Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / 2 Chronicles 33:10-24 - Manasseh Repents

Transcript

2 Chronicles 33:10-24 - Manasseh Repents · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Well, hello and good morning, friends and faithful listeners.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for tuning into the Bible Explain
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: podcast on this absolutely lovely morning. I call it a
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: lovely morning because spring is here, you know, officially where
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: I live. It feels like spring once again. Though. I
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: did see the weather report for this week and apparently
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: we're supposed to get more snow again, and I'm like, well,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: I mean, that is the area that I live in,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: you know, I can't expect it to be warm all
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: the time. There's going to be some snow of course
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: thrown in there as well. But other than that, it
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: has been a lovely couple days and I'm very much
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: excited about the turn in the weather. Now today we're
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: going to be reading Second Chronicles thirty three and finishing
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: out to this chapter. You guys, remember on Monday we
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: talked about the first portion of Manassa's Rain and how
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: he was a really bad guy. In fact, he was
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: probably the worst king in Israel's history except for one
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: redeeming quality that we're going to talk about in today's portion.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: So we'll get into that in just a second. But
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: of course, before I begin, here's a word from a sponsor.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: All right, Hopefully while that played, you guys had the
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: chance to grab your bible and also your cup of
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: coffee or your cup of tea. This morning, I am
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: actually not drinking coffee or tea this morning. I have
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: nothing in front of me, so this is an abnormal
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: day for me. So you guys, go ahead and drink
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: the coffee and the tea, and I'll live vicariously through you,
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: especially you coffee drinkers, because coffee that's where it's at
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: for all you tea drinkers. You know, I like to
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: tease you guys teas. You know you get it. Huh. Okay,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: let's read Second Chronicles thirty three ten through twenty five.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: I'll be reading as they usually do from the web.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: You always spoke to Manassa and to his people, but
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: they didn't listen. Therefore, Yahwey brought on them captains of
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: the army of the King of Assyria, who took Manasa
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: that in chains, bound him with fetters, and carried him
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: to Babylon. When he was in distress, he begged Yahweh
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: his god, and humbled himself greatly before the god of
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: his father's He prayed to him, and he was entreated
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: by him and heard his supplication, and brought him again
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Mnessa knew that Yahweh
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: was God. Now after this he built an outer wall
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: to David's city on the west side of Gihan in
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: the valley, even to the entrance at the fish gate.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: He encircled Ofel with it and raised it up to
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: a very great height. And he put valiant captains in
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: all the fortified cities of Judah. He took away the
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: foreign gods and the idol out of Yahwai's house, and
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: all the altars that he had built in the mountain
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: of Yahwai's house, and in Jerusalem he cast them out
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: of the city. He built up Yahway's altar and offered
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: sacrifices of peace, offerings and thanksgiving on it, and commanded
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Judah to serve Yahweh, the God of Israel. Nevertheless, the
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: people still sacrificed in the high places, but only to Yahweh,
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: their God. Now, the rest of the acts of Manassa
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: and his prayer to his God, and the words of
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: the seers who spoke to him in the name of Yahweh,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: the God of Israel, Behold, they are written among the
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: acts of the kings of Israel. His prayer also and
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: how God listened to his request, and all his sin,
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: and his trespass, and the places in which he built
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: high places and set up the asher poles and the
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: engraved images before he humbled himself. Behold, they are written
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: in the history of jose So Manassa slept with his fathers,
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: and they buried him in his own house, and Ammon,
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: his son, reigned in his place. Amen was twenty two
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: years old when he began to reign, and he reigned
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: two years in Jerusalem. He did that which was evil
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: in Yahweh's sight, as did Nassa his father, and Amen
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: sacrificed to all the engraved images which Manassa his father
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: had made, and served them. He didn't humble himself before
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: Yahweh as Manassa his father had humbled himself. But this
