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- What attributes of God’s character does this passage reveal?
- How does the passage point to Jesus?
- How should the truth of this passage change me?
- How do the events of today’s reading help you better understand the grand narrative of Scripture?
2 Kings 21, 2 Chron. 33
For whatever reason, the 2 Kings recording of Manasseh’s life doesn’t mention his repentance. Instead, it reads like a long rap sheet of his offenses against God. What a horrible way to be remembered! It also excludes his temporary exile to Babylon – the event that triggered his repentance. I always assumed the words the prophets spoke to Manasseh in 2 Kings 21 referred to the final Babylonian exile that occurred years later. However, it seems this temporary exile was the more immediate fulfillment of those prophecies.
I don’t know why 2 Kings 21 only tells the first part of Manasseh’s story. But I’m glad the Chronicler gave us the rest of it. It gives us one more personal testimony of the truth that only God is God. I was thinking, as I read through 2 Kings 21, what a total disregard for God Manasseh had. He couldn’t even leave God’s holy temple to Him, but had to overrun that with all of his nonsense as well. Yet God chose to graciously reveal Himself to Manasseh. Yes, Manasseh’s distress was God’s grace at work. God could have simply destroyed him without giving him a chance to humble himself, as He did with Amon. And it was the distress God put him through that brought Manasseh to realization of the truth. There is no God but God.