2 Kings Chapter 21
The Wicked Reigns of Manasseh and Amon
A. The Reign of Manasseh, Son of Hezekiah
1. Second Kings 21:1-2, full KJV text
“Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hephzibah. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.”
Manasseh began his reign at the age of twelve, which means that he was born during the final fifteen years added to Hezekiah’s life after Hezekiah prayed for healing. Scripture makes this connection unavoidable, because the timeline places Manasseh’s birth within the extended years granted by God. This grim reality creates a sobering theological lesson. The mercy granted to Hezekiah, although good in itself, produced consequences that would affect Judah for generations. Many conservative commentators note that if Hezekiah had foreseen the spiritual destruction that his son would bring, he might have been content to die rather than live to father Manasseh. The sorrow is palpable because Hezekiah had been one of Judah’s finest kings, yet his son became one of its worst.
Manasseh’s fifty five year reign was the longest of any king in Judah, and it was marked by relentless evil. Longevity in leadership is not proof of divine blessing, because sinners can prosper for a time when God allows judgment to ripen. This reign serves as a reminder that God’s patience is not an endorsement of sin. Manasseh had more time than any king to repent, yet he plunged deeper into rebellion. The historian’s tone implies horror, because a noble line descended from David now produced a ruler who inverted everything that the covenant required. The contrast between Hezekiah’s reforms and Manasseh’s apostasy reveals how quickly a nation can fall when one generation abandons righteousness.
Manasseh’s sins were patterned after the abominations of the nations whom the Lord cast out of Canaan. The inspired writer deliberately ties Manasseh to the Canaanites, showing that he revived the very practices that had led to their destruction. This included idolatry, occultism, child sacrifice, and every form of pagan corruption that God had already judged. Manasseh did not merely dabble in these sins. He institutionalized them, dragging Judah with him into national apostasy. The comparison with the Northern Kingdom is implicit, because Israel had walked the same path and had been destroyed by Assyria. The lesson is clear. If Judah followed the same abominations, then Judah would receive the same judgment. God is consistent in His dealings with nations, and privilege never cancels accountability.
Historical records outside Scripture confirm Manasseh’s significance, since Assyrian annals list him among the vassal kings who brought tribute. This reinforces the accuracy of Scripture and shows that Manasseh actively engaged with foreign powers. Unfortunately, his foreign policy mirrored his spiritual compromise. Instead of relying on the Lord, he aligned himself with pagan nations and imported their practices. His reign set the trajectory that would eventually bring Babylonian judgment, proving that a single leader can drag an entire nation toward destruction when he rejects the word of God.
2. Second Kings 21:3-9, The Specific Sins of Manasseh
Full KJV Text
“For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord said, In Jerusalem will I put my name. And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards. He wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house, of which the Lord said to David, and to Solomon his son, In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever. Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers, only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them. But they hearkened not, and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel.”
Manasseh rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed. This was a direct and deliberate reversal of his father’s reforms. Hezekiah had torn down idolatrous shrines out of loyalty to God, but Manasseh exalted what his father condemned. This demonstrates that revival and reform, while powerful, are never permanent apart from a transformed people. A generation can sweep away idols, yet the next can resurrect them if the heart is not changed. Manasseh’s actions show that the nation’s spiritual health had been shallow. They followed Hezekiah when he was strong, but their commitment collapsed under a wicked king, revealing how easily a nation can slide backward when the foundation of truth is neglected.
Manasseh raised up altars for Baal and crafted a wooden image, plunging Judah into the same state sponsored paganism seen under Ahab of Israel. Instead of looking to his godly heritage, Manasseh chose to imitate one of the most corrupt kings in Northern Israel’s history. Baal and Asherah worship represented the worst forms of fertility cult religion, filled with immorality, manipulation, and demonic influence. By restoring these practices, Manasseh institutionalized spiritual corruption. His goal was not merely tolerance of idolatry but full revival of it, making Judah mirror the apostate practices that God had judged in the North.
His idolatry expanded beyond old Canaanite forms. Manasseh worshipped all the host of heaven and served them. This reflects Babylonian influence, because Babylon at this time was rising in power and was obsessed with astrological worship. Manasseh imported this paganism into Judah, showing that his sin was both retrogressive and innovative. He scrambled backward into ancient Canaanite idolatry and forward into new Babylonian occultism. This broad spectrum of apostasy reveals his absolute hostility toward the worship of the Lord.
