And Jehovah spoke to Manasseh and to his people; but they did not hearken.
Manasseh had dragged Judah lower than the nations God drove out of the land before them. Then God does something surprising: He speaks — and the whole nation ignores Him.
God sent messengers. One writer names them, the danger of the work, and the result:
God's prophets spoke out faithfully against these terrible deeds. Jewish tradition claims that Isaiah was put to death during Manasseh's reign. But though the LORD sent His messages, the people did not listen. 2 Kings 21:10-15 preserves the message that the LORD sent by His servants the prophets.
God did not send one messenger only. Another writer shows how heavy the warning was:
The LORD therefore spoke by the prophets — not by one prophet only. Manasseh had done greater wickedness than the Amorites, and had made Judah sin with his idols. So God declared with awful solemnity that He would bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who heard of it would tingle.
The warning was not a gentle hint. It was a charge, and it pointed to two disasters the nation had already watched:
It was a terrible charge, though a completely just one, and it should have brought the nation to repentance. The threats alone should have startled them out of their sins. They knew what had happened to Samaria — it had already fallen, and Jerusalem was to receive the same punishment. The house of Ahab had been destroyed, and their own kings would not escape a similar judgment. But the message was lost on them. They proved themselves a more stubborn people than the men of Nineveh, who one hundred and fifty years earlier had repented at the preaching of Jonah.
The verse names the king and the people together. One writer traces the people's deafness back to the king:
But Manasseh showed utter contempt for God in the way he treated God's temple. He led the people so far astray that they paid no attention to God's commands. They did worse evil than the ungodly nations whom God had destroyed so that Israel could take the land.
Knapp draws out how shocking it is that this happened inside the nation that carried God's name:
It was the worst of all corruptions — the corruption of the best. The higher the fall, the deeper the plunge… And what must the surrounding nations have thought of these annals of Judah — "worse than the heathen"?
Manasseh's reign ran on for fifty-five years. A long reign is easy to misread:
Manasseh may have reigned for 55 years, but that made no difference to the certainty of God's judgment. People too often mistake God's patience for leniency or indifference. Yet the longer He waits, the more awesome and terrible we can expect His judgment to be.
Verse 10 explains verse 11. When people ignore God's word, He changes method:
But the reaping came at last, though the harvest was late — delayed, perhaps, by God's long patience. "So the LORD brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks … and brought him to Babylon." They refused to hear the word, so they had to feel the rod.
The prison was not the last word. What the message failed to do, the suffering did:
We would tend to say: "he got what he deserved, it is over for him and so much the better!" But God has resources we can hardly imagine. In prison, in distress, Manasseh came to himself and called on the LORD. Scripture says he "humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers." God "was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem." What wonderful grace of God, far beyond anything we can think!
- Voice. God spoke first. He sent prophets, not one but many, with a warning strong enough to stop the nation.
- Deafness. The king's sin had become the people's habit, so God spoke to both. Judah proved harder to move than Nineveh, which repented under Jonah.
- Delay. A reign of fifty-five years made judgment no less certain. God's patience is not indifference, and long patience means a heavier reckoning.
- Rod. They refused the word, so they felt the rod. Capture and exile did what warnings had not.
- Mercy. Even then God was not finished. In prison Manasseh humbled himself, and God heard him and brought him home.
And Jehovah brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh with fetters, and bound him with chains of brass, and carried him to Babylon.
God spoke to Manasseh and his people through His prophets, and they would not listen. So the Lord sent an Assyrian army, and their king went to Babylon in chains — the end of him, or the beginning of something else?
History gives a political background to this deportation. One writer traces it, then sets it beside the reason Scripture gives:
Up to a point in his reign, Manasseh had accepted the rule of the kings of Assyria. Babylon had thrown off the Assyrian yoke under its king Berodach-baladan, but Assyria had soon won it back and ruled it again. Manasseh was probably caught up in a conspiracy of all these eastern kingdoms against harsh Assyrian rule. He is led captive to Babylon, weighed down with chains of bronze. Judging by history, that was probably the cause of his cruel captivity. But the Word reveals the true cause. It was the LORD who brought upon Manasseh and his people "the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria."
