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CHAPTER 14 - MANASSEH (FOURTEENTH), AMON (FIFTEENTH),
KINGS OF JUDAH.
Popular Mourning for Hezekiah - Accession of Manasseh -Temptations and Character of
the King - Idolatry and Cruelty of his Reign - Moral State of the People - Prophetic
Announcement of Judgmen - Supplementary Narrative in the Book of Chronicles -Its
Reliableness Confirmed by the Assyrian Inscriptions - The Captivity of Manasseh in
Babylon - His Repentance and Prayer -His Restoration to Jerusalem - Superficial
Character of his Reformation - His Death - Reign of Amon. (2 KINGS 21; 2
CHRONICLES 33)
WITH the death of Hezekiah, another and a strange chapter in Jewish history opens.
When they buried him "in the ascent of the sepulchers of the sons of David,"* not only
the inhabitants of Jerusalem - for the defense, adornment, and convenience of which he
had done so much - but all Judah united to do him honor.
- This, or perhaps "the height," is the correct rendering. Probably all the space in "the
sepulchers" was filled up.
His reign, despite temporary reverses and calamities, had been prosperous for his
country, and he left it in political circumstances far different from those when he had
ascended the throne. Above all, his history might have been full of most important
theocratic teaching to the people. If it was otherwise, we see in this only fresh evidence of
that spiritual decay of which the prophets, in their description of the moral condition of
the people, give so realistic a picture.
Manasseh was only twelve years old* when he succeeded his father. According to our
Western notions, he would have to be regarded as merely a child.
- Possibly older sons of Hezekiah may have died, or there may not have been any by
Queen Consorts, who would have been qualified for succession to the throne.
But in the East he would at that age have reached the most dangerous period of wakening
manhood, before thought could have tempered willfulness, or experience set bounds to
impulse. In such circumstances, to have resisted the constant temptation and incitement to
gratify every will and desire, would have required one of strong moral fibber. But
Manasseh was selfish and reckless, weak and cruel in his wickedness, and scarcely
respectable even in his repentance. When the infant Jehoash acceded to the throne, he had
the benefit of the advice of Jehoiada (2 Kings 12:2), and we know how his later and
independent reign disappointed its early promise. But Manasseh had not any such
guidance. The moral and religious corruption in his grandfather's reign, must, as we infer
(^)