Manasseh: The Influential King (2 Kings 21)
Manasseh: The Influential King
2 Kings 21:1-26 (1-6)
This morning we move on to the study of a new king.
We actually see a couple of them in our text.
We have just left the reign of Hezekiah,
Who as far as faith was concerned, was second to none.
Hezekiah trusted God, and as a result of his faith saw the deliverance of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib and the Assyrian army.
But as you remember, during Hezekiah’s reign
He did make one massive mistake.
At a point of ease, and a point of security,
Hezekiah didn’t trust God as much as he should have,
And it opened him up to the sin of pride.
He had just been healed, and even promised 15 years of life.
He had just been promised deliverance from the Assyrian army.
He had just witnessed God work a miracle on his behalf.
And he was starting to experience world-wide recognition.
So when the Babylonian envoy arrived, the Chronicler said that
God left him alone to test him,
in order that He might know all that was in his heart.
And the sad reality is that while Hezekiah was a good king
On that day he was filled with pride and self-exaltation.
That sinful arrogance led to a promise
That one day Jerusalem and all Judah would be destroyed
And that even some of Hezekiah’s sons would be led into captivity.
We no sooner witnessed the deliverance from Assyria,
And the writer immediately introduced the coming judgment of Babylon.
(This was not only to reveal how the whole Babylon thing got started, but also to remind us to seek God during the good times as well as the bad.)
Today, the event God promised Hezekiah is officially set in motion
For just as Hezekiah was 180 degrees different from his day (Ahaz)
So Manasseh is 180 degrees different from Hezekiah.
And he is going to do everything he can
To make sure God hurries in His promise to wipe out Judah.
You could call Manasseh, “The Straw that broke the camel’s back”.
The total judgment of Judah would not be all his fault,
But if it was at all in doubt before his reign, it certainly was not afterwards.
He was a wicked king.
I have chosen to call him “The Influential King”
For as we study this text you will see that few people
Ever had the influence on others that Manasseh had.
And that is not necessarily a good thing.
But before we dive into our text,
I wonder if you have ever thought about
The role that influence plays in your life.
Scripture has much to say about it.
We are told to watch out for the influence of the wicked.
Mark 8:15 “And He was giving orders to them, saying, “Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”
1 Corinthians 5:6-8 “Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
Galatians 5:7-9 “You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion did not come from Him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough.”
We are told to yield to the influence of the righteous.
Philippians 3:17 “Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us.”
1 Corinthians 4:16 “Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me.”
Ephesians 5:1-2 “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”
And so we know that we are to be on guard
Against the various influences around us.
But what I want you to think about even more than that
Is the influence you have on the lives around you.
You may not realize it, but you are an influential person.
People watch you.
And Scripture is very clear
That you are to take this responsibility seriously.
Matthew 5:16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
Philippians 2:14-15 “Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world,”
1 Peter 2:11-12 “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.”
We could also talk about
How a godly woman influences her lost husband through her respectful behavior.
How a godly mother influences her children through her faith, love, and sanctity.
How a slave influences his master through his willing obedience.
Over and over we get the understanding
That we have a tremendous ability to influence the lives of others.
We can even stand judgment if we use our ability to influence wrongly.
Matthew 18:6-7 “but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. “Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!
You must realize that how you live your life
Effects the way others live their lives.
And this morning I want you to see just how serious that can be
As we see an example of a man who influenced a whole nation.
We are talking about the king Manasseh.
#1 HIS INIQUITY
2 Kings 21:1-6
1) HIS INIQUITY DELCARED (1-2)
If you had any doubts as to where Manasseh stood before the Lord,
The writer of kings clarified it here.
(2) “He did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD dispossessed before the sons of Israel.”
Time and time again as Moses was preparing the Israelites to take the Promised Land, he spoke a word of warning.
Deuteronomy 12:1-4 “These are the statutes and the judgments which you shall carefully observe in the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess as long as you live on the earth.”You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. “You shall tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and burn their Asherim with fire, and you shall cut down the engraved images of their gods and obliterate their name from that place. “You shall not act like this toward the LORD your God.”
Deuteronomy 12:29-30 “When the LORD your God cuts off before you the nations which you are going in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, beware that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations serve their gods, that I also may do likewise?’
Deuteronomy 18:9-12 “When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. “There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. “For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD; and because of these detestable things the LORD your God will drive them out before you.”
If those nations has been pleasing to God,
He would not be destroying them.
God did not want His people imitating their lifestyle.