The word "therefore" ties this verse to the sentence before it, where God spoke and no one listened. One writer puts the whole sequence in one line:
But the reaping came at last, though the harvest was late, perhaps, because God is so patient… They refused to hear the word, so they had to feel the rod. As was fitting for this monster of evil, Manasseh was brought in chains to Babylon.
Assyria captured him, yet the chains take him to Babylon, the city Assyria then ruled. One writer sees an old pattern in that:
It was the old law of retribution working itself out once again. The occasion of the sin became the instrument of its punishment. Hezekiah sinned in the "matter of the ambassadors" from Babylon, and it is to Babylon that his son Manasseh goes as a captive.
Translations differ over how the Assyrians took him. Older versions read "among the thorns." The ESV has "with hooks." One reference work keeps both older phrases:
God brought the king of Assyria against Manasseh, who took him "among the thorns," or "bound him with chains of brass," and carried him to Babylon.
Some have called the whole account unhistorical. One writer answers with hard evidence that also shows what the hooks were:
But an Assyrian monument has completely refuted these objections. The monument pictures the Assyrian king leading two captives with hooks and rings. The inscription reads: "I transported to Assyria men and women… innumerable." It also gives the name "Minasi sar matir Jaudi," which means "Manasseh, King of Judah."
Read on, and the chains change character. What looks like the end of Manasseh is how God reached him:
It was plainly the goodness of God that brought Manasseh down to this miserable condition of bondage. Romans 2:4 tells us that it is the goodness of God that leads to repentance. How marvellous that the discipline of God brought Manasseh to repentance! No doubt God has used this means many times in seeking to bring people to repentance, yet most do not seem to respond.
Kings and Chronicles tell this king's story differently. One writer explains why:
The book of Kings stops once it has noted the king's responsibility. 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 we find in the Lord's presence whose lives, like this one, seemed broken by judgment, and who beyond any doubt were brought by repentance to salvation.
- Refused — God spoke through His prophets and Manasseh would not listen. The word ignored brings the rod.
- Rod — behind the Assyrian commanders and the politics stands the cause the Word names: the Lord brought them.
- Reaped — the occasion of the sin became its punishment. Hezekiah sinned over the ambassadors from Babylon, and his son went to Babylon in chains.
- Rescued — those same chains were the goodness of God leading to repentance. He has used this means often, though most do not respond.
- Recorded — Kings closes with his guilt. Chronicles adds the rescue, showing that the most hardened heart can still become an object of grace.
And when he was in affliction, he besought Jehovah his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,
Manasseh led Judah deep into evil, and this verse finds him in chains, calling on the God he had dishonoured all his life. The turn is sharp, and it raises the question the chapter exists to answer: how far can grace reach?
The chains were not the end of the story. They were the means of a rescue. Manasseh had ignored God's Word, so God used a harder voice.
Manasseh had resisted the Word of God, which sought to correct his evil. So the Lord brought the army of the king of Assyria to take Manasseh captive and carry him off to Babylon (v. 11). It was clearly the goodness of God that brought Manasseh down into this miserable slavery. Romans 2:4 tells us that it is the goodness of God that leads to repentance. How wonderful that God's discipline brought Manasseh to repentance! No doubt God has used this means many times in seeking to bring people to repentance, yet most do not seem to respond.
The word "greatly" is not decoration. It matches the size of what he had done. He admitted he deserved the punishment.
"He humbled himself greatly," and rightly so, for his guilt was indeed very great. "When he was in distress" — no doubt he admitted that his punishment was just. "I know, O LORD," he could say, "that Your judgments are right, and that You in faithfulness have afflicted me" (Ps. 119:75).
He cried out to the God of his fathers. Our instinct would write such a man off. God did not.
