King Manasseh and Three Memorials
Introduction: Manasseh, the king of Judah and son of Hezekiah, seemed to have a great future. His father had been a truly great king, as well as a good king because his father followed the LORD completely. Manasseh, though, promptly undid just about everything his father had done but he paid a severe price for it. Even so, the grace of God reached down to even Manasseh, and he repented. Manasseh proved his sincerity by taking care of three sets of memorials.
(Edited from a sermon preached 5-25-2025 at New Hope Baptist Church near Fulton, MO. This is not an exact transcription.)
1 The Memorials he removed
Text: 2 Chronicles 33:9-20, KJV: 9 So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel. 10 And the LORD spake to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not hearken. 11 Wherefore the LORD brought 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. 12 And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, 13 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.
14 Now 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. 15 And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the LORD, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city. 16 And he repaired the altar of the LORD, and sacrificed thereon peace offerings and thank offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel. 17 Nevertheless the people did sacrifice still in the high places, yet unto the LORD their God only.
18 Now 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 LORD God of Israel, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel. 19 His prayer also, and how God 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 are written among the sayings of the seers. 20 So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.
One of the themes portrayed often in the Books of Kings and Chronicles is that there are times when a good father has an evil son. The reverse is true, also, as a look at the line of kings of Judah will clearly show. David was one of the best, as also were Asa, Jehoshaphat, and Hezekiah to name a few. Ahaz, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, on the other hand, were three of the worst. Manasseh, though, was the worst of the worst and he, single-handedly, sealed the fate for the southern kingdom, Judah (see 2 Kings 21:10-15).
And in case anyone needs more proof of Manasseh’s wickedness, verse 9 just about says it all. There’s even more in 2 Kings 21. The text follows an all-too-familiar pattern: a king decides to become evil and do evil in the sight of the LORD, he then forces Judah to go along (which they did, more or less willingly), and then receives God’s judgment for it. The king would face judgment for his own deeds, but the nation would receive judgment as well because they forsook the God of their fathers.
Comparing the passages in 2 Kings 21 and 2 Chronicles, we can see that Manasseh had the singular (!) fortune of being a guest of the Assyrians. Assuming he was taken to Nineveh, the capital, he walked (or, better, was led) nearly 600 miles away. It’s anybody’s guess what punishment he suffered, before, during, and after his captivity besides what’s found in verse 11.
Eventually, Manasseh got the message and repented! Verses 12 and 13 of the displayed text explain how he first “besought” the LORD, then humbled himself before the LORD, then prayed to Him. We’re not given any details of these actions but we can agree—Manasseh prayed, the LORD listened, and the LORD arranged for Manasseh to return home to Jerusalem. For another look at this, from outside the Bible itself, see the writings of Flavius Josephus, on line at https://biblehub.com/library/josephus/the_antiquities_of_the_jews/chapter_3_how_manasseh_reigned.htm
Once he got back, Manasseh didn’t seem to waste any time in proving his repentance. He wanted the people to know he had done wrong but he was changed! Here’s a look at the “memorials (note: I preached this message on a Memorial Day weekend)” he removed.
The first thing he did was remove the “memorials” or idols of false gods. Israel, we recall, had had a love-hate relationship with these man-made idols for hundreds of years before this. One of the earliest instances took place in the days of Jacob, when his (favorite) wife, Rachel, stole her fathers “gods”, items small enough to fit inside a saddlebag (see Genesis 31)! To me, it’s almost humorous to think that a man-made carving of wood, stone, or whatever could provide anything to anyone who prayed to it! These idols didn’t direct Laban, Rachel’s father, to their location and they couldn’t even escape Rachel’s saddlebag!
Besides this, Manasseh knew the “gods” he had worshiped had done nothing to protect him from capture and torture. He would have had many miles and many weeks, if not months, for him to realize that there was, and is, only the One True God. He went to work, finding those idols, including the various altars he had built, plus the idol he’d erected in the very Temple itself! He took all of these items and got rid of them.
Promptly. And completely. He cast them out of the city (verse 15); some think he took these things to the Brook or Valley of Kidron and disposed of them there. No matter where he took them, they were gone, and he had removed the “memorials” of the idols he had erected.
That was a good first step, getting rid of the junk, and, beloved, all of us, each one of us, has junk, whether left over from our days before receiving salvation or even some of the stuff that seems to creep in even when we don’t know it. If it’s keeping us from a right relationship with the LORD, the stuff maybe needs to go. Pray about this and do as the Lord leads.
