And he built again the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars to Baal and made an Asherah, as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.
Hezekiah had torn down Judah's shrines of false worship. His son Manasseh built them again and added more, which raises a hard question: how does a godly man's son end up leading a nation into star-worship?
One writer looks at who shaped the boy king, and at how fast he worked:
Manasseh was the twelve-year-old son of Hezekiah, and he did not follow his father's ways. He had no godly guide to stand by him. He was surrounded by counsellors, no doubt, but they were evil counsellors. Instead of following his father's example, he followed that of his wicked grandfather Ahaz. In reading the record of his evil doings we get the impression that he hurried to undo all his father had done. He restored the corrupt worship on the heights, and at the same time he added the Phoenician rites of Baal and Asherah, and the Chaldean worship of the host of heaven — the sun and the stars.
The high places may look like a small item next to Baal and the stars. One writer shows why they were not:
The Word alone must govern them in all matters of worship, as indeed in everything else. The LORD would choose His own centre. There His people must come with their burnt offerings and sacrifices. But flesh is no better in those who are near to God than in those who are far from Him. The time soon came, sadly, when Israel chose high places for themselves. Some of these were for idolatrous worship, and some for the worship of the LORD. But all the high places were offensive in His sight, whatever the motives of those who set them up. They were the expression of self-will, of hearts not subject to His commandments.
Older translations call the Asherah "a grove," which suggests trees. One writer explains what these objects were, and what lay behind them:
The "groves" so often mentioned in the history of Ahab and Elijah were really statues of Ashtoreth. Baal seems to have represented the sun, and Ashtoreth the moon. God's charge against the Northern Kingdom, when Assyria carried the people away, reads: "They abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made for themselves metal images of two calves; and they made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal." Note how "all the host of heaven" is here linked with Baal.
This was not harmless stargazing. One writer traces the same practice into our own day:
They worshipped the stars. They studied their movements as if the stars could help them or give them a revelation. Astrology, so widely practised among civilized nations today, is an old cult (2 Kings 21:3, 5; Jer. 8:2; 19:13).
The verse names Ahab — the king of the northern kingdom whose house God had already destroyed. God's answer through His prophets used the same measure:
"Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations and has done things more evil than all that the Amorites did... and has made Judah also to sin with his idols, therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such disaster that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria, and the plumb line of the house of Ahab." The house of Ahab had perished, and their kings would not escape a similar judgment.
Hezekiah's faith did not pass to his son. One writer states the rule:
There is no such thing as succession in grace. The son of the most faithful father needs to be born again as much as the most degraded of mankind. This is written clearly on many a page of the word of God. "You must be born again."
It works the other way too. Hezekiah was himself the son of a wicked father:
If piety is not passed from father to son, grace can still work in the heart. It can direct the steps of one who had the most wicked father. This was the case with the son of Ahaz.
Hezekiah's reform was real, yet it did not survive him. One writer explains why:
Revivals took place, but they did not last. The reactions that followed led to an even greater falling away from God... No mistake in religion is more common or more fatal than this: to put confidence in mere negations, and to expect lasting good from them. A negation without a matching affirmation is of no use for spiritual purposes.
- Rebuilt. Manasseh hurried to put back what his father had torn down. A reform can fall faster than it rose.
- Self-will. God chose one centre where His people were to come to Him. The high places offended Him even when they honoured His name, because they came from hearts that would not obey.
- Borrowed gods. Baal stood for the sun and Ashtoreth for the moon. Behind them lay the worship of the whole host of heaven — the old cult we now call astrology.
- Copied judgment. Manasseh took Ahab as his pattern. So God measured Jerusalem by the line He had used on Ahab's house.
- Not inherited. Grace does not run in families. A godly king's son went wrong; a wicked king's son turned to God. Each person must be born again.
And he built altars in the house of Jehovah, of which Jehovah had said, In Jerusalem will I put my name.
Hezekiah had pulled down the pagan shrines, but his son Manasseh rebuilt them and carried idol altars into the temple itself. Why did that one building matter so much, and why was an altar inside it the worst offence a king of Judah could commit?
The verse ends with a promise God had made about Jerusalem. The law shows what that promise carried with it.
Jerusalem was the place God had chosen, out of all places. Deuteronomy 12 makes the point again and again: Jerusalem was "the place that the LORD your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name there." The temple could be built only here. Here the people had to assemble, celebrate the national feasts, give the sacrifices, and bring the offerings. And it was in this place that the people would rejoice before the Lord.
Because God had fixed His dwelling in one spot, the sin of His people was always reckoned in relation to that spot.
If it is true that God dwells on the earth in a "habitation," then the habitation where He dwells must be of the greatest importance. This remains always true. There may be failure, but the Church is still His dwelling place. God dwelt there until Christ came — or at least until He pronounced Lo-ammi upon Israel at the Babylonian captivity. Both the blessing of the people and their guilt were measured by God's dwelling. If it was a question of idolatry, "They have set," He says, "their altars by my altar."
("Lo-ammi" means "not my people.")
Manasseh was busy with religion, not careless about it. One writer weighs what all that building was worth.
With all his altars and images he may have thought he was very religious, more zealous than his father, but this was the folly of unbelief… Placing a carved image in the temple was a direct insult to God. He had declared the temple to be the place where He would set His name.
The king's own name carried a memory of God's kindness to his father.
