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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>2 Chronicles 33 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/2_chronicles/33.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/2_chronicles/33.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/2_chronicles/33-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/commentaries/">Commentary</a> > <a href="../">Ellicott</a> > <a href="../2_chronicles/">2 Chronicles</a></div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../2_chronicles/32.htm" title="2 Chronicles 32">◄</a> 2 Chronicles 33 <a href="../2_chronicles/34.htm" title="2 Chronicles 34">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</div><div class="chap"><span class= "bld">XXXIII.<p>THE REIGNS OF MANASSEH AND AMON.</span><p>(1-20) The history of Manasseh. Duration and character of the reign. Restoration of idolatry (<a href="/context/2_chronicles/33-1.htm" title="Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem:">2Chronicles 33:1-10</a>). This section is closely parallel with <a href="/context/2_kings/21-1.htm" title="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.">2Kings 21:1-10</a>. <a href="/context/2_chronicles/33-1.htm" title="Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem:">2Chronicles 33:1-2</a>; <a href="/2_chronicles/33-5.htm" title="And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.">2Chronicles 33:5</a> are word for word the same in both.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/33-1.htm">2 Chronicles 33:1</a></div><div class="verse">Manasseh <i>was</i> twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem:</div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/33-3.htm">2 Chronicles 33:3</a></div><div class="verse">For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.</div>(3) <span class= "bld">For.</span>—<span class= "ital">And.</span> (See margin.)<p><span class= "bld">Broken down.</span>—<a href="/2_chronicles/23-17.htm" title="Then all the people went to the house of Baal, and broke it down, and broke his altars and his images in pieces, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars.">2Chronicles 23:17</a>; <a href="/2_chronicles/31-1.htm" title="Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and broke the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.">2Chronicles 31:1</a> (“threw down”). Kings has “destroyed” (<span class= "ital">‘ibbad</span>)<span class= "ital">.</span><p><span class= "bld">Baalim.</span>—<span class= "ital">The Baals</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e.,</span> the different images of Baal. Kings has the singular, both here and in the next word, “groves,” or rather <span class= "ital">Asheras</span> (<span class= "ital">‘Ash</span>ē<span class= "ital">rôth;</span> Kings, ‘<span class= "ital">Ash</span>ē<span class= "ital">rah</span>)<span class= "ital">.</span> The latter plural is rhetorical: Manasseh made <span class= "ital">such things as Asheras.</span> (Comp. also the use of the plural in <a href="/2_chronicles/32-31.htm" title="However, in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.">2Chronicles 32:31</a>, and the passages there referred to.) Kings adds: “as Ahab king of Israel made.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/33-4.htm">2 Chronicles 33:4</a></div><div class="verse">Also he built altars in the house of the LORD, whereof the LORD had said, In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever.</div>(4) <span class= "bld">Also he built . . . In Jerusalem.</span>—Literally as Kings. Manasseh built altars in the Temple, as Ahaz had done (<a href="/2_kings/16-10.htm" title="And king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and saw an altar that was at Damascus: and king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship thereof.">2Kings 16:10</a>, <span class= "ital">seq.</span>)<span class= "ital">.</span><p><span class= "bld">Shall my name be for ever.</span>—A heightening of the phrase in Kings, “I will set mv name.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/33-6.htm">2 Chronicles 33:6</a></div><div class="verse">And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.</div>(6) <span class= "bld">He.</span>—Emphatic. Not in Kings.<p><span class= "bld">Caused his children</span> <span class= "bld">. . .</span> <span class= "bld">fire.</span>—The plural, as in <a href="/2_chronicles/28-3.htm" title="Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.">2Chronicles 28:3</a>, is rhetorical. Kings, “his son.”<p><span class= "bld">In the valley of the son of Hinnom.</span>—Explanatory addition by the chronicler.<p><span class= "bld">Also he observed times, and used enchantments.</span>—<span class= "ital">And he practised augury and divination.