We would tend to say: "he got what he deserved, it is over for him and so much the better!" But God has resources we can hardly imagine. In prison, in distress, Manasseh came to himself and cried out to Jehovah. It is written that he "humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers" (2 Chr. 33:12). God "listened to his prayer and heard his plea, and brought him back to Jerusalem" (2 Chr. 33:13). What marvellous grace of God, which infinitely surpasses our thoughts!
The same reign is told twice in Scripture. The two accounts stop at different points.
God does not desire the death of a sinner, and His purpose was reached. Manasseh humbled himself and judged his whole conduct before God. God brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom… The book of Kings stops once it has recorded the king's responsibility. Chronicles shows us grace working 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 we meet in the Lord's presence whose lives, like his, seemed broken by judgment, yet who beyond any doubt came to a repentance that leads to salvation.
Other reigns ran the other way, which makes this one stand out.
This is a very unusual history. Others, sadly, began well and ended badly. He began as badly as any had ever done, and worse than any before; but he had a blessed end.
Restoration did not erase every consequence. Writers distinguish between what God did for the man and what still fell on the nation.
He set out to undo his earlier evil works as far as he could… But he could never give back the innocent lives he had taken. He could never fully undo the evil of his past way of life. His sin, and Judah's with him, was so great that God never forgave it as a nation (2 Kings 23:26; 24:4; Jer. 15:4). As an individual, God forgave Manasseh through his confession and humbling before Him… He was the Old Testament chief of sinners — an example in that day of how much patience God shows to anyone who turns to Him in repentance and faith.
These accounts call us to the same humbling.
"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God" (1 Peter 5:6)… God shows us through His Word that He will never be indifferent to our repentance. In grace He will appreciate, in a just measure, the reality of the judgment which we are inclined to apply to our own ways.
- Affliction — The chains were God's last word to a king who ignored His Word. His goodness stood behind the hardship.
- Humbled — The word "greatly" measures the guilt he confessed. Manasseh agreed that God had dealt with him justly.
- Heard — He turned to the God of his fathers, the very God he had insulted, and that God listened and restored him.
- Grace — Kings records the king's responsibility. Chronicles records God's grace, so no hardened heart is beyond reach.
- Fruit — He set out to undo his earlier evil works. He could not undo every consequence: God forgave the man, but judgment still fell on the nation.
and prayed to him. And he was intreated of him and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that Jehovah, he was God.
Manasseh had filled Jerusalem with idols and blood, so God let Assyria drag him away in chains to Babylon. This verse is what happened next: a prayer from prison, a God who listened, and a king who at last knew who the LORD was.
The chains were not an accident of Assyrian politics. Commentators read the whole collapse as God's own work on a hardened man.
It was plainly the goodness of God that brought Manasseh down into this misery of bondage. Romans 2:4 tells us that it is the goodness of God that leads to repentance. How marvelous that God's discipline brought Manasseh to repentance! No doubt God has used this means many times in seeking to bring people to repentance, yet most do not seem to respond.
From Manasseh's own side, the exchange looked like ruin. It turned out to be gain.
King Manasseh was bound in chains. This was sad to see — a crown of gold changed into fetters. But it worked for his good, for "when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly ... and God was moved by his entreaty" (2 Chr. 33:12-13). He owed more to his iron chain than to his golden crown. The crown made him proud; the chain made him humble.
Judah had refused God's word before the chains came. What changed in prison was Manasseh's own view of his guilt.
They refused to hear the word, so they had to feel the rod. "He humbled himself greatly," as well he might, for his guilt indeed was very great. "When he was in affliction" — no doubt, he owned the justice of his punishment. "I know, O Lord," he could say, "that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me" (Ps. 119:75).
Scripture gives no political reason for the release of a deported king. It credits God alone.
We are not told how the king of Assyria came to release Manasseh from prison and let him return to his place as king over Judah. But God Himself directed this restoration, and Manasseh then knew indeed that the Lord is God. This was a complete transformation, worked by the grace and power of God.
The parallel account in 2 Kings closes Manasseh's story without the prison prayer. The two books have different aims.
