Chapter 33

1 Manasseh’s wicked reign. 3 He setteth up idolatry, and would not be admonished. 11 He is carried into Babylon. 12 Upon his prayer to God he is released, and putteth down idolatry. 18 His acts. 20 He dying, Amon succeedeth him. 21 Amon reigning wickedly is slain by his servants. 25 The murderers being slain, Josiah succeedeth him.

1. Manasseh. Chapter 33 deals with the reigns of Manasseh (vs. 1–20) and Amon (vs. 21–25) and is parallel to 2 Kings 21. The order and contents of both chapters are similar, but there are a number of differences. Kings includes (1) the names of the two queen mothers, (2) Manasseh’s shedding of innocent blood, (3) the words of warning from the Lord, and (4) the detail concerning the burial place of Amon. There are important additions in Chronicles, including (1) the account of Manasseh’s captivity, (2) his repentance and return to Judah, (3) his building activities, (4) his efforts against idolatry and his restoration of the worship of the Lord, and (5) the records of his reign found in “the sayings of the seers” (v. 19). Verses 11–19 constitute a section that is almost entirely new. The reign of Manasseh is important in the history of Judah in that it witnessed a revival of heathen worship and a severe persecution of innocent worshipers of Jehovah.

3. Baalim. The plural form of Baal. The parallel passage in 2 Kings 21:3 has the singular “Baal” (see on Judges 2:11).

4. Shall my name be. Compare ch. 7:16. The parallel passage has, “will I put my name” (2 Kings 21:4).

6. His children. These children seem to have been sacrificed as burnt offerings to the gods.

Valley of the son of Hinnom. This explanatory item is not found in Kings. See on ch. 28:3.

Witchcraft. Manasseh resorted to satanic agencies, employing various types of divination, necromancy, and sorcery, whereby the powers of evil made known their will and directed the nation’s affairs.

7. A carved image. According to 2 Kings 21:7 this was an Asherah, or grove (see on 2 Chron. 14:3). Judah had sunk so low that this female emblem of fertility was placed in the sacred Temple precincts. Josiah later “brought out the grove from the house of the Lord, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it” (2 Kings 23:6).

8. Remove the foot of Israel. This verse clearly indicates that Israel’s inheritance of the land of Canaan was conditional upon obedience to the laws that God had given through His servant Moses (see Jer. 18:7–10).

9. Worse than the heathen. The heathen peoples who originally inhabited the land of Canaan were destroyed before Israel because of their iniquities, but now the professed people of God went further into sin than the heathen around them.

10. The Lord spake. “By his servants the prophets” (2 Kings 21:10). See further 2 Kings 21:11–15, which describes the prophetic message. The writer of Kings adds the further detail that “Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another” (2 Kings 21:16).

11. Which took Manasseh. This section dealing with Manasseh’s captivity and repentance and his restoration and reforms (vs. 11–17) is peculiar to Chronicles. Esarhaddon (681–669 b.c.) and Ashurbanipal (669–627? b.c.) both list Manasseh among the kings of Western Asia who were their vassals.

Thorns. Heb. chochim, which some interpret as thorns put through noses or cheeks of captives to lead them on a rope. Assyrian reliefs picture distinguished captives as being led away by hooks passed through their lips or nostrils (see Isa. 37:29; cf. Amos 4:2). Others interpretchochim as “hollows,” “recesses.”

Carried him to Babylon. Babylonia was part of the Assyrian Empire, and a number of Assyrian kings with the title of king of Babylon reigned over it as well as over their own nation of Assyria (see Vol. II, pp. 61, 156, 157). It was thus that an Assyrian king could take a king of Judah captive to Babylon rather than to Nineveh. The king who took Manasseh to Babylon could have been either Esarhaddon, who ruled Assyria and Babylon throughout his reign, or Ashurbanipal, who took the title for a short time, although during most of his reign Babylon was governed by a separate king under Assyrian supervision.

13. Prayed unto him. The Lord is kind and merciful, ready to forgive those who call upon Him in sincerity of heart.

To Jerusalem. If it was Ashurbanipal who returned Manasseh to his throne, the treatment parallels that which the same Assyrian king meted out to Necho I of Egypt, who was taken to Assyria and released to return home as a vassal of Assyria.