</span> Forbidden, <a href="/leviticus/19-26.htm" title="You shall not eat any thing with the blood: neither shall you use enchantment, nor observe times.">Leviticus 19:26</a>. The first words seem strictly to mean “observed clouds; “the second, “observed serpents.”<p><span class= "bld">And used witchcraft.</span>—<span class= "ital">And muttered spells</span> or <span class= "ital">charms.</span> This word does not occur in the parallel place, but all the offences here ascribed to Manasseh are forbidden in <a href="/context/deuteronomy/18-10.htm" title="There shall not be found among you any one that makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that uses divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.">Deuteronomy 18:10-11</a>.<p><span class= "bld">And dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards.</span>—<span class= "ital">And appointed a necromancer and a wizard.</span> Kings has <span class= "ital">wizards.</span> The source of all these modes of soothsaying was Babylon. Like the first king of Israel, Manasseh appears to have despaired of help or counsel from Jehovah. (Comp. <a href="/context/jeremiah/44-17.htm" title="But we will certainly do whatever thing goes forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.">Jeremiah 44:17-18</a>.) The heavy yoke of Assyria again weighed the nation down, and the great deliverance under Hezekiah was almost forgotten. “To all the Palestinian nations the Assyrian crisis had made careless confidence in the help of their national deities a thing impossible. As life was embittered by foreign bondage, the darker aspects of heathenism became dominant. The wrath of the gods seemed more real than their favour; atoning ordinances were multiplied, human sacrifices became more frequent, the terror which hung over all the nations that groaned under the Assyrian yoke found habitual expression in the ordinances of worship; and it was this aspect of heathenism that came to the front in Manasseh’s imitations of foreign religion” (Robertson Smith, <span class= "ital">The Prophets of Israel,</span> p. 366).<p><span class= "bld">He wrought much evil.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">he multiplied doing the evil.</span> He was worse than his evil predecessors<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/33-7.htm">2 Chronicles 33:7</a></div><div class="verse">And he set a carved image, 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 before all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever:</div>(7) <span class= "bld">And he set</span> <span class= "bld">. . .</span> <span class= "bld">had made.</span>—<span class= "ital">And he set the carven image of the idol which he had made. “</span>Idol” (<span class= "ital">sèmel</span>) explains “Asherah,” the term used in Kings. Both “carven image “and “idol” (Authorised Version, <span class= "ital">figure</span>) occur in <a href="/deuteronomy/4-16.htm" title="Lest you corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,">Deuteronomy 4:16</a>.<p><span class= "bld">The house of God.</span>—Chronicles has added, <span class= "ital">of God,</span> by way of explanation. The Temple proper is meant, as distinct from the courts.<p><span class= "bld">Before all.</span>—<span class= "ital">Out</span> <span class= "ital">of</span> <span class= "ital">all.</span><p><span class= "bld">For ever.</span>—<span class= "ital">Le’êlum,</span> a form only found here (equivalent to <span class= "ital">le’ólām</span>)<span class= "ital">.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/33-8.htm">2 Chronicles 33:8</a></div><div class="verse">Neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from out of the land which I have appointed for your fathers; so that they will take heed to do all that I have commanded them, according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses.</div>(8) <span class= "bld">Remove.</span>—Kings has a less common expression, “cause to wander.”<p><span class= "bld">From out of </span>(<span class= "ital">upon</span>) <span class= "bld">the</span> <span class= "bld">land</span> (<span class= "ital">ground</span>) <span class= "bld">which I have appointed.</span>—Kings, with which the versions agree, has the certainly original “from the ground which I gave.”<p><span class= "bld">So that.</span>—<span class= "ital">If only.</span><p><span class= "bld">And the statutes and the ordinances.</span>—An explanatory addition. Kings has, “And according to all the Torah that Moses <span class= "ital">my</span> servant commanded them.”<p><span class= "bld">By the hand.</span>—By the ministry or instrumentality. The phrase is a characteristic interpretation of what we read in <a href="/2_kings/21-8.htm" title="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.">2Kings 21:8</a>; for it carefully notes that the authority of the Lawgiver was not primary but derived.