Manasseh went even further by bringing idolatry directly into the temple. Scripture says that he built altars in the house of the Lord. He desecrated the place where God had put His name. The temple, which was designed to display the holiness of the Lord, was transformed into a shrine for pagan deities. Altars were raised in both temple courts to honor the host of heaven, turning the house of prayer into a sanctuary for demons. The significance of this cannot be overstated, because the temple was the covenant center of the nation. To corrupt the temple was to corrupt the national soul.
One of the most horrifying acts of Manasseh was that he made his son pass through the fire. He sacrificed his own child in the flames to Molech, the Canaanite deity associated with child burning. This was an unspeakable abomination condemned repeatedly in Scripture. It showed how far he had fallen, because he traded parental love for demonic devotion. What God had called an abomination, Manasseh practiced with zeal. This act alone placed him in the darkest company of Israel’s history.
Manasseh practiced soothsaying, used witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He opened Judah to direct demonic influence through every manner of occult practice forbidden in the Law. Isaiah had warned against turning to mediums instead of turning to God, yet Manasseh welcomed these practices into the land. His leadership normalized occultism, which corrupts a nation by inviting spiritual deception into its culture.
Worst of all, he set a carved image of Asherah inside the temple itself. Asherah was a fertility goddess, worshipped through ritual prostitution. Placing her image in the temple meant he converted the holy sanctuary into an idolatrous brothel. This was deliberate defiance of the Lord who had said to David and Solomon that His name would be placed in that house forever. Manasseh replaced the glory of God with the filth of a pagan goddess, mocking the covenant and trampling on sacred promises.
The people were complicit. Scripture says they paid no attention to God’s warnings and that Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before Israel. The people willingly followed him. The Lord spoke through His prophets as recorded in Second Chronicles 33:10, “And the Lord spake to Manasseh, and to his people, but they would not hearken.” Their rejection of God’s word showed that Judah had become morally numb. The leadership was corrupt, and the nation embraced the corruption with enthusiasm. This was a cultural transformation driven not by force alone but by desire. They wanted the darkness. Therefore judgment was certain, because God had already demonstrated His consistency by judging the Canaanites for the same sins. Judah had abandoned its covenant identity and embraced the practices God abhorred.
3. Second Kings 21:10-15, God Promises Judgment Against Judah
Full KJV Text
“And the Lord spake by his servants the prophets, saying, Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols. Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down. And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies, and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies. Because they have done that which was evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day.”
The text opens by telling us that the Lord spoke by His servants the prophets. Even when a nation rejects God, He never leaves Himself without a witness. Judah’s kings had turned their hearts away, the people had embraced idolatry, and the culture had become fully hostile toward righteousness, yet God continued to send His prophets to call the nation back. This demonstrates His patience. Before judgment falls, God warns repeatedly through the faithful proclamation of His word. The prophets in Manasseh’s era included Hosea, Joel, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Isaiah. Their writings and ministries form the backdrop of this declaration of judgment. God communicated clearly, consistently, and compassionately, but Judah refused to listen.
The Lord declared that Manasseh had acted more wickedly than all the Amorites who preceded Israel in the land. The Amorites served as a representative description for the Canaanite nations whose abominations had polluted the land prior to the conquest under Joshua. Their immoral and violent practices had caused God to drive them out. For Manasseh to exceed them in wickedness indicates a depth of rebellion that surpassed even the worst pagan societies of ancient Canaan. This is a stunning indictment. The covenant people, blessed with revelation and entrusted with worship in the temple, had now exceeded the wickedness of nations that had never known God’s law. It is a measure of how far Judah had fallen that their sin was now greater than the people whose judgment served as the warning example.
God promised that the coming judgment would be so severe that whoever heard it would experience both ears tingling. This expression appears elsewhere in Scripture, such as in First Samuel 3:11 where the Lord revealed to Samuel the coming catastrophe upon the house of Eli, and in Jeremiah 19:3 where God warned of the horror that Babylon would bring. Tingling ears indicated shock and dread, the physical response to hearing something that overwhelms the senses. It signifies an unimaginable level of devastation. Judah’s sin provoked God to a level of judgment that would become a testimony of terror to everyone who heard of it.
Then God invoked the measuring line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab. This metaphor means that God would judge Judah by the same standard He used for the Northern Kingdom. Samaria had fallen to Assyria because of persistent idolatry. The house of Ahab had been destroyed because of its rebellion. God’s reasoning was consistent. If Judah imitated Samaria’s sins, then Judah would receive Samaria’s punishment. If Judah followed Ahab’s idolatry, then Judah would experience Ahab’s destruction. The imagery of the measuring line and plummet conveys precision and deliberate judgment. This was not random suffering. It was exact, covenantal, and just.
