The American Wisdom Series 
 http://www.americanwisdomseries.com

Presents 
lI Kings
Chapter 21

Caution to students of God's Word - Please remember two things when using our studies: #1. Our commentary is not God's Word. It is only our interpretation or understanding of "His Word" and even though we try our best to be accurate we may or may not be correct. #2. The King James translation, or any other translation, of the original Hebrew text has some words which were given different translations at different places probably because of the interpreters preconceived ideas of what they think God meant to say. For example: According to the notes in the "Drake's Annotated Reference Bible" the Hebrew word hayah in the KJV is Trans. (became) 67 times, (becamest or came to pass) 505 times, (become) 66 times, and (come to pass) 131 times, but for some reason in Genesis 1:2 it is translated (was)! That sure changes the way a person perceives the original creation of the earth, doesn't it?  Gen. 1:2 And the earth was (became) without form, ... Having said that, let us continue with our "Key Knowledge" lessons. These are pamphlets containing knowledge, we believe, you must have to fully and accurately unlock and understand the Word of God.

John 15:26
But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:

John 16:13-14
[13] Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. [14] He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

This Bible Study was originally written by Roger Christopherson,
 published at http://www.theseason.org/ 

Without the leading by the Holy Spirit, there is no understanding of the truths, for all the truth of the Scriptures are revealed to us by God's Spirit.

 Now here is our revised study of:

II Kings 21:1 "Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hephzi-bah."

The house of Judah will not make a drastic change, a complete turn-around from one the most godly king, to the most wicked king, in the eyes of the Lord. Remember the name "Hephzi-bah" from Isaiah 62:4; The name "Hephzi-bah" in the Hebrew tongue means "my delight is in her". This is one of the names that Jesus Christ would give his bride when he takes us into Beulah land, in the Millennium age.

Isaiah 62:4 "Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephai-bah, and thy land Beulah: for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married."

II Kings 21:2 "And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel."

Hezekiah had cleaned the land free of all the forms of idolatry, grove worship, sodomy, and all the other filth and religious forms, and here Manasseh brought them all back into the land, only he made it far worse than it had been before.

II Kings 21:3 "For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them."

This is Manasseh the king of Judah doing all this wickedness, for you like to think of Judah being above that sort of thing. Remember that he was just a small child when he became king, and those handling this child are giving the orders to allow this to take place, while in the innocence of the child sitting back, it is allowed to happen. You would wonder what kind of teachers that Hezekiah had allowed his children to be taught under, when the first thing that happens when he passed away was that the flood gates of all wickedness was turned lose on Judah.

The altars for Baal were for the burning of incense to false gods, and the groves were set up for Ashteroth, and the use of sex for religious purposes. However the worshipping of "all the hosts of heaven", gets into angel worship, and the setting up of saints to be glorified and worshipped, instead of turning to the One True God, Father, and the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. If anybody tries to lead you into angel worship, you had better be careful, for angel worship is one of the greatest acts that displeases our Heavenly Father.

II Kings 21:4 "And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord said, "In Jerusalem will I put My name."

This was a direct insult to the Living God, to replace the altar of God with these altars for Baal and angel worship. God loved Jerusalem, and it was His most favorite place on earth, as is well recorded in Ezekiel 16. Then here in the very temple of God, Manasseh has place these altars to heathen gods.

II Kings 21:5 "And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord."

Manasseh didn't just build one alter like was done prior to Hezekiah's time, but he build two altars in both courts of the house of the Lord. Not only in the outer court where all the people took part, but Manasseh had an altar built in the inner court where only the priests could enter to give sacrifice. What an insult to our Father.

II Kings 21:6 "And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger."

Manasseh even took his own children and sacrificed them on the altar to Moloch, he burned them up. The name of Moloch was as common as the name of their king at this time. These were not animals torn apart and sacrificed, but his own children. Have you seen some of the film of those innocent unborn babies that even Christians of today think nothing of ripping apart, and decapitating from the womb, because they don't want the interference with their life style. There will be an account for each of those soul at the throne of God, and the vengeance of the Father will be on those that have murdered his innocent children. It's time to get right with the Father, in Jesus name, for such a crime against the innocent.

Manasseh also played around with demonic spirits [familiar spirits], and sought the used of witches, mediums and enchanters for guidance. Manasseh did all the evil that could enter his mind, and he left nothing out of his worship to heathen gods. Of course this caused the Lord to be angered. "He observed times", many feel this had to do with the occult and dealing with the organs of sacrificed animals, and the flight of birds. Drugs ran wild under Manasseh, and only added to all the wickedness of dealing with familiar spirits and wizards. Remember that the word "sorcery", comes from the word "Pharmacy", in which drugs are used to loosen up the mind to communicate with the familiar [evil] spirits. All of these things are becoming common in uses in these latter days of this earth age.

