Manasseh was 12 years old when he began to reign as king of Judah, and he reigned 55 years in Jerusalem. (2 Kings 21:1, 2 Chron 33:1).
That he was only 12 years old suggests that Manasseh was born during the extra 15 years added to the life of his father Hezekiah. (An alternative explanation is that
Manasseh reigned together with his father more than three years. If so, Manasseh
was born before those extra 15 years.) That he reigned 55 years means that he reigned longer than any other king of Judah.
He did what is evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the abominable
practices of the nations that the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed, he erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. He built altars in the temple, and he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the temple. He burned his son as a sacrifice, used divination and omens, and dealt with mediums and necromancers.
He did much harm in the eyes of the Lord and provoked him to anger. And the graven image of Asherah that he had made he set in the temple. Manasseh led the people of Judah to do more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed.
(2 Kings 21:2–9, 2 Chron 33:2–9, Acts 7:42–43).
Manasseh was a very spiritual and religious man, but a wicked and ungodly man.
There are sources that proclaim that Manasseh killed the prophet Isaiah by sawing him in two. We don't know for sure if that's true.
Manasseh was the worst king in history among the kings of Israel and Judah, even though he was the son of Hezekiah who was a godly man. Manasseh was even worse than the people of Canaan whom God judged. The lesson of this is that a child doesn't have to follow the Lord just because it's a child of a believer in the Lord.
The Lord said by his servants the prophets: "Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations and has done things more evil than all that the Amorites did who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols, 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. 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."
(2 Kings 21:10–15, 2 Chron 33:10).
Manasseh shed much innocent blood, until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to the other, besides the sin which he caused Judah to sin, so that they did which was evil in the sight of the Lord. (2 Kings 21:16).
Therefore the Lord brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who seized Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains and brought him to Babylon. And when he was in need, he besought the mercy of the Lord, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. He prayed to him, and God was moved by his prayer and heard his plea and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God. He removed the foreign gods and idols from the temple and all the altars that he had built on the Temple Mount and in Jerusalem. He also restored the altar of the Lord and offered sacrifices of Peace Offerings and of thanksgiving, and he commanded Judah to serve the Lord. Yet the people still sacrificed at the high places, but only to the Lord. (2 Chron 33:11–17).
Manasseh who deserved nothing but judgement cried out to God in his distress and God was moved. God allowed him to come back and reclaim his throne in Jerusalem.
God not only let Manasseh die in peace, God blessed the end of his life by serving the Lord. God forgave Manasseh (Dan 9:9). This shows God's mercy (2 Chron 7:14). Probably his godly father King Hezekiah had prayed much for him and demonstrated the power of intercession, see Ask, and it will be given to you in
The Sermon on the Mount.
When Manasseh died, his son Amon became king in his place.
(2 Kings 21:17–18, 2 Chron 33:18–20).
Manasseh is mentioned in Jesus' genealogy along with his father Hezekiah
and his son Amon (Mat 1:10), who was an evil king (2 Chron 33:22–25), see
The Genealogy of Jesus. That there are sinners in Jesus' genealogy can be seen
as a picture of Jesus coming into the world to save sinners (1 Tim 1:15).
However, one reason Babylon would conquer Judah is because of the sin
Manasseh did before he repented (2 Kings 23:26, 24:3, Jer 15:3–4), see
Prophet Jeremiah. This shows that even if we are forgiven there are consequences
of our actions. The judgement that the Lord had declared through his prophets
(see the red part above) would still be fulfilled, even though Manasseh repented.
See also Kings of Judah and Israel.
