Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
2 Kings 21:3-9
Summary Of His Evil Life (2 Kings 21:3).
The full evil of the life of Manasseh is brought out by a detailed description of all the abominations that he committed (2 Kings 21:3), followed by two summaries, one in 2 Kings 21:9 and one in 2 Kings 21:16, thereby making up a threefold indictment of the ‘completeness' of his evil. Whilst it was true that his subjection to the King of Assyria would have required that at a minimum he introduce into the Temple an Assyrian altar, and the worship of Assur and the host of heaven (whose power was claimed by the Assyrians as having brought about his subjection, and who would need to ‘watch over' the observance of the treaty made between them which would have been lodged in the Temple), it was not required of him that he go to excess in other directions. The Assyrians did not interfere with the local religion. Thus his excesses in that regard may well have partly been due to the fact that when he came to the throne as sole ruler at a comparatively young age he was under the influence of parties who had endeared themselves to him during his co-regency with a view to a return to the old ways once Hezekiah was dead. It may also have included bitterness at the thought that his destiny, according to the famous prophet of YHWH Isaiah, was to become a eunuch in the service of the King of Babylon (2 Kings 20:18). It may be that he felt that the ancient gods of the land would offer him a better future.
Analysis.
a For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he reared up altars for Baal, and made an Asherah, as did Ahab king of Israel, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them (2 Kings 21:3).
b And he built altars in the house of YHWH, of which YHWH said, “In Jerusalem will I put my name” (2 Kings 21:4).
c And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of YHWH (2 Kings 21:5).
d And he made his son pass through the fire, and practised augury, and used enchantments, and dealt with those who had familiar spirits, and with wizards (2 Kings 21:6 a).
c He wrought much evil in the sight of YHWH, to provoke him to anger (2 Kings 21:6 b).
b And he set the graven image of Asherah, which he had made, in the house of which YHWH said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever, nor will I cause the feet of Israel to wander any more out of the land which I gave their fathers, if only 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” (2 Kings 21:7).
a But they did not listen, and Manasseh seduced them to do what is evil more than did the nations whom YHWH destroyed before the children of Israel (2 Kings 21:9).
Note that in ‘a' we have described the restoration of the perverted worship of the gods of Canaan, and in the parallel the fact that Manasseh did more evil that the nations whom YHWH had destroyed because of their worship of the perverted gods of Canaan. In ‘b' he desecrated the place in which YHWH had put His Name, and in the parallel he did the same. In ‘c' be built altars to the host of heaven in the courts of the house of YHWH, and in the parallel he wrought much evil in the sight of YHWH to provoke Him to anger. Centrally in ‘d' he practised child sacrifice, and engaged in the occult.
‘For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he reared up altars for Baal, and made an Asherah, as did Ahab king of Israel, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.'
Manasseh did not, of course, do all this himself. Rather he rescinded the order of Hezekiah against the old high places, so that those of the people so inclined, which were many, could once again restore the high places with their semi-Canaanite worship, and set up altars for Baal, while he himself seemingly set up an altar of Baal and an Asherah image in the Temple in the same way as Ahab had done (compare 2 Kings 16:3; 1 Kings 16:30). It was a deliberate reversal of Hezekiah's reforms. The worship of the host of heaven, which would include Assur the sun god, was probably required by his Assyrian conquerors, but it was one thing to give formal recognition to them, it was quite another to enter into their worship enthusiastically. He appears to have ‘gone over the top'. He was seemingly not too reluctant a vassal.
‘And he built altars in the house of YHWH, of which YHWH said, “In Jerusalem will I put my name.” '
In view of 2 Kings 21:3; 2 Kings 21:5 this would appear to refer to (or at least include) altars for Baal. And he set them up in the very place where YHWH had promised to David that he would ‘put His Name' (by allowing the introduction of the Ark, ‘whose name was called by the Name of YHWH of Hosts Who dwells between the cherubim' - 2 Samuel 6:2). It was thus a direct confrontation with YHWH.
For ‘in Jerusalem will I put My Name' see 1 Kings 11:36; 1 Kings 14:21. YHWH had put His Name in Jerusalem in response to David's action in bringing the Ark of YHWH (which was called after the Name of YHWH - 2 Samuel 6:2) into Jerusalem as his capital city. It was David's desire that YHWH would adopt Jerusalem as the present place where He put His Name, and YHWH had responded to him because of His love for him. It was thus for David's sake that He had adopted Jerusalem. And now Manasseh was restoring it to its old owners, the gods of Canaan. This was thus an open rejection by Manasseh of his own Davidic status, and of the uniqueness of the God of David.
In Deuteronomy 12 YHWH had made clear that He would put His Name wherever the Tabernacle was set up, and the Ark placed within it. And that place had varied from time to time. But there was no specific thought in Deuteronomy of Jerusalem. Deuteronomy simply had in mind the setting up of one Central Sanctuary at whatever place YHWH chose at any particular time (although it nowhere says it would be the only sanctuary. It would be the central one around which the tribes united). This was initially at Shechem (as Deuteronomy itself recognised), and eventually for a long time at Shiloh. It was David, and then Solomon, who decided to set it up at Jerusalem, and it was for David's sake that YHWH recognised Jerusalem as the place where He would put His Name. It is a mistake to read Jerusalem specifically back into Deuteronomy 12.
‘And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of YHWH.'
