*H Manasses was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned five and fifty years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Haphsiba.
Ver. 1. Twelve. Being born three years after his father's recovery. — Fifty. Including the years of captivity.
* Footnote * 2_Paralipomenon 33 : 1
Manasses was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.*H And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the idols of the nations, which the Lord destroyed from before the face of the children of Israel.
Ver. 2. Idols. Heb. "abominations," (C.) as their worship was attended with the greatest infamy and dissolution, and was in itself the source of God's chastisements. H.
*H And he turned, and built up the high places, which Ezechias, his father, had destroyed: and he set up altars to Baal, and made groves, as Achab, the king of Israel, had done: and he adored all the host of heaven, and served them.
Ver. 3. Groves. Heb. Ashera, "the grove," or the idol of Astarte, (C.) as both were worshipped. H. — Achab, whom he imitated also in spilling the blood of the saints. M.
* Footnote * 2_Paralipomenon 33 : 3
And he turned, and built again the high places which Ezechias his father had destroyed: and he built altars to Baalim, and made groves, and he adored all the host of heaven, and worshipped them.*H And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord said: In Jerusalem I will put my name.
Ver. 4. Altars, in honour of the sun, moon, and stars, (H.) in the courts of the priests and of the people. 2 Par. xxxiii. 4.
* Footnote * 2_Kings 7 : 10
And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them, and they shall dwell therein, and shall be disturbed no more: neither shall the children of iniquity afflict them any more as they did before,*H And he made his son pass through fire: and he used divinations, and observed omens, and appointed pythons, and multiplied soothsayers, to do evil before the Lord, and to provoke him.
Ver. 6. Fire, for purification, or as a holocaust to Moloch. See C. xvi. 3. — Divination, or, "he observed times," Arab. Mont. — Omens. Prot. "used enchantments," (H.) by means of brass or of serpents, &c. C. — Sept. agrees with the Vulg. "he took notice of birds." H. — Pythons. That is, diviners by spirits (Ch). particularly by Apollo. He authorized and encouraged such ventriloquists, &c. Lev. xix. 31. — Soothsayers, who inspected the entrails of victims, to foretell future things. C. — Prot. "He dealt with familiar spirits and wizards." H.
*H He set also an idol of the grove, which he had made, in the temple of the Lord: concerning which the Lord said to David, and to Solomon his son: In this temple, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name for ever.
Ver. 7. Of the grove. Heb. "a graven thing of Ashera," the grove or Astarte, (H.) v. 3. This was an engraving in sculpture of a sacred grove. Sa. C. xxiii. 6. T. — My name. I alone will be adored, and there allow an altar to be erected. H.
* Footnote * 2_Kings 7 : 26
That thy name may be magnified for ever, and it may be said: The Lord of hosts is God over Israel. And the house of thy servant David shall be established before the Lord.* Footnote * 3_Kings 8 : 16
Since the day that I brought my people Israel, out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel, for a house to be built, that my name might be there: but I chose David to be over my people Israel.* Footnote * 3_Kings 9 : 5
I will establish the throne of thy kingdom over Israel for ever, as I promised David, thy father, saying: There shall not fail a man of thy race upon the throne of Israel.*H But they hearkened not: but were seduced by Manasses, to do evil more than the nations which the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel.
Ver. 9. More, because they had received more favours and instructions from above. W.
*H And the Lord spoke in the hand of his servants, the prophets, saying:
Ver. 10. Prophets, Joel, Osee, Amos, Nahum, Jonas, Abdias, Micheas, and particularly by Isaias, who was related to the king. T. — Tradition informs us, that Manasses was so irritated, that he ordered Isaias to be slain with a wooden saw, (S. Aug. de C. D. xviii. 24.) for greater torment; (C.) and his companions were daily executed, Joseph. x. 3. — Isaias (xxii. 13.) seems to pronounce his sin irremissible, (C.) or that he should not, at least, escape the punishment of it, as long as he lived. But we are assured that the eyes of Manasses were at last opened by adversity, and that he performed many laudable things after his return from captivity; (2 Par. xxxiii.) so that the latter part of his reign resembled that of his father; though the beginning had been like that of the impious Achab. His coming to the throne so soon, before his pious father could have time to impress upon his mind the truths of salvation, had nearly proved his ruin. The sins of my youth, and my ignorances, remember not, O Lord, Ps. xxiv. 7. H.
