HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 781
2 CHR ONICL ES 34
page 411
Judah and Jerusalem to do even more evil than
the pagan nations that the Lord had destroyed
when the people of Israel entered the land.
10 The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his
people, but they ignored all his warnings. 11 So
the Lord sent the commanders of the Assyrian armies, and they took Manasseh prisoner.
They put a ring through his nose, bound him
in bronze chains, and led him away to Babylon.
12 But while in deep distress, Manasseh sought
the Lord his God and sincerely humbled himself before the God of his ancestors. 13 And when
he prayed, the Lord listened to him and was
moved by his request. So the Lord brought Manasseh back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom.
Then Manasseh finally realized that the Lord
alone is God!
14 After this Manasseh rebuilt the outer wall
of the City of David, from west of the Gihon
Spring in the Kidron Valley to the Fish Gate,
and continuing around the hill of Ophel. He
built the wall very high. And he stationed his
military officers in all of the fortified towns of
Judah. 15 Manasseh also removed the foreign
gods and the idol from the Lord’s Temple. He
tore down all the altars he had built on the hill
where the Temple stood and all the altars that
were in Jerusalem, and he dumped them outside the city. 16 Then he restored the altar of the
Lord and sacrificed peace offerings and thanksgiving offerings on it. He also encouraged the
people of Judah to worship the Lord, the God
of Israel. 17 However, the people still sacrificed
at the pagan shrines, though only to the Lord
their God.
18 The rest of the events of Manasseh’s reign,
his prayer to God, and the words the seers spoke
to him in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, are recorded in The Book of the Kings of
Israel. 19 Manasseh’s prayer, the account of the
way God answered him, and an account of all
his sins and unfaithfulness are recorded in The
Record of the Seers.* It includes a list of the locations where he built pagan shrines and set
up Asherah poles and idols before he humbled
himself and repented. 20 When Manasseh died,
he was buried in his palace. Then his son Amon
became the next king.
Amon Rules in Judah
21 Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem two
years. 22 He did what was evil in the Lord’s
sight, just as his father, Manasseh, had done.
He worshiped and sacrificed to all the idols his
father had made. 23 But unlike his father, he did
not humble himself before the Lord. Instead,
Amon sinned even more.
33:19 Or The Record of Hozai. 34:6 As in Syriac version;
Hebrew reads in their temples, or in their ruins. The meaning of
the Hebrew is uncertain.
24 Then Amon’s own officials conspired
against him and assassinated him in his palace.
25 But the people of the land killed all those who
had conspired against King Amon, and they
made his son Josiah the next king.
Josiah Rules in Judah
Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem
thirty-one years. 2 He did what was pleasing in
the Lord’s sight and followed the example of
his ancestor David. He did not turn away from
doing what was right.
3 During the eighth year of his reign, while
he was still young, Josiah began to seek the
God of his ancestor David. Then in the twelfth
year he began to purify Judah and Jerusalem,
destroying all the pagan shrines, the Asherah
poles, and the carved idols and cast images. 4 He
ordered that the altars of Baal be demolished
and that the incense altars which stood above
them be broken down. He also made sure that
the Asherah poles, the carved idols, and the
cast images were smashed and scattered over
the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.
5 He burned the bones of the pagan priests on
their own altars, and so he purified Judah and
Jerusalem.
6 He did the same thing in the towns of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, even as far as
Naphtali, and in the regions* all around them.
7 He destroyed the pagan altars and the Asherah
poles, and he crushed the idols into dust. He
cut down all the incense altars throughout the
land of Israel. Finally, he returned to Jerusalem.
34
• Humility
2 C HR ON I C LES 33:10-13
Manasseh was one of the most wicked
kings ever to rule in Judah. He encouraged
his own people to do so much evil that
they became more wicked than the
nations they had once driven out. God
sent warnings through his prophets, but
Manasseh ignored them. Then God sent
the Assyrian armies, and they seized
Manasseh, bound him with chains, and
carted him off to Babylon (33:9-11).
Finally Manasseh came to his senses
and cried out to God for help. God, in his
mercy, listened and restored Manasseh
to his kingdom. Manasseh went on to
accomplish much for God after that. In
his prosperity, Manasseh was proud. In
his nothingness, he was humbled and
cried out to God. Have you learned to
be humble, even when you have much?