2 Kings - Chapter 21
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The greatest king of Judah since King David has died, King Hezekiah, and his son, Manasseh reigned. He did more evil than the pagan nations that the Lord cleared out of the way before Israel took the land. He did more evil than the kings of Israel, who were wiped out because of their sin. He rebuilt the high places, brought back polytheism with Baal and Asherah poles. He worshipped the starry hosts. He placed pagan altars into the temple of the Lord. He sacrificed his own son to the gods, practiced sorcery, divination, and even consulted mediums and spiritists. All these actions brought forth the Lord's anger. The king's sin brought the nation of Judah to also do evil in the eyes of the Lord, even worse than the pagan nations. The Lord brought forth His prophets to proclaim to the king and to the people that judgment was coming, and Jerusalem will be wiped out. Verse 16 says that "Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end." The commentators think it was the blood of the prophets, and it could have been anyone who stood in his way. Tradition, not Scripture, says that Manasseh sawed Isaiah in two. After he died, his son Amon became king of Judah, and he too did evil in the eyes of the Lord like his father. His reign only lasted two years, and he was assassinated. The people made Josiah, his son, king in his place.
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