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/33-9.htm">2 Chronicles 33:9</a></div><div class="verse">So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, <i>and</i> to do worse than the heathen, whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel.</div>(9) <span class= "bld">So Manasseh . . . heathen.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">And Manasseh led</span> <span class= "ital">Judah</span> <span class= "ital">and the inhabitants of</span> <span class= "ital">Jerusalem astray, to do evil more than the nations.</span> Thenius thinks that the words <span class= "ital">and Manasseh. . . .</span> <span class= "ital">astray,</span> followed in the primary document immediately upon <span class= "ital">and he set the graven image in the house;</span> the intermediate words being an addition by the editor of Kings.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/33-10.htm">2 Chronicles 33:10</a></div><div class="verse">And the LORD spake to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not hearken.</div>(10) <span class= "bld">And the Lord spake to Manasseh.</span>—“By the hand of his servants the prophets.” See<p><a href="/context/2_kings/21-10.htm" title="And the LORD spoke by his servants the prophets, saying,">2Kings 21:10-15</a>, where the substance of the prophetic message is given; and it is added (<a href="/2_chronicles/33-16.htm" title="And he repaired the altar of the LORD, and sacrificed thereon peace offerings and thank offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel.">2Chronicles 33:16</a>) that Manasseh also shed very much innocent blood, “till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to the other.” The reaction against the reforms of Hezekiah ended in a bloody struggle, in which the party of reform was fiercely suppressed.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/33-11.htm">2 Chronicles 33:11</a></div><div class="verse">Wherefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.</div><span class= "bld">MANASSEH’S CAPTIVITY AND REPENTANCE—HIS RESTORATION AND REFORMS</span> (<a href="/context/2_chronicles/33-11.htm" title="Why the LORD brought on them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.">2Chronicles 33:11-17</a>).<p>This section is peculiar to the Chronicle, and none has excited more scepticism among modern critics. The progress of cuneiform research, however, has proved the perfect possibility of the facts most disputed, viz., the captivity and subsequent restoration of Manasseh.<p>(11) <span class= "bld">Wherefore.</span>—<span class= "ital">And.</span><p><span class= "bld">The captains of the host of the king of Assyria.</span>—The generals of Esarhaddon, or rather, perhaps, of Assurbanipal. The former, who reigned from 681-668 B.C. , has recorded the fact that Manasseh was his vassal. He says: “And I assembled the kings of the land of Hatti, and the marge of the sea, Baal king of Tyre, Me-na-si-e (or Mi-in-si-e) king of Ya-u-di (<span class= "ital">i.e.,</span> Judah), Qa-us-gabri, king of Edom,” &c. “Altogether, twenty-two kings of the land of Hatti [Syria], the coast of the sea, and the middle of the sea, all of them, I caused to hasten,” &c. Assurbanipal has left a list which is identical with that of Esarhaddon, except that it gives different names for the kings of Arvad and Ammon. It thus appears that Manasseh paid tribute to him as well as to his father. Schrader (<span class= "ital">K.A.T.,</span> p. 367, <span class= "ital">seq.</span>) thinks that Manasseh was at least suspected of being implicated along with the other princes of Phoenicia-Palestine in the revolt of Assurbanipars brother <span class= "ital">Samar-sum-ukin</span> (circ. 648-647 B.C. ) in which Elam, Gutium, and Meroë also participated; and that he was carried to Babylon, to clear himself of suspicion, and to give assurances of his fidelity to the great king.<p><span class= "bld">Which took Manasseh among the thorns.</span>—<span class= "ital">And they took Manasseh prisoner with the hooks</span> (<span class= "ital">ba-ḫôḫîm</span>)<span class= "ital">.