The book of Kings stops once it has noted the king's responsibility. Chronicles shows us grace acting through judgments to restore him. What a blessed thought, that the hearts of the most hardened may become objects of grace! How many will we meet in the Lord's presence whose lives, like his, seemed broken by judgment, yet who, beyond any doubt, came through repentance to salvation.
Most kings of Judah began well and finished badly. Manasseh ran the other way.
This is a history most peculiar. Others, sadly, had begun well and ended badly. He began as badly as any had ever done, and worse than any before; but he had a blessed end. He took away the strange gods and idols he had set up himself, and the altars he had made. He repaired the altar, offered peace offerings and thank offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD.
God heard him, but not every consequence went away. Commentators draw a line between Manasseh himself and the nation he had corrupted.
But he could never restore the innocent lives he had taken, and he could never fully undo the evil of his earlier course. His sin, and Judah's with him, was so great that God never forgave the nation for it (2 Kings 23:26; 24:4; Jer. 15:4). But Manasseh himself was forgiven, through his confession and humbling of himself before God. It is good to see the great change in his later life. He did not forget how much he owed God for His matchless grace to him, as his "thank offerings" on the restored altar show.
God had a reason for keeping this prayer on record.
God valued that prayer for pardon in the prison in Babylon so highly that He had it written down. He did it to encourage other repentant sinners who would come back to the same God — the God who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and of great kindness.
- Chains. God brought Assyria against Manasseh. The fetters that replaced his crown were discipline aimed at repentance, not just punishment.
- Cry. He humbled himself and agreed that the affliction was just. God was moved by that prayer.
- Crown restored. No politics explains his release. God brought him back to Jerusalem, and there Manasseh learned who the LORD is.
- Consequence. God forgave Manasseh himself. But he could not give back the lives he had taken, and the nation still bore judgment for his sins.
- Comfort. God had the prayer written down for sinners who would come back. The worst beginning in Judah's history ended with idols torn down, a repaired altar, and thank offerings.
And after this he built the outer wall of the city of David, on the west, toward Gihon, in the valley, even to the entrance of the fish-gate, and carried it round Ophel, and raised it up a very great height; and he put captains of war in all the fortified cities of Judah.
Manasseh comes home from captivity in Babylon a changed man. Why does a chapter about his repentance then stop to describe a wall, a gate and army officers?
Before Manasseh could build, he had to be back in Jerusalem. The text gives no political reason why a prisoner of Assyria got his throne back.
There are no details about how the king of Assyria came to release Manasseh from prison and let him return to his place as king over Judah. But it was God Himself who ordered this restoration, and Manasseh then truly knew that the Lord is God. This was a complete transformation, done by the grace and power of God.
The change in the man shows up in what he now does with his energy.
There were good results too, for Manasseh now built something useful instead of tearing down what was of God. He built a wall on the west of Jerusalem, no doubt to hold off the attacks of enemies. He also appointed military captains in all the fortified cities of Judah. This shows his concern for the protection of these cities (v. 14).
Ophel was a part of Jerusalem where an earlier king had already built. Manasseh did not start something new; he carried that work higher.
A part of Jerusalem, first mentioned in 2 Chr. 27:3, where it is said that Jotham built much "on the wall of Ophel." Manasseh in his building "carried it around Ophel and raised it to a very great height" (2 Chr. 33:14). It is thought to have stood at the south-east corner of Jerusalem, outside the present walls.
Gihon, the other landmark in the verse, is the spring outside the city. Solomon was anointed king there, and Hezekiah had earlier channelled its water into the city (Morrish Bible Dictionary).
The wall comes first in the record. One writer points to something better that followed, and to the limit of what any of it could repair.
When he returned to Jerusalem he began to build and fortify, and he "put commanders of the army in all the fortified cities." But better still, he took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord... He set out to undo his former works of wickedness as far as he could. But he could never restore the innocent lives he had taken, and he could never wholly undo the evil of his earlier course. His sin, and Judah's with him, was so great that God never forgave it as a nation. God did forgive Manasseh himself, because he confessed and humbled himself before Him.
Another writer sets out what Manasseh did next, and how far it could go.
Restored to his position, Manasseh produced what John the Baptist later called "fruits in keeping with repentance" (Luke 3:8). He tore down the idols he had set up and the altars dedicated to them. He also tried to bring the people back from the wrong way he had driven them into. It was hard work, and it was bound to remain incomplete!
The account of Manasseh in Kings ends with his crimes. Everything in this verse — the wall, the gate, the captains — belongs to a second telling with a different purpose.
The book of Kings stops once it has noted the king's responsibility. 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 we will find in the Lord's presence whose lives, like his, seemed broken by judgment, and who were beyond any doubt brought by repentance to salvation.
His case is held up as an example well beyond his own reign:
So God gave repentance to this wicked king, for His mercy endures forever. He is often held up as a trophy of God's marvellous grace in Old Testament times, as Saul of Tarsus and the thief on the cross are given under the New Testament.
- Grace first. No human reason is given for Manasseh's release. God Himself brought him back, and the change in him was His work.
- Grace builds. The man who once tore down what was of God now builds a wall and posts commanders. His new energy is the proof.
- Grace repairs. He set out to undo his old evil as far as he could. That is the fruit a repentant heart bears.
- Grace and the scars. He could never bring back the innocent lives he had taken, and the judgment on the nation still stood. God forgave the man himself.
- Grace reaches further. Kings records his guilt; Chronicles records his restoration. That is why he is named with Saul of Tarsus and the thief on the cross as proof of how far mercy goes.
And he removed the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of Jehovah, and all the altars that he had built on the mount of the house of Jehovah and in Jerusalem, and cast [them] out of the city.
Manasseh had made an idol and set it up inside God's temple. Now, back in his position, he clears it out of the city — so what does real repentance look like, and what damage can it never undo?
The verse names both foreign gods and one particular idol. One writer traces the word used for that idol through other passages.
The word is used in Deuteronomy 4:16, where older translations render it "graven image." It is also found in 2 Chronicles 33:7 and 33:15, where it refers to the idol which Manasseh had made and put up in the temple.
Once he was back on his throne, the change showed in what he pulled down.
Back in his position, Manasseh produced what John the Baptist later called "fruits in keeping with repentance" (Luke 3:8). He tore down the idols he had set up, and the altars dedicated to them. He tried to bring the people back from the wrong way he had driven them into. It was hard work, and it was bound to be incomplete!
The zeal he once gave to his idols he now turned against them. One writer measures how far that change went.
He was now as eager to burn what he had been worshipping as the godly kings before his father Hezekiah had been. The people followed the same path. Only the high places were not abolished. This was not a revival in the full sense of the word. It was a return to God through affliction. That affliction had made this wretched man cry to Him, and God delivered him from all his distress.
Removing the false altars was only half of it. The next verse shows him repairing the Lord's altar. One writer notes which offerings he brought there, and which he did not.
He also took away the idols from the house of the Lord — idols he himself had brought in. He removed all the altars he had built in Jerusalem too (v. 15). On the positive side he repaired the altar of the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it (v. 16). These offerings show his thankfulness for God's mercy to him. But burnt offerings are not mentioned. Burnt offerings stress the glory God receives through the sacrifice of Christ, which is a far more important matter than the blessing we receive.
Some consequences outlived his repentance. One writer separates Manasseh's own standing before God from the nation's future.
He undertook to undo, as far as possible, his former works of wickedness. His name Manasseh means forgetting. Josephus says: "When he came to Jerusalem, he tried, if it were possible, to cast out of his memory his former sins against God, of which he now repented." But he could never give back the innocent lives he had taken. He could never wholly undo the evil of his former course. His sin, and Judah's with him, was so great that God never forgave it as a nation. But as a man he was forgiven, through his confession and humbling before God. It is good to see the great change in his later life. He did not forget how much he owed God for His matchless grace to him, as his "thank offerings" on the restored altar show.
He put the idols outside the city. He did not destroy them, and the next reign shows why that matters.
