2nd Kings Chapter Twenty-one

 2Ki 21:1  Manasseh was a son of twelve years when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty five years in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother was Hephzibah. 

2Ki 21:2  And he did the evil in the eyes of Jehovah, according to the idolatries of the nations that Jehovah expelled from before the sons of Israel. 

2Ki 21:3  And he built again the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed, and raised up altars for Baal, and made an Asherah, as did Ahab the king of Israel, and worshiped all the host of the heavens, and served them. 

2Ki 21:4  And he built altars in the house of Jehovah, of which Jehovah had said, In Jerusalem I will put My name. 

2Ki 21:5  And he built altars for all the host of the heavens in the two courts of Jehovah's house. 

2Ki 21:6  And he made his son to pass through the fire, used magic, and used divination, and dealt with mediums and spirit-knowers. He expanded to work the evil in the eyes of Jehovah, to provoke Him to anger. 

2Ki 21:7  And he set a graven image of the Asherah that he had made in the house of which Jehovah had said to David and to his son Solomon, In this house, and in Jerusalem, that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever. 

2Ki 21:8  And I will not again make the feet of Israel wander any more out of the land which I gave their fathers; only if they observe to do all that I commanded them, and to all the Law that My servant Moses commanded them. 

2Ki 21:9  But they did not listen, and Manasseh caused them to be led astray above the nations that Jehovah had destroyed from before the sons of Israel. 

2Ki 21:10  And Jehovah spoke by His servants the prophets, saying, 

2Ki 21:11  Because Manasseh the king of Judah has done these abominations, doing more wickedly than all that the Amorites did before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols, 

2Ki 21:12  therefore so says Jehovah, the God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing evil on Jerusalem and Judah, so that whoever hears of it, his two ears shall tingle. 

2Ki 21:13  And I will stretch out over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab, and shall wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish (he wipes and turns it on its face). 

2Ki 21:14  And I will forsake the remnant of My inheritance, and give them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall be for a prey and for a spoil to all their enemies, 

2Ki 21:15  because they have done evil in My eyes, and have provoked Me to anger from the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day. 

2Ki 21:16  And also Manasseh has shed very much innocent blood, till he has filled Jerusalem from mouth to mouth; apart from his sin that he caused Judah to sin, to do evil in the eyes of Jehovah. 

2Ki 21:17  And the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, are they not written in the Book of the Matters of the Days of the Kings of Judah? 

2Ki 21:18  And Manasseh lay with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his house in the Garden of Uzza. And his son Amon reigned in his place. 

2Ki 21:19  Amon was a son of twenty two years when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem; and the name of his mother was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. 

2Ki 21:20  And he did the evil in the eyes of Jehovah, as his father Manasseh did, 

2Ki 21:21  and walked in all the way that his father walked, and served the idols that his father served, and bowed himself to them. 

2Ki 21:22  And he forsook Jehovah, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of Jehovah. 

2Ki 21:23  And the servants of Amon conspired against him and killed the king in his own house. 

2Ki 21:24  And the people of the land killed all those who conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place. 

2Ki 21:25  And the rest of the acts of Amon that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Matters of the Days of the Kings of Judah? 

2Ki 21:26  And they buried him in his grave in the garden of Uzza. And his son Josiah reigned in his place. 

Verses 1-9 Summary: Manasseh is an evil king. He re-introduces all the idolatry removed by his father. He commits atrocities in his idol worship. He sets up idolatry in the temple. Judah as a nation is led astray.

Verses 10-18 Summary: God passes judgement over Judah for their idolatry and the abominations instituted by Manasseh

1. If God had not given Hezekiah fifteen years more of life, do you believe that would have affected the reign of Manasseh in any way? Unknowable. Manasseh was only twelve years old when he started his reign. Unlike Joash, who has Jehoiada to guide him, Manasseh just seems to go his own way. Or, perhaps he is influences by godless fellows. Manasseh was not buried with the kings. 

2nd Chronicles 33:1-20 (Additional facts about Manasseh); Manasseh commits severe idolatry. He is brutally captured by the Assyrians. He prays to God and he is returned to Judah, He removes the idols. He strengthens Jerusalem. Jehovah is worshipped on the high places (unauthorized).

2. Later in 2Kings 23:26-27, God still spoke of punishing Judah for the sins of Manasseh. Why would God do this even though Manasseh had repented? (Compare 2 Kings 24:3-4) - 
God drew the line at child sacrifice. The shedding of innocent blood had to be answered. 

Verses 19-26 Summary (Amon): Amon is an evil king. His servants kill him. The servants are executed, Josiah becomes king. Amon was not buried with the kings.

2nd Chronicles 33:21-25 (Additional Facts About Amon): Amon served other gods to the exclusion of Jehovah. 

3. If Hezekiah's reign began in 725 BC, give the dates for the reigns of the subsequent kings:

Hezekiah   725-29=

Manasseh  696-55=

Amon        641-2=

Josiah        639