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: same Amen trespassed more and more. His servants conspired against
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: him and put him to death in his own house.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: But the people of the land killed all of those
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: who had conspired against King Amen, and the people of
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: the land made Josiah his son king in his place.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Last week talked on this chapter, we discussed all of
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: the different idols that Manassa had brought back in to Judah.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: Basically everything that Hezekiah his father, had done to get
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: rid of these idols, Manassa undid it all, and he
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: brought basically every single idol back into Judah that you
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: could possibly imagine, and even some new ones. And we
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: talked about what some of these new ones might have been,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: specifically as dartee and also ishtar, among many other idols
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: that Manassa introduced into Judah. And obviously this made God
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: very unhappy for many reasons, specifically because his temple had
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: gotten corrupted with these idols. It actually says in the
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: first portion here that Manassa built altars to all of
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: the gods of the heavens, including putting an asher a
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: pole inside of God God's temple, which essentially meant that
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: Manassa turned God's temple into a brothel. Because the entire
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: Ashurah cult had everything to do with fertility and sexual desire.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: It was a fertility goddess, so the people would go
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: into God's house and they would rent out a prostitute
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: male or female. They would do the deed behind some curtains,
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: and then they would pay their wage and go their way,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: and that would be supposedly an act of worship to Asherah.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: So God's house was no longer only for Yahweh, but
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: for all of these other idols as well, and Manassa
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: did far worse with all of this than any king
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: had ever done in Judah's history. So now it says
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: in verse ten, Yahweh spoke to Manassa and to his people,
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: but they didn't listen. Therefore, Yahweh brought on them the
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: took Manassa in chains, bound him with fetters, and carried
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: him to Babylon. So here's something that God said to
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: Manassa that he did not listen to. This is in
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: Second Kings twenty one, Verse ten. It says Ya always
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: spoke by his servants the prophets, saying, because Manassa, king
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: of Judah, has done these abominations and has done wickedly
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: above all that the Emirits did who are before him,
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: and has also made Judah to sin with his idols. Therefore, Yahweh,
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: the God of Israel, says, behold, I will bring such
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: evil on Jerusalem and Judah that whoever hears of it,
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: both his ears will tingle. I will stretch over Jerusalem
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: the line of Samaria and the plumb line of Ahab's house,
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipes a dish,
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: wiping it and turning it upside down. I will cast
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: off the remnant of my inheritance and deliver them into
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: the hands of their enemies. They will become a prey
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: and a plunder to all their enemies, because they have
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: done that which is evil in my sight and have
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: provoked me to anger since the day that their fathers
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: came out of Egypt, even to this day. So basically,
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: what God is saying there is that he is going
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: to show Judah the same level of contempt that he
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: showed to Samaria and the house of Ahab. I don't
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: know if you guys remember Ahab. We talked about him
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: kind of briefly in Second Chronicles because he was a
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: king of Israel, not of Judah. But Ahab was basically
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: like the worst king in Israel's history because he married
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: a Phoenician woman named Jezebel, who caused all sorts of
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: corruption and did just terrible things, murders and idolatry throughout
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: all of Israel and caused Israel to fall astray. And
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: God said that he was going to wipe out the
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: House of Ahab, essentially the exact same thing he says
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: right here about Manassa and Judah in Second Kings twenty one.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: So God is going to show Judah the same punishment
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: that he showed to Samaria. And by the way, at
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: this point in time, Samaria was already punished. It was
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: essentially wiped off the map because the Assyrians had gone
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: in during the early days of Hezekiah, actually displaced all
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: the people and took control of Israel entirely. And now
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: God says that same judgment is now going to happen
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: to Judah because of all of these sins that Manassa
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: had done. Now, this was what God told Nassa, and