God then described His judgment with a vivid picture. He said He would wipe Jerusalem as a man wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. This language conveys total cleansing and complete removal. The symbolism implies depopulation, exile, and the stripping away of everything. As a dish is wiped clean and inverted to drain, so the Lord would empty the city of its inhabitants and remove its blessing. Ancient Jewish readers would understand this as the final step before the dish is put away, meaning that Jerusalem would no longer function as the living center of the nation.
The Lord said He would forsake the remnant of His inheritance and deliver them into the hands of their enemies, who would plunder them. The word “forsake” is powerful and forceful. It compares to the skinning of an animal, a term sometimes translated as “cast off.” It conveys the idea that Judah, by their rebellion, had removed themselves from the protective presence of God. God remained faithful, but He would no longer shield a people determined to live in defiance of Him. He had warned them from the day they left Egypt, through the judges, through kings, and through prophets, yet they persisted in provoking Him.
The root cause of the judgment is clearly stated. Judah had done evil in His sight continually and had provoked Him to anger since the days of the Exodus. This does not mean that the nation had never experienced periods of faithfulness, but it does emphasize the long pattern of rebellion embedded within their history. From the wilderness generation onward, there had been a consistent cycle of sin, mercy, rebellion, and judgment. Manasseh’s reign represented the climax of this rebellion. The covenant people had now fully embraced the practices of the nations God had condemned, and therefore the covenant curses would fall exactly as Moses had warned in Deuteronomy.
Judgment was no longer avoidable. God’s patience had been extended for centuries, but Judah’s sin had now reached full measure. Their refusal to listen ensured that the same destruction that fell on the Amorites, the house of Ahab, and the kingdom of Samaria would now fall on them. The severity matched the sin, and the sin matched the warnings they had long ignored.
4. Second Kings 21:16, Manasseh Persecutes the People of God
Full KJV Text
“Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.”
The Scripture states that Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, until Jerusalem was filled from one end to the other. This description places Manasseh alongside Ahab and other wicked rulers who used state power to persecute the righteous. His regime did not merely tolerate evil, it actively murdered those who opposed his idolatrous system. The language used paints a picture of systematic slaughter. The phrase “from one end to another” is not hyperbole, it captures the breadth of the persecution unleashed upon God’s faithful people. The nation that was meant to be a light to the Gentiles had become a slaughterhouse for its own righteous citizens. State sponsored idolatry always leads to the persecution of those who refuse to bow to false gods. Under Manasseh, the worship of the Lord was treated as a threat to national identity, and therefore the faithful were hunted and destroyed.
The tragic progression of Manasseh’s sin is seen clearly. First, idolatry is tolerated among the people of God. What begins as a private compromise soon becomes a public norm. Then idolatry is promoted through the influence of leadership. The king’s personal rebellion becomes national policy. Next, idolatry is supported and funded, because governmental endorsement always results in institutional reinforcement. From there, the worship of the true God is undermined, marginalized, and publicly opposed. When the truth is viewed as an enemy of the state, persecution follows. Worshippers of the Lord are slandered, punished, and ultimately murdered. After this, judgment from God is inevitable. The pattern is always the same. When a nation replaces the worship of God with the worship of idols, the wicked exalt themselves, the righteous are silenced, and divine judgment follows.
The text notes that this shedding of innocent blood was in addition to the sins by which Manasseh led Judah into rebellion. His personal sin was great, but the greater evil was the national corruption he produced. He caused Judah to sin. He used his power to normalize wickedness, manipulate the people, and enforce idolatry. His reign became a model of how corruption at the top can poison an entire society. The responsibility of leadership is weighty. When godly authority is exercised, a nation is blessed. When ungodly authority prevails, a nation is destroyed from within.
The phrase “in doing that which was evil in the sight of the Lord” recalls the tragic tradition concerning the prophet Isaiah. Jewish historical sources, such as The Ascension of Isaiah, maintain that Manasseh had the prophet Isaiah sawn in two. Many believe that Hebrews 11:37 refers to this event when it speaks of the faithful who “were sawn asunder.” Whether or not this tradition is absolutely certain, it fits the character of Manasseh’s reign. He persecuted prophets, silenced truth, and eliminated anyone who stood in his way. Isaiah had confronted kings before, including Hezekiah, but Manasseh did not respond with humility. Instead, he slaughtered those who spoke God’s word. This reveals the deepest level of rebellion, because killing God’s messengers is the height of defiance against God Himself.
