{"id":7286,"date":"2023-10-20T00:01:25","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T07:01:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/?p=7286"},"modified":"2026-03-25T12:50:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T19:50:58","slug":"2-chronicles-331-2-manasseh-was-twelve-years-old-when-he-became-king-and-he-reigned-fifty-five-years-in-jerusalem-but-he-did-evil-in-the-sight-of-the-lord-according-to-the-abominations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/?p=7286","title":{"rendered":"2 Chronicles 33:1\u20132: “Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. But he did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.”"},"content":{"rendered":"

When it says that King Manasseh “did evil”, it literally says he was committing disgusting actions<\/em>, evil beyond imagination. Many categorize him as the worst king to ever reign in Judah. Yet he reigned for 55 years, longer than any other king, much longer than either David or Solomon. We can’t help but wonder why God allowed it to go on for so long.<\/p>\n

The answer is that our God is patient, merciful, and long-suffering, “not willing that any should perish” (2 Peter 3:9). With all eternity behind Him and all eternity before Him, God has plenty of time on His hands. And He gave Manasseh abundant time and opportunity to turn to Him, which he did. After being taken captive for a time to Babylon, Manasseh humbled himself before the Lord and repented. When he was returned to Judah, he set about clearing away the idol worship he had brought in.<\/p>\n

There is a non-biblical fable about Abraham that illustrates this point. The fable says that Abraham was sitting outside his tent one evening when he saw an old man, weary from age and journey, coming toward him. Abraham rushed out, greeted him, and invited him into his tent. There, he washed the old man’s feet and gave him food and drink. The man immediately began eating, without saying any prayer or blessing. Abraham asked him, “Don’t you worship God?” The old traveler replied, “I worship fire only and reverence no other god.” When Abraham heard this, he became incensed, grabbed the old man by the shoulders, and threw him out of his tent into the cold night air. When the old man had departed, God called to his friend Abraham and asked where the stranger was. Abraham replied, “I forced him out because he did not worship You.” God answered, “I have suffered him these 80 years, although he dishonors Me. Could you not endure him one night?”<\/p>\n

So we pray:<\/p>\n

“LORD, help us to patiently share Your love with others around us this day that need a quiet and solid witness.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

=============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 Chronicles 33 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1<\/sup>\u00a0Manasseh\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem:\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0But did\u00a0that which was\u00a0<\/em>evil in the sight of the\u00a0LORD, like unto the abominations of the heathen, whom the\u00a0LORD\u00a0had cast out before the children of Israel. 3<\/sup> 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.\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0Also he built altars in the house of the\u00a0LORD, whereof the\u00a0LORD\u00a0had said, In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever.\u00a05<\/sup>\u00a0And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the\u00a0LORD.\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0And 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\u00a0LORD, to provoke him to anger.\u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0And he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen before all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever:\u00a08<\/sup> Neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from out of the land which I have appointed for your fathers; so that they will take heed to do all that I have commanded them, according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses.\u00a09<\/sup>\u00a0So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err,\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>to do worse than the heathen, whom the\u00a0LORD\u00a0had destroyed before the children of Israel.\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0And the\u00a0LORD\u00a0spake to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not hearken. 11<\/sup>\u00a0Wherefore the\u00a0LORD\u00a0brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.\u00a012<\/sup>\u00a0And when he was in affliction, he besought the\u00a0LORD\u00a0his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,\u00a013<\/sup>\u00a0And 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\u00a0LORD\u00a0he\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>God.\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0Now after this he built a wall without the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entering in at the fish gate, and compassed about Ophel, and raised it up a very great height, and put captains of war in all the fenced cities of Judah.\u00a0\u00a015<\/sup>\u00a0And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the\u00a0LORD, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the\u00a0LORD, and in Jerusalem, and cast\u00a0them\u00a0<\/em>out of the city.\u00a016<\/sup>\u00a0And he repaired the altar of the\u00a0LORD, and sacrificed thereon peace offerings and thank offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the\u00a0LORD\u00a0God of Israel.\u00a017<\/sup>\u00a0Nevertheless the people did sacrifice still in the high places,\u00a0yet\u00a0<\/em>unto the\u00a0LORD\u00a0their God only. 18<\/sup>\u00a0Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer unto his God, and the words of the seers that spake to him in the name of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0God of Israel, behold, they\u00a0are written\u00a0<\/em>in the book of the kings of Israel.\u00a019<\/sup>\u00a0His prayer also, and\u00a0how God\u00a0<\/em>was intreated of him, and all his sin, and his trespass, and the places wherein he built high places, and set up groves and graven images, before he was humbled: behold, they\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>written among the sayings of the seers.\u00a0 20<\/sup> So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house: and Amon his son reigned in his stead. 21<\/sup> Amon\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>two and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned two years in Jerusalem.\u00a022<\/sup>\u00a0But he did\u00a0that which was\u00a0<\/em>evil in the sight of the\u00a0LORD, as did Manasseh his father: for Amon sacrificed unto all the carved images which Manasseh his father had made, and served them;\u00a023<\/sup>\u00a0And humbled not himself before the\u00a0LORD, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but Amon trespassed more and more.\u00a024<\/sup>\u00a0And his servants conspired against him, and slew him in his own house. 25<\/sup>\u00a0But the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When it says that King Manasseh “did evil”, it literally says he was committing disgusting actions, evil beyond imagination. Many categorize him as the worst king to ever reign in Judah. Yet he reigned for 55 years, longer than any other king, much longer than either David or Solomon. We can’t help but wonder why […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7286"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7286"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16386,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7286\/revisions\/16386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}