Manasseh, Amon and Josiah

II Chronicles 33 – 34

It surprises me how far backward Manasseh was in comparison to his father, Hezekiah.  Hezekiah, for the most part, followed the LORD wholeheartedly.  In the beginning, Manasseh wholeheartedly rejected the LORD.  He seemed to undo virtually everything his father had done.  There is even a tradition that it was Manasseh who martyred Isaiah the prophet by sawing him in two.  God was rightly angry with Manasseh and rightly punished him.  Manasseh was taken captive in chains to Babylon. 

Amazingly, Manasseh repents and God restores him.  See the grace of God!  There are many people out there who think they are too far gone for God to come to them and restore them.  But they are probably not as far gone as Manasseh was.  So, they can take heart that God is faithful.  If they repent of their sins and humble themselves before God, He will forgive them.  If they accept Jesus Christ in their lives, they will be free forever!

After Manasseh’s death, his son Amon became king.  Apparently he did not learn from his father.  He was evil and was eventually assassinated.

Josiah, Amon’s son, was made king after this.  He followed the LORD as David followed the LORD.  He continued the work his grandfather, Manasseh, started by removing the idols from the land.  He also killed the priests of those idols and false gods.  He began restoring the Temple (again!)  It was in this restoration that a book of the Law of Moses was found.  Upon reading this, Josiah found out  about the “curses” that would be upon the sons of Israel if they turned away from the LORD. 

It seems to me that again, although the king and many people were following the LORD at this time, most of the rest of the people in Judah were not.  This is because, upon inquiring of the LORD on the matter of what was written in the book, the LORD said He would be bringing judgement upon Judah.  The LORD was gracious and allowed Josiah to reign and die in peace.