However we find here that this is exactly what Manasseh did.
“He did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD dispossessed before the sons of Israel.”
First you see His Iniquity Declared
2) HIS INIQUITY DESCRIBED (3-6)
It seems as though Manasseh was systematic and thorough.
One could argue that he systematically and thoroughly
Rejected the Law of God.
It’s almost like he purposely stuck his finger in God’s eye.
And so the writer of kings just says:
(6) “He did much evil in the sight of the LORD provoking Him to anger.”
This was a wicked king.
That was his INIQUITY
#2 HIS INFLUENCE
2 Kings 21:7-26
For anyone who has ever thought that my sin only hurts me,
I am afraid to tell you that you are gravely mistaken.
For this man was indeed a sinner,
But allow me to show you just how far his influence spread.
In these verses we find three things that Manasseh influenced.
1) HE INFLUENCED THE WORSHIP OF THE PEOPLE (7-9)
We read up in verse 3 that he made an Asherah,
Now we read that he placed in the temple of God.
He was setting this idol up as something to be worshiped in Jerusalem,
So he placed it in the premier worship site.
And just to make sure you and I understand the problem
The writer here reminds us of God’s policy on the matter.
(7b-8) “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of the Israel, I will put My name forever. And I will not make the feet of Israel wander anymore from the land which I gave their fathers, if only they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that My servant Moses commanded them.”
We are emphatically reminded that God was pleased to give the land,
So long as the people always remembered who was their God.
They were to love and serve Him only.
This was clear throughout the Law of God.
(9) “But they did not listen”
Despite the fact that God was extremely clear about things such as idolatry, and worship on the high places, and witchcraft, and passing your sons through the fire.
The people of Jerusalem didn’t listen.
That seems strange.
• It was their parents who (under the leadership of Hezekiah) tore down the high places.
• It was their parents who tore down the Asherah.
• It was their parents who tore down that bronze serpent.
• It was their parents who trusted God and saw Assyria defeated.
WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD THESE PEOPLE NOW BE SO NEGLIGENT OF GOD’S WORD?
(9) “But they did not listen, and Manasseh seduced them to do evil more than the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the sons of Israel.”
They did evil because “Manasseh seduced them”
Just like Satan in the garden with Eve, Manasseh made his sin look fun.
He made worshiping the Asherah look like a good time.
He made witchcraft, and spiritists, and divination look like fun.
He influenced the people into sin.
And all of a sudden we are seeing that “SIN SPLATTERS”
There is no way for you to simply participate in sin
And it not affect the lives of others.
What a shame when it is something wicked and sinful
As in the case of Manasseh.
Let me read to you again:
Matthew 18:6-7 “but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. “Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!”
Manasseh didn’t just fall into sin, he led a nation into it.
He Influenced the Worship of the People
2) HE INFLUENCED THE WRATH OF GOD (10-18)
We already read in verse 6 “He did evil in the sight of the LORD provoking Him to anger.”
The writer brings clarity to that statement here.
Manasseh influenced the wrath of God.
(11-12) “Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, having done wickedly more than all the Amorites did who were before him, and has also made Judah sin with his idols; therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am bringing such calamity on Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, both his ears will tingle.”
Because of what Manasseh has done, I’m going to judge you so hard,
That just to hear about it will make your ears burn.
Of course you and I know he is talking about Babylon.
Habakkuk 1:5-6 “Look among the nations! Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in your days — You would not believe if you were told. “For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, That fierce and impetuous people Who march throughout the earth To seize dwelling places which are not theirs.”
WHAT IS GOD GOING TO DO?
(13-14) “I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. ‘I will abandon the remnant of My inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies, and they will become as plunder and spoil to all their enemies;”
DID YOU CATCH THE 3 “I WILL’S” FROM GOD?
“I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab”
That means the plumb line I used to judge Israel, I will now use on you.
The judgment I poured out on Ahab, I will pour out on you.
“I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.”
That is a total and complete annihilation.
“I will abandon the remnant of My inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies”
And in that day when you are being destroyed,
I will be nowhere to be found.
IS IT SAFE TO SAY THAT MANASSEH ANGERED GOD?
(15-16) “because they have done evil in My sight, and have been provoking Me to anger since the day their fathers came from Egypt, even to this day.'” Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides his sin with which he made Judah sin, in doing evil in the sight of the LORD.”
And there again we see, it wasn’t all Manasseh,
But he was definitely the straw that broke the camel’s back.
God was on the edge of judgment,
And Manasseh influenced Him to go ahead and pour it out.