Manasseh had thrown the idols and idolatrous altars he had made out of the city. Amon clearly brought them back, for he sacrificed to all the images that his father had made. He made himself a slave to these abominations. He must have known that his father had repented and completely changed his ways. But this had no real effect on Amon.
- Taken away — the idol Manasseh had planted in God's own house goes first. Repentance strikes at what it built, not at someone else's sin.
- Put right — he did not stop at clearing out the altars. He repaired the Lord's altar and sacrificed there, because removal alone is not worship restored.
- Left standing — the high places remained. Writers call this a return to God under affliction, not a full revival.
- Never recovered — he could not give back the lives he had taken, and the nation's judgment stood. Forgiveness for the man did not cancel the consequences for the people.
- Brought back — what he cast out of the city, his son Amon carried in again; one man's repentance secures no one else's.
And he reinstated the altar of Jehovah, and sacrificed on it peace-offerings and thank-offerings, and commanded Judah to serve Jehovah the God of Israel.
Manasseh had filled Jerusalem with idols, and Assyria had carried him off in chains. God heard his prayer and gave back his throne; this verse shows what he did with it, and how far a repentant man can undo his own damage.
The text never says the altar was smashed. One commentator reads the repair as a matter of use, not stonework:
When we read that he restored the altar of the Lord, this may mean that he put back the proper sacrifices on that altar, since there seems to be no sign that the altar itself had been damaged.
Peace offerings and thank offerings are the gifts of a thankful man. One commentator also notices what is missing:
These offerings show his thankfulness for God's mercy to him. But burnt offerings are not mentioned, and they stress the glory God receives through the sacrifice of Christ — a far more important matter than the blessing we receive.
The peace offering was a shared meal, not a sacrifice burned up whole:
Burnt offerings were burned up completely on the altar. But with peace offerings, everyone involved had a share — God, the priest who served, all the males of the priestly family, and the person who brought the offering... They feasted on a sacrifice of which God had already received His portion. It was communion with Him in the sacrifice.
In this verse Manasseh is undoing his own work. But one writer shows that some damage could never be repaired, and that God's forgiveness of the man was not forgiveness of the nation:
He set out to undo his former evil works as far as he could. His name Manasseh means forgetting... But he could never bring back the innocent lives he had taken, and he could never fully undo the evil of his old ways. His sin, and Judah's sin with him, was so great that God never forgave it as a nation... As a man, Manasseh was forgiven, because he confessed and humbled himself before God. It is good to see the great change in his later life. He did not forget how much he owed God for His matchless grace to him, and his "thank-offerings" on the restored altar show it. He was the Old Testament "chief of sinners," an example at that time of God showing all His patience to anyone who would turn to Him in repentance and faith.
He had driven the people into idolatry; now he works to bring them back. One writer notes how hard that task was, and that it was never finished:
He tore down the idols he had set up, and the altars built for them. He tried to bring the people back from the wrong road he had driven them down. It was hard work, and it could never be finished!
The effect on his own family was mixed. His son ignored it; his grandson may not have:
All this had no effect on Amon his son, the father of Josiah. But it may have influenced the young child who came to the throne about two years after Manasseh's death. From the very start of his reign, at eight years old, he took the right road, doing what "was right in the eyes of the LORD."
This verse serves as evidence. Manasseh turned to God in a prison in Babylon; what he did once he got home is the test:
He humbled himself and prayed and found mercy. What a display of God's mercy! Jewish tradition often points to Manasseh's conversion as the greatest encouragement to sinners who repent. God will yet show such mercy to the remnant of Israel, when they turn to the LORD "whose mercy endures forever." And there is no lack of evidence that Manasseh's conversion was real. After his return he acted faithfully, repaired the altar, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God.
And the shape of the whole reign is unusual among the kings:
Sadly, others had begun well and ended badly. He began as badly as anyone ever had, and worse than any before him — but his end was blessed.
- Mercy first. Manasseh humbled himself in captivity. God heard him and brought him back to Jerusalem. Everything in this verse follows that.
- Altar restored. The repair may mean he put the proper sacrifices back in use; nothing says the altar itself was broken.
