2 Chronicles 33

2Ch 33:1-10.

MANASSEH'S

WICKED

REIGN.

1, 2. Manasseh . . . did that which was evil in the sight of the

Lord--(See on

2Ki 21:1-16).

2Ch 33:11-19.

HE

IS

CARRIED UNTO

BABYLON,

WHERE

HE

HUMBLES

HIMSELF BEFORE

GOD, AND

IS

RESTORED TO

HIS

KINGDOM.

11. the captains of the host of the king of Assyria--This king

was Esar-haddon. After having devoted the first years of his reign to

the consolidation of his government at home, he turned his attention to

repair the loss of the tributary provinces west of the Euphrates,

which, on the disaster and death of Sennacherib, had taken the

opportunity of shaking off the Assyrian yoke. Having overrun Palestine

and removed the remnant that were left in the kingdom of Israel, he

despatched his generals, the chief of whom was Tartan

(Isa 20:1),

with a portion of his army for the reduction of Judah also. In a

successful attack upon Jerusalem, they took multitudes of captives, and

got a great prize, including the king himself, among the prisoners.

took Manasseh among the thorns--This may mean, as is commonly supposed,

that he had hid himself among a thicket of briers and brambles. We know

that the Hebrews sometimes took refuge from their enemies in thickets

(1Sa 13:6).

But, instead of the Hebrew, Bacochim, "among the thorns", some

versions read Bechayim, "among the living", and so the passage

would be "took him alive."

bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon--The Hebrew word rendered "fetters" denotes properly two chains of brass. The

humiliating state in which Manasseh appeared before the Assyrian

monarch may be judged of by a picture on a tablet in the Khorsabad

palace, representing prisoners led bound into the king's presence. "The

captives represented appear to be inhabitants of Palestine. Behind the

prisoners stand four persons with inscriptions on the lower part of

their tunics; the first two are bearded, and seem to be accusers; the

remaining two are nearly defaced; but behind the last appears the

eunuch, whose office it seems to be to usher into the presence of the

king those who are permitted to appear before him. He is followed by

another person of the same race as those under punishment; his hands

are manacled, and on his ankles are strong rings fastened together by a

heavy bar" [Nineveh and Its Palaces]. No name is given, and, therefore,

no conclusion can be drawn that the figure represents Manasseh. But the

people appear to be Hebrews, and this pictorial scene will enable us to

imagine the manner in which the royal captive from Judah was received

in the court of Babylon. Esar-haddon had established his residence

there; for though from the many revolts that followed the death of his

father, he succeeded at first only to the throne of Assyria, yet having

some time previous to his conquest of Judah, recovered possession of

Babylon, this enterprising king had united under his sway the two

empires of Babylon and Chaldea and transferred the seat of his

government to Babylon.

12, 13. when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God--In

the solitude of exile or imprisonment, Manasseh had leisure for

reflection. The calamities forced upon him a review of his past life,

under a conviction that the miseries of his dethronement and captive

condition were owing to his awful and unprecedented apostasy

(2Ch 33:7)

from the God of his fathers. He humbled himself, repented, and prayed

for an opportunity of bringing forth the fruits of repentance. His

prayer was heard; for his conqueror not only released him, but, after

two years' exile, restored him, with honor and the full exercise of

royal power, to a tributary and dependent kingdom. Some political

motive, doubtless, prompted the Assyrian king to restore Manasseh, and

that was most probably to have the kingdom of Judah as a barrier

between Egypt and his Assyrian dominions. But God overruled this

measure for higher purposes. Manasseh now showed himself, by the

influence of sanctified affliction, a new and better man. He made a

complete reversal of his former policy, by not only destroying all the

idolatrous statues and altars he had formerly erected in Jerusalem, but

displaying the most ardent zeal in restoring and encouraging the

worship of God.

14. he built a wall without the city . . . on the west side of Gihon

. . . even to the entering in at the fish gate--"The well-ascertained

position of the fish gate, shows that the valley of Gihon could be no

other than that leading northwest of Damascus gate, and gently

descending southward, uniting with the Tyropœon at the northeast

corner of Mount Zion, where the latter turns at right angles and runs

towards Siloam. The wall thus built by Manasseh on the west side of the

valley of Gihon, would extend from the vicinity of the northeast corner

of the wall of Zion in a northerly direction, until it crossed over the

valley to form a junction with the outer wall at the trench of Antonia,

precisely in the quarter where the temple would be most easily

assailed" [BARCLAY].

17. the people did sacrifice still in the high places, yet unto the

Lord their God only--Here it appears that the worship on high places,

though it originated in a great measure from the practice of

heathenism, and too often led to it, did not necessarily imply

idolatry.

2Ch 33:20-25.

HE

DIES AND

AMON

SUCCEEDS

HIM.

20, 21. Manasseh slept with his fathers . . . Amon began to

reign--(See on

2Ki 21:19).