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: Manassa did not listen, because anytime God gives a punishment
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: of some sort, it is always an opportunity for the
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: person to repent, to turn back to Yahweh. And Manassa,
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: it says, did not listen. So going back to Second
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: Chronicles thirty three, here's how God responds. It says Therefore,
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: Yahweh brought on them the captains of the army of
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: the King of Assyria, who took Manassa in chains, bound
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon. Now there's
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: a little bit of history about this event. Firstly, Assyria
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: was actually in control of Babylon at this time. In fact,
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: Asyria was in control of Babylon for about a century
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: until Babylon completely revolted. So Babylon came into pay a
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: little bit later after this, but Assyria was still in
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: control of Babylon, which is why it says right here
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: that the king of Assyria took Manassa in chains, bound
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon. Now what's
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: interesting about this judgment God chose to Manassa is because
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: remember how Manassa was bringing all of these idols into Judah.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: He was bringing Babylonian idols into Judah. Because it actually
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: said that Manassa introduced these idols that represented all the
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: stars in the sky and the moon and the sun.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: These were all things that the Babylonians worshiped. They were
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: super into astrology, and so Nasa is essentially worshiping the
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: Babylonian gods, and now Yahweh is like, Okay, Manassa, you
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: want to worship the Babylonian gods, here you go. I'm
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: going to send you straight into Babylon and you can
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: tell me what you think of it once you're there.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: And Manassa did not think very well of it. We
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: do know, based upon some of the things found that
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: Manassa had revolted against Assyria because Assyria had come in
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: and basically made Israel a vassal state of sorts, and
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: so Manassa had to pay a tribute to the king
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: of Assyria during his days, and we know that Manassa
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: actually revolted against that and refused to pay the Assyrian
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: king any further. And the reason Manassa probably did that
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: was because Egypt had done the same thing, and Manassa
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: assumed he could follow in the footsteps of Egypt. But
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: it didn't work out for Nasa as well, because Egypt
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: was far further from Assyria than Judah was. So when
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: Manassa did it, Judah, which was already becoming weaker, was
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: not able to defend itself against Assyria that came in
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: and took Nassa in chains. Bound him with fetters and
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: carried him to Babylon. It says in verse twelve, when
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: he was in distress, he begged Yahweh, his God, and
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. He
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: prayed to him, and he was entreated by him and
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: his kingdom. Then Manassa knew that Yahweh was God. So
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: those verses prove something that I've been saying here for
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: a while now. Idolatry is nothing but pride and selfishness.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: I mean, think about it. When you worship an idol
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: that is not God, you are worshiping it to gain
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: something for yourself, whatever it might be. But that's not
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: the reason we worship God. We worship God because he's
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: the creator of the universe, because he's the truth, because
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: he gives us life, and he deserves worship and he
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: deserves praise. And you know, we have benefits for worshiping Yahweh, obviously,
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: specifically eternal life, and that's the greatest benefit that you
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: can have. But what does God tell us, you know,
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: throughout the entire New Testament, all the letters I've been
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: discussing on this podcast over the past years. What do
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: they say? They say, humble yourself in front of God,
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: put others first, put yourself second to other people. Don't
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: be selfish, don't be prideful, be humble, and put God
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: first in your life. That is how you're supposed to
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: worship Yahweh. But on the flip side, idolatry is the
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: exact opposite. What can this idol give me if I
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: worship it? What can I gain for myself? What can
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: people put out for me? What kind of pride can
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: I have? What kind of vice can I satisfy? That
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: is what idolatry is, through and through, And it says
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: right here that Manassa humbled himself from this pride that
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: he had, because ultimately this idolatry that Manassa had in
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: his heart came down to pride, and it says he
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: begged Yahweh his God, and humbled himself greatly before the
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: God of his fathers. He prayed to him, and God
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: was entreated by him and hurt his supplication and brought
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. So we don't
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: know exactly how this happened because there's nothing in history
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: that we found on this topic of how Manassa ended
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: up going back home other than the Bible itself. So
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: we do know that Nassa ended his life in Judah,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: but we don't know exactly how he got released from Babylon.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: We have no clue. But God did it. It was
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: a miracle. It kind of sounds like through and through.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: And so Manassa when he goes back to his hometown,
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: he knows, it says in verse thirteen. He knows that
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: Yahweh is God. So now Manassa is a changed man.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: It says. After this, he built an outer wall to
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: David's city on the west side of Gihan in the valley,
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: even to the entrance at the fish gate. He encircled
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: Ofell with it and raised it up to a very
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: great height. And he put valiant captains in all the
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: fortified cities of Judah. So now suddenly Manassa is very
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: interested in security. Now that he has become a Yahweh follower,
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: he has this renewed interest in protecting his homeland, whereas
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: before he didn't have that same interest. In fact, he
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: was bringing idols from different countries. In possibly people from
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: different countries in He didn't have that same fervor for
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: taking care of his country when he was an idolator.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: But now that he is a Yahweh worshiper, he sees
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: the importance of taking care of Israel, and so he
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: builds up the security in Israel, also probably knowing that
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: Assyria could come back at any time, probably scared that
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: that might happen again. So he starts actually protecting his
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: own people. And he builds this wall, it says, to
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: a very great height, and then circled o fell with it,
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: and he put valiant captains, it says, in all the
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: fortified cities of Judah. So now Israel is going to
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: be protected again. But this isn't the only thing he does.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: He changes his ways in a lot of ways. Actually,
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: he truly does repent. And that's the one thing we
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: can say about Nassa that we can't see about a
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: has who was Manassa's grandfather. It's kind of confusing a
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: has An a Hab. A Hab was a really bad
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: guy up in Israel. Don't forget, many many kings before this,
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: a has was the bad king in Judah, only a
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: couple kings before Manassa. But the one thing you can
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: say about Manassa that you can't say about a Has
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: even though they did very similar things in their lifetime.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: At least Manassa turned toward God and repented fully at
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: the end of his life. Now, that didn't erase everything
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: that Manassa had done before this, Obviously, it didn't erase
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: any of it because Nassa had caused Judah to sin
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: this very great sin by sacrificing children to Molik. I mean,
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: imagine the amount of children that suffered during that Even
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: one child dying in that way is one too many.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: It is disgusting the way they would sacrifice those children
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: to Malik, just the most tortuous, abuse usive way you
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: can possibly imagine. And Manassa did this to his own children,
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: And if Nassa was doing it, he was leading the
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: way for the rest of Judah to do this to
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: their children. And all of this, of course comes back
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: to the selfishness once again. If I sacrifice my child,
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: if I give a life of another human being, a baby,
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: what can that gain for myself? But Manassa humbles himself.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: It says that in verse fifteen he took away the
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: foreign gods and the idol out of Yahway's house and
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: all the altars that he had built in the mountain
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: of Yahwai's house and in Jerusalem, and cast them out
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: of the city. So he fully got rid of all
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: of his idols, like he was done with it. It
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: says he built up Yahwai's altar and offered sacrifices of peace,
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: offerings and of thanksgiving on it, and commanded Judah to
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: serve Yahweh, the God of Israel verse seventeen. Nevertheless, the
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: people still sacrificed in the high places, but only to
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: Yahweh their god. Now that's not much better and sacrificing
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: to the idols, unfortunately, because the high places were notoriously disgusting.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: In fact, the Expositor's Bible commentary had a really good
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: point on this verse. And here's what this says. Quote.