</span> The <span class= "ital">hooks</span> might be such as the Assyrian kings were wont to pass through the nostrils and lips of their more distinguished prisoners. Comp. <a href="/isaiah/37-29.htm" title="Because your rage against me, and your tumult, is come up into my ears, therefore will I put my hook in your nose, and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came.">Isaiah 37:29</a>, “I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips;” and comp. <a href="/amos/4-2.htm" title="The Lord GOD has sworn by his holiness, that, see, the days shall come on you, that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks.">Amos 4:2</a>, “He will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fish-hooks.” Comp. also <a href="/job/41-2.htm" title="Can you put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn?">Job 41:2</a>, “Canst thou bore his jaw with a hook?” [The LXX., Vulg., Targ. render the word “chains.” Syriac confuses the word with <span class= "ital">chayyîm,</span> “life,” and renders “took Manasseh in his life.”] Perhaps, however, the meaning is, <span class= "ital">and they took Manasseh prisoner at Hohim.</span> There is no reason why Hohim should not be a local name, as well as Coz (<a href="/1_chronicles/4-8.htm" title="And Coz begat Anub, and Zobebah, and the families of Aharhel the son of Harum.">1Chronicles 4:8</a>).<p><span class= "bld">And bound him with fetters.</span>—<span class= "ital">With the double chain of bronze,</span> as the Philistines bound Samson (<a href="/judges/16-21.htm" title="But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.">Judges 16:21</a>). So Sennacherib relates: “Suzubu king of Babylon, in the battle alive their hands took him; in fetters of bronze they put him, and to my presence brought him. In the great gate in the midst of the city of Nineveh I bound him fast.” This happened in 695 B.C., only a few years before the similar captivity of Manasseh.<p><span class= "bld">And carried him.</span>—<span class= "ital">Caused him to go,</span> or <span class= "ital">led him away.</span><p><span class= "bld">To Babylon.</span>—Where Assurbanipal was holding his court at the time, as he appears to have done after achieving the overthrow of his brother the rebellious viceroy, and assuming the title of king of Babylon himself.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/33-12.htm">2 Chronicles 33:12</a></div><div class="verse">And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,</div>(12) <span class= "bld">When he was in affliction.</span>—See this phrase in <a href="/2_chronicles/28-22.htm" title="And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the LORD: this is that king Ahaz.">2Chronicles 28:22</a>.<p><span class= "bld">He besought.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">stroked the face,</span> a curious realistic phrase occurring in <a href="/exodus/32-11.htm" title="And Moses sought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why does your wrath wax hot against your people, which you have brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?">Exodus 32:11</a>.<p><span class= "bld">The God of his fathers.</span>—Whom he had forsaken for the gods of aliens. Some MSS., and the Syriac, Targum, and Arabic insert “Jehovah” before this phrase.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/33-13.htm">2 Chronicles 33:13</a></div><div class="verse">And prayed unto him: and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he <i>was</i> God.</div>(13) <span class= "bld">He was intreated of him.</span>—<a href="/1_chronicles/5-20.htm" title="And they were helped against them, and the Hagarites were delivered into their hand, and all that were with them: for they cried to God in the battle, and he was entreated of them; because they put their trust in him.">1Chronicles 5:20</a>.<p><span class= "bld">And brought him again to Jerusalem.</span>—The Assyrian monarch after a time saw fit to restore Manasseh to his throne as a vassal king. The case is exactly parallel to that of the Egyptian king <span class= "ital">Nikû</span> (Necho I.), who was bound hand and foot, and sent to Nineveh; after which Assurbanipal extended his clemency to his captive, and restored him to his former state in his own country. (See Schrader, p. 371.)<p><span class= "bld">Then.</span>—And.<p><span class= "bld">That the</span> <span class= "bld">Lord he was God.</span>—<span class= "ital">That Jehovah was the true God.</span> (Comp. <a href="/1_kings/18-39.htm" title="And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.">1Kings 18:39</a>, where the same Hebrew words occur twice over.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/33-14.htm">2 Chronicles 33:14</a></div><div class="verse">Now after this he built a wall without the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entering in at the fish gate, and compassed about Ophel, and raised it up a very great height, and put captains of war in all the fenced cities of Judah.</div>(14) <span class= "bld">Now after this</span> <span class= "bld">. . .</span> <span class= "bld">valley.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">And afterwards he built an outer wall to the city of David westward unto Gihon in the ravine.