It would appear that the old court around the Temple had been divided into two (compare 2 Kings 23:12). This would probably be necessary in order to house the altar of YHWH in one section and the altars of Baal in the other (the worship of both could not take place in the same area simultaneously). Altars to his overlord's gods, recognised in terms of the host of heaven, would thus have to be set up in both sections. The worship of the host of heaven was widespread, even though the gods might have different names. But here, as the Assyrian gods are mentioned nowhere else in the passage, it is seemingly connected with Assyria (where ‘the host of heaven' was certainly worshipped), for their presence and worship would certainly have been required.
Alternatively the mention of the two courts may have in mind the ‘middle court', possibly mentioned in 2 Kings 20:4, which may have been a court in the palace complex which was alongside the court of the Temple. But we would expect the altars to be erected before the door of the Sanctuary which favours the first idea above (compare 2 Kings 23:12).
‘The host of heaven.' Anyone who was a polytheist and connected the gods with the sun, moon and stars would necessarily think of ‘the host of heaven' every time that he looked up to the stars at night. There it was spread before him, a great host. Thus we have mention of ‘the host of heaven' as early as Deuteronomy 4:19; Deuteronomy 17:3; compare Genesis 1:2. The Assyrians had, however, schematised the idea.
‘And he made his son pass through the fire, and practised augury, and used enchantments, and dealt with those who had familiar spirits, and with wizards.'
This may signify that he also introduced the worship of Molech (Melech) the god of the Ammonites who required child sacrifice, or alternatively that he transferred those practises to the worship of Baal, as would occur in the future in Jeremiah's day (Jeremiah 19:5). That passing through the fire involved such child sacrifice is clear from Jeremiah 19:5. He also indulged in the occult, using divination by omens, enchantments, consultations with familiar spirits through mediums, and wizardry, all of which was forbidden by the Law of YHWH (Leviticus 19:26; Deuteronomy 18:10).
‘He wrought much evil in the sight of YHWH, to provoke him to anger.'
Not only did he introduce false worship in abundance, but Manasseh also ‘wrought much evil, in the sight of YHWH', provoking Him to anger. Central to this was his rejection of the covenant requirements of YHWH (compare 2 Kings 21:16, where his wrong behaviour clearly goes beyond a simple indulging in false worship, serious though that was. Canaanite worship, with its perverted sex acts, did, of course, openly result in flagrant disobedience to YHWH's other commandments).
‘And he set the graven image of Asherah, which he had made, in the house of which YHWH said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever,” '
Chief among his crimes was the setting up of the image of the mother goddess of the Canaanite religion, not only in Jerusalem which was a crime in itself, but also in the very house of which YHWH had said to David and Solomon, ‘There will I put My Name' (1 Kings 11:36; 1 Kings 14:21). The setting up of the Asherah with its evil and lascivious associations appears to have been looked on, if that were possible, as even more serious than the pillars and altars of Baal (compare 2 Kings 13:6; 1 Kings 16:33). The sexual extravagances associated with Asherah are here set in stark contrast to the purity of the Name of YHWH.
“Nor will I cause the feet of Israel to wander any more out of the land which I gave their fathers, if only 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.”
At that time YHWH had promised that He would not cause the feet of Israel to wander out of the land which He had given to their fathers any more. In other words there would be no danger of exile for them. They would be safe in the land. But it had been conditional on their observing to do all that He had commanded them, and all that had been commanded to them by Moses as written in the Law of Moses, YHWH's servant. And we have already seen that three major exiles of God's people had already resulted because of their disobedience. The first was in 2 Kings 15:29, following the destruction and annexation of the region around Naphtali, when many from those regions were transported; the second in 2 Kings 17:6; 2 Kings 18:11 following the destruction of Samaria; and the third in 2 Kings 18:13 (read in the light of the Assyrian annals), resulting from the initial invasion of Judah. Indeed every Assyrian and Babylonian, and even Egyptian, invasion would result in many exiles, for these nations never went back without taking captives with them, (compare Isaiah 11:11; Isaiah 43:5; Isaiah 49:12; Isaiah 56:8). So, as for many nations of the other nations (e.g. 2 Kings 16:9), exile was a common occurrence for the Israelites, and continually brought home the warning that if they were disobedient God would spew them out of the land (Leviticus 18:28; Leviticus 20:22). (What is erroneously called ‘The Exile' in popular Biblical teaching, as though there was only one, is only recalled because it resulted from the destruction of Jerusalem and we have records about some of them returning. But exile was not uncommon. In those days people lived in expectation of the possibility of exile if they rebelled (compare 2 Kings 18:32). So it did not take a prophet to forecast the possibility of exile. What the prophet did was explain the reason for the exile.
This prophecy is not actually elsewhere recorded in Scripture. The closest to it is found in 1 Samuel 7:10 where we read, ‘and I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them that they may dwell in their own place, and be disturbed no more', but there were many prophecies that were not included in Kings (consider the examples found in Chronicles) so that there is no good reason for denying the genuineness of this prophecy.
“But they did not listen, and Manasseh seduced them to do what is evil more than did the nations whom YHWH destroyed before the children of Israel.'
However, in spite of all that YHWH had said the people did not listen. And Manasseh ‘seduced them' and led them into such evil ways that they were even more evil than the nations whom YHWH had (only in part because of Israel's disobedience) destroyed before the children of Israel. It is clear therefore that this could have only one inevitable end, that they would be spewed out of the land (Leviticus 18:28; Leviticus 20:22). A further series of exiles was inevitable.