Manasseh was an expert in doing everything that was wrong, and all of Satan's tools for binding a person were part of Manasseh's worship service. So where did Hezekiah go wrong in raising this son, and placing him in a place where he could be so influenced by such heathen and wicked men. For all the good that Hezekiah did, it went by the wayside at his death, for the kingdom of Judah became more wicked than any of the heathen nations around it.

II Kings 21:7 "And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house, of which the Lord said to David, and to Solomon his son, "In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel, will I put My name for ever:"

Manasseh even brought the sex images that were used out in the woods, for their sex orgies, and brought them into the house of God. The temple of the Lord was the most holy place of all places here on earth, and Manasseh turned the House of God into a whore house. A place for the sex orgies of the groves. All the time that Manasseh did all this wickedness, he declared that he was doing it in the name of the Living God. Does it sound familiar with a lot of the stuff going on today in many church houses? If they declare that they are doing it in Jesus name, than they can go ahead with all their things that go against the Word of God. Lets go back into Deuteronomy 18, and see what God said through Moses about doing such a thing.

Deuteronomy 18:9 "When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations."

Deuteronomy 18:10 "There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch."

Deuteronomy 18:11 "Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer."

Deuteronomy 18:12 "For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee."

Manasseh chased after all of these abominations and the people followed him in his wickedness. Where were the priests and the prophets while all this was going on? These are types of what we shall see in our generation, and you can look around and see all of it being accepted in our land today. Even the unmerciful killing of the children and using the unborn parts for the sake of all sorts of things. And our society sits back and protects these acts as been common and within the law. I'm sure that Manasseh had many laws that protected these heathen acts so that the people would have their conscience deadened to the Word of God. And remember that many of the priests went right along with Manasseh, or it would not have happened in the Temple. This is a type of exactly what is befalling us in these end times.

II Kings 21:8 "Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I have their fathers; only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that My servant Moses commanded them."

God is promising the people that if they will change their ways, He will protect them and they will stay in their land. There is a condition to this promise and that condition is that they go back to the law that Moses commanded their forefather while out there in the wilderness. That conditions is given above from Deuteronomy 18:9-12. Will they listen to God or turn their back to Him? Do they really care about God, once the prosperity of land is so great, after Hezekiah brought great riches to the land because of his obedience to God? The people were living in a time of peace and prosperity, and they had put God and the things of God far out of their mind. It was popular in those days for everybody to go out doing their own thing, and doing what was right in their own mind, not what was in God's Word. This is the same mindset that is common in our nation and around the world today, and shortly it will come to an end.

II Kings 21:9 "But they hearkened not: and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel."

The people and the priests would not listen to the prophets of God. This tells us what kind of a person that Manasseh was, and the evilness of his mind. Manasseh took the wickedness of the nations around him, and forced the people to go far beyond the wickedness of those nations. God destroyed those nations because of their wickedness in these idolatries, yet Judah has gone far beyond those abominations in his worshipping. This is saying that God would have been better off with the heathen, than with these Jews of Judah under Manasseh. It is easy to see how humanism can creep in and take hold of a nation, however it is hard to see how the people would fall for this kind of filth, when not even the priests would lift a hand to stop it. Remember this is a type of how it shall be in the time of the end, in the generation of the fig tree.

Stop and look for a moment how Sodomite marriages are being protected under the laws of our land, and the killing of the unborn are protected far more than the preachers speaking out against such wickedness. The murderer has more rights than the victim, and the parent is even having the rights of discipline of their children taken away by the redefining of the rights of the child. The things of God are mocked constantly in all avenues of the media, and it seems to be open season on any Christian taking a stand for the Word of God. Yes my friend, we are seeing the time of Manasseh right before our eyes today. In fact, to speak out against such filth will cause a civil rights law suit to be filed against you.

Though it was not in the Scriptures, in the works of Josephus, "Antiquities of the Jews" Book X, Chapter 3:1; we see exactly how Manasseh and those that had power over the king brought this wickedness on the people.

Antiquities of the Jews, book x; chapter 3:1 "...But when his [Hezekiah's] son Manasseh, whose mother's name was Hephzibah, of Jerusalem, had taken the kingdom, he departed from the conduct of his father, and fell into a course of life quite contrary thereto, and shewed himself in his manners most wicked in all respects, and omitted no sort of impiety, but imitated those transgressions of the Israelites, but the commission of which against God, they had been destroyed; for he was so hardy as to defile the temple of God, and the city, and the whole country; for by setting out from a contempt of God, he barbarously slew all the righteous men that were among the Hebrews; nor would he spare the prophets, for he every day slew some of them, till Jerusalem was overflown with blood. ..."

Are you starting to see why there would be no righteous prophets or priests to stand against Manasseh in all his wickedness, for those that did were killed. Remember Isaiah was the prophet that advised Hezekiah, and you know that Isaiah would be on the top of Manasseh's hit list from the start. The scripture does not record how Isaiah died, but a hint of it is given to us in the book of Josephus' "Antiquities". Again, who were the handlers of this small child that became king, that would allow such wickedness to continue. Take a look at the top of any nation that allows such wickedness to be promoted.

