The Return to Evil



2 Kings 21:1-18

http://www.esvbible.org/2 Kings 21:1-18

Hezekiah managed to bring the nation of Judah back into worship of God only to be followed by his son, Manasseh, who seemed to look for ways to make God angry. Manasseh managed to undo every single godly thing that Hezekiah worked for and then go beyond that.

The pivotal verses in the passage are 11-13: “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.”

Wow! Manasseh is charged with being more evil than those who occupied the land before God gave it to them. Because of this, God promises a terrible judgment. What happens to Jerusalem will be so terrible that people’s ears will tingle just having to hear about it. The same measurement that was just used on Israel (Samaria) will be used on Judah and when God is done with Jerusalem, there won’t even be a drip of water left. This is huge. God is not pleased and yet does Manasseh take heed and change? The text would indicate no. (2 Chronicles indicates that he did have a brief moment of repentance toward the end of his life because he was taken to Babylon as a captive. But that moment was brief and he returned to his god-hating ways.)

What we see in this passage is that God is long-suffering and patient. While He is promising destruction He is still slow to bring it because of His love. He waits and waits for His people to return to Him. Because God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, (Hebrews 13:8) He is still patient with us today. Each day that we are allowed to remain here is another day of grace; another day where people can come to know Him as Lord and Savior. While His wrath will be terrible and certain, He withholds it so that we can become His children and be a part of His kingdom.

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