November 20, 2018
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in Isaiah & 2 Kings? Here’s today’s reading:
2 Kings 21 (ESV)
Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. 2 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. 3 For he rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. 4 And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem will I put my name.” 5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord......Continue Reading
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There is so much here in 2 Kings 21 and its parallel passage in 2 Chronicles 33 with the account of Manasseh. Below are a few of things that stuck out to me.
* The importance of godly leadership. Manasseh caused the people of Judah to sin (2 Chr 33:9). This account reminded me of an article about an atheist pastor who is trying to lead people in a ‘godless faith’. https://www.infowars.com/christian-church-backs-atheist-pastor-amid-uproar/
* The importance of personal purity. While I can look down my nose at Manasseh and how he set up evil idols in the temple of God, remember that the believer is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:18) and I allow profane things to desecrate this temple. I set up idols, not Baals and Asherah, but items that replace true and spiritual worship with self and pride.
* The beauty of God’s mercy. 2 Kings gives only the account of Manasseh’s wickedness. 2 Chronicles gives the account of his repentance and God’s forgiveness. This is after reading the account of how Manasseh filled the streets with blood, the account of child sacrifice, the account of desecrating the temple of God! Yet, God forgives and restores. I am filled with awe.
Oops, I referenced the wrong verse for our bodies being the temple of the Holy Spirit. It should be 1 Corinthians 6:19.
Started reign at 15
Did evil
How much of that was youth hubris or self or bad influences
Why make the same mistakes of the past
Our God is Holy, Holy, Holy, and is repulsed by sin. What a great price Jesus paid to take all of the sins of the world on Him and to shed His blood to pay a price that we could never pay, reconciling us to God. When we minimize our sin, we lose focus on His holiness and the great price that His son paid for us.
10And the Lord said by his servants the prophets, 11″Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations and has done things more evil than all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols, 12therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such disaster that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. 13And I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria, and the plumb line of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. 14And I will forsake the remnant of my heritage and give them into the hand of their enemies, and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies, 15because they have done what is evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day.”
How sad that Manasseh did not follow in the footsteps of his dad Hezekiah. One wonders if this is more of a reflection on Hezekiah or Manasseh? But in all it reenforces the importance of the purity of our witness to our children as well the responsibility they have to believe and follow God themselves. And it is even sadder to see the depth of evil that Manasseh participated in. And yet God in His mercy allowed Him to reign 55 years. This does remind us of the importance of leadership as Dan brings up above as well the importance of the people rejecting the falsehood promoted by those above them and being Bereans who find and follow the truth themselves.
It was interesting to turn to 2 Chronicles 33 and see that Manasseh did repent because God humbled Him and after that it says Manasseh then knew the Lord. So we will either learn by instruction and faith or learn from experience, and experience is a far harder teacher. It is also one thing to hear about God and quite another thing to know and experience Him ourselves. Let us pray that our children will come to God by whatever means necessary, but come to know Him in deep and life altering ways……
13And I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria, and the plumb line of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.😬