- Thanks offered. Peace and thank offerings show the thanks of a man who owed everything to grace. Burnt offerings, which speak of the glory God receives, are not mentioned.
- Reach limited. He undid what he could. He could not bring back the lives he had taken, and his call to Judah was work he could never finish.
- Fruit proved. These acts are the evidence that his change was real — a king who began as badly as any, and ended well.
Nevertheless, the people sacrificed still on the high places, although to Jehovah their God only.
Judah's most wicked king hit bottom, cried to God in his trouble, and God forgave him. But his reform stopped short: the people kept sacrificing at the local shrines — to the true God, but not where He had said.
Manasseh's change was real. Yet one thing from his father's reign he never restored.
Hezekiah had banished worship in the high places. Manasseh did not follow his father in this. He allowed the people to sacrifice there, though only to the Lord (v. 17).
That gap shapes how one writer sums up the whole reign.
Only the high places were not abolished. It was not a revival in the true sense of the word. It was a return to God through affliction. His trouble made this wretched man cry to Him, and God delivered him from all his distress... What a blessed thought, that the hearts of the most hardened may become the objects of grace!
The problem was never the hill. It was that God had named one place for sacrifice, and these were places men picked for themselves.
All the high places offended Him, whatever the motives of those who set them up. They expressed a self-will that invents its own ways, hearts not subject to His commandments. Some of Judah's best kings tolerated high places — not the ones set apart to idols, we may be sure, but the ones where people claimed to worship the Lord.
Commentators differ about how these sites began. One traces a shift that came once God chose His own centre.
At the beginning they were devoted to the true worship of God. To some extent He Himself in grace recognized the need and met with His people there, though not in the order He Himself had provided. Later, however, He established His centre. He placed His name at Jerusalem, and the temple of His glory stood there. From then on the worship of the high places was direct disobedience to His will. So it was bound to grow more and more tied to the idolatry the people always leaned toward.
The sacrifices did go up to the Lord their God. That is what made the practice feel safe — and it is what makes it dangerous. Worship has two halves, and we do not get to invent the second one.
Man is not to decide his own ways as a worshipper. Willingness in worship is right; wilfulness destroys it all. They brought their offerings of their own free will (Leviticus 1:3; 7:16), but they had to bring them as and where the Lord willed. So with us. We are to worship "in spirit" — that is most true — in the grace and liberty of the Holy Spirit He gives us. But we are to worship "in truth" as well, according to God's revelation of Himself and of His worship. Israel's groves and high places were always the witness that the people had not properly prepared their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel, the only true God, who had set His name at Jerusalem.
Manasheh's later years show genuine fruit, but they also show a limit. The habits he had planted in a whole nation outlived his repentance.
He demolished the idols which he had erected, and the altars which were consecrated to them, and sought to bring the people back from the wrong way in which he had driven them; a difficult work and necessarily incomplete!
Forgiveness for the man and repair of the damage are two different accounts, and only one of them was settled.
But he could never restore the innocent lives he had taken, nor could he ever wholly undo the evil of his former course... Personally, when he confessed and humbled himself before God, God forgave him. It is good to see the great change in his later life. He did not forget what he owed God for His matchless grace to him, as his "thank-offerings" on the restored altar show.
The same fault appears today. People who love God still pick their own ways to come to Him.
To ignore the Centre God Himself has provided, and to turn to human thoughts, and pick places and ways of worship that the word of God never provided for, is to worship in the high places. Many do this in complete sincerity, and God, as we said, meets His people in grace according to the measure of their faith.
- Grace reaches — affliction drove the hardest heart in Judah's history to cry out to God, and God brought Manasseh back.
- Grace repairs — his later life showed a great change, and his thank-offerings on the restored altar show he never forgot what he owed God.
- Grace meets a limit — God forgave the man, but he could not give back the innocent lives he took or undo the evil he had spread.
- Grace stops where self-will stays — he left the high places standing, so his reign counts as a return to God, not a real revival.
- Grace still asks obedience — choosing our own places and ways of worship is the high place today; willingness in worship is right, wilfulness destroys it.