2 Kings 21:10-15

C. THE PROPHETIC PRONOUNCEMENT AGAINST JERUSALEM 21:10-15

TRANSLATION

(10) And the LORD spoke by the hand of His prophets, saying, (11) Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, and has done evil more than all which the Amorites that were before him had done, and has caused Judah to sin with his idols, (12) therefore thus says the LORD the God of Israel: Behold I am about to bring evil upon Jerusalem and Judah which all who hear of it, both of their ears shall tingle. (13) And I will stretch out over Jerusalem the line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab; and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping and turning it upside down. (14) And I will forsake the remnant of My inheritance, and I will give them into the hand of their enemies, and they shall become spoil and prey to all their enemies. (15) Because they did evil in My eyes that they might provoke Me, from the day that their fathers went out of Egypt, even unto this day.

COMMENTS

God did not leave Himself without a vigorous voice of protest during the corrosive reign of Manasseh (2 Kings 21:10). The names of those who preached the Word during that terrible time are unknown. Isaiah may have preached in the early years of Manasseh, Nahum possibly toward the close of his reign. But the great heroes of that day remain anonymous. The author of Kings however gives a summary of the message which they were preaching. Because Manasseh had done more evil than the Amorites, the pre-Israelite inhabitants of the land (2 Kings 21:11), God would bring a great calamity upon the nation. News of the extraordinary judgment would shock and pain all who heard of it like a piercing note pains one's ears (2 Kings 21:12). The line of Samaria would be stretched over Jerusalem, i.e., Jerusalem would experience the same fate as Samaria which had been destroyed in 722 B.C. God applies the measuring line, a perfectly uniform standard, to all nations. The plummet which God had placed alongside the house of Ahab in the North would now be placed alongside the house of David.[632] Jerusalem would be emptied of inhabitants as a man empties scraps from a dish into a garbage pan (2 Kings 21:13). The remnant of His peoplethe nation Judahwould now be forsaken by the Lord just as He had abandoned the ten tribes of the kingdom of Israel. As a result, the people of Judah would be conquered and spoiled by their enemies (2 Kings 21:14). This terrible tragedy would come about because of the moral and spiritual depravity of Judah which had its roots in the long-distant past and which culminated in the reign of Manasseh (2 Kings 21:15).

[632] Buildings in Palestine had to be checked periodically by line and plummet to determine damage that had been done by earthquakes. Bulging walls were a public menace which had to be destroyed.