Chiasm of Manasseh's Reign

And he

--caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom:

--also he observed times,

--and used enchantments,

--and used witchcraft,

--and dealt with a familiar spirit,

--and with wizards:

he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

2 Chronicles 33:6

 

2Ch33:1-20    A(33:1-3)    2Ch33:1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king (2Ch33:1)       B(33:4-9)       2Ch33:7 He placed an idol that he had carved in the house of God     (הסמל)          C'(33:10-13)          2Ch33:11 they took Manasseh with hooks, shackled him with chains, and transported him to Babylon.(2Ch33:11)       B'(33:14-17)       2Ch33:15 He removed the foreign gods and the idol from the LORD'S house (2Ch33:15)     (הסמל)    A'(33:18-20)    2Ch33:20 His son Amon succeeded him as king

A: Coronation. B: An idol. C: The captivity.

ARCHAEOLOGY: Mannaseh's Tax System

Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign,

and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem.

2 Kings 21:1

"........a recent archaeological discovery concerning ancient taxes in Jerusalem has added to scholars’ certainty about a tax system in ancient Israel, especially during the reign of Judah’s King Manasseh.

.....workers at the Temple Mount Sifting Project discovered a small clay bulla, or seal impression, inscribed in paleo-Hebrew script. Although some of the letters had broken off, archaeologist and

codirector of the sifting project Gabriel Barkay reconstructs the two lines of fragmentary paleo-Hebrew text to read “[g]b’n/lmlk,” or “Gibeon, for the king.”

Barkay told Biblical Archaeology Review  by telephone that the fiscal bullae were not part of Hezekiah’s administrative preparations for the siege of Jerusalem by the Assyrian king Sennacherib in 701 B.C. Rather, he thinks the bullae are evidence for a system of ancient taxes used by Hezekiah’s son and successor, King Manasseh, in the seventh century B.C. ....under this system, “the urban administrative centers collected [ancient] taxes in kind [i.e., grain, oil, etc.] and then sent them on to the king in Jerusalem with the documentation attached and sealed by these bullae identifying where it had come from—in this case, Gibeon.”
Barkay suggests that this Biblical passage may even have been composed for purposes of administering and collecting ancient taxes during the reign of King Manasseh.

King Manasseh was not popular with the Biblical authors but Assyrian records suggest that he implemented heavy taxes on his people in order to pay tribute to King Esarhaddon and then King Ashurbanipal, Sennacherib’s successors in Assyria. These ancient taxes thus helped King Manasseh maintain relative peace in Judah during his 55-year reign. Other evidence from the paleo-Hebrew inscribed fiscal bullae indicates that the city of Lachish was rebuilt during this time 16 years after its destruction by Sennacherib’s invading army." BAR

Shaped by Manasseh's Apostasy

"Among those whose life experience had been shaped beyond recall by the fatal apostasy of Manasseh, was his own son, who came to the throne at the age of twenty-two..

Of King Amon it is written: "He walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshiped them: and he forsook the Lord God of his fathers" (2 Kings 21:21, 22); he "humbled not himself before the Lord, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but Amon trespassed more and more."
Patriarchs & Prophets p.384 E.G.W.

Mannaseh's Shedding of "Innocent Blood"

“Shed innocent blood very much”: 2 Kings 21:16
The reference here is ambiguous and several interpretations have been offered:

1.   Child sacrifice (verse 6); 

2.   Oppression and persecution of the weak (Jer. 7:6; 22:3, 17; Ezek. 22:6-31); or

3.   The martyrdom of God’s prophets (verse 10).

A combination of all 3 is most likely, Jewish and Christian tradition alike report that Manasseh had Isaiah sawn in two inside a hollow log (Hebrews 11:37)."

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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

Nahum & Manasseh Connection?