</span> Manasseh completed the wall begun by Hezekiah (<a href="/2_chronicles/32-5.htm" title="Also he strengthened himself, and built up all the wall that was broken, and raised it up to the towers, and another wall without, and repaired Millo in the city of David, and made darts and shields in abundance.">2Chronicles 32:5</a>). This highly circumstantial account of the public works undertaken by Manasseh after his restoration, is utterly unlike fiction, and almost compels the assumption of a real historical source, no longer extant, from which the whole section has been derived.<p><span class= "bld">Even</span> <span class= "bld">to</span> <span class= "bld">the entering in of the fish gate.</span>—The fish-gate lay near the north-east corner of the lower city (<a href="/nehemiah/3-3.htm" title="But the fish gate did the sons of Hassenaah build, who also laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof.">Nehemiah 3:3</a>). The direction of the outer wall is described first westward, and then eastward.<p><span class= "bld">And</span> <span class= "bld">compassed about Ophel.</span>—<span class= "ital">And surrounded the Ophel</span> (mound); seil., with the wall, which he carried on from the north-east to the south-east. Uzziah and Jotham had already worked upon these fortifications (<a href="/2_chronicles/26-9.htm" title="Moreover Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, and at the valley gate, and at the turning of the wall, and fortified them.">2Chronicles 26:9</a>; <a href="/2_chronicles/27-3.htm" title="He built the high gate of the house of the LORD, and on the wall of Ophel he built much.">2Chronicles 27:3</a>). Manasseh now finished them, “raising them up to a very great height.”<p><span class= "bld">Raised it</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e.,</span> the outer wall.<p><span class= "bld">And</span> <span class= "bld">put captains of war.</span>—(Comp. <a href="/2_chronicles/17-2.htm" title="And he placed forces in all the fenced cities of Judah, and set garrisons in the land of Judah, and in the cities of Ephraim, which Asa his father had taken.">2Chronicles 17:2</a>; <a href="/2_chronicles/32-6.htm" title="And he set captains of war over the people, and gathered them together to him in the street of the gate of the city, and spoke comfortably to them, saying,">2Chronicles 32:6</a>.) Literally, <span class= "ital">captains of an army</span> ( <span class= "ital">sārê chayil</span>)<span class= "ital">.</span><p><span class= "bld">Of Judah.</span>—Heb., <span class= "ital">in Judah.</span> Some MSS. and the Vulgale read as the Authorised Version.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/33-15.htm">2 Chronicles 33:15</a></div><div class="verse">And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the LORD, and in Jerusalem, and cast <i>them</i> out of the city.</div>(15) <span class= "bld">Took away the strange gods.</span>—Comp. <a href="/context/2_chronicles/33-3.htm" title="For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.">2Chronicles 33:3-7</a>. For the phrase “strange gods” (<span class= "ital">ĕlôhê nēkār</span>)<span class= "ital">,</span> see <a href="/genesis/35-2.htm" title="Then Jacob said to his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments:">Genesis 35:2</a>.<p><span class= "bld">The idol.</span>—That is, the Asherah (<a href="/2_chronicles/33-3.htm" title="For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.">2Chronicles 33:3</a>; <a href="/2_chronicles/33-7.htm" title="And he set a carved image, 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 before all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever:">2Chronicles 33:7</a>; <a href="/2_kings/21-7.htm" title="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:">2Kings 21:7</a>; <a href="/2_kings/17-16.htm" title="And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.">2Kings 17:16</a>).<p><span class= "bld">In the</span> <span class= "bld">mount of the house.</span>—The temple hill. Thenius says: the courts with the altars in them (2 Kings xxi 4, 5).<p><span class= "bld">Cast them out.</span>—Comp. <a href="/2_chronicles/29-16.htm" title="And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the LORD, to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the LORD into the court of the house of the LORD. And the Levites took it, to carry it out abroad into the brook Kidron.">2Chronicles 29:16</a>; <a href="/2_chronicles/30-14.htm" title="And they arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense took they away, and cast them into the brook Kidron.">2Chronicles 30:14</a> Manasseh’s reform was hardly complete, for some of his altars remained for Josiah to pull down (<a href="/2_kings/23-12.htm" title="And the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, did the king beat down, and broke them down from there, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron.">2Kings 23:12</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/33-16.htm">2 Chronicles 33:16</a></div><div class="verse">And he repaired the altar of the LORD, and sacrificed thereon peace offerings and thank offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel.