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I. ITS EARLY COMMENCEMENT. Manasseh, "One who forgets" (Gesenius) - an exceedingly appropriate name for one who in his lifetime forgat God and every good thing; in the inscriptions Minasi; perhaps so called "in allusion to the zeal with which the northern tribe had joined in Hezekiah's reforms" (2 Chronicles 30:11), or to the desire which prevailed in Hezekiah's reign for a union of the two kingdoms" (Stanley) - was twelve years old when he ascended his father's throne (ver. 1). A wise child may be better than a foolish king (Ecclesiastes 4:13); but, as a rule, "foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child" (Proverbs 22:15), while wisdom is the ripe fruit of age and experience (Job 32:7). The experiment of boy-kings - unless where these have been placed under regents or guided by wise counsellors, as were Joash (2 Chronicles 24:2) and Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26:5) - has seldom been successful (Ecclesiastes 10:16); though Manasseh's grandson, Josiah, must be pronounced an honourable and brilliant exception (2 Chronicles 34:2).

II. ITS EVIL CHARACTER. Manasseh "did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord" (ver. 2).

1. In imitation of the heathen. Whether he endeavoured to become acquainted with all the heathen religions he could find, and to introduce them into Judah, and "for this purpose sent into the most distant lands where there was any famous cultus, and grudged no pains for his one object" (Ewald, 'History of Israel,' 4:208) - which seems a pure conjecture on the part of the learned author who propounds it - it is undoubted that he resuscitated paganism and carried it to a higher degree of prevalence than it had ever before attained in Judah.

(1) He restored all the Canaanitish abominations, i.e. the ancient worship on hill-tops, which had flourished under Ahaz, but which his father Hezekiah had destroyed (vers. 2, 3).

(2) He revived the Baal and Moloch worship of Phoenicia, which Ahab had introduced into Israel, rearing up altars for the Baalim, making Asheroth, or male and female statues, with their accompanying abominable houses (ver. 3), and setting up a Moloch idol in the vale of Hinnom, to which he sacrificed one, if not more, of his own sons (ver. 6), and encouraged his people to offer theirs (Jeremiah 7:31, 32; Jeremiah 19:2-6; Jeremiah 32:35).

(3) He extended the Assyrio-Chaldean star-worship, which his grandfather Ahaz had introduced (2 Kings 23:12); he "worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them" (ver. 3). (On the nature of this worship, consult Exposition.)

(4) "He plunged into all the mysteries of sorcery, auguries, and necromancy" (Stanley); "he practised augury, and used enchantments, and practised sorcery, and dealt with them that had familiar spirits" (ver. 6). "Magic occupied an important place in the regards of the upper classes in Assyria, Babylonia, and Egypt. At Babylonia the interpretation of omens was reduced to a science" (Rawlinson, 'Kings of Israel and Judah,' p. 206).

2. In dishonour of his father. "He built again the high places his father Hezekiah had thrown down' (ver. 3). Two things may have accounted for this sudden outbreak of paganism after Hezekiah's death.

(1) The superficial character of Hezekiah's reformation, which, though extensive enough, reaching to the furthest limits of Judah (2 Chronicles 31:1), does not appear to have been sufficiently intensive (see Isaiah 28 - 32.). The heathen party which had the upper hand during Ahaz's reign, though suppressed by Hezekiah with Isaiah's help, was not destroyed. The spirit of idolatry, compelled to be quiet and in a measure hold itself in abeyance, was neither eradicated from the community nor greatly weakened in its energy - merely it was waiting a convenient opportunity to start up with renewed life and vigour. To this party belonged Shebna, the treasurer whose deposition Isaiah demanded (Isaiah 22:15-25).

(2) The youth of Manasseh on acceding to the throne. Whether Hezekiah's only son (Josephus, 'Ant.,' 10:2. 1) or not (Ewald, 'History of Israel,' 4:206, note), Manasseh was only twelve years of age on assuming the regal dignity, and must have been born three years after the illness referred to in the preceding chapter (2 Chronicles 32:24). His father's death, therefore, having thrown him into the hands of the heathen party at a tender and susceptible age, he was quickly perverted from the right way of the Lord. Even the example, teaching, and prayers of his mother, Hephzibah (2 Kings 21:1), traditionally reported to have been Isaiah's daughter, were powerless to resist the corrupting influences of the statesmen and courtiers who surrounded him. "The young years of Manasseh gave advantage to his miscarriage; even while he might have been under the ferule, he swayed the sceptre. Whither may not a child be drawn, especially to a gairish and puppet-like superstition? As infancy is capable of all impressions, so most of the worst" (Bishop Hall).