"A case can be made for the proclamation of the message, and writing of the book, about 650 BC. If this is the correct date, the Spirit of God used this book to put King Manasseh into a position where

he could come to faith and bring Judah back to the LORD. Up until this point in the reign of King Manasseh, the kingdom, led by the king, was “more evil than the nations whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel” (2 Chr 33:9).

The LORD sent seers (prophets) to speak to the nation, but the nation would not listen to the Word of God (33:10, 18). While not named, one of the seers was probably Nahum. His vision concerning the total destruction of Nineveh would be seen by the Assyrian overlords as fomenting rebellion and insurrection, and possibly seen as support for Shamash-shum-ukin, the king of Babylon, in his current civil war with his brother Ashurbanipal II. If a copy of the book of Nahum fell into the hands of the Assyrian intelligence community stationed at the Assyrian administrative centers of Samaria, Dor, Megiddo or Hazor, King Manasseh would have had to give account for this book. The Biblical record states,

the LORD brought upon them [Judah] the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze fetters, and carried him off to Babylon (2 Chr 33:11).

 
This event would have transpired in 648 BC, the year that Ashurbanipal II temporarily ruled Babylon after he eliminated his brother as a result of the four-year civil war (Rainey 1993:160).
Dragging someone off with hooks in their nose would be in keeping with Ashurbanipal’s character. In the excavations of Sam’al (Zincirli, in southern Turkey) a stela was found depicting Esarhaddon holding two leashes attached to the nose-rings of Baal of Tyre and Usanahuru, a crown prince of Egypt. Flanking the stela, watching intently, is Esarhaddon’s son Ashurbanipal on the left and his brother Samas-sumu-ukin on the right. Ashurbanipal observed his father’s brutality and followed his example (Parpola and Watanabe 1988:20, 21).

During Manasseh’s interrogation by Ashurbanipal II (and it must have been a brutal one—the text used the word “afflicted”).

He implored the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed to Him; and He received his entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God (2 Chr 33:12–13).

Upon his return to Jerusalem, Manasseh began building projects in the city as well as elsewhere in Judah and removed the idols and altars he had placed in the Temple (2 Chr 33:14–15).

He also repaired the altar of the LORD, sacrificed peace offerings and thanks offerings on it, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel (33:16).

This activity was in accord with what Nahum had challenged the people to do.

Behold, on the mountains, the feet of him who brings good tidings, who proclaims peace! O Judah, keep your appointed feast, perform your vows. For the wicked one shall no more pass through; he is utterly cut off (1:15).

The challenge was for Judeans to renew their pilgrimages to Jerusalem for the thrice-yearly feasts of Pesach (Passover), Shav’uot (Pentecost) and Succoth (Tabernacles) (Ex 23:14–17; 34:22–24; Dt 16:16, 17). There was also a command for the remnant that faithfully prayed to the LORD desiring to bring the nation back to Biblical worship and to bring the king to the LORD.

Nahum was from Elkosh (Na 1:1).
Some scholars have suggested Elkosk was located at the village of Al-Qush, 25 mi north of modern day Mosul, a city that is across the Tigris River from Nineveh. These scholars take this position because:
(1) the names are similar,
(2) the local Christian tradition holds that Nahum was from there and his tomb was there, and
(3) Nahum’s writings show his familiarity with the city of Nineveh.
Some speculate that Nahum was an Israelite captive who lived in the area and was an eyewitness to the city.

There is, however, the possibility that Elkosh was in southern Judah and Nahum was part of the Judean emissary that brought the yearly tribute from King Manasseh to Nineveh.

While in Nineveh, he would have observed the broad roads (Na 2:4), walls (2:5), gates (2:6), temples and idols (1:14), and its vast wealth (2:9). I’m sure the minister of propaganda would have shown him the wall reliefs in Ashurbanipal’s residence! These reliefs were intended “as propaganda to impress, intimidate and instigate by representing the might of Assyrian power and the harsh punishment of rebels” (Comelius 1989:56). Or, as Esarhaddon would say, “For the gaze of all my foes, to the end of days, I set it [stela] up” (Luckenbill 1989:2:227).

