In this episode, we dive into the profound stories of Kings Manasseh and Josiah from the 2 Chronicles. We explore Manasseh’s initial descent into idolatry and his eventual redemption, showcasing God’s unfailing mercy and the hopeful transformation of even the hardest of hearts. Josiah’s reign, marked by a passionate pursuit of God starting from his youth, brings a refreshing reform that leads Judah back to its spiritual roots. As we journey through these chapters, we’ll uncover the powerful message of repentance and restoration. Manasseh’s story teaches us about the consequences of turning away from God and the possibility of
Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. We join Allen J. Huth as he shares Bible passages and comments from over 30 years of his personal Bible reading journals.
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Today is the second to the last day in our 31-day journey through the books of 1 and 2 Chronicles. So today let’s listen to chapters 33 and 34 as recorded by Faith Comes by Hearing.
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2 Chronicles 33 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had broken down, and he erected altars to the Baals, and made Asherahs, and worshipped all the hosts of heaven, and served them. And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said,
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In Jerusalem shall my name be forever.
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And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And he burned his sons as an offering in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and used fortune-telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. And the carved image of the idol that he had made, he set in the house of God, of which God said to David and to Solomon his son,
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In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever, and I will no more remove the foot of Israel from the land that I appointed for your fathers. If only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them, all the law, the statutes, and the rules given through Moses.
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Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel. The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention. Therefore the Lord brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon. And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God. Afterward he built an outer wall for the city of David, west of Gihon, in the valley, and for the entrance into the fish gate, and carried it around Ophel, and raised it to a very great height. He also put commanders of the army in all the fortified cities in Judah. And he took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside of the city.” He also restored the altar of the Lord and offered on it sacrifices of peace offerings and of thanksgiving, and he commanded Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel. Nevertheless, the people still sacrificed at the high places, but only to the Lord their God. Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, behold, they are in the chronicles of the kings of Israel. And his prayer, and how God was moved by his entreaty, and all his sin and his faithlessness, and the sites on which he built high places and set up the Asherim and the images, before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the chronicles of the seers. So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his house, and Ammon his son reigned in his place. Ammon was 22 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, as Manasseh his father had done. Ammon sacrificed to all the images that Manasseh his father had made, and served them. And he did not humble himself before the Lord, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself. But this Ammon incurred guilt more and more, and his servants conspired against him and put him to death in his house. But the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Ammon, and the people of the land made Josiah his son, king in his place. 2 Chronicles 34 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father. And he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet a boy, he began to seek the God of David his father. And in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim and the carved and the metal images. And they chopped down the altars of the Baals in his presence, and he cut down the incense altars that stood above them. And he broke in pieces the Asherim and the carved and the metal images, and he made dust of them and scattered it over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. He also burned the bones of the priests on their altars and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem. And in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, and as far as Naphtali, in their ruins all around, he broke down the altars and beat the Asherim and the images into powder and cut down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem. Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had cleansed the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God. They came to Hilkiah the high priest, and gave him the money that had been brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the keepers of the threshold, had collected from Manasseh and Ephraim, and from all the remnant of Israel, and from all Judah and Benjamin, and from the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And they gave it to the workmen who were working in the house of the Lord. And the workmen who were working in the house of the Lord gave it for repairing and restoring the house. They gave it to the carpenters and the builders to buy quarried stone and timber for binders and beams for the buildings that the kings of Judah had let go to ruin. And the men did the work faithfully. Over them were set Jahath and Obadiah the Levites of the sons of Merari, and Zechariah and Meshulam of the sons of the Kohathites to have oversight. The Levites, all who were skillful with instruments of music, were over the burden-bearers and directed all who did work in every kind of service. And some of the Levites were scribes and officials and gatekeepers. While they were bringing out the money that had been brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of the Lord given through Moses. Then Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the secretary, ”I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan. Shaphan brought the book to the king and further reported to the king, All that was committed to your servants they are doing.
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They have emptied out the money that was found in the house of the Lord and have given it into the hand of the overseers and the workmen.
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Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, Hilkiah the priest has given me a book. And Shaphan read from it before the king. And when the king heard the words of the law, he tore his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah, Ahicham the son of Shaphan, Abedin the son of Micah, Shaphan the secretary, and Isaiah the king’s servant, saying,
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Go, inquire of the Lord for me and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah concerning the words of the book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do according to all that is written in this book.
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So Hilkiah and those whom the king had sent went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shalom, the son of Takath, son of Hazrah, keeper of the wardrobe. Now she lived in Jerusalem in the second quarter, and spoke to her to that effect. And she said to them,
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Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, Tell the man who sent you to me, Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the curses that are written in the book that was read before the king of Judah. Because they have forsaken me and have made offerings to other gods that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands, therefore my wrath will be poured out on this place and will not be quenched. But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, regarding the words that you have heard, because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and its inhabitants. and you have humbled yourself before me, and have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, declares the Lord. Behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring upon this place and its inhabitants.”
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And they brought back word to the king. Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. And the king went up to the house of the Lord with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the Levites, all the people both great and small. And he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord. And the king stood in his place and made a covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book. Then he made all who were present in Jerusalem and in Benjamin join in it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers. And Josiah took away all the abominations from all the territory that belonged to the people of Israel, and made all who were present in Israel serve the Lord their God. All his days they did not turn away from following the Lord, the God of their fathers.
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Manasseh, the 12-year-old king, starts out weak, but ends strong, a difference in most of the kings that we’ve seen so far. He started out by doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord. He burned his sons as an offering. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. And the carved image of the idol that he made, he set up in the house of God. Can you imagine putting an idol in the temple? He led Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray. Chapter 33 verse 10 says, The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention. God has a way of getting our attention, doesn’t he? Let’s look at verse 11. Therefore the Lord brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon. And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea. and brought him again to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God. So much like Manasseh, the Lord wants to speak to us, and we pay no attention. Then he puts us under great stress. We cry out to God, and at least in this instance, Manasseh did the right thing, and God heard his prayer and restored him. That’s the kind of God we serve. if he’s crying out to you and you’ve paid no attention turn your heart toward him and he may restore you as well let’s go down to verse fifteen and he took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the lord remember he put that idol in the house of the lord So he took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord and all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside of the city. He also restored the altar of the Lord and offered on it sacrifices of peace offerings and of thanksgiving, and he commanded Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel. What a change of heart. It happened for Manasseh. It can happen for you. Then we come to chapter 34, Josiah, the boy king. Verse 3 says, For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet a boy, he began to seek the God of David his father. That means he was 16 years old. And in the 12th year, which means when he was 20 years old, he began the reforms once again in Jerusalem. In his 18th year, which means when he was 26 years old, they were cleaning up the temple and restoring it, and they found the book of the law. They read the word of God to young Josiah. He was so moved by what he heard, he tore his clothes and he sent someone to say, What does this mean to me and this kingdom? The news he got back was not good for his nation, but good for him personally. Let’s start with verse 24. Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the curses that are written in the book that was read before the king of Judah, because they have forsaken me. and have made offerings to other gods that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands therefore my wrath will be poured out on this place and will not be quenched but to the king of judah josiah in other words who sent you to inquire of the lord thus you shall say to him
