On Thursday nights, we have a Bible class from 6:00 – 9:00 pm. We discuss the history of the book and why it was written, who it was written about and so on. It’s definitely not easy to go through an entire book in one night, so we just hit the highlights. But even with these short bursts of study, God always seems to show up and teach us something amazing. Each week we divide into groups and answer some questions about specific situations or people in the book so we will learn how to do more study the book more on our own. Last night, we looked at the book of Kings (1&2). Each group was given a king and asked to answer four questions about each one using 1 & 2 Kings and 1 & 2 Chronicles.
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Was he a good king or a bad king.
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What were some things that he did wrong?
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What were some things that he did right?
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What can we learn from this account?
My group was given Manasseh and I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. The account of Manasseh are given in 2 Kings 21:1-18 and 2 Chronicles 33:1-20.
1) As to the question if he was a good or bad king. He was a very bad king. Manasseh was the worst king they had ever had. In fact, the bible says that he is worse things in the sight of the Lord than the evil pagan rulers that the Lord drove out of the land so the Israelites could rule there. So he was very bad.
2) Some of the terrible things that Manasseh did was to turn his back on the Lord God of Israel and started worshipping foreign gods. He rebuilt the high places and erected altars to these false gods in the temple of the Lord. He made carved images to worship and even went as for as sacrificing his own sons as offerings to these false gods. He consorted fortune tellers and necromancers and led the children of Israel into this kind worship as well. He had no regard for the Lord and taught his people to have no regard for Him either.
3) So what did he do well? It turns out that the Lord spoke to Manasseh and spoke to the children of Israel. He warned them that if they did not turn back to His ways, they would be conquered and carried off into captivity. But they did listen. They were defeated by the Assyrians and Manasseh was taken by chains and a nose hook into the dungeons of the Assyrians. There, Manasseh’s pride crumbled and he realized what he had done to the Lord and to the people. He humbled himself before the Lord and repented of his sin and his arrogance. There, the Lord had mercy on him and restored him and his people. From that time forward, Manasseh followed the Lord and led the Israelites to follow the Lord as well.
4) So what do we learn from this? GRACE! How many times do we feel we have done more than the Lord can ever forgive? Shamefully, how many times have we told or at least made people feel this way? John 10:27-29 says, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” The Lord knows you and loves you. Manasseh was a terrible man who did TERRIBLE things. He was evil! But God never stopped pursuing Manasseh because Manasseh was His. God warned Manasseh and the children of Israel what would happen if they didn’t stop. They didn’t and the Lord allowed the Assyrians to come. Then and only then did Manasseh stop to really ponder what he had done and truly repent. In the study notes, we read that Manasseh was in prison for years before the Lord restored him and his people. Some of us take longer than others to swallow our pride, but what an amazing God that would love us enough not to leave us in our pride and thus separated from Him! I find so much peace and comfort in knowing that my God loves me enough to allow me to go through hard things in order to draw me closer to Him. That He would love me enough not to leave me in my sin. I am so amazed at His patience and grace to not just strike me dead and send me to hell where I rightly belong. I fall flat on my face in worship when I realize that no matter what I do, my God is right there…arms wide open…to love and forgive me. God loves me and He loves you!!! Don’t believe any lie that says it’s too late for you, that there's no hope. There IS hope!
