So, why would Manasseh want to undo everything his father Hezekiah had done? Why would Manasseh embrace the worship of false gods that his father had so firmly rejected? Today, when young people are quite literally tearing down their ancestors’ heroes, it’s not just an academic question. What’s wrong with them?
Now, to explain is not to excuse. Manasseh was indeed a wicked man by anyone’s standards. In II Chronicles 33:3-4, we learn that he set up a carved images of Baal and Asherah, false fertility gods, in the Temple of the Lord, in a very real sense making the worship of sex equal to the worship of God. Worse yet, in verse 6 we read that “he made his sons pass through the fire.” This means he offered up his own children as sacrifices to false gods, burning them up while they were still alive.
How could he have fallen so far so fast? Why did he so completely reject his father Hezekiah’s faith? Maybe it’s because at the end of his own life, Hezekiah had begun to do the same thing. Yes, during his reign God had miraculously saved Jerusalem from the Assyrian army (II Chronicles 32:21-22). Yes, God had saved Hezekiah’s life, protecting him on at least one occasion from a terrible disease (II Chronicles 32:24). Moreover, God had given Hezekiah an impossible, miraculous sign that he would in fact recover from his sickness, making shadows move backward, as if time itself had shifted into reverse (II Kings 20:11).
And yet, even while Hezekiah was receiving all of these amazing blessings from God, his heart became proud (II Chronicles 32:25). He displayed all his wealth and power to emissaries from Babylon, probably in an attempt to get them to form an alliance with him (II Kings 20:13; II Chronicles 32:31). In other words, even while God was giving him every reason to trust in Him alone, Hezekiah was hedging his bets.
No, we cannot excuse those who use violence to tear down social institutions and to destroy public and private property. But do we really have room to criticize them if we ourselves have been busily undermining such fundamental supports of society as marriage and the Church through our selfish neglect?
And what about Jesus Himself? We say we want to serve Him by giving ourselves completely for the glory of God and the good of others. But if instead we set Him on the sidelines of our lives, living for our own pleasure and profit, why shouldn’t our children do the same thing? And why should they give any respect to the artifacts and heroes of a Christian culture we largely abandoned long ago?
No, in their own angry, violent way, aren’t the young people rioting in the streets really just doing the same sort of thing we’ve been doing for years? Aren’t they just taking the next logical step down the godless road we’ve already been travelling? Something to think about.
II Chronicles 33:1-9 (NASB)
Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.
2 And 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 And 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 And 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.