And just to make sure that you understand the severity of God’s decision, let me give you JUST A TAD BIT MORE INSIGHT.
After Manasseh there is coming another righteous king.
His name is Josiah.
Josiah will reinstitute God’s Law, and again reinstate the Passover,
And have a great revival in Judah.
And we would expect that because of the great revival that God would reverse His decision to completely wipe out Jerusalem.
However:
2 Kings 23:24-26 “Moreover, Josiah removed the mediums and the spiritists and the teraphim and the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might confirm the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD. Before him there was no king like him who turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him. However, the LORD did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath with which His anger burned against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him.”
Even the revival of Josiah would not undo this.
If you want to see another picture.
During the reign of Josiah and after him,
There will be a prophet preaching his heart out in Jerusalem.
That prophet’s name is Jeremiah.
He is known as the weeping prophet because of the many tears he shed for God’s people as he interceded for them.
But on one occasion God let Jeremiah know
That his intercession would not work.
WHY?
Jeremiah 15:1-4 “Then the LORD said to me, “Even though Moses and Samuel were to stand before Me, My heart would not be with this people; send them away from My presence and let them go! “And it shall be that when they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then you are to tell them, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Those destined for death, to death; And those destined for the sword, to the sword; And those destined for famine, to famine; And those destined for captivity, to captivity.”‘ “I will appoint over them four kinds of doom,” declares the LORD: “the sword to slay, the dogs to drag off, and the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. “I will make them an object of horror among all the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.”
And then, on that day when Nebuchadnezzar
Finally approached Jerusalem to destroy it.
God reminds them why.
2 Kings 24:1-4 “In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years; then he turned and rebelled against him. The LORD sent against him bands of Chaldeans, bands of Arameans, bands of Moabites, and bands of Ammonites. So He sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD which He had spoken through His servants the prophets. Surely at the command of the LORD it came upon Judah, to remove them from His sight because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, and also for the innocent blood which he shed, for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; and the LORD would not forgive.”
Is it safe to say that Manasseh made God angry?
And you need to understand that about sin as well.
When we sin, it not only affects our lives and the lives of others, but don’t fail to recognize that sin influences the wrath of God.
So many people want to act like their sin
Either goes UNNOTICED or UNPUNISHED, but neither is the case.
Romans 2:5-6 “But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS:”
For those who have never been forgiven
Through the salvation of Jesus,
You need to understand that every sin you commit,
Is just pushing God that much further towards judgment.
Through your negligence, and defiance, and disobedience, and rejection,
You are taunting God.
You may not realize it, but you are an influential person.
Manasseh was as well.
He Influenced the worship of the people He Influenced the wrath of God
3) HE INFLUENCED THE WALK OF HIS SON (19-26)
It is evident in studying this next king Amon,
That the writer of kings has little to say about him.
However, the one thing he does mention over and over
Is how this boy was also influenced by his father.
(20) “He did evil in the sight of the LORD, as Manasseh his father had done”
(21) “For he walked in all the way that his father had walked”
And the result of this was:
(22) “So he forsook the LORD, the God of his father, and did not walk in the way of the LORD.”
And God poured out wrath on him as well
By having him killed in the second year of his reign.
And there we learn of yet another area of our influence
And that is the influence we have over our children.
Do you find it strange that most of you worship the God of your parents?
Do you find it strange that many of you attend the church of your parents?
It certainly was in Amon’s life.
He did what his father did.
And because of that influence,
Manasseh’s influence continued even after his death.
Think about that for a moment.
Manasseh is dead and he is still bringing judgment upon Judah.
And by the way a good influence can have similar results.
Hebrews 11:4 “By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.”
YOUR INFLUENCE IS CONTINUAL
And this morning I hope you see
How important it is that you use it properly.
I would negligent if I didn’t tell you that in 2 Chronicles 33:10-17,
The writer reveals that God punishes Manasseh
And carries him to Babylon where he repents.
And therefore God sends him back to Jerusalem
Where he drastically tries to undo what he has done.
But to no avail:
2 Chronicles 33:16-17 “He set up the altar of the LORD and sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it; and he ordered Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel. Nevertheless the people still sacrificed in the high places, although only to the LORD their God.”
INFLUENCE IS A STRONG THING, AND AN ENDURING THING!
The main point to this story is still the same As in all the book of kings
And that is the importance of seeking and trusting God.
It matters in your life, and the in the lives of others.
Matthew 5:13-16 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