</div>(16) <span class= "bld">Repaired.</span>—Heb., <span class= "ital">built, i.e.,</span> rebuilt. Ewald concludes from this that Manasseh had removed the altar of burnt offering; and from <a href="/jeremiah/3-16.htm" title="And it shall come to pass, when you be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, said the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more.">Jeremiah 3:16</a> that he destroyed the ark of the covenant. (Some Hebrew MSS., and many editions read <span class= "ital">prepared</span> instead of <span class= "ital">built;</span> but the Syriac and Arabic have the latter word, which is doubtless right.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/33-18.htm">2 Chronicles 33:18</a></div><div class="verse">Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer unto his God, and the words of the seers that spake to him in the name of the LORD God of Israel, behold, they <i>are written</i> in the book of the kings of Israel.</div><span class= "bld">CONCLUSION OF THE REIGN</span> (<a href="/context/2_chronicles/33-18.htm" title="Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers that spoke to him in the name of the LORD God of Israel, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel.">2Chronicles 33:18-20</a>).<p>(18) <span class= "bld">His prayer unto his God.</span>—This prayer may or may not have been the basis of the Apocryphal <span class= "ital">Prayer of Manasses,</span> preserved in the LXX.<p><span class= "bld">The words of the</span> <span class= "bld">seers that spake to him.</span>—See Note on <a href="/2_chronicles/33-10.htm" title="And the LORD spoke to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not listen.">2Chronicles 33:10</a>, <span class= "ital">supr.</span> These “words of the seers” were incorporated in the great history of the kings, which is mentioned at the end of the verse, and which was one of the chronicler’s principal authorities.<p><span class= "bld">Written.</span>—This word, though wanting in our present Hebrew text, is read in some MSS., and in the Syriac, Targum, and Arabic.<p><span class= "bld">The book.</span>—<span class= "ital">The history,</span> literally, <span class= "ital">words.</span> <a href="/2_kings/21-17.htm" title="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?">2Kings 21:17</a> refers, as usual, to the “Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/33-19.htm">2 Chronicles 33:19</a></div><div class="verse">His prayer also, and <i>how God</i> was intreated of him, and all his sin, and his trespass, and the places wherein he built high places, and set up groves and graven images, before he was humbled: behold, they <i>are</i> written among the sayings of the seers.</div>(19) <span class= "bld">His prayer also</span> <span class= "bld">. . . of</span> <span class= "bld">him.</span>—<span class= "ital">And his prayer, and the hearing him.</span> Literally, <span class= "ital">and the being propitious to him</span> (the same verb as in <a href="/2_chronicles/33-13.htm" title="And prayed to him: and he was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God.">2Chronicles 33:13</a> and <a href="/genesis/25-21.htm" title="And Isaac entreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.">Genesis 25:21</a>).<p><span class= "bld">All his sins, and his trespass.</span>—<span class= "ital">All his sin and his unfaithfulness.</span> <a href="/2_kings/21-17.htm" title="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?">2Kings 21:17</a> has, “And his sin that he sinned.” The chronicler, as usual, heightens the expression.<p><span class= "bld">Groves.</span>—<span class= "ital">The Ashērim.</span> (See Note on <a href="/2_chronicles/33-3.htm" title="For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.">2Chronicles 33:3</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">Among the sayings of the seers.</span>—<span class= "ital">In the history of Hozai.</span> This work was, therefore, the source from which the chronicler derived his additional information about the reign of Manasseh. (See <span class= "ital">Introduction.