March 31, 2025, 2 Kings 21:1-9

March 31, 2025, 2 Kings 21:1-9

21 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hephzibah. And he 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. For he rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and 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. And he built altars in the house of the Lord, 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. And he burned his son as an offering and used fortune-telling and omens and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. And 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.” But 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.

As a result of a longer life, Hezekiah fathered the most cruel king to rule over Judah. Manasseh’s evil influence would lead the nation of Judah would be so pervasive that nothing could compensate for it and save the nation from God’s holy judgement. Would things have been any different if Hezekiah had simply accepted God’s will for his life? We can never know the answer to that question but we can know that God’s plan is good and perfect. May we live in His will and accept completely what he has in store for us.

Debbie Walker

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