2 Kings 21

3. Baal. See notes on Judges ii. 11, 13; 1 Kings xv. 13. The worship of stars seems to have been of Chaldean origin. Manasseh not only restored the high places, and imitated Ahab in the worship of Baal, but introduced the star-worship of the Sabeans and the cruel rites of Moloch; and, worst of all, he placed an obscene Asherah image in the Temple of Jehovah.

a grove. “Asherah” (R.V.); see note on 1 Kings xiv. 23.

6 observed times. Or rather, “practised augury” (R.V.): see Lev. xix. 31.

7 a graven image of the grove. Rather, “the image of Asherah, or Astarte”: see R.V.

9. Manasseh seduced them. This national relapse into idolatry, so quickly after Hezekiah had laboured earnestly to root it out, indicates that the reformation was in most cases only external, without a real change of heart. Every true revival is accompanied by much superficial amendment, followed by collapse.

10 the prophets. Besides Isaiah, some of the “minor prophets” were living in this reign, and perhaps others whose messages have not been preserved.

13 the house of Ahab. As the king and people of Judah had followed Ahab’s sins (see ver. 3), so they should share the doom of his family and kingdom.

I will stretch over Jerusalem the line, etc. “I will measure Jerusalem for destruction” (Moffatt).

will wipe Jerusalem. This expression denotes its complete desolation and destruction.

14 forsake. Rather, “cast off,” as R.V. the remnant of Mine inheritance. i.e., the kingdom of Judah, as the only remaining portion of God’s peculiar people.

16 shed innocent blood. Apostasy is usually accompanied by a fierce and persecuting spirit. The Jews have a tradition that the prophet Isaiah was sawn asunder by the king’s command. Josephus says that “Manasseh cruelly slew all the righteous men among the Hebrews; nor would he spare the prophets, but every day slew some of them: so that Jerusalem was overflowed with blood” (Antiq. x. 3).

17 the acts of Manasseh. We learn from 2 Chron. xxxiii, 11 that Manasseh was taken prisoner by the Assyrians, and carried to Babylon, and that there he repented and sought God, and was afterwards restored to his kingdom, probably as a tributary to the king of Assyria (see xxiii, 29). Manasseh’s name appears on Assyrian inscriptions.

23 slew the king. This private assassination, probably the result of court intrigue, was evidently displeasing to the people at large, who still venerated the royal line of David.