II Kings 21:10 "And the Lord spake by His servants the prophets, saying,"

II Kings 21:11 "Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols:"

II Kings 21:12 "Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel, `Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle."

God is saying that if they will not change and they desire to do evil, then God is going to allow Satan and his evil spirits to have their with with Jerusalem and the people. The people had become accustomed to God's blessings and had taken God for granted, and when they drifted into these wicked ways, they thought God would continue to bless them. How can a man stand and watch his own children being cut up and burned alive as a sacrifice, and consider it to be of God, then call it religion. This is the type of person that Manasseh was, and I just can't imagine such a thing of a sane person.

II Kings 21:13 "And it will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down."

God is saying that He is going to judge Jerusalem with the same plummet line that he judged Ahab and Jezebel and all their wickedness. You know what happened to Ahab, all his family were killed, murdered, and the kingdom was hauled away into captivity, to where even the people lost their identity. God is telling Manasseh through this prophet that everything of Jerusalem will be wiped clean, and off the face of the earth.

We know that when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem and the nation of Judah, it took him and his army three trips to remove the things of Judah back into Babylon. He took the gold and silver and those things of value first. Then he came back to take the brass and things of less value, and on his last trip, he hauled the people out, with their toilets, and left the temple and walls as rubble, in complete destruction. God used Nebuchadnezzar to finish the job that this prophecy of God foretold.

II Kings 21:14 "And I will forsake the remnant of Mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies;"

As far as these Jews are concerned, after this destruction there will never be another king over Judah in this earth age, to rule them as a nation. However we know that the daughters of Zedekiah were taken by Jeremiah through Egypt to Ireland, and the seed line would be continued; but rule over the seed of the house of Israel instead. Queen Elizabeth II's seed line can be traced all the way back to David, so God has fulfilled his promise to David. The nation of Judah did become a spoil and a prey to Babylon. The lineage of the kings and queens from David to queen Elizabeth II is given ay the end of this chapter.

II Kings 21:15 "Because they have done that which was evil in My sight, and have provoked Me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even to this day.' "

Our Heavenly Father always expected a little more out of Judah than He did the other tribes. This was probably because of David and Solomon. And now the king line had sunk to a new low, far even beyond the most wicked of all their enemies.

II Kings 21:16 "Moreover 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 that which was evil in the sight of the Lord."

Manasseh caused the priests that would take a stand against him, and the prophets of God to be killed in the streets of Jerusalem. Notice where it says, "...wherewith he made Judah to sin...", for he created the laws of that day, and at his orders killed those that would go against his laws. It simply did not matter who they were, or what they represented for if they went against his wickedness, they were done away with. Remember the word used above; "seduced"? Manasseh actually forced the people to worship and take part in all the wickedness that he and mostly his counselors could devise, other than worshipping our Father. Manasseh killed true priests almost daily, as they would speak out against him. It was not popular to show any righteous indignation for the wickedness that was going on around you, in that day [but look at what is happening today].

II Kings 21:17 "Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?"

II Kings 21:18 "And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uaaz: and Amon his son reigned in his stead."

So Manasseh is dead and buried out in the garden and out of the way, and in his place came Amon, his son to rule over Jerusalem.

II Kings 21:19 "Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Meshullemeth, daughter of Haruz of Jotbah."

Remember Manasseh was twelve years old when he began his reign as king, this Amon, the son of Manasseh was one that escaped the fire that many of his brothers went through, on the altar of Moloch. "Meshullemeth" means "friend, and "Jotbah" meaning "goodness", so with these two on Amon's side he may turn out okay. This woman was the wife of Manasseh, following the ways of her husband. Now we will see how she taught and brought up her son.

II Kings 21:20 "And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, as his father Manasseh did."

It was business as usual in the courts of Amon, for he did exactly what his father did before him.

II Kings 21:21 "And he walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them:"

II Kings 21:22 "And he forsook the Lord God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the Lord."

There simply was not any difference between Manasseh and Amon.

II Kings 21:23 "And the servants of Amon conspired against him, and slew the king in his own house."

In time you know that the righteous people will rise up against such wickedness, and try to put a stop to it. Amon was twenty four years old when he was slain.

II Kings 21:24 "And 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."

When the people saw that their king was killed, they sought after those that would conspire to change their kingdom and clean up the ways of the land, and they killed those that took part in the murder of Amon. "Josiah" in the Hebrew tongue means "whom God healed". So lets pay attention to see if Josiah was any different than his father Amon.

II Kings 21:25 "Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah:"

Of course they are; They are recorded in II Chronicles 33:20-25. Those acts were the mirror image of his father Manasseh.

II Kings 21:26 "And he was buried in his sepulchre in the garden of Uzza: and Josiah his son reigned in his stead.

Josiah was also a small child when he ascended to the throne, for his father was just twenty four at his death. So now we will see what kind of person that Josiah would be.

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