In 650 BC, Nahum would have seen the newly opened Room 33 in the Southwest Palace of Nineveh (Sennacherib’s “palace without rival”) with the reliefs depicting the campaign against Teumman of Elam and Dunanu of Gambula in 633 BC. One Particular relief would have caught his attention. On it, Elamite captives are shown being tortured. The caption above stated, “Mr. (blank) and Mr. (blank) spoke great insults against Assur, the god, my creator. Their tongues I tore out, their skins I flayed” (Russell 1999:180; Gerardi 1988:31). These two individuals are identified in Ashurbanipal’s annals as Mannu-ki-ahhe and Nabuusalli (Russell 1999:163).

It was with great boldness that Nahum proclaimed,

The LORD has given a command concerning you [the king of Assyria]: “Your name shall be perpetuated no longer. Out of the house of your gods I will cut off the carved image and molded image. I will dig your grave, for you are vile” (1:14).

 The second chapter of Nahum describes the fall of the city of Nineveh to the Babylonians and Medes in 612 BC. He describes in detail the shields, chariots and spears of the Assyrian foes."
AssociatesForBiblicalResearch
  "From the reign of Shalmaneser III, Ashurnasirpal II’s son, we also have some bronze bands that decorated a massive pair of wooden gates of a temple (and possibly a palace) at Balawat, near modern Mosul. These bronze bands display unusually fine examples of bronze repousse (a relief created by hammering on the opposite side).
In a detail, we see an Assyrian soldier grasping the hand and arm of a captured enemy whose other hand and both feet have already been cut off. Dismembered hands and feet fly through the scene. Severed enemy heads hang

from the conquered city’s walls. Another captive is impaled on a stake, his hands and feet already having been cut off.
In another detail, we see three stakes, each driven through eight severed heads, set up outside the conquered city.
A third detail shows a row of impaled captives lined up on stakes set up on a hill outside the captured city. In an inscription from Shalmaneser Ill’s father, Ashurnasirpal II, the latter tells us, “I captured soldiers alive [and] erected [them] on stakes before their cities.”
Full text of "CP 6.0 Assyrian Torture"

 

Prodigal Son of Old Testament

These things happened to them

 as examples for us.

They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age.

1 Corinthians 10:11 NLT

 

PRODIGAL SON of the OLD TESTAMENT

SCENE 1

Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign,

and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem:

But did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD,

like unto the abominations of the heathen,....

For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down,

and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves,

and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.

And he built altars for all the host of heaven

in the two courts of the house of the LORD.

And he caused his children to pass through the fire

in the valley of the son of Hinnom:

also he observed times, and used enchantments,

and used witchcraft,

 and dealt with a familiar spirit,

 and with wizards:

he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD,

 to provoke him to anger.

So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err,

and to do worse than the heathen,

Moreover Manasseh shed innocent

 blood very much,

 till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another;

2 Chronicles 33:1-3,5,6,9/2 Kings 21:16

SCENE 2

And when he was in affliction,

he besought the

LORD his God,

and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,

And prayed unto him: and he was intreated of him,

and heard his supplication,

and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom.

Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God.

2 Chronicles 33:12,13

Isaiah Sawn in Half?

Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much,

till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another;

2 Kings 21:16

Tradition has it that Isaiah was sawn in half by the men of wicked king Manasseh of Judah. And this was done as the old prophet Isaiah hid in a hallow tree-sawn with Isaiah inside.
This info comes from such sources as Lives of the Prophets, Babylonian Talmud and the Jerusalem Talmud.  Is this-or at least the details of it-true? I don't know----but some see Paul hinting at it -  They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword... Hebrews 11:37

Sins of Manasseh

Manasseh also sacrificed his own sons in the fire in the valley of Ben-Hinnom.
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.
2 Chronicles 33:6NLT