Gleanings of Life of Manasseh by Spurgeon

"2. He did what was evil in the Lord's sight, imitating the detestable practices of the pagan nations whom the Lord had driven from the land ahead of the Israelites.

It often happens that, when the sons of good men become bad, they are among the worst of men.

 

3. He rebuilt the pagan shrines his father Hezekiah had destroyed. He constructed altars for the images of Baal and set up Asherah poles. He also bowed before all the stars of heaven and

worshiped them.
4. He even built pagan altars in the Temple of the Lord, the place where the Lord had said his name should be honored forever.

6. He practiced sorcery, divination, and witchcraft, and he consulted with mediums and psychics. He did much that was evil in the Lord's sight, arousing his anger.

Manasseh was worse than an ordinary idolater, for he polluted the very place which was dedicated to the service of the only living and true God.

 

11. Therefore-

 

Since words were not sufficient, and God intended to save him, he came to blows: "Therefore"— 11. the Lord sent 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, 13. But while in deep distress, Manasseh sought the Lord his God and cried out humbly to the God of his ancestors. And when he prayed, the Lord listened to him and was moved by his request for help. So the Lord let Manasseh return to Jerusalem and to his kingdom.

There surely can be no person in this assembly who can say that he has sinned worse than Manasseh did. He seems to have gone as far as any human being could go; and yet, you see, when he humbled himself before the Lord, and lifted up his heart in supplication, God forgave his sin, and restored him to his former position in Jerusalem.

 

15. Manasseh also removed the foreign gods from the hills and the idol from the Lord's Temple.

When grace comes into any man’s heart, there is sure to be a change in his action.

 17. However, the people still sacrificed at the pagan shrines, but only to the Lord their God.

The work of reformation is slow; you can lead men to sin as rapidly as you like, that is down-hill work; but to get them to toil with you up-hill toward the right is not so easy.

 

 18, 19. 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. 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 repented.

So we must remember that all the deeds that we have done, both good and evil, are written in God’s Book of Remembrance."
Charles Spurgeon/2 Chronicles 33