The innocent blood shed by Manasseh became one of the covenant violations that demanded the Babylonian exile. Second Kings 24:3-4 declares that the Lord sent Babylon against Judah because of the innocent blood shed by Manasseh, and that God would not pardon it. The consequences of his reign extended for generations. His idolatry corrupted worship. His leadership corrupted the nation. His violence corrupted the land. The blood he spilled cried out for justice, and God answered that cry with judgment. Manasseh’s persecution of the godly stands as one of the darkest chapters in Judah’s history, demonstrating that when a ruler embraces idolatry, the righteous suffer, and the land becomes ripe for divine wrath.
5. Second Kings 21:17-18, Conclusion of Manasseh’s Reign
Full KJV Text
“Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah. And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza, and Amon his son reigned in his stead.”
The text concludes by directing the reader to the official royal records for the rest of Manasseh’s acts and sins. This statement emphasizes that his legacy was not defined by his accomplishments, but by his rebellion. Scripture makes clear that the defining characteristic of his reign was the sin he committed. This is a tragic summation for a king who was the son of Hezekiah, one of Judah’s finest rulers. Manasseh inherited a kingdom strengthened by his father’s reforms, protected by answered prayer, and blessed by the miraculous deliverance from Assyria. Yet his legacy became synonymous with corruption, idolatry, and violence. His life demonstrates that spiritual heritage is a blessing, yet it does not guarantee godliness. A righteous father does not automatically produce a righteous son. Each generation must choose obedience for itself.
Second Chronicles 33:11-19 records something Second Kings does not mention, namely the remarkable repentance of Manasseh. Because he and the people refused to listen to the prophets, the Lord allowed the Assyrian empire to capture him. He was bound with hooks and carried away in humiliation to Babylon. It was in that place of affliction that Manasseh humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. Second Chronicles 33:12 says he “besought the Lord his God” and prayed earnestly. The Lord heard his prayer, restored him to his throne, and showed him mercy. This is one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Scripture. A king who had plunged his nation into deep idolatry found the grace of God in captivity, proving that no sinner is beyond the reach of divine mercy when he repents sincerely.
Manasseh demonstrated the authenticity of his repentance by removing the idols from the temple, destroying foreign gods, repairing the altar of the Lord, and commanding Judah to serve the God of Israel. Second Chronicles 33:16 records these reforms. His repentance was not emotional or superficial. It produced fruit. He attempted to undo the very evil he had spent decades promoting. This transformation shows that God can redeem even the most hardened heart when brokenness and humility are present.
This turn in his life reflects the principle found in Proverbs 22:6. “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Manasseh was raised under the godly influence of Hezekiah. Although he rebelled for most of his life, the truths instilled in his childhood were not erased. They resurfaced when God humbled him. This should encourage Christian parents who watch their children wander from the faith. God may yet bring them back in His timing. Manasseh’s late life repentance shows that the seeds of truth sown in youth often bear fruit in unexpected seasons.
However, Manasseh’s repentance, though real, came too late to alter the spiritual trajectory of Judah. Patterson and Austel suggest that the political unrest in the Assyrian empire during the reign of Ashurbanipal likely provided the moment for Manasseh’s imprisonment and later release. But by the time he initiated reforms, the people of Judah were already deeply committed to their idolatry. His repentance did not penetrate the hardened hearts of the nation. The spiritual damage he had inflicted over decades could not be reversed in a few remaining years.
Furthermore, his repentance could not undo the covenant consequences. The Lord declared later, in Second Kings 24:3-4, that Judah would face destruction because of the sins of Manasseh. The judgment that fell on Jerusalem in the days of Nebuchadnezzar was directly linked to the bloodshed and idolatry Manasseh introduced. His personal repentance restored his relationship with God, but it did not erase the national consequences of his leadership. His life illustrates a sober truth. Forgiveness removes guilt, but it does not always remove earthly consequences. A leader can repent, yet a nation may still bear the fruit of the seeds he planted.
The account ends by noting that Manasseh was buried in the garden of his own house, the garden of Uzza, rather than in the royal tombs of David. Even in his burial, there is a subtle distancing from the legacy of the righteous kings. His son Amon succeeded him, continuing a corrupted line of leadership that would accelerate Judah’s decline. Manasseh’s life stands as a warning. A person may find mercy at the end, but the influence of their earlier sins may still mark the path of generations after them.
