2 Kings 21
PATris, cap. 2.) For Baal and Astartc were chief gods of the Sidonians, whose worship was introduced by Ahab; whom Manassch imitated, (ver. 3.) Of which the Lord said unto David, and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I Jiave chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, ivill I put my name for ever.] I observed before what God said to David, and what he said to Solomon is recorded, 1 Kings viii. 29. ix. 3. But Manasseh endeavoured to make the name of the God of Israel to bo forgotten; by placing other gods in his house.
2 Kings 21:1
IfJLANASSEHwas tiuelveyears old when he. began to reign; and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem:, and his mother’s name tvas Hephzi-bah. The years wherein he was captive in Babylon (2 Chron. xxxiii. 11.) must be comprehended in this number. t
2 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. He setup the gentile worship again: for being young, he was easily drawn aside by the princes and nobles, who never heartily joined in Hezekiah’s reformation; but were in all probability displeased at it; and so revolted as soon as he was dead. For one cannot conceive how such a sudden change should be made in religion, and such gross idolatry restored, but from the general corruption of the great men, who had the management of this young king. -, 1
2 Kings 21:3
For he built up the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he reared up the altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel, and worshipped all the hosts of heaven, and served them.] The sun, the moon, and the stars, as Procopius Gazseus “explains it…. *;
2 Kings 21:4
And lie built altars. To the gods of the neighbouring nations. In the house of the Lord.] In the very sanctuary itself; for the’outward courts are mentioned in the next verse. Of which the Lord said, In Jerusalem will I put my name.] Where God appointed, that he himself alone should bo worshipped, (2 Sam. vii. 13.), > -.. •. /
2 Kings 21:5
And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the’two courts of the house of the Lord. The inner court, which was that of the priests, and the outward, which was that of the people, were profaned, together with - the sanctuary…….,/Jv'
2 Kings 21:6
And he made his son pass through the fire. In 2 Chron. xxxiii. 6. it is said he caused his children to pass through the fire; which was a most abominable practice, strictly forbidden by Moses upon pain of death, (Lev. xviii. 21. xx. 2, 3.) / * And observed times, and used enchantments.] See Lev. xix. 21. Deut. xviii. 10, 11.., • And dealt with familiar spirits, and wizards.] See Lev. xix. 31.. He wrought mttch wickedness in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.] For there were none before him who committed such things as these; which were the highest provocations of God’s displeasure.'
2 Kings 21:7
And he set a graven image of the grove which he had made in the house. The Hebrew words in this place are Pesel haasherah, which our Selden hath well resolved (by comparing this with other texts) signify a wooden image of Ashtaroth, or Astarte. (Syntagm. ii. de Diis Sy-
2 Kings 21:8
Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave 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.] This promise was included in the choice God made of Jerusalem to fix his dwelling-placo there: which was a security to them against all their enemies, if they proved obedient to him..
2 Kings 21:9
But they hearkened not. They had always been a rebellious people. And Manasseh seduced them to do more evil th’andid the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel.] But in his reign their wickedness was grown to such a height, that it exceeded all that the people of Canaan had done; whom God expelled to make room for the Israelites. For he broke all the laws of Moses, and! worshipped more idols than they did. Wc never read of horses consecrated to the sun till his time, (see xxiii. 11.) who in all probability brought in that idolatry.
2 Kings 21:10
And the Lord spake by his servants the prophets, saying. Abarbinel makes account that Hosea, Joel, Nahum, and Habakkuk, all prophesied in his days. And some think Obadiah also, and Isaiah: who,as the Jewssay, was sawn asunder by him.
2 Kings 21:11
Because Manasseh king ofJudahhath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him. The whole people of Canaan are comprehended under the name of Amorites; whd were most eminent of all the seven nations. (See Gen, xv. 16.) * And hath made Judah also to sin with his idols.] They were too much inclined to idolatry, by the long corruptions that had been among them; but he made them far worse than otherwise they would have been. For, as Jeremiah charges them, in the next reign but one, " according, to the number of their cities were their gods, and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem, they set up altars to that shameful thing, to burn incense to Baal.” (Jer. xi. 13.)
2 Kings 21:12
Tlterefore 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. The report of it shall strike terror and horror into men, as Procopius Gazacus expounds it. (See 1 Sam. iii. 11.)
