28 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 21 In this chapter a short history is given of the two wicked reigns of Manasseh and Amon; Manasseh is charged with great idolatry, with enchantments and witchcrafts, and seducing the children of Israel, 2 Kings 21:1 and a prophecy is given out of the destruction of Jerusalem for his sins, 2 Kings 21:10, and an account is...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign,.... So that he was born three years after Hezekiah's recovery from his sickness, and in the seventeenth year of his reign: and reigned fifty five years in Jerusalem: among which must be reckoned the time of his captivity in Babylon; his reign was the longest of any of the kings of Judah: and...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
In this chapter we have a short but sad account of the reigns of two of the kings of Judah, Manasseh and Amon. I. Concerning Manasseh, all the account we have of him here is, 1. That he devoted himself to sin, to all manner of wickedness, idolatry, and murder, ver. 1-9 and 16. 2. That therefore God devoted him, and Jerusalem for his sake, to ruin,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord,.... Was guilty of idolatry: after the abomination of the Heathen, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel: the old Canaanites; he committed idolatry in imitation of them, and as the Phoenicians now did before the children of Israel: the old Canaanites; he committed idolatry in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed,.... The temples and altars upon them, see 2 Kings 18:4, and he reared up altars for Baal; in the high places he rebuilt: and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel: which was either an idol itself, or a shade of trees where idols were placed; or rather Asherah,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he built altars in the house of the Lord,.... In the holy place, as distinct from the courts in the next verse; and these were sacred to the idols of the Gentiles: of which the Lord said, in Jerusalem will I put my name; in the temple there, devoted to his service, called by his name, and where his name was called upon, see Deuteronomy 12:5...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he built altars for all the host of heaven,.... Sun, moon, and stars: in the two courts of the house of the Lord; in the court of the priests, and in the court of the people; and all this must be supposed to be done, not as soon as he began to reign, but when he was grown up to man's estate, and had children, as the next verse shows; unless it...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he made his son pass through the fire,.... To Molech, after the manner of the old Canaanites and Phoenicians; his son Amon, that succeeded him, and other children, as appears from 2 Chronicles 33:6, where mention is made of the place where it was done, the valley of the son of Hinnom: and observed times; lucky or unlucky, which was judged of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Ver. 7 And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house,.... Which was either an image that had been placed in a grove planted by him, and now removed into the house or temple of the Lord; or, as some think, this was a representation of a grove, a carved grove of gold or silver, in the midst of which an image was placed in the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers,.... Or suffer them to be carried captive into another land, as in the times of the judges; that is, on the following condition: only if they will observe to do according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them by obedience to which they had...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But they hearkened not,.... To the voice of God in his law by Moses, and were not obedient to it: and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel: he set up more idols, and drew the people into more and greater idolatries, than the old Canaanites; and these were the more...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord spake by his servants the prophets,.... Who prophesied in the days of Manasseh; and were, according to the Jewish chronology (f), Joel, Nahum, and Habakkuk: saying: as follows. (f) Seder Olam Rabba, c. 20. p. 55.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations,.... Before named, 2 Kings 21:3, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did that were before him; one of the seven nations of Canaan, a principal of them, and which is put for all the rest: and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols: the worship of them, as the Targum;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel,.... Who, though kind and gracious to Israel as their covenant God, is yet just and righteous, as well as he is a sovereign Being and Lord of all: behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle; it will make such a noise in the world,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria,.... The Targum is, the line of destruction; and the sense is, that the same measure should be measured to Jerusalem as was to Samaria; that is, the same lot and portion should befall one as the other, that is, be utterly destroyed: and the plummet of the house of Ahab; the Targum is, the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance,.... The whole land of Canaan was the Lord's inheritance; ten tribes in it were already removed, only Judah with Benjamin was left, and the Lord threatens to forsake that remnant: and deliver them into the hands of their enemies, and they shall become a prey and spoil to all their enemies; which...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Because they have done that which was evil in my sight,.... Committed idolatry: and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even to this day; being always prone to idolatry, so provoking to God, and which they were guilty of quickly after they came out of Egypt, in the worship of the golden calf, and had...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Moreover, Manasseh shed innocent blood very much,.... Putting to death the prophets that reproved him and his people for their idolatries, and such who would not comply therewith; and it is commonly said, both by Jewish and Christian writers, that Isaiah was slain, and even sawn asunder by him, [See comments on Hebrews 11:37], till he had filled...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and all that he did,.... Both good and bad, for he repented, and was humbled, and did many good things afterwards, though not recorded in this book: and his sin that he sinned; his idolatry: are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? in which were recorded the most memorable...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Manasseh slept with his fathers,....] Or died, after a reign of fifty five years, and a life of sixty seven: and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza; whether the burial of him here was his own choice, judging himself unworthy to lie with the kings of Judah, who had been guilty of such great sins, or whether the...