The Expressions of Evil by an Evil King...

At the church where I serve we are spending our time together on Sunday mornings looking at the lives of kings who were placed in a position of leadership over the Jewish people. And as we looked at the lives of these kings, we are discovering several timeless truths that have the potential to powerfully impact how we live our lives today.

This week I would like for us to pick up where we left off last week. In 696 B.C., King Hezekiah’s son, a man named Manasseh, began to rule with King Hezekiah as king. You see, King Hezekiah was aware that the time of his death was nearing as a result of the promise that the Lord had made to him in 702 B.C. after miraculously healing him, which we looked at least week.

So, in preparation for his death, King Hezekiah wanted to ensure a smooth transition for the Jewish people. And for ten years, King Hezekiah and Manasseh shared the leadership responsibilities of the Jewish people. Then, in 685 B.C. king Hezekiah died. And it is in this context that we jump back into an event from history that is recorded for us in a section of a letter in the Bible called the book of 2 Kings. So let’s do that together, beginning in 2 Kings 21:1:

Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Hephzibah. 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. 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. He built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, "In Jerusalem I will put My name." For he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD. 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.

After providing us a summary statement of King Manasseh in verse one, we see the writer of 2 Kings describe the rule of the king. After King Hezekiah’s death in 685 B.C., King Manasseh proceeded to lead the Jewish people for 45 years, which was the longest period of rule for any King of the Jewish people.

And during the first 39 years of King Manasseh’s leadership of the Jewish people, King Manasseh distinguished himself as perhaps the most evil king that ever led the Jewish people. King Manasseh selfishly rebelled against the Lord by following the detestable customs of the foreign nations that the Lord had driven out from the land that He had given the Jewish people in seven specific ways.

First, King Manasseh embraced the worship of the false gods of the Canaanite nations that had previously led the Lord to execute His right and just response to the selfishness and rebellion that the worship of these false gods had produced in the land that the Lord had given the Jewish people.

Second, King Manasseh rebuilt all the idolatrous worship centers, which were called high places that his father King Hezekiah had destroyed. As we talked about earlier in this series, high places, were shrines that were elaborate in design and décor and were located at slight elevations throughout the Jewish nation that were used for the worships of  gods. After the Temple was built, these locations were to be destroyed.

Third, King Manasseh worshipped the false gods of Baal and Asherah that were previously embraced by the Northern Kingdom of the Jewish people and led to their judgment by the Lord through the Assyrian Empire, which we looked at last week.

Fourth, King Manasseh worshipped the sun, moon, and stars. But not only did King Manasseh worship the sun, moon, and stars; King Manasseh also built altars for the public worship of the sun, moon, and stars in the courtyard of the Temple.

Sixth, in verse 6, we see King Manasseh engage in the worship of Molech by participating in child sacrifices. The King of the Jewish people sacrificed his son for the worship of false gods instead of worshipping the one true God.

And seventh, King Manasseh engaged in the practice of divination, which is to seek guidance and direction from a supernatural power other than God. To engage in divination, King Manasseh would consult with spiritual mediums, which was in direct violation of God’s commands to the Jewish people that are recorded in the Law, which are the first five books that are recorded for us in the Bible today.

King Manasseh’s selfish and rebellious worship of false gods instead of the one true God insulted the Lord and provoked the Lord in a way that angered the Lord. However, over the passage of time, King Manasseh’s selfishness and rebellion against the Lord only continued to increase.

Tomorrow we will discover how that selfishness and rebellion increased….