If you read Manasseh’s story in 2 Chronicles 33, you see his reign as a picture of how sin affects us:
- Manasseh forgot the Lord in his prosperity. Somehow his father, King Hezekiah, was not able to pass on the heritage of godliness.
- I saw no other mention of Hezekiah’s children in his biography. I wondered if perhaps Manasseh was spoiled as an only child – or at the very least pampered as one born in the last years of his father’s life.
- Regardless of how he got that way, it is obvious that Manasseh thought that his father’s God was not worth seeking, choosing rather the allure of sin.
- Manasseh spent great effort and resources rebuilding the trappings of idol worship that his father had destroyed.
- His sin resulted in great personal distress and even deportation!
- He called out to God who restored him in answer to his humility and repentance.
- Then Manasseh, however, had to spend great time, effort and money undoing what he had done as a young man. Resources that could have been put to better use in building up the nation had to be used to undo the imprint of sin.
- He restored the altar of the Lord, but only after those who had learned to follow him in sin were set in their ways.
- The people continued to use high places to worship, a practice that was displeasing to God.
- Most tragically, Amon, Manasseh’s son, opted for the sinful lifestyle of his father’s youth, and Amon never got away from his sin.
The good news is – God hears our genuine prayers of repentance and will grant us forgiveness and an opportunity to make things right. The hard truth is that the longer we wait to come to God the more it will cost us to undo the things we have done, and, the more likely it will be that those who follow our lead may never get on the right track.
Beloved, now is the acceptable time. Now is the day of renewal and recommitment. Don’t delay another day!
5 comments:
I've moved on from Hezekiah to Manasseh in the books I've been reading, and I couldn't resist reading your blog even if it spoiled the end of the story for me! I'm glad that Manasseh comes to the Lord later in life. I can't believe the mess he got himself into... he is (almost overnight) convinced that the people he trusts the most are conspiring against him, and proceeds to execute his trusted palace administrator (Eliakim) and the prophet Isaiah due to his immaturity and insecurity. So much innocent and Godly blood was shed, and so casually on his part. No wonder he found himself in such a dire situation!
The scary thing to me is how quickly Satan can use the slightest insecurity to plant doubt and hatred in our minds. He then convinces us to rationalize and we get further and further from the Lord, until it doesn't even occur to us to seek His answer directly from Him... we rely on our own ability to try to understand God's plans and guess what we should do. Scary!
PS: My book does mention a younger brother that Manasseh was not close to, but he made him his right-hand man after the execution of Eliakim. Amariah.. although maybe he's a fictional character in my book!
Great research Eric and Jenny! I didn't know about Manasseh's brother Amariah. He is mentioned in Zephaniah 1.1: "The word of the LORD that came to Zephaniah son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, during the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah." It doesn't say whether he was older or younger than Manasseh, but you are right he was probably younger because Manasseh was made king.
I was curious about your comments concerning Isaiah and Eliakim. I had never run across that before. Was that in your fictional book or is there something I'm missing in the story of Manasseh? Would it be from extra-biblical literature? Does anybody else know?
As you said, we must be vigilant against the lies of Satan. We need to put on the belt of truth to overcome the lies of our enemy. He is the father of lies. But Jesus is the Truth! Forever praised!
Great comments! Thanks, Jenny and Eric!
Dad
Forgot to mention the biblical reference fot the belt of truth. Check out Ephesians 6.10-20. Good scripture to memorize and use in your morning devotions. Put on the armor of God before you go out and face the day!
Hey Dad... I was looking in my book, and trying to find a historical reference to Isaiah and Eliakim. Some of it might have been fictional, although in her footnotes she references Hebrews 11:37, and when I did further research I found that "There is a very substantial and long-lasting Jewish and Christian tradition that it was during this time that Manasseh put Isaiah in a hollow oak tree and had him sawn in two. This may be what is behind the reference in Hebrews 11 to men of faith, some of whom were "sawn asunder."" I'm not sure about Eliakim, she never referenced any scripture for that. In the book, Eliakim was a Godly man and stood up for Isaiah, and that's why he was executed along with Isaiah. But I think we do know that Joshua (his son) took all of his family and the Levites/priests and fled to Egypt? Sometimes it's hard to separate the non-fiction parts from the fiction!
Eric and Jenny,
Thanks for the clarification. I didn't think to look in the NT! Silly Dad! I figured it was tradition, though, like you said.
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