3. In defiance of Jehovah. Not content with re-establishing idolatry in general, he proceeded to put a special affront upon Jehovah.

(1) He built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts (outer and inner) of the house of the Lord (ver. 5), thus desecrating the city of which Jehovah had said, "In Jerusalem shall my Name be for ever" (ver. 4).

(2) In the house of God, perhaps in the holy place, he set the graven image of the idol he had made (ver. 7), i.e. of the Phoenician Astarte, so dishonouring the city and the temple of which God had said, "In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen before all the tribes of Israel, will I put my Name for ever" (ver. 7), and braving the Divine threatening Jehovah had pronounced against apostasy from his Law and worship (ver. 8). That he "went so far as to remove the altar from the forecourt of the temple, and the ark from the holy of holies" (Ewald), though not certain, is at least probable (cf. ver. 16; 35:3; Jeremiah 3:16).

(3) He along with his people rejected the admonitions of Jehovah's prophets (ver. 10; cf. 2 Kings 21:10). Whether one of these was Hozai, who survived Manasseh's reign and recorded its chief events (ver. 19), whether Isaiah lived into the times of Hezekiah's son, and whether Habakkuk was one of those who remonstrated with Manasseh, cannot be determined. Their message, however, has been recorded (2 Kings 21:12-15) - a prediction of impending destruction for Jerusalem because of her sovereign's and her people's sins. Yet neither Manasseh nor his people would hearken. "They loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil." They refused to be warned of the perilous career upon which they had entered. "They hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: they would none of his counsel; they despised all his reproof" (Proverbs 1:29, 30).

(4) He employed against the prophets and professors of the true religion the unhallowed instrument of persecution. "He shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another" (2 Kings 21:16). "He barbarously slew all the righteous men that were among the Hebrews; nor would he spare the prophets, for he every day slew some of them, till Jerusalem was overflown with blood" (Josephus, 'Ant.,' 10:3. 1). Not the first instance in Scripture of a state persecution on account of religion (1 Kings 18:13); unhappily not the last (2 Chronicles 34:5).

III. ITS LONG CONTINUANCE. The worst king had the longest reign - fifty-five years. Perhaps:

1. To discover the true character of the nation's sin, to reveal the essentially evil nature of idolatry, the inherent wickedness of such apostasy from Jehovah as Manasseh and his subjects had been guilty of. For this reason God bore long with the antediluvian world, and still at times permits wicked men to cumber the ground through long years, while good men, on the other hand, appear to be cut off before their time.

2. To signalize the Divine forbearance, to make known to Manasseh and his subjects the Divine long-suffering, the desire on Jehovah's part that he and they should repent; as God still, for a like reason, exercises patience with wicked men (1 Timothy 1:16; 2 Peter 3:15), being unwilling that any should perish, but that all should turn unto him and live (Ezekiel 18:23, 32; Ezekiel 33:11; 1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9).

3. To vindicate the Divine justice, in ease the threatened judgments against Judah and Jerusalem should come to be fulfilled. After such an exhibition of the hideous character and bitter fruits of idolatry as had been given by Judah's king and people, and after such a display of patient forbearance on the part of Jehovah, when the stroke of judgment fell upon the apostate land, it would be impossible to say that it was either undeserved or premature; that either Judah's cup of iniquity was not full, or everything had not been done to secure her recovery from the evil path upon which she had entered (Isaiah 4:3-7).

IV. ITS PEACEFUL CLOSE.

1. The king was converted. "Manasseh humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers" (ver. 12). "Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God" (ver. 13; see next homily on vers. 11-17).

2. The people were reformed. In part at least a check was given to their idolatry. Though they continued to sacrifice on the high places, they did so "unto the Lord their God only" (ver. 17). Learn:

1. That early promotion, except in grace, is frequently a grievous misfortune.

2. That piety in parents is no guarantee of piety in children.

3. That the alternation of good and evil rulers in the Church and in the state is not without its uses - on the one hand of comfort, on the other hand of trial.

4. That "length of days is no true rule of God's favour" (Hall).

5. That "we may not measure grace by means" (ibid.).

6. That "that mischief may be done in a day which many ages cannot redress" (ibid.).

7. That no degree of wickedness is beyond the reach of grace to forgive or remove. - W.

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KJV: Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem:

WEB: Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.