Today's Reading:

2 Kings 21
2 Chronicles 33

You may have wondered why we jumped ahead and read Isaiah chapters 40-66 right after Kings Hezekiah’s illness. In 2 Kings, it covered Hezekiah’s illness, recovery, and his prideful showing off his treasures to Babylon. The book of Isaiah chapters 38-39 gave more details on these events. Isaiah the prophet had rebuked Hezekiah, setting them up for the coming exile. He said one day Babylon would conquer Judah and carry everything away, including his own descendants. At that time, Hezekiah did not have any children.

Isaiah was setting them up for the coming exile. After the warning, 2 Kings 21 introduced Hezekiah’s son, Manasseh, the most wicked of all Judah’s kings in the south. This put Isaiah’s warning about Babylon right before the long and evil reign which led to Judah’s spiritual decline. This warning sets up the entire second half of Isaiah (chapters 40-66), which gave comfort and hope even though the Babylonian exile was coming.

The Bible does not explicitly say that when Hezekiah was ill that he prayed for a son, but he did pray during his illness for his life to be extended, and God granted him 15 more years. Manasseh took the reign after his father’s death at the age of 12. By connecting the dots, we can believe he prayed for the time to have an heir. After all of the work Hezekiah did to reform Judah, the son he prayed for would undo it all. When Manasseh was born during those extra years and later became one of Judah’s most wicked kings, we see the reality: the very heir Hezekiah prayed for would undo much of his father’s godly reforms.

Have you ever noticed how God sometimes lets us see the bigger picture only when we read between the lines? He answers our prayers in ways that make us look deeper. Sometimes the answer to our prayers carries consequences we never imagined.

When you look at the full story, how does seeing God answer Hezekiah’s prayer, and then place messages of comfort and hope right before the coming judgment, help you trust Him more? What does this tension teach us about the mysterious ways God works, sometimes giving us exactly what we ask for, while still weaving a larger story of both judgment and grace?

Manasseh King of Judah #14 (S)- Manasseh was 12 years old when he became the king. He turned out to be the most evil of all the kings of Judah, yet he reigned for 55 years. He rebuilt the high places that his father (Hezekiah) had torn down. He brought back the pagan idols and the astrology/star worship, even set up altars to false gods inside the Lord’s Temple! Manasseh even sacrificed his own son to Molek, calling on the spirits. He was looking for divine favor, absolute power, and protection. The Canaanite and Phoenician practice of child sacrifice was to offer your oldest son, your most prized possession, to guarantee blessing. Manasseh dove into sorcery and witchcraft and child sacrifice, which many times God called an “Abomination” (Leviticus 18:21, 20:2-5, Deuteronomy 12:31, Jeremiah 32:35).

Remember there were two Manassehs we have read about recently:

• Manasseh, Son of Joseph- the firstborn of Joseph and brother of Ephraim. He was adopted by his grandfather Jacob and became one of the leaders of the half-tribes of Manasseh.
• Manasseh, the King of Judah- the 14th king of the southern kingdom. He was born centuries later and was the most evil king in Judah’s history.

The Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna) was just outside of Jerusalem, where the pagan child sacrifices took place. It later became a symbol of hell due to the fire that had to be perpetually going and the place where the executed criminals’ bodies were thrown. (In this same valley is where the religious reforms Manasseh’s grandson, King Josiah, later got rid of all idolatry and pagan rituals). The Lord said that because Manasseh had done evil and led Judah astray to worship idols, He would destroy Jerusalem. The “plumb line” that was used to measure Ahab’s sin in the north would be used here in the southern kingdom to wipe out all of Jerusalem. Manasseh’s sins impacted all of Jerusalem; the people shared in collective guilt. They shed innocent blood and even killed prophets. Spoiler alert: In Jewish tradition, the Talmud says that Manasseh had the prophet Isaiah sawn in half inside a hollow log. This was possibly referenced in Hebrews 11:37, “They were sawn in two.”

God brought Assyria against Judah. They took Manasseh prisoner and put a “hook in his nose,” like a bull on a leash, and deported him to Babylon. This was only in 2 Chronicles 33, not 2 Kings; only Manasseh repented while there, and by grace the Lord allowed him to come back to Jerusalem. Like the thief on the cross next to Jesus, no one is beyond grace. Manasseh then removed the idols, repaired the outer wall, and commanded the people to serve the Lord. Even though he repented and tried to turn the people back to God, the damage to the nation was done. The evil was deep in their hearts. True repentance changes the heart but cannot undo a lifetime of evil influences.

Amon King of Judah #15 (S)- Amon, the son of Manasseh, was also evil and followed in his father’s footsteps. He made no reforms and continued the wickedness. His own officials assassinated him in his own house after a reign of two years. This type of insider conspiracy was more typical for the Northern Kingdom. The commoners and those who supported the line of David stepped in. They executed the coup leaders and made Amon’s 8-year-old son Josiah the king. This prevented chaos and kept the throne in David’s family. Even in judgment, God was at work; the messy politics gave Josiah time to grow up.

Extra tidbit: Over the last month, there was a lot of historical content. As a recap, this chronological reading plan followed the divided kingdom and put each prophet in their proper time period. It began with the reigns of Amaziah and Uzziah in Judah and the corresponding kings in Israel, then moved into the prophets Jonah (during Jeroboam II), Amos (judgment on social injustice), and Hosea (God’s faithful love despite Israel’s unfaithfulness). Next came early Isaiah (chapters 1–12) and Micah during the time of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, followed by the fall of the northern kingdom under Ahaz. Later Isaiah prophecies the Assyrian threat, then Hezekiah’s reforms, the miraculous deliverance from Assyria, and finally Hezekiah’s illness and warning about Babylon. The comforting second half of Isaiah (40–66) showed God’s promise of redemption even as judgment was approaching. Now we finished with the wicked reign of Manasseh, which pictured the spiritual decline that led to Judah’s eventual exile.

Today's Discussion question:

When you look at the full story, how does seeing God answer Hezekiah’s prayer, and then place messages of comfort and hope right before the coming judgment, help you trust Him more? What does this tension teach us about the mysterious ways God works, sometimes giving us exactly what we ask for, while still weaving a larger story of both judgment and grace?

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