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Texts -- 2 Chronicles 33:1-22 (NET)

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Manasseh’s Reign
33:1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem . 33:2 He did evil in the sight of the Lord and committed the same horrible sins practiced by the nations whom the Lord drove out ahead of the Israelites . 33:3 He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed ; he set up altars for the Baals and made Asherah poles . He bowed down to all the stars in the sky and worshiped them. 33:4 He built altars in the Lord’s temple , about which the Lord had said , “Jerusalem will be my permanent home.” 33:5 In the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple he built altars for all the stars in the sky . 33:6 He passed his sons through the fire in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom and practiced divination , omen reading , and sorcery . He set up a ritual pit to conjure up underworld spirits and appointed magicians to supervise it. He did a great amount of evil in the sight of the Lord and angered him. 33:7 He put an idolatrous image he had made in God’s temple , about which God had said to David and to his son Solomon , “This temple in Jerusalem , which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel , will be my permanent home. 33:8 I will not make Israel again leave the land I gave to their ancestors , provided that they carefully obey all I commanded them, the whole law , the rules and regulations given to Moses .” 33:9 But Manasseh misled the people of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem so that they sinned more than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed ahead of the Israelites . 33:10 The Lord confronted Manasseh and his people , but they paid no attention . 33:11 So the Lord brought against them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria . They seized Manasseh , put hooks in his nose, bound him with bronze chains , and carried him away to Babylon . 33:12 In his pain Manasseh asked the Lord his God for mercy and truly humbled himself before the God of his ancestors . 33:13 When he prayed to the Lord, the Lord responded to him and answered favorably his cry for mercy . The Lord brought him back to Jerusalem to his kingdom . Then Manasseh realized that the Lord is the true God . 33:14 After this Manasseh built up the outer wall of the City of David on the west side of the Gihon in the valley to the entrance of the Fish Gate and all around the terrace ; he made it much higher . He placed army officers in all the fortified cities in Judah . 33:15 He removed the foreign gods and images from the Lord’s temple and all the altars he had built on the hill of the Lord’s temple and in Jerusalem ; he threw them outside the city . 33:16 He erected the altar of the Lord and offered on it peace offerings and thank offerings . He told the people of Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel . 33:17 The people continued to offer sacrifices at the high places , but only to the Lord their God . 33:18 The rest of the events of Manasseh’s reign, including his prayer to his God and the words the prophets spoke to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel , are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Israel . 33:19 The Annals of the Prophets include his prayer , give an account of how the Lord responded to it, record all his sins and unfaithful acts , and identify the sites where he built high places and erected Asherah poles and idols before he humbled himself. 33:20 Manasseh passed away and was buried in his palace . His son Amon replaced him as king .
Amon’s Reign
33:21 Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king , and he reigned for two years in Jerusalem . 33:22 He did evil in the sight of the Lord , just like his father Manasseh had done . He offered sacrifices to all the idols his father Manasseh had made , and worshiped them.

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Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • The Book of Samuel covers the period of Israel's history bracketed by Samuel's conception and the end of David's reign. David turned the kingdom over to Solomon in 971 B.C.3David reigned for 40 and one-half years (2 Sam. 2:11...
  • Manasseh began reigning as vice-regent with his father Hezekiah when he was 12 years old in 697 B.C. This arrangement continued for 11 years until Hezekiah died in 686 B.C. For a total of 55 years Manasseh was king of Judah. ...
  • Chronicles covers a broader period of history than any other Old Testament book. It begins with Adam and ends with Anani who lived eight generations after King Jehoiachin (1 Chron. 3:24). If we allow 25 years for each generat...
  • Even though 1 and 2 Chronicles give one continuous story the emphasis in 2 Chronicles is different from that in 1 Chronicles. In 1 Chronicles the emphasis is the importance of the temple in national life. However in 2 Chronic...
  • (Continued from notes on 1 Chronicles)III. The reign of Solomon chs. 1-9A. Solomon's wisdom and prosperity ch. 1B. The building of the temple 2:1-5:11. Preparations for building the temple ch. 22. The temple proper 3:1-93. Th...
  • Manasseh was one of the few examples of an evil Judean king who turned out good. Nevertheless his wickedness made captivity inevitable for Judah (2 Kings 23:26; Jer. 15:4)."Manasseh's acts are . . . a calculated attempt to th...
  • This introductory segment provides the basic information about the historical situation that Judah faced plus God's command concerning that situation. Would King Ahaz face his threat from God's perspective or from man's? Woul...
  • 39:1 The phrase "At that time"(cf. 38:1) anticipates a specially significant event and ties it to what preceded in chapter 38. As this verse explains, the events that follow happened after Hezekiah had recovered from his illn...
  • The biblical records of the times in which Jeremiah ministered are 2 Kings 21-25 and 2 Chronicles 33-36. His contemporary prophets were Zephaniah and Habakkuk before the Exile, and Ezekiel and Daniel after it began.King Manas...
  • 4:12 The overthrow of Jerusalem had surprised the leaders and people of other nations. Invaders had forced their way into it in the past (cf. 1 Kings 14:25-28; 2 Kings 14:13-14; 2 Chron. 21:16-17), but the citizens had rebuil...
  • 8:1 The following prophecy came to Ezekiel during September of 592 B.C. as he was sitting in his house with the elders of Israel.141This would have been during the time when he was lying on his right side for part of the day ...
  • This opening pericope sets the tone and forms the backdrop for the rest of the book. All people were to hear God's indictment against His people (v. 2). Punishment was coming (vv. 3-4) that would be both reasonable (v. 5) and...
  • 1:7 In view of the inevitability of coming judgment for idolatry, it was appropriate for the Judeans to be quiet before sovereign Yahweh (cf. Hab. 2:20)."This is a call to the people of Judah to cease every manner of oppositi...
  • There is great theological significance in this familiar passage. It comes through mainly in the angel's words and in the symbolism of what happened."In 2:8-14 we have a third annunciation scene, which follows the same patter...
  • John's revelation continued to unfold future events as God revealed these to him in his vision. The scene John saw next was in heaven. The seventh trumpet judgment did not begin immediately (cf. 8:1-5), but John received info...

Expositions Of Holy Scripture (Maclaren)

  • So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel. 10. And the Lord spake to Manasseh, and to his people: but they woul...
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