</span>) The LXX. has “the seers;” but the Vulg., “in sermonibus Hozai,” and the Syriac, “in the story of Hanan the prophet.” It is pretty clear that <span class= "ital">Hozai</span> is simply a mutilated form of <span class= "ital">ha-hôzîm, “</span>the seers,” a term which occurred in <a href="/2_chronicles/33-17.htm" title="Nevertheless the people did sacrifice still in the high places, yet to the LORD their God only.">2Chronicles 33:17</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/33-20.htm">2 Chronicles 33:20</a></div><div class="verse">So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.</div>(20) <span class= "bld">In</span> <span class= "bld">his own house.</span>—<a href="/2_kings/21-18.htm" title="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.">2Kings 21:18</a>, “and he was buried in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzza.” The words, <span class= "ital">in the garden of,</span> seem to have fallen out of our text. So LXX., <span class= "greekheb">ἐν παραδείσῳ οἴκου αὐτοῦ</span>; Syriac, “in his house, in the garden of treasure.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/33-21.htm">2 Chronicles 33:21</a></div><div class="verse">Amon <i>was</i> two and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned two years in Jerusalem.</div><span class= "bld">THE REIGN OF AMON</span> (<a href="/context/2_chronicles/33-21.htm" title="Amon was two and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned two years in Jerusalem.">2Chronicles 33:21-25</a>. Comp. <a href="/context/2_kings/21-19.htm" title="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.">2Kings 21:19-26</a>).<p>(21) <span class= "bld">Amon was two and twenty years old.</span>—So <a href="/2_kings/21-19.htm" title="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.">2Kings 21:19</a>, which adds his mother’s name and parentage.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/33-22.htm">2 Chronicles 33:22</a></div><div class="verse">But he did <i>that which was</i> evil in the sight of the LORD, as did Manasseh his father: for Amon sacrificed unto all the carved images which Manasseh his father had made, and served them;</div>(22) <span class= "bld">For Amon sacrificed.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">and to all the carven images which Manasseh his father had made did Amon sacrifice.</span> (Comp. <a href="/2_kings/21-21.htm" title="And he walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them:">2Kings 21:21</a>, “and he walked in all the way wherein his father had walked, and served the idols which his father had served, and worshipped them.” <span class= "ital">Idols</span> in the above passage is <span class= "ital">gillulîm, “</span>dunglings,” a term nowhere used by the chronicler.) The statement of our text seems to imply that the “carven images” made by Manasseh had not been destroyed, but only cast aside. (See Note on <a href="/2_chronicles/33-15.htm" title="And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the LORD, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city.">2Chronicles 33:15</a>.) It argues a defect of judgment to say with Reuss that the reforms of Manasseh are rendered doubtful by it. The whole history is a succession of reforms followed by relapses; and the words of the sacred writer need not be supposed to mean that the images which Amon worshipped were the very ones which his penitent father had discarded, but only images of the same imaginary gods.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/33-23.htm">2 Chronicles 33:23</a></div><div class="verse">And humbled not himself before the LORD, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but Amon trespassed more and more.</div>(23) <span class= "bld">And humbled not himself . . . more and more.</span>—This verse is added by the chronicler.<p><span class= "bld">But Amon trespassed more and more.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">for he, Amon, multiplied trespass.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_chronicles/33-25.htm">2 Chronicles 33:25</a></div><div class="verse">But 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.</div>(25) <span class= "bld">Slew.</span>—<span class= "ital">Smote.</span> The verse is identical with <a href="/2_kings/21-24.htm" title="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.">2Kings 21:24</a>, save that it has “smote” plural instead of singular, which latter is more correct. It may be that the facts thus briefly recorded represent a fierce conflict between the party of religious reform and that of religious reaction, in which the latter was for the time worsted and reduced to a state of suspended activity.<p>The chronicler has omitted the remarks usual at the end of a reign. See <a href="/context/2_kings/21-25.htm" title="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?">2Kings 21:25-26</a> for a reference to sources, and Anion’s burial place (“the garden of Uzza”).<p><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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