2 Kings 21:13
And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria. A metaphor from those who set out men’s lots and portions, by drawing aline to divide them: and is as much as to say, he would give to Jerusalem the same measure that he had done to Samaria; that is, pull it down to the ground; consume some of them by famine, others by the sword, and carry the rest into captivity, as the same Procopius glosses. And the plummet of the house of Ahab.] As they imitated his sin, so they should have his punishment; whose house was utterly destroyed. It seems to be a metaphor from builders, who measure with a line and a plummet what part of a building shall stand, and what be demolished. And I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turnirxg it upside down.] That is, leave no more people in it than you see any thing in a dish after it is emptied, and wiped, and turned upside down; as the manner is when it is perfectly cleansed. So the meaning is, I will cleanse her of all her inhabitants, and leave none remaining. The Hebrew word which wc translate dish, the LXX. translate 6 a\af$a<TTpog, an alabaster box of precious ointment, as the Chaldee translates it selucta, in which the Greek word X?/- kv$o$ lurks, (as the illustrious Spanhcmius observes upon Callimachus’s hymn in Palad. ver. 13.) signifying that Jerusalem was once in high esteem with God, like a precious ointment; but having lost its savour, he would reject her as a man doth such ointment when it is nothing worth.
2 Kings 21:14
And I will forsake the remnant of mine inherit ance.* That is, Judah, who alone was left when the ten tribes were gone. And deliver them into the hands of their enemies, and they shall become a prey, and a spoil unto all their enemies.] As their brethren, the children of Israel, had been.
2 Kings 21:15
Because they 7uive done that which was evil in my sight, and have provoked meto anger from theday that their fathers came out of Egypt, even unto this day. God now intended to punish them for all their former rebellions, ever since they were a people; which Manasseh had completed^ whose sin was so great, that it is sometimes mentioned as the sole cause of their captivity. (See Jer. xv. 4.).
2 Kings 21:16
Moreover, Manasseh shed innocent blood very much. Upon which words Procopius Gazacus thus glosses: “He chiefly destroyed those who opposed themselves to his impiety, and denounced the Divine anger against him (that is, the prophets); They say he caused the prophet Isaiah to be sawed in sunder.” So the Jews say in the Babylonian Talmud, in the treatise Jebamoth, and Justin Martyr in his dialogue with Trypho the Jew, and St. Jerome upon Isa. xx. 27* Nay, the words of the apostle, Heb. xi. 37. t7rpicr%i)CFav are commonly referred to this, as primate Usher observes in his- Annals, ad A. M. 3306. Till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another.] Top-full, as we speak. For it is a metaphor from" measures wet or dry, when they are filled up to the brim. Besides his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.] That is, besides his abominable idolatry.
2 Kings 21:17
Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin tltat he sinned; are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah?. All that he did in his captivity, and after, was written in thfc journals, from whence Ezra took what we find in 2 Chronl xxxiii. 11, &c.
2 Kings 21:18
And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried hi the garden of his own house, in the garden ofUzza: and Amou his son reigned in his stead. Some think this was the place where Uzziah was buried, (2Chron. xxvi. 23.) and that he chose to be buried here, as unworthy, because of his manifold sins (of which he repented), to be laid in the common sepulchre of the kings of Judah.
2 Kings 21:19
Amon xvas twenty and two years old when he CHAP, xxir. THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem.) Which is the number of years to which the sons of those kings arrived, who provoked God to anger; as some of the Jews observe in the stfn of Jeroboam, the son of Baasha, and the son of Ahab. (1 Kings xv.25. xvi. 8. xxii. 51.) And his mother’s name was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haraz of Jotbah.
2 Kings 21:20
And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, as his father Manasseh did. He imitated him in all things but in his repentance, as is observed, 2 Chron. xxxiii. 23. * "
2 Kings 21:21
And he walked in all the ways that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, arid worshipped them. For he was bred up in idolatry," and solemnly consecrated by his father to the service of Moloch, (ver. 6.)
2 Kings 21:22
And he forsook the God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the Lord. As Hezekiah, and Jotham, and others of his pious ancestors had done. There are two doctors also in the chapter Chelek, the one of which saith, he burnt the book of the law; the other, that he lay with his own mother.
2 Kings 21:23
And the servants of Amon conspired against him, andsleiv him in his own house. As he forsook God, whose servant he ought to have been; so his servants forsook him, and murdered him in his own palace.
2 Kings 21:24
And the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon. It was a thing of such pernicious example to kill their king, though very bad, that the people would not suffer it to go unpunished. And thepeople of the land made Josiahhisson king in his stead.] The common people seem to have been better disposed than tho great men; who, it is probable, were engaged in the conspiracy against Amon. But it is not likely that the common people took upon them to constitute a king, but their elders and great men met, together with the people, upon such occasions as this, to declare to whom the right of succession belonged. Therefore, by the people of the land, must be meant the people assembled in the common council of the nation.
2 Kings 21:25
Noiv, 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?. There is nothing said here of him, but that he was a gross idolater: which was not the ground of the conspiracy against him; but it is likely was related in the book here mentioned.
2 Kings 21:26
And he was buried in his sepulchre, in the garden of Uzza: and Josiah his son reigned in his stead. Ho was buried either in his father’s sepulchre, or in one that he made for himself in the same place.