*H Because Manasses, king of Juda, hath done these most wicked abominations, beyond all that the Amorrhites did before him, and hath made Juda also to sin with his filthy doings:
Ver. 11. Doings. Heb. "idols," v. 2. See C. xvii. 12. H.
* Footnote * Jeremias 15 : 4
And I will give them up to the rage of all the kingdoms of the earth: because of Manasses the son of Ezechias the king of Juda, for all that he did in Jerusalem.*H Therefore thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring on evils upon Jerusalem and Juda: that whosoever shall hear of them, both his ears shall tingle.
Ver. 12. Tingle, through astonishment, as if he had been stunned with too loud a sound. 1 K. iii. 11. C.
*H And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the weight of the house of Achab: and I will efface Jerusalem, as writings tables are wont to be effaced, and I will erase and turn it, and draw the pencil often over the face thereof.
Ver. 13. The line, or rope, to pull down the walls, Lament. ii. 8. (C.) 2 K. xvii. 13. Jerusalem, which has imitated Samaria in sinning, shall experience the same fate; the same weight of punishment shall fall upon the royal family, as upon the house of Achab. H. — The prophets frequently entitle their menaces a weight, or burden. Isai. xiii. 1. M. — Sept. have, "the balance of the house, &c." as if God had weighed all the good and evil, and would now reward the people accordingly, (H.) with judgment. D. — Table, or board, covered with wax. The ancients were accustomed to write in this manner with a style which was sharp at one end and blunt at the other. Altera pars revocat quicquid pars altera fecit. Ænig. Symponii. When the wax was rendered smooth, no vestige of the former writing could appear, and God threatenss to destroy Jerusalem, in like manner. Heb. is variously translated. C. — Sept. "I will wipe out Jerusalem as an alabaster vase is wiped, and turned downwards." Prot. "as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down." H. — Often. 1. Under Manasses; 2. under Josias and Joachaz; 3. under the last kings of Juda. 2 Par. xxiii. &c. T.
*H And I will leave the remnants of my inheritance, and will deliver them into the hands of their enemies: and they shall become a prey, and a spoil to all their enemies.
Ver. 14. Leave. Sept. "with horror," απεασομαι (H.) "I will cast off." So Chal. Syr. &c. — Remnants. Juda, &c. who shall be treated like the ten tribes. C. — All shared in the punishment, though some preserved the true religion. Ps. lxxxviii. 35. W.
*H Moreover, Manasses shed also very much innocent blood, till he filled Jerusalem up to the mouth: besides his sins, wherewith he made Juda to sin, to do evil before the Lord.
Ver. 16. Mouth. Chal. "extremity." All was full of blood, and impure idols, v. 11. — Besides, (absque) "without" mentioning his other scandalous sins of idolatry.
*H Now the rest of the acts of Manasses, and all that he did, and his sin, which he sinned, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda?
Ver. 17. Sinned. It is rather wonderful that his repentance is not here noticed; but we find it mentioned 2 Par. xxxiii. 12. H. — He was probably taken prisoner by Thartan, general of Sargon, or Asarhaddon, who had reunited the two kingdoms of Assyria and Babylon. Isai. xx. 1. In prison Manasses composed a penitential prayer, which is not absolutely rejected by the Church, but left in the rank of Apocryphal writings; (C.) the authority of which is not clearly ascertained. H. — The Greek church admits this prayer into her Euchologium, (C.) or Office-book. H. — Being liberated, probably by Saosduchin, Manasses did all things well, only he left the high places, where the people had been accustomed to sacrifice to the Lord. Hozai wrote his history. 2 Par. xxxiii. 19.
*H And Manasses slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Oza: and Amon, his son, reigned in his stead.
Ver. 18. Oza, a private man, to whom it had belonged; (M.) or the place where the Levite had been punished for touching the ark; (1 K. vi. 8.) or, in fine, the garden to which king Ozias had retired after he became a leper. C. — It is said, that Manasses chose this place for his tomb out of humility. Grotius.
*H And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, as Manasses, his father, had done.
Ver. 20. Done, in his youth, flattering himself that he should also repent, when he had gratified his passions, (Glycas) but God presently chastised this presumption, after suffering him to reign only two years. T.