B. The Reign of Amon, Son of Manasseh
1. Second Kings 21:19-22, A Two Year Evil Reign
Full KJV Text
“Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, as his father Manasseh did. And he walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them. And he forsook the Lord God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the Lord.”
Amon ascended the throne at the age of twenty two and reigned only two years in Jerusalem, a remarkably short reign that reveals the absence of God’s blessing upon his rule. His life was cut off quickly, reflecting the principle that God sometimes shortens the days of the wicked as an act of judgment. It also demonstrates the fragility of a kingdom governed by ungodliness. Whereas some kings enjoyed decades of rule, Amon’s reign disappeared almost as quickly as it began.
Amon did evil in the sight of the Lord just as Manasseh had done earlier in his life. However, the critical difference is that Amon did not share Manasseh’s repentance. Manasseh humbled himself in captivity and returned to the Lord, but Amon hardened his heart. Second Chronicles 33:23 emphasizes this tragic contrast, “And he humbled not himself before the Lord, as Manasseh his father humbled himself, but Amon trespassed more and more.” Amon embraced the sins of his father’s earlier years while rejecting the repentance of his father’s later years. The pattern reveals the generational cost of sin. Manasseh’s repentance changed his own heart but did not erase the spiritual damage he had inflicted on those who had grown up under his wicked rule. Amon inherited his father’s idolatry, not his father’s humility.
There is not one bright spot in Amon’s character. His life contains no example of obedience, reform, or faith. He served idols, worshiped them, and openly forsook the God of his fathers. His apostasy was deliberate. He chose the paganism that Manasseh had introduced decades earlier and deepened it further. Trapp notes a sobering observation. Some ancient commentators believed Amon hardened himself by presuming that he could imitate his father’s sin and then repent at the end, but death came before repentance. If this is true, Amon died in his sins because he assumed he could manipulate God’s mercy. His brief life is a warning that repentance delayed is often repentance denied.
2. Second Kings 21:23-26, The Assassination of Amon
Full KJV Text
“And the servants of Amon conspired against him, and slew the king in his own house. And the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon, and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead. Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah. And he was buried in his sepulchre in the garden of Uzza, and Josiah his son reigned in his stead.”
Amon’s reign ended abruptly when his own servants conspired against him and assassinated him inside his house. This kind of violent power struggle was typical in the history of the Northern Kingdom of Israel but had been extremely rare in Judah. Yet the more Judah imitated the sins of Israel, the more Judah suffered the same instability and anarchy that plagued Israel. God had warned that idolatry corrupts not only worship but political order. When a nation abandons the Lord, its institutions unravel, its leadership becomes corrupt, and its stability collapses.
Historians note that this assassination may have been tied to wider political tensions in the region. The Assyrian empire, under Ashurbanipal, was dealing with revolts from 642 to 639 B C. Some factions in Judah may have wanted to remain loyal to Assyria, while others hoped to align with the rising Egyptian dynasty under Psammetichus the First. Amon’s murder may therefore have been part of a larger geopolitical struggle, reflecting the chaotic environment created by his ungodly leadership.
Yet the people of the land responded differently than in previous generations. They executed all who conspired against Amon, an act showing that the people no longer tolerated political violence or lawlessness. This marks a turning point. For over fifty years, Judah had endured nearly unbroken wickedness under Manasseh and Amon. The nation had followed idolatry willingly. But by this moment, something had shifted in the hearts of the people. They now longed for righteousness and stability. Their swift execution of the conspirators shows a desire to restore order and justice, which was lacking during the decades of wicked rule.
The people then anointed Amon’s son Josiah as king, ensuring the continuity of the Davidic line. This was a merciful act of God. Even though the kingdom had suffered corruption, the Lord preserved the heirs of David. The people’s choice reflects divine providence. God had promised that David would never lack a descendant to sit upon the throne of Judah, and this commitment held firm even in the darkest days of the monarchy.
Amon contributed nothing spiritually to Judah’s history except to father Josiah, who would become one of the greatest kings Judah ever knew. While Amon’s life brought destruction, God brought blessing through his son. This displays the sovereignty of God. He can draw good from evil, righteousness from corruption, and revival from the ashes of apostasy. Josiah’s future reign would restore the law, cleanse the temple, renew the covenant, and lead the nation into its last great revival before the Babylonian exile.