Getting rid of the junk was a great first step, but Manasseh wasn’t finished. He then turned to the next phase or, maybe, set of memorials that needed repair. After all, it’s anybody’s guess what kind of shape the Temple was in, let alone the various items used in the services. Manasseh knew there things to get repaired, and he set to do that too.
2 The Memorial he repaired
Something to keep in mind is that the whole Old Testament system of worship was designed to focus on God’s Holiness as contrasted with man’s sinfulness. The first several chapters of Leviticus, for example, describe God’s detailed instructions on what was to be brought as a sacrifice or offering, who played each part, and so forth. On most if not all of those sacrifices, the Hebrew was to lay his hands on the offering, to in a figure transfer his sins onto the animal. Of course, we can look back at Calvary and see where our Lord Jesus Christ voluntarily took all of our sins onto Himself!
Now, one of the most important elements in Old Testament worship was the bronze or “brazen” altar, as written in the KJV. The LORD gave Moses the exact instructions on how to build it, and what materials were to be used to construct it (Exodus 27:1-8). It probably goes without saying that this altar was seldom used in the worship of the One True God during Manasseh’s pagan days. I myself can only imagine what kind of condition the altar was in when Manasseh got right with the LORD. For argument’s sake, knowing he was 12 when he became king and 67 when he died (a 55-year reign), let’s say he was 33 when he was carried off to Babylon. There, he spent a year in captivity, leaving 33 more years to serve the LORD God of Israel once he could go back. A lot of things could happen if an item was abandoned, basically, for 30 years!
So now Manasseh has returned and he’s done his best to purge or remove the idols out of Judah. He wasn’t done, as he knew the worship of Israel’s God had to be renewed but to do that, he knew he’d have to repair the brazen altar. Any Hebrew would have gone no further than that altar in order to make an offering. I haven’t found any place where the average Hebrew, not a priest or Levite, ever went inside the tent.
The LORD did not choose to describe just how Manasseh was involved in the repair of the altar. What is important is that he demonstrated—proved—he meant business with the LORD and had the altar, the first step in Old Testament worship repaired and restored to its rightful place.
And we can see further proof by noticing that he brought peace offerings and thank offerings before the LORD (verse 16). Peace offerings were mentioned twice in Leviticus, chapters 3 and 7; and thank offerings (free will offerings) were mentioned in Leviticus 7:11-15 and 22:29-30. Note the plural; he offered more than one of these—and for good reason! If I had suffered like he had, and if the LORD had forgiven me, as He had, then I’d be offering thank offerings too!
Still, though, Manasseh wasn’t quite done. He had one more set of memorials to make right.
3 The Memorials he re-instituted
We can take a look at how serious Manasseh was by his seemingly greatest command. Verses 16 and 17 have the record of how Manasseh re-instituted the worship of the LORD God of Israel. He had made Judah sin, and even worse than the pagans (see verse 9), and had ignored the LORD’s direct warnings, just like Solomon had done (see 1 Kings 11:9-11). But he’s returned from captivity, and he’s repented; even better, he’s been reborn, as we might say! And one of the last, yet most important things he did was to announce, command, “Judah, you must serve the LORD God of Israel only (verse 16)!”
This last thing is probably one of the most important. It was good that he had removed the idols (and, by extension, we hope he removed the false prophets and false priests of those “gods”) and had them carried out of the city. That’s proof enough, for me, that those idols could do nothing. If they couldn’t even stop the people from taking them out of the city, that shows how powerless they really were. It’s almost like praying to a flashlight to give light when there’s no battery!
We’re never told how long Manasseh’s reforms lasted. True, the damage was done and Judah’s fate was sealed. Manasseh’s repentance and reforms helped to delay this but as the books of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel record, the captivity and punishment came.
How to close this message? First, there is no one alive on this earth who is too bad or too evil to be saved or brought to genuine repentance. No need to go through what Manasseh did, though, as we have the example and if Manasseh could speak to us, he’d probably say something like “Don’t do what I did!” Second, those who are genuinely brought back to a right standing with God generally want to prove it in some way. Manasseh did so, but we don’t need to copy what his example. All the Lord wants if for us to learn and follow His will for us.
Third, and soberly, the sins can be forgiven but the effects of those sins may last forever. That’s one reason to become a believer, a Christ-follower, today, before sin comes in and takes control. Don’t let what happened to Manasseh happen to you!
Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV)
