job’s friends, who were judging his character according to his tribulations, and in their arguments assumed that men must be relatively righteous by their lack of tribulation. Manasseh began his reign when he was twelve years old and it stretched out for fifty-five years at Jerusalem. His mother’s name is given us: Hephzibah — My delight is in her — the very name restored Jerusalem shall be called by the Lord (Isa. 62:4). For the time being Hephzibah had, alas! brought forth a monstrous being, object of the Lord’s displeasure. Is it for this reason that neither the father nor the birthplace of Manasseh’s mother are mentioned? Manasseh rebuilt the high places destroyed by his father, raised up altars to Baal, made an image of the love-goddess Astarte whose impure worship put even her worshippers to shame, placed her statue in the temple, built altars in the house of the Lord and in its two courts, devoted himself to the worship of the stars, sacrificed his son to Moloch, gave himself up to fortunetellers and enchanters, and by all his conduct caused Jehovah’s people to err. There was no king in Judah more abominable than he; nevertheless his reign was prosperous, first of all in its duration, and except on one occasion we do not see that it brought any special calamities upon his people. We repeat what we have already said, God judges the deeds of men according to what they are in relation to Himself, and not according to how they conduct themselves toward the world round about them. Should we conclude that an atheist is any less guilty before God because he has devoted himself to humanitarian causes? In no wise. Men will be judged according to what they have thought of God and His Christ, and if their works do not have the Father and the Son for their object, their works are evil. Such was the case with Cain who attempted to acquire merit for himself by the abundant fruits of his labor, while hating his brother Abel.
Manasseh’s deeds called for judgment, but God was not yet done with His testimony in Judah. “And Jehovah spoke by his servants the prophets” (2 Kings 21:10). It is thus that God’s Word still remains the only resource in these difficult times, but it is nothing other than the testimony of imminent judgment for the people, judgment from which there is no appeal. “I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipeth a pan, wiping it and turning it upside down. And I will forsake the remnant 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; because they have done evil in My sight, and have provoked Me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt even to this day” (2 Kings 21:13-15). The Lord links their state to their exodus from Egypt. From that time on they had been sinning. Could one, can one say that God has not exercised patience toward those upon whom His name has been invoked?
The Word adds that, “Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem with it from one end to another” (2 Kings 21:16). Thus Manasseh persecuted God’s people, those who were innocent of all these infamous deeds. God here leaves us with this terrible sight which called for divine vengeance, but Chronicles, which is always pleased to note the action of grace, gives us information about the end of Manasseh’s history. He had, up to a certain time in his history, accepted the suzerainty of the kings of Assyria. Esarhaddon had succeeded Sennacherib (2 Kings 19:37), then Assurbanipal his son. Babylon, which had thrown off the yoke of Asshur under Berodach-baladan, had soon been reconquered and brought back under the dominion of the kings of Assyria. Manasseh, probably enveloped in a conspiracy of all these oriental kingdoms against this harsh servitude to the Assyrians, is led captive to Babylon weighed down with chains of brass. To judge by history, such was probably the cause of his cruel captivity. But the true cause is revealed to us by the Word. It was Jehovah who brought upon Manasseh and his people “the captains of the host of the king of Assyria” (2 Chron. 33:11).
The purpose of God, who does not desire the death of a sinner was attained. Manasseh humbled himself, judging his entire conduct before God, and God brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then he was as zealous to burn that which he had been worshipping as the pious kings who had preceded his father Hezekiah, and the people followed in the same path. Joel, who prophesied under Manasseh, seems to allude to this event (Joel 2:12-14). Only the high places were not abolished. It was not a revival in the proper sense of the term, but a return to God through the affliction which had caused this wretched man to cry to Him and receive deliverance from all his distress. This subject should be taken up later in our study of Chronicles. The book of Kings stops when it has taken note of the king’s responsibility; that of Chronicles shows us grace acting through judgments to restore him. What a blessed thought, that the hearts of the most hardened may become the objects of grace! How many will be found in the Lord’s presence whose careers, as here, seemed broken by judgment, and who, beyond any doubt, were touched by repentance unto salvation.