Manasseh means "forgetting." No doubt Hezekiah gave him this name because the LORD had rescued him. That rescue made him forget his troubles and trials. He was born three years after Hezekiah's recovery from sickness. And now Manasseh forgot all the goodness and mercy of the LORD and plunged headlong into the worst turning away from God.
Judah now behaved worse than the nations God had destroyed. That comparison is where one writer finds the real horror.
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"? Of Manasseh and Judah it could then truly be said, as the apostle by the Spirit declared seven hundred years later, "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."
Manasseh did not sin alone. One writer follows that out to the nation's place in the land.
The result was that Manasseh not only did evil, but "seduced them to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed." How could Judah then stay in the LORD's land? It became a moral impossibility.
The story of this king does not end where 2 Kings leaves it.
This book of Kings says nothing about the repentance of Manasseh, which 2 Chronicles 33:12-13 records. Kings deals mainly with responsibility, while Chronicles emphasises the grace of God… It is amazing that God would bring one so wicked to genuine repentance, but the grace of God is able to save the most guilty.
- The name — Jerusalem was God's one chosen place. The temple, the sacrifices, the feasts, and the people's joy before Him all belonged there.
- The insult — God measured His people's guilt by the place where He dwelt. Manasseh's idolatry set altars beside God's own altar.
- The zeal — Manasseh may have felt more religious than his father. Building altars God never asked for is the folly of unbelief.
- The forgetting — His name recalled God's mercy to Hezekiah. He forgot that goodness and led Judah to do worse than the nations.
- The outcome — Staying in the land became a moral impossibility. Yet Chronicles adds what Kings leaves out: grace reached even this king.
And he built altars to all the host of heaven in both courts of the house of Jehovah.
Manasseh was the son of a good king, yet he brought back the very worship his father had destroyed — and he set it up inside the courts of God's own house. Two hard questions follow: why did star worship pull so strongly at God's people, and how long does God wait when His own house is turned against Him?
Hezekiah had cleansed the land. His son undid the work. One writer notes that this pattern is common, and that a long reign is no proof of God's approval.
Often a fast slide into decline follows a time of revival. And strangely, Scripture does not say that God marked this state of things with special judgments. Manasseh's reign overflowed with idolatry. It is also the longest reign recorded among the kings of Judah and of Israel. You cannot judge people's condition by how severe or how gentle God's ways with them are.
This was no single slip. The same writer traces a whole descent: high places rebuilt, altars to Baal, a statue in the temple, altars in the house and in its two courts, star worship, child sacrifice, fortune-tellers.
The phrase covers the sun, moon and stars. Judah did not just admire them. They looked to them for guidance, and one writer notes that people still do.
They worshipped the hosts of the heavens from housetops. They worshipped the stars. They studied their movements as if the stars could give them help and a revelation. Astrology, so widely practised among civilised nations today, is an old cult.
Looking up was never the sin. The mistake was stopping at what the eye can see.
Also, if they lifted their eyes up to heaven, past the level of creatures on earth, they were to be sure to look above the sun, moon and stars. They were to look to the One who had created all these things, and not to worship these visible works of God's hands... God did create these wonderful heavenly bodies. But they are there only to turn our attention to their unseen Maker.
Manasseh set these altars in the two courts of God's own house. One writer explains why that address matters so much.
If it is really true that God dwells on earth in a "dwelling place," then clearly that place must be of the greatest importance... If it was a question of idolatry, He says, "They have set their altars by my altar."
These altars also told the truth about the men who built them.
On the roof there were altars made by the kings of Judah, certainly an insult to God whose altar outside and that inside the temple both spoke of Christ. Other altars expose men's desire to have other gods. Beside these Manasseh had made altars in the two courts of the house of the Lord.
Manasseh was a king of Judah and the son of a good king. That is what makes this record so painful to read.
It is a terrible portrait to paint of any man. But of a king of Judah, and a son of Hezekiah the Good, it seems almost unbelievable... It was the worst of all corruptions — the corruption of the best. The higher the fall, the deeper the plunge.
Manasseh himself was later broken, and restored. Judah still lost the land. One writer shows how both things can be true at once.
Manasseh was converted in his later years. Even so, the evil he had done was enormous, and it had deeply defiled Judah. God's grace may triumph over man's sin and save him from eternal judgment. Yet God's government still judges whatever evil has been done. So God would remove Judah from their land, just as He had let Israel be removed.
And the man who built those altars was not beyond mercy.
God brought the king of Assyria against Manasseh, who bound him with bronze chains and carried him to Babylon. There, in his trouble, Manasseh humbled himself deeply and prayed to the Lord his God. God heard his prayer and brought him back to Jerusalem. Then he knew that Jehovah was God. He removed the idols, repaired the altar of the Lord, and sacrificed to Him... Thus God gave repentance to this wicked king.
- Reversal. Manasseh undid his father's reform fast. A fast slide into decline often follows a time of revival.
- Misread stars. The sun, moon and stars — the host of heaven — point us to their unseen Maker. They were never made to guide us.
- Wrong address. Manasseh set his altars in the two courts of God's own house. The place where God dwells is of the greatest importance.
- Deepest fall. A king of Judah, son of a good king, fell furthest. The worst corruption is the corruption of the best.
- Two ledgers. God gave Manasseh repentance and brought him home. His government still judged the evil Manasseh had done, and Judah lost the land.