The Captivity And Restoration Of Manasseh.

THE CAPTIVITY AND RESTORATION OF MANASSEH.

2 Chronicles 33:9-13.

Bad king Manasseh was a son of good king Hezekiah, but his own style of leadership is here described as “leading Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, to do evil more than the heathen” (2 CHRONICLES 33:9).

‘Moreover,’ adds 2 Kings 21:16, ‘Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing evil in the sight of the LORD.’

As a consequence, “the LORD spake to Manasseh, and to his people” (2 CHRONICLES 33:10a). He ‘spake by the prophets’ (cf. 2 Kings 21:10). “But they would not hearken” (2 CHRONICLES 33:10b).

Not heeding the warnings of God can only lead to disaster. It would for Manasseh in the short term (2 CHRONICLES 33:11), and would also in the long term for Judah and Jerusalem (cf. 2 Kings 21:11-15). Manasseh’s own captivity – in Babylon of all places – clearly prefigures the later Babylonian captivity of Judah.

But there is a happy issue out of this affliction. Like the prodigal son in Jesus’ parable, Manasseh ‘came to himself’ (cf. Luke 15:17), and Manasseh “besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers” (2 CHRONICLES 33:12).

Perhaps he remembered the LORD’s words to Solomon: ‘If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land’ (cf. 2 Chronicles 7:14).

When Manasseh now prayed unto God, “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 is God” (2 CHRONICLES 33:13).

It is not that Manasseh ‘found God,’ as we sometimes hear people saying these days. We have to remember that it is not God who is lost, but man (cf. Luke 15:24). It is more a case of the Good Shepherd pursuing each one of His lost sheep, finding it, and ‘laying it on His shoulders, rejoicing’ (cf. Luke 15:4-5).

It is ‘the goodness of God that leads us to repentance’ (cf. Romans 2:4). And ‘joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth’ (cf. Luke 15:7; Luke 15:10). And when we do humble ourselves and repent, we find the Father is already running out to meet us (cf. Luke 15:20).

‘Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God,’ says 1 Peter 5:6, ‘that He may exalt you in due time.’