6/20/2011 7:03:29 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: Manasseh—humiliated by affliction PT. 1
(Manasseh’s
wickedness)
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference: 2Ki. 21:1-18; 2Chron. 33:1-10
Message of the verses: “1 ¶ Manasseh
was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in
Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Hephzibah. 2 He did evil in the sight of the LORD,
according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD dispossessed before
the sons of Israel. 3 For he rebuilt the
high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he erected altars for
Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshiped all
the host of heaven and served them. 4 He
built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, "In
Jerusalem I will put My name." 5
For he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the
house of the LORD. 6 He made his son
pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and used divination, and dealt with
mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD provoking Him
to anger. 7 Then he set the carved image
of Asherah that he had made, in the house of which the LORD said to David and
to his son Solomon, "In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen
from all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever. 8 "And I will not make the feet of Israel
wander anymore from the land which I gave their fathers, if only 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." 9 But they did not listen, and Manasseh seduced them to do evil
more than the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the sons of Israel.
“10 ¶ Now the LORD spoke through
His servants the prophets, saying, 11
"Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, having
done wickedly more than all the Amorites did who were before him, and has also made Judah sin with
his idols; 12 therefore thus says
the LORD, the God of Israel, ’Behold, I am bringing such calamity on Jerusalem
and Judah, that whoever hears of it, both his ears will tingle. 13 ’I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of
Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one
wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. 14 ’I will abandon the remnant of My inheritance
and deliver them into the hand of their enemies, and they will become as
plunder and spoil to all their enemies; 15
because they have done evil in My sight, and have been provoking Me to
anger since the day their fathers came from Egypt, even to this day.’"
16 Moreover, Manasseh shed very much
innocent blood until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides
his sin with which he made Judah sin, in doing evil in the sight of the LORD.
17 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh
and all that he did and his sin which he committed, are they not written in the
Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 18 And Manasseh slept with his fathers and was
buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza, and Amon his son
became king in his place.”
“1
¶ Manasseh was twelve years old when he
became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. 2 He did evil in the sight of the LORD
according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD dispossessed before
the sons of Israel. 3 For he rebuilt the
high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; he also erected altars
for the Baals and made Asherim, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served
them. 4 He built altars in the house of
the LORD of which the LORD had said, "My name shall be in Jerusalem
forever." 5 For he built altars for
all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD. 6 He made his sons pass through the fire in the
valley of Ben-hinnom; and he practiced witchcraft, used divination, practiced
sorcery and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of
the LORD, provoking Him to anger. 7 Then
he put the carved image of the idol which he had made in the house of God, of
which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this house and in
Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put My
name forever; 8 and I will not again
remove the foot of Israel from the land which I have appointed for your
fathers, if only they will observe to do all that I have commanded them
according to all the law, the statutes and the ordinances given through
Moses." 9 Thus Manasseh misled Judah and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the
sons of Israel. 10 The LORD spoke
to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention.”
Today’s
SD begins the twelfth chapter in “Be Distinct” Dr. Warren Wiersbe’s commentary
on 2Kings and parts of 2Chronicles. He
entitles this chapter “The End is Near,” and in this chapter there are three
different main points with many different sub-points under these main
points. The chapter covers three
different kings of Judah of which two are wicked and one is one of Judah’s
better kings.
Here
are some things that Dr. Wiersbe writes about Manasseh, and one of them is a
complete surprise to me, and that was that Manasseh was not born during the
time after Hezekiah’s illness in which the Lord told Hezekiah that he had
fifteen more years to live. The text
says that Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign in Judah. Dr. Wiersbe writes that if Manasseh was born
in 709 BC then he was seven years old when Hezekiah was healed from his illness
and was eight years old when the 185,000 Assyrians were killed by the
angel. In an endnote he writes the
following: “If Manasseh was twelve years
old in 697, then he was born in 709. He
was coregent with his father from 697-687 and served alone for the next
forty-five years. He was seven years in
702 when his father had that severe illness, and he became coregent five years
later (697). Since Manasseh was the heir
to David’s throne, his father surely taught him to obey the Word.”
The
way that Manasseh turned out to be written of him that he was the most wicked
king in the history of Judah is one of the mysteries of the OT Scriptures, yet
the prophet Jeremiah writes the following to help me understand this mystery: “Jer. 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all
things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jeremiah also write the following about
Manasseh: “1 ¶ Then the LORD said to me,
"Even though Moses and Samuel were to stand before Me, My heart would not
be with this people; send them away from My presence and let them go! 2 "And it shall be that when they say to
you, ’Where should we go?’ then you are to tell them, ’Thus says the LORD:
"Those destined for death, to death; And those destined for the sword, to
the sword; And those destined for famine, to famine; And those destined for
captivity, to captivity."’ 3
"I will appoint over them four kinds of doom," declares the
LORD: "the sword to slay, the dogs to drag off, and the birds of the sky
and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. 4 "I will make them an object of horror
among all the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah,
the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem,” (Jer. 15:1-4).
I
believe that one of the most detestable things that Manasseh did was to put
other god’s into the temple of the Lord, thus making God only one of the gods
to be worshiped. God is God alone and
not to be put on display with a bunch of idols and when He was put on display
in His own temple this was a terrible thing. "You shall have no other gods
before Me,” is the very first commandment of the Ten Commandments and Manasseh
surely broke this commandment along with all the others.
Manasseh
reigned the longest of any king in the history of Judah, and one wonders why
this happened. Perhaps God allowed them
to be given over to these awful sins so all of the filth could pour out of the
people’s hearts. Judgment was right
around the corner because the people of Judah did not learn anything from the
fall of Israel, and because they were breaking the covenant that the Lord had
made with them. This covenant is written
in the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy and this covenant is a
conditional covenant saying that if the people would follow the Lord and obey
His Law then the Lord would bless them, but if they didn’t then the following
would happen: “64 "Moreover, the LORD will scatter you
among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth; and
there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone, which you or your fathers
have not known. 65 "Among those
nations you shall find no rest, and there will be no resting place for the sole
of your foot; but there the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes,
and despair of soul. 66 "So your
life shall hang in doubt before you; and you will be in dread night and day,
and shall have no assurance of your life. 67
"In the morning you shall say, ’Would that it were evening!’ And at
evening you shall say, ’Would that it were morning!’ because of the dread of
your heart which you dread, and for the sight of your eyes which you will see.
68 "The LORD will bring you back to
Egypt in ships, by the way about which I spoke to you, ’You will never see it
again!’ And there you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male
and female slaves, but there will be no buyer." The last part of this prophecy took place
after the 2nd temple was destroyed in 70 AD. There was no one to buy the Jews as slaves
for there were too many slaves on the slave market at that time in history.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: At the end of his life Manasseh was humbled
by the Lord and therefore he became a believer in the living God, but this fact
is not what is remembered by most when they think of Manasseh, they instead
think of all the evil that he did. God’s
grace was greater than all of Manasseh’s sin, but the damage had already been
done. This is just another reminder to
me that I am to live a holy life, and that I am to continue to do this as long
as the Lord gives me breathe, and that I am to finish my course strongly.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
Finish strong.
2.
Give myself to the Lord today for worship and for
service.
3.
Continue to learn contentment.
4.
Psalm 139:23-24.
5.
Proverbs 3:5-6.
6.
Ephesians 6:10-18.
6/20/2011 8:14:55 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment