2 Kings 21 "The Ahab of the South" I like the way that Peter Leithart describes Manasseh, "an idolatrous Solomon on steroids." Think back to the Omrides. Omri was a parody of David. Everything about Omri reminded us of David he was the general of the previous king, and a few years after he took power he built a new capital city. And then Omri's son built a temple for his god. Omri's son was Ahab. And we saw that Ahab was very much like Solomon except the temple he built was for Baal. If Hezekiah is the greatest king since David, one would expect his son to be like Solomon. And Manasseh was a great temple builder but his building projects are all idolatrous. Indeed, Manasseh is compared to both Solomon and Ahab he is truly an idolatrous Solomon on steroids! 1. "As Ahab . . . Had Done" (21:1-9) Manasseh reigns for 55 years the longest reign of any king in Israel or Judah. Manasseh, of course, is the name of one of Joseph's sons and so there is a whole tribe of Manasseh. The name "Manasseh" comes from a root which means to forget or to fail. Joseph named his son Manasseh because God had caused him to forget all his hardship and all his father's house. Hezekiah may well have named his son Manasseh for a similar reason. Hezekiah's father, Ahaz, had been a terrible idolater. Ahaz had built an altar in the temple on the Assyrian model. But Hezekiah had forgotten the ways of his father, and had walked in the ways of David. So he named his son, "he causes to forget." But Hezekiah named his son too well! Because Manasseh did indeed cause his people to forget! The language of remembering and forgetting is the language of worship. In Deuteronomy 6-12, the key to prosperity in the land is "remembering" the LORD your God; because if you "forget" him, then he will destroy you. Manasseh causes Judah to forget the LORD and he does this liturgically by rebuilding the high places, erecting new altars and Asherahs. Memory is nourished by liturgy forgetfulness results from liturgical perversion. When you think about the perversion of worship today, you can see the same sort of thing. A church that thinks of worship as entertainment is a forgetful church, and will lose sight of the glory of Christ. A church that thinks of worship as a place strictly for gaining knowledge about the Bible will also forget the LORD -- often expressed in their lack of love. Worship is to remind us of who Christ is, and who we are in Christ. When it says that Manasseh "rebuilt" the high places, literally "he returned" the high places. This word is a very common word in Kings (used 117 times). It means to "return or come back" it is the word used for "repentance" in Solomon's prayer in 1 Kings 8; it is also the word for "turn away" many times in Kings. It is the word used to describe how Jeroboam would not "turn away" from his sin. It is also the word used when Elijah raised the widow's son, to say that the life "returned" to the child; and when Naaman washed in the Jordan river 7 times his flesh was "returned" or restored like the flesh of a little child. So this little word "shuv" plays a mighty role in the book of Kings. Because every major event is a "turning point" in one direction or another! People are either turning away from the living God, or else they are turning back. Manasseh is returning to the high places that his father destroyed. He probably was very popular for doing this. Hezekiah had broken with centuries of tradition by insisting that everyone worship in Jerusalem. At first it would have appeared that Manasseh is simply restoring the worship of Yahweh the way it had always been done! Israel had always worshiped Yahweh at the high places! "We've always done it that way!" That's the cry of the traditionalist. They are not really concerned with what God says. They just assume that God must be pleased with the way we've always done it! But Kings tells us that Manasseh did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel. Manasseh repented of Hezekiah's reforms, but he did not stop with repealing the reforms. He erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. Ahab has been dead now for nearly 200 years. God had utterly destroyed the house of Ahab. The blood of Ahab was destroyed from the face of the earth except for one! Because Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, had married the son of David, and so Joash, the good king the first great reformer, was Ahab's great-grandson. The last remnant of Ahab's blood flows in the house of David, and it returns with a vengeance in the person of Manasseh. As we've seen, Ahab was a parody of Solomon, and Manasseh is the southern version of Ahab. So not surprisingly we see Manasseh engaged in temple building (like Solomon and Ahab), and also he sheds much innocent blood (like Ahab). Manasseh introduces Baal worship in verse 3. And he built altars in the house of the LORD (verse 4) of which the LORD had said, In Jerusalem will I put my name. And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD. Not only that but he also burned his son as an offering and used fortune-telling and omens and dealt with mediums and wizards. These are things that are expressly forbidden in Deuteronomy. Earlier kings of Judah had done evil in the sight of the LORD, but Manasseh surpasses them all. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger. Leithart points out that there is a progression of sins in verses 3-7. He starts at a distance the high places and progressively moves closer and closer to the temple, building altars for Baal and making an Asherah. Then he builds altars in the house of the LORD, consults with mediums and wizards, and concludes with the ultimate insult putting the Asherah in the house of the LORD, where God had placed his name. These sins also move from violations of the first commandment (no other gods) to the second commandment (no graven images), to the third commandment (the violation of God's holy name). Because the carved image of Asherah that he had made he set in the house of which the LORD 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, I will put my name forever. And I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander anymore out of the land that I gave to their fathers, if only they will be careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the Law that my servant Moses commanded them. v7-8 The second and third commandments each have threats attached: for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. You see, God's covenant with Israel had conditions: God promised Israel that they would dwell in the land forever if they would obey him. This was not a covenant of works. This was not a demand of perfect, perpetual obedience. Rather, God's blessing depended on Israel worshiping him. If you worship me, we can deal with sin properly! That's why the Mosaic law had all sorts of provisions for dealing with sin! If you love me with all your heart, then we can deal with your failings. The same was true with God's covenant with David. God laid out very clear conditions: I will be a Father to David's sons; if your sons rebel against me, then I will discipline them. That is why Kings now says that God had promised that Israel would remain the land forever if they will be careful to do what I said. But of course, the new covenant in Christ has the same conditions. Jesus says that the two great commandments are still in force. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And Paul tells us that no idolater or murderer or drunkard, or swindler will inherit the kingdom of God. The difference is found in the difference between Manasseh and Jesus. Judah's problem is that even when they have good kings (like Hezekiah), the good king dies and his son not only forgets God, but causes Judah to forget as well. And verse 9 describes the problem: they did not listen, and Manasseh led them astray to do more evil than the nations had done whom the LORD destroyed before the people of Israel. Manasseh lived up to his name. He caused Judah to forget the LORD their God. Notice that in the 55 years of Manasseh's reign, nothing happens. There are no invasions, no political wrangling. It is an era of peace and idolatry. (Chronicles will tell us that Manasseh was actually captured by the Assyrians, but Kings sees no reason to tell us this!) The only theme of the reign of Manasseh is idolatry. 55 years of idolatry. We have a king who has done what is right in the sight of Yahweh, and who has received the eternal inheritance from the Father. Therefore his kingdom is everlasting and even the gates of hell cannot prevail against him, because he has been raised from the dead! 2. "He Has Made Judah Also to Sin" (21:10-18) Verses 10-15 then provide the prophetic critique of Manasseh: Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations (the word "abomination" or toevah was also used in verse 2 where it is translated "despicable practices" it is generally used as a superlative for idolatry, Idolatry is bad idolatry will get you cast out of the land. But abomination is idolatry to the nth degree). and has done things more evil than all the Amorites did, who were before him. Why did God drive out the Canaanites and the Amorites before Israel? It was because of their great wickedness. God used the Canaanites and the Amorites as an example of the final judgment. This is what sin deserves! But now Judah is worse than the Amorites. Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such disaster that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria, and the plumb line of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. God is going to use the same standard of judgment for the house of David as he has used for the northern kingdom and for the house of Ahab. (Notice that here we see a clear reference to these three story lines in the book of Kings) As the northern kingdom has gone, as the house of Ahab has gone, so will go the house of David. And I will forsake the remnant of my heritage and give them into the hand of their enemies, and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies, because they have done what is evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came out of Egypt even to this day. Judah has done evil, and so God now will bring evil upon them. For 800 years God has been patient with his people. But now God has had enough. Why now? We ought to marvel at the patience and long-suffering of God throughout the centuries. But it is worth asking, why does Yahweh decide that now is the time? The key is found in verse 11: Manasseh . . . has made Judah also to sin. The northern kings from the start, from Jeroboam on, made Israel to sin. 1-2 Kings uses the phrase "Jeroboam made Israel to sin" some 20 times. And every dynasty that made Israel to sin was destroyed. But never, until now, has a king made Judah to sin. But now that Manasseh has made Judah to sin, the days of the Davidic dynasty are numbered. There have been evil kings in the line of David, but never before has a Davidic king been called an enemy of the people of God. Verse 16 also helps us understand the problem: Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides the sin that he made Judah to sin so that they did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. Not only did Manasseh make Judah to sin, but he also shed "very much" innocent blood. No doubt this is what Ezekiel referred to when he said that the shepherds of Judah were slaughtering the sheep in Ezekiel 34. Idolatry and murder go together as they did in the days of Ahab. The book of Revelation points to the same pattern today. The idolatrous powers that oppose the Lord our God will also seek to destroy the church. The blood of the saints calls out for vengeance: O sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? (Revelation 6:10) Nowadays we don't like to think about vengeance. Vengeance is mine, says the LORD! Yes, vengeance is God's. It is not our job to make everything right. That job belongs to Jesus. God will bring vengeance. When the saints are humiliated, mocked and slaughtered, God will bring justice in the end! Manasseh dies and his fate is already foretold in his burial. He slept with his fathers, but he was not buried in the city of David. He was buried in the garden of his house. 3. Like Father, Like Son (21:19-26) And his son, Amon reigned in his place. Amon reigned for only two years. He was like his father, and he served the idols that his father served. But in one respect he was worse than Manasseh: He abandoned the LORD, the God of his fathers. Manasseh appears to have included some Yahweh worship in his mix of idols, but Amon rejected Yahweh entirely. And the servants of Amon conspired against him and put the king do death in his house. We do not know why. Maybe they thought that Amon had gone too far in rejecting Yahweh. But the people of the land did not agree. Truly the people of Judah were following their king. They struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon. In the providence of God, the house of David would not be overthrown from within. And like his father, Amon was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza. Conclusion: Death and Resurrection We have seen repeatedly in Kings that the whole point of the book is that Israel and Judah must die. Judah's hope is not in reformation. Reforming kings (like Hezekiah) die, and their sons are like Manasseh! Judah's hope is not in the temple. It will be destroyed. Judah's hope is not that God will save them from death. Judah's hope is that God will raise them from the dead! Before Judah can be restored, Judah must die. And not just the death of apostasy. Judgment must fall upon the people of God. Without the exile, there will be no restoration. Without the cross, there will be no resurrection. And this comes to fullest expression in the cross of Christ. Judgment must fall upon the Son of God. You cannot have glory without the cross. Jesus must be exiled from the Father. He must descend into hell taking upon himself the judgment that we deserved or else there will be no ascension to the right hand of God. That is why the Christian life so emphasizes the cross. Because we are called to follow Jesus. We are elect exiles, called to walk by the Spirit in the same path that our Lord has walked. Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.