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March 10 - 2 Kings 21 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean. Here it is.
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  Monday. It's the 10th of March and if
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  you're in my part of the world, happy public holiday to you.
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  I think it's 8 hours day or one of those clever public holidays
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  that means we don't even have to work 8 hours.
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  Oh fantastic. We are coming into the very
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  final stanza, should we say, of the book of Second Kings.
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  We've only got 5 more chapters to go and unfortunately today
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  we're going to hear about two very poor kings ruling this tiny
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  little vulnerable nation. So the nation of Israel was
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  small, right? It was small, surrounded by
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  these mega powers, and now the teeny tiny one tribe of Judah
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  that got detached from that small nation of Israel, that's
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  all that remains, surrounded on either side by these enormous
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  empires. And let us see how they're going
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  to fare. Yeah, this week we're going to
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  see couple of dodgy kings, one outstanding king, and then sadly
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  a downhill slide until God says enough is enough and Babylon
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  will come and do its thing. But we have got a few days to go
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  until we reach that part of the story, so let us hear.
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  After the wonderful reign of Hezekiah, his son and grandson
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  sadly choose not to follow in his great footsteps.
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  So let us hear that story as we read together Second Kings
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  chapter 21. Manasseh was 12 years old when
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  he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem 55 years.
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  His mother was Hefsipah. He did what was evil in the
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  Lord's sight. Following the detestable
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  practises of the Pagan nations that the Lord had driven from
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  the land ahead of the Israelites.
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  He rebuilt the Pagan shrines his father Hezekiah had destroyed.
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  He constructed altars for Baal and set up an Asherapol, just as
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  King Ahab of Israel had done. He also bowed before all the
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  powers of the heavens and worshipped them.
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  He built Pagan altars in the temple of the Lord.
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  The place where the Lord had said, My name will remain in
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  Jerusalem forever. He built these altars for all
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  the powers of the heavens in both courtyards of the Lord's
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  temple. Manasseh also sacrificed his own
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  son in a fire. He practised sorcery and
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  divination, and he consulted with mediums and psychics.
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  He did much that was evil in the Lord's sight, arousing his
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  anger. Manasseh even made a carved
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  image of Asherah and set it up in the Temple, the very place
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  where the Lord had told David and his son Solomon.
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  My name will be honoured forever in this temple and in Jerusalem,
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  the city I have chosen from among all the tribes of Israel.
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  If the Israelites will be careful to obey My commands all
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  the laws My servant Moses gave them, I will not send them into
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  exile from this land that I gave their ancestors.
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  But the people refused to listen, and Manasseh LED them to
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  do even more evil than the Pagan nations that the Lord had
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  destroyed when the people of Israel entered the land.
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  Then the Lord said through His servants the prophets, King
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  Manasseh of Judah has done many detestable things.
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  He is even more wicked than the Amorites who lived in this land
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  before Israel. He has caused the people of
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  Judah to sin with his idols. So this is what the Lord the God
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  of Israel says. I will bring such disaster on
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  Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of those who hear about it
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  will tingle with horror. I will judge Jerusalem by the
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  same standard are used for Samaria, and the same measure
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  are used for the family of Ahab. I will wipe away the people of
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  Jerusalem as one wipes a dish and turns it upside down.
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  Then I will reject even the remnant of my own people who are
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  left, and I will hand them over as plunder for their enemies,
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  for they have done great evil in my sight and have angered me
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  ever since their ancestors came out of Egypt.
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  Manasa also murdered many innocent people until Jerusalem
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  was filled from one end to the other with innocent blood.
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  This was in addition to the sin that he caused the people of
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  Judah to commit, leading them to do evil in the Lord's sight.
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  The rest of the events in Manasa's reign and everything he
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  did, including the sins he committed, are recorded in the
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  Book of the History of the Kings of Judah.
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  When Manasa died, he was buried in the palace garden, the garden
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  of Uzza. Then his son Amon became the
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  next king. Amon was 22 years old when he
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  became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem two years.
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  His mother was Meshalameth, the daughter of Haraz from Jotba.
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  He did what was evil in the Lord's sight, just as his father
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  Manasseh had done. He followed the example of his
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  father, worshipping the same idols his father had worshipped.
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  He abandoned the Lord, the God of his ancestors, and he refused
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  to follow the Lord's ways. Then Amon's own officials
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  conspired against him and assassinated him in his palace.
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  But the people of the land killed all those who had
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  conspired against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah the
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  next king. The rest of the events in Amon's
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  reign and what he did are recorded in the Book of the
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  History of the Kings of Judah. He was buried in his tomb in the
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  garden of Ooza. Then his son Josiah became the
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  next king. Our Lord, we hear these stories
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  of old where you used your prophets to speak your words of
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  truth and warning and sometimes encouragement, but certainly not
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  in this chapter. To your people, Our Lord, thank
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  you that we now live in a world that is under a new covenant
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  where you, Jesus, you rule, and you have given us your Holy
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  Spirit that lives in US and prompts us, but it's still quiet
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  Voice our Jesus. Help us be more and more attuned
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  to the Spirit's voice. Create in US a perception of
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  your prompting, of your encouragement, of your
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  redirection, so that we can truly live lives that bring
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  about your Kingdom in this world, this fallen, broken
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  world. Come, Holy Spirit, grow in US
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  and shape us to be more like you.
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  We pray all of this in your saving name, Jesus, Amen.