14. He built a wall. The construction of such a wall could indicate either (1) a change of attitude on the part of Manasseh toward his Assyrian overlord and preparations for revolt, or (2) preparations made, as Assyria’s vassal, for defense against Egypt. The latter part of Ashurbanipal’s reign was beset by many invasions and revolts, for Assyria was approaching its doom. If Manasseh’s strengthening of the fortifications extended from the west side of Gihon (on the east of Jerusalem), to the Fish Gate (on the north), and on to make a circuit of Ophel (the northern part of the southeastern hill), the work probably included much of the entire wall. Uzziah, Jotham, and Hezekiah had previously done considerable work on various parts of the wall of Jerusalem (chs. 26:9; 27:3; 32:5).

15. The idol. This seems to have been the Asherah that Manasseh himself had placed in the Temple (see 2 Chron. 33:7; cf. 2 Kings 21:7). It must be that the idol was restored by his son Amon (see v. 22), for his grandson Josiah removed “the grove” (Asherah) from the Temple and burned it at the brook Kidron (2 Kings 23:6).

16. Repaired the altar. Ahaz had moved the brazen altar (2 Kings 16:14); Hezekiah had reconsecrated it (2 Chron. 29:18). Manasseh may also have removed it and desecrated it, allowing it to fall into disrepair.

17. High places. Earlier in his reign Manasseh had restored the high places that his father had broken down (v. 3; ch. 31:1).

Their God only. The high places were not necessarily centers for the worship of idols, for Jehovah was also worshiped at such places (see on ch. 17:6). God had commanded the Israelites when they entered Canaan to destroy the heathen high places (Num. 33:52) and to offer their sacrifices to God only in “the place which the Lord your God shall choose” as His habitation (Deut. 12:2–14). Yet during the unsettled conditions when a central sanctuary was not available, sacrifices offered at local altars were allowed. Samuel offered sacrifice at a “high place” that was evidently not idolatrous, and God commissioned him to offer a local sacrifice at Bethlehem (see 1 Sam. 9:12; 16:2). The danger in permitting such worship in high places was that the Israelites often took over the old Canaanite shrines, and thus were subjected to constant temptations to idolatry and to the abominations practiced at such places by the pagans.

However, even after the establishment of the Temple service the high places remained, and were still used up to the time of Hezekiah (see on 2 Kings 18:4; 2 Chron. 31:1). The people continued to worship God at these places even when they did not also worship idols (see on 1 Kings 3:2, 3; 2 Kings 12:3). Hezekiah removed these high places, but after his death they were restored by Manasseh, first for heathen rites (v. 3), then later for the worship of Jehovah.

18. His prayer unto his God. There is an Apocryphal “Prayer of Manasses” purporting to be the prayer Manasseh uttered in captivity. The work is by an unknown author sometime before the third century b.c. and must be considered spurious.

20. In his own house. That is, “in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza” (2 Kings 21:18). It was common in ancient times to build houses next to the street, with inner courtyards. A king’s house could easily have a garden within its enclosing walls, and thus the garden could be said to be “in” the house.

21. Two and twenty years. Verses 21–25, dealing with the reign of Amon, are parallel to 2 Kings 21:19–26. The parallel passage names Amon’s mother, Meshullemeth and gives her parentage. Amon was only 16 years old at the birth of Josiah (see 2 Chron. 34:1).

22. His father had made. This statement seems to indicate that Manasseh had not destroyed, but had merely cast aside, the images he had made, unless the chronicler is merely expressing the fact that the images that Amon worshiped were those of the same gods that were worshiped by his father. The history of Judah has now become a mere succession of reforms and relapses, with each king following in the steps of one of his predecessors.

23. Humbled himself. This statement is not found in Kings. The writer of Kings did not mention Manasseh’s repentance, so he had no occasion to contrast the experience of the son with that of the father.

24. Conspired against him. Amon seems to have been slain in a general uprising. Some think that the facts thus briefly recorded reflect a bitter conflict between a party of religious reform and one of religious reaction, in which the latter was worsted for the time being. Others believe that the murder of Amon was inspired by an anti-Assyrian group. The province of Samaria seems to have participated in an anti-Assyrian revolt at some time during the reign of Ashurbanipal (called “Asnaper” in Ezra 4:10), and to have been punished in the usual Assyrian manner by a transfer of citizens of rebellious states to other localities.

25. Slew all them. This indicates a general reaction of the common people against the conspirators and may reflect an attitude of quiet and contented vassalage on the part of the populace toward Assyria.

The record here does not give the closing formula usually used to indicate the close of a reign. For the customary statement see 2 Kings 21:25, 26.

Ellen G. White comments

1–25PK 381–383

9 PK 381

11–13, 21–25PK 383