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: In his remaining years, Manassa did what he could to
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: reverse his years of apostasy. Ezra explains that the people, however,
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: continued to sacrifice at the high places because half a
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: century of paganism could not be counteracted by a half
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: dozen years of reform. It is true that Judah presented
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: the offerings only to the Lord their god, but the
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: high places were still contrary to Moses's law for a
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: central sanctuary. In practice. Moreover, the worship on those sites
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: meant little more than applying a new name to old
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: Baal worship with all its debased rites. So there you go.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: You know, Manassa had a very long reign. He reigned
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: for fifty five years, and during those fifty years he
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: caused Judah to sin of very great sin by bringing
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: back all of this idolatry, and it couldn't be reversed
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: in just five short years. At the end of Manassa's life,
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: I mean, he did what he could to reverse it.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: He did command that the people only serve Yahweh, but
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: still he didn't remove the high places, and the people
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: just kept worshiping God through bail worship essentially, so they
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: were doing all of the same things that they would
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: do to worship Bail, but claiming they were worshiping Yahweh.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: And this was really bad because God told his people
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: I want to be worshiped in a very specific way.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: I am not like these other gods. I don't want
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: paganism associated with my name, So don't worship me the
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: way that the foreign nations worship these other gods. So
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: unfortunately this was not enough. Manassa caused great harm to Judah.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: But God is still merciful to Manassa, and ultimately he
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: wants our hearts. Obviously, God loves Manassa and he wanted
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: Nassa to turn to him, and Manassa did end up
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: turning to him, and God blessed him in the end
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: by getting him out of Babylon. But that doesn't mean
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: that God still wasn't going to judge him for the
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: fifty years of corruption and idolatry that he brought in
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: to Judah. It does say in scripture. We've been hitting
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: this point a lot actually recently, that God is going
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: to judge everything that we do. That's talked about in
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: First Corinthians, I believe chapter three. I'm not going to
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: read that chapter for you guys now, but if you're
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: curious about God's judgment and what that looks like for Christians,
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: you should definitely go over to First Corinthians three and
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: read that. But Manassa unfortunately was going to be judged
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: for the bad things that he did. He's not without
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: consequences for those things, even though he has now become
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: a Yahweh follower. But God's grace is good, and God
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: does not reject anybody that comes to him, no matter
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: how late it is, no matter what they've done in life,
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: how much murder and corruption and evil they have done.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: Because that was Manassa. He committed murder, and he was corrupt,
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: and he was evil. But he turned to God, and
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: God is very gracious, it says in verse eighteen. Now
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: the rest of the acts of Nasa in his prayer
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: to his God and the words of the seers who
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: spoke to him in the name of Yahweh, the God
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: of Israel. Behold, they are written among the acts of
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: the Kings of Israel. So we don't have the Acts
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: of the Kings of Israel, but we do have the
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: Book of the Kings of Israel, which is Second Kings,
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: and some of what God told Manassa is in there.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: But it does sound like, based upon this, that God
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: had warned Manassa even further to stop in his idolatry,
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: And unfortunately Manassa didn't listen until something really bad ended
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: up happening to him, it says in verse nineteen. His
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: prayer also, and how God listened to his request and
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: all his sin and his trespass, and the places in
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: which he built high places and set up the ashra
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: polls and the engraved images before he humbled himself. Behold,
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: they are written in the history of Jose And we
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: also don't have that book either. And just because we
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: don't have a book that the Bible references doesn't mean
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: the Bible is incomplete. This is something that kills me.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: And I'm sure you guys have heard me on this
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: rant before, those of you who listened to me. Often,
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: this kills me when people are like, oh, because the
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: Bible references this other book, that means the Bible is
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: not complete. Okay, but tell me any other book that
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: you've ever read that references another book. Would you ever
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: say that that book is incomplete? No, you wouldn't. I'm
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: just going to answer it for you. You would not say
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: that that book is incomplete. So why is it any
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: different for the Bible. When the Bible mentions a book
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: that we don't have, it does not mean the Bible
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: is incomplete. It just is giving us more history into
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: what Manassa did. We already have everything we need to
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: know about Manassa right here. This is what God wanted
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: us to know. So when the Bible references another book,
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: it does not mean that that book should be canonized
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: if we still have it, or that the Bible is incomplete,
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: or anything along those lines. So now that Manassa has died,
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: it says they buried him in his own house and
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: Aim and his son reigned in his place. I do
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: find it interesting that they didn't bury him in the
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: tombs of the kings. I'm not sure why that's the case.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: Sometimes when the people were really angry with a king,
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: they wouldn't bury them with any particular pomp, and they
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: also wouldn't bury them in the tombs of the kings.
