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from the prophetic writings, be regarded as not only the outcome, but also partly the
explanation of the measures of Ahaz. This condition of things could not have been
effectually checked during Hezekiah's reign of twenty-nine years, especially amidst the
troubles and the disorganization connected with the Assyrian invasion. In fact, we know
that even among the intimate counselors of Hezekiah, there were those whom the
prophetic word emphatically condemned (comp. Isaiah 22:15-19; 29:14-16; 30:1, 9- 14).
In these circumstances the sudden re-action and the "counter-reformation" of Manasseh's
reign, in which he, apparently, carried the people with him, cannot appear altogether
strange or surprising. Briefly, it was a kind of heathen ideal of religion in which various
forms of national idolatry were combined. The corrupt mode of Jehovah-worship on "the
heights" was restored. To this were added the Phoenician rites of Baal and Asherah,
which Ahab had introduced in Israel, and the Assyro-Chaldean worship of the stars. All
this was carried to its utmost sequences. In the Temple, on which Jehovah had put His
thrice Holy Name, and which, as a firm and lasting abode in contrast to the Tabernacle,
symbolized the permanence of His dwelling in the midst of Israel, and their permanence
in the land, Manasseh built altars to the host of heaven, placing them in the outer and
inner courts. Nay, in the sacred "house" itself, he set up the vilest of idols: "the graven
image of the Asherah," whose worship implied all that was lascivious. Conjoined with
this was the institution of a new priesthood, composed of them that had familiar spirits,
and "wizards," while the king himself practiced divination and enchantment.
- The expression (...) [ "he made" in 2 Kings 21:6 (see margin of R.V.) implies their
formal appointment.
** Soothsaying, or divination. I have preferred rendering it thus generally. In Rabbinic
usage it is understood chiefly of divination by observing the clouds (from (...) ); the
expression for "enchantment" is chiefly referred to the whispering of formulas of
incantation, and to observing an omen: the having "familiar spirits" refers to necromancy
- either by conjuring up the dead or consulting them; "the wizards" [lit., those who have
knowledge] (...) are curiously explained in the Talmud (Sanh. 65 b ) as magicians, who
place in their mouths the bone of an animal called Yaddua [(...)] when the bone speaks of
itself. Comp. generally Leviticus 19:26.
And as usual, together with all this, (Compare Deuteronomy 18:10, 11.) the service of
Moloch, with its terrible rite of passing children through the fire, was not only
encouraged by the example of the king (2 Kings 21:6; 2 Chronicles 33:6), but apparently
came into general practice (2 Kings 23:10). Alike the extent and the shameless
immorality of the idolatry now prevalent, may be inferred from the account of the later
reformation by Josiah (2 Kings 23:4- 8). For, whatever practices may have been
introduced by previous kings, the location, probably in the outer court of the Temple, of a
class of priests, who, in their unnaturalness of vice, combined a species of madness with
(^)