Manasseh’s Idolatry Rebuked
10 The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. 11 Therefore the Lord brought the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria against them, and they captured Manasseh with [b]hooks, bound him with bronze chains and took him to Babylon. 12 When he was in distress, he entreated the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. 13 When he prayed to Him, He was moved by his entreaty and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.
14 Now after this he built the outer wall of the city of David on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entrance of the Fish Gate; and he encircled the Ophel with it and made it very high. Then he put army commanders in all the fortified cities of Judah. 15 He also removed the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord, as well as all the altars which he had built on the mountain of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside the city. 16 He set up the altar of the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it; and he ordered Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel. 17 Nevertheless the people still sacrificed in the high places, although only to the Lord their God.
18 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh even his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel, behold, they are among the records of the kings of Israel. 19 His prayer also and how God was entreated by him, and all his sin, his unfaithfulness, and the sites on which he built high places and erected the Asherim and the carved images, before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the records of the [c]Hozai. 20 So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house. And Amon his son became king in his place.
Amon Becomes King in Judah
21 Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. 22 He did evil in the sight of the Lord as Manasseh his father had done, and Amon sacrificed to all the carved images which his father Manasseh had made, and he served them. 23 Moreover, he did not humble himself before the Lord as his father Manasseh had [d]done, but Amon multiplied guilt. 24 Finally his servants conspired against him and put him to death in his own house. 25 But the people of the land [e]killed all the conspirators against King Amon, and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place.
Earlier in this chapter, we saw the depravity of Manasseh, and it was described as worse than that of the people who Israel drove out from the land, which is saying quite a lot. All the imaginable pagan practices, including child sacrifice, were in force. We see here that God sent Manasseh and the people a warning to repent, but it was to no avail.
But, for all his wickedness, there was one way to get Manasseh’s attention, and that was captivity in Assyria. He was led away in disgrace, and it would not be shocking if the Assyrians “made sport” of him. That is, tortured and beat him before, after, or even during his journey back to Assyria.
There, Manasseh did something unexpected, and he humbled himself, not necessarily to the Assyrians, but to God himself, and he prayed to God for mercy. Should God listen? Whether or not He should, God did listen, and he granted Manasseh’s prayer.
Manasseh returned to Jerusalem a changed man, utterly and wholly devoted to God. It’s difficult to imagine a more dramatic difference, and I can’t think of any king who experienced such a radical transformation. For anyone who thinks themselves “too far gone”, it is a declaration of hope. If God can change Manasseh, and did so before Jesus came to rescue us from our sin, then there is light and salvation available for anyone who will humble themselves before God.
There you will find the same mercy that Manasseh discovered in the darkness of his bondage, and even more, God’s Spirit will dwell within you to make you a new creation inside and out. His transformative power knows no bounds, and can reach into the darkest depths to find anyone who is searching. He broke the power of death and hell once and for all, and He can break the chains that hold you even now.