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: So it could be that the people were not very
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: pleased with Nassa his overall reign, and so they buried
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: him not in the tombs of the kings, but his
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: own house. So I don't know about that, But it
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: says that Aim and his son reigned in his place.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: Amen was twenty two years old when he began to reign,
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: and he reigned two years in Jerusalem, so that shows
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: right there that he did not have a blessed reign. Now,
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: on the other hand, though Manassa had one of the
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: longest reigns in any of the kings in Juda's history,
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: and God did not bless the majority of Manassa's reign.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: Just because somebody seems to be blessed by God does
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: not necessarily mean that they are. But on the flip side,
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: we don't see any kings that were good that only
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: reigned for a couple years. It was always the evil kings,
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: and it says that right here. It says that Amin
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: did that which was evil in ya sight, as did
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: Nassa his father, and Aimen sacrificed to all the engraved
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: images which Nassa his father had made, and served them
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: some of those idols. The people were still worshiping them.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: Not all of them disappeared. It does say that Nassa
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: threw out a whole bunch of them, But still fifty
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: years of idolatry, Manassa's not going to be physically able
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: to get every single idol that was created in Judah
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: at this time. It is not possible. And Amon had
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: some of these idols that he either kept or possibly
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: retrieved from the trash we don't know. But regardless, Vanassa
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: had made these idols and Amen still had them. It
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: says he sacrificed to these engraved images and served them.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: He didn't humble himself before Yahweh as Nasa his father
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: had humbled himself. But this same Aimen trespassed more and more.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: His servants conspired against him and put him to death
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: in his own house. But the people of land killed
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: those who had conspired against King Amen, and the people
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: of the land made Josiah his son king in his place.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: Now I don't remember where I read this, but there
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: was a commentary I was reading through that said, the
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: only good thing that Amon had ever done was produced Josiah, because,
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: as we're gonna find out, Josiah turns out to be
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: the best king in Israel's history. So we're gonna talk
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: about the reign of Josiah next week on the podcast.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: So I hope to see all of you guys on
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: Monday as we discuss King Josiah. But before I end
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: today's podcast, here is one last word from this sponsor. Well,
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: faithful listeners. I have been just loving the Book of Hebrews,
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: and as you guys know, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, we've
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: been going through the New Testament discussing the Book of Hebrews,
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: and there have been so many great topics we've talked
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: about in Hebrews so far. And I mentioned yesterday one
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: of the reasons I love the Book of Hebrews so
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: much is because it connects to every other portion of Scripture.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: It's like the connecting Book. It ties everything together. It
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: feels like So tomorrow we're going to be in the
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: Book of Hebrews once again, and I hope to see
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: all of you guys over there now. On Friday, I
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: promised you guys a special Friday podcast episode. Normally, I
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: don't do episodes on Fridays for Faithful Listeners. They're usually
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: for the faithful members over on KOFE, which you can
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: find a link to that if you are interested in
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: going through the Book of the Psalms with me on Fridays.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: But this Friday there will be a special episode because
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: it is Good Friday, and other than Easter, it is
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: the most important holiday on the Christian calendar. So that's
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: why we're going to have an episode on Good Friday
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: as well, which I'm very much looking forward to discussing
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: that with you guys. Also, Faithful Listeners have a fantastic
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: and wonderful rest of your Wednesday. Hopefully I'll see you
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: guys tomorrow for an episode from the Book of Hebrews.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: Happy listening, and God bless. I just want to take
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: a second to thank the team at Life Audio for
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: their partnership with me on the Bible Explain podcast. In fact,
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: if you go to lifeudio dot com you will find
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: dozens of other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.