King Manasseh of Judah

After King Hezekiah died, his son Manasseh succeeded him. Manasseh had the longest reign, lasting 55 years, yet he was the worst ruler in the Kingdom of Judah. The record of his evil deeds is among the darkest accounts of sin in the Bible (2 Chronicles 33:2-9). He abolished all the good his father Hezekiah had done and introduced every evil practice of paganism, even surpassing them in wickedness. Manasseh restored the high places and idols that Hezekiah had destroyed. He burned his own son as an offering to idols, practiced divination and sorcery, consulted mediums and spiritists, and even set up a carved Asherah pole in the Temple. Manasseh murdered many prophets. Jewish tradition holds that the prophet Isaiah was sawn in half on Manasseh’s orders.

The name “Manasseh” means “forgetting.” He forgot the godly upbringing he had received and the example of his father. During Manasseh’s reign, the people of Judah plunged into an unprecedented abyss of sin: in terms of breadth, he committed all the evil practices of Canaan; in terms of depth, he defiled the Temple, which was the most central symbol bearing God’s name, Israel’s faith, and identity; in terms of influence, he led all of Judah into sin.

God sent warnings to the Southern Kingdom of Judah through various prophets, cautioning Manasseh and his people, but they would not listen. So, the LORD brought the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria against them, who took Manasseh with hooks and bound him with bronze chains, leading him away to Babylon. Manasseh, whose sins were immense, was disciplined by God through this captivity in Babylon. After this, he repented and “returned to Jerusalem and to his throne” (2 Chronicles 33:12-16).

Manasseh had led Judah astray for decades, only repenting in his later years. He commanded the people of Judah to serve the LORD, the God of Israel. But it was too late; he couldn’t even change his own son, much less the people. His son Amon restored idol worship after succeeding him, and the people continued to burn incense on the high places. Manasseh’s life was marked by more evil than good. After his death, he was not buried in the tombs of the kings of Israel but “in his own palace garden.”