2 Kings
Verse 1. Twelve. Being born three years after his father’s recovery.—Fifty. Including the years of captivity.
EXPLANATIONS
2 Kings 21
Historical chapter commentary
2 Kings
Verse 2. Idols. Hebrew “abominations,” ( Calmet.) as their worship was attended with the greatest infamy and dissolution, and was in itself the source of God’s chastisements. Bible.
2 Kings
Verse 3. Groves. Hebrew Ashera, “the grove,” or the idol of Astarte, ( Calmet.) as both were worshipped. Bible.—Achab, whom he imitated also in spilling the blood of the saints. Menochius.
2 Kings
Verse 4. Altars, in honour of the sun, moon, and stars, ( Bible.) in the courts of the priests and of the people. 2 Chronicles 33:4.
2 Kings
Verse 6. Fire, for purification, or as a holocaust to Moloch. See Calmet. 16:3.—Divination, or, “he observed times,” Arab. Mont.—Omens. Prot. “used enchantments,” ( Bible.) by means of brass or of serpents, and so forth Calmet.—Septuagint agrees with the Vulg. “he took notice of birds.” Bible.—Pythons. That is, diviners by spirits ( Ch). particularly by Apollo. He authorized and encouraged such ventriloquists, and so forth Leviticus 19:31.—Soothsayers, who inspected the entrails of victims, to foretell future things. Calmet.—Prot. “He dealt with familiar spirits and wizards.” Bible.
2 Kings
Verse 7. Of the grove. Hebrew “a graven thing of Ashera,” the grove or Astarte, ( Bible.) verse 3. This was an engraving in sculpture of a sacred grove. Sa. Calmet. 23:6. Tirinus.—My name. I alone will be adored, and there allow an altar to be erected. Bible.
2 Kings
Verse 9. More, because they had received more favours and instructions from above. Worthington.
2 Kings
Verse 10. Prophets, Joel, Osee, Amos, Nahum, Jonas, Abdias, Micheas, and particularly by Isaias, who was related to the king. Tirinus.—Tradition informs us, that Manasses was so irritated, that he ordered Isaias to be slain with a wooden saw, (Saint Augustine de Calmet. D. xviii. 24.) for greater torment; ( Calmet.) and his companions were daily executed, Joseph. x. 3.—Isaias (22:13) seems to pronounce his sin irremissible, ( Calmet.) or that he should not, at least, escape the punishment of it, as long as he lived. But we are assured that the eyes of Manasses were at last opened by adversity, and that he performed many laudable things after his return from captivity; (2 Chronicles 33) so that the latter part of his reign resembled that of his father; though the beginning had been like that of the impious Achab. His coming to the throne so soon, before his pious father could have time to impress upon his mind the truths of salvation, had nearly proved his ruin. The sins of my youth, and my ignorances, remember not, O Lord, Psalms 24:7. Bible.
2 Kings
Verse 11. Doings. Hebrew “idols,” verse 2. See Calmet. 17:12. Bible.
2 Kings
Verse 12. Tingle, through astonishment, as if he had been stunned with too loud a sound. 1 Kennicott. 3:11. Calmet.
2 Kings
Verse 13. The line, or rope, to pull down the walls, Lament. 2:8. ( Calmet.) 2 Kennicott. 17:13. Jerusalem, which has imitated Samaria in sinning, shall experience the same fate; the same weight of punishment shall fall upon the royal family, as upon the house of Achab. Bible.—The prophets frequently entitle their menaces a weight, or burden. Isaiah 13:1. Menochius.—Septuagint have, “the balance of the house, and so forth” as if God had weighed all the good and evil, and would now reward the people accordingly, ( Bible.) with judgment. D.—Table, or board, covered with wax. The ancients were accustomed to write in this manner with a style which was sharp at one end and blunt at the other. Altera pars revocat quicquid pars altera fecit. Ænig. Symponii. When the wax was rendered smooth, no vestige of the former writing could appear, and God threatened to destroy Jerusalem, in like manner. Hebrew is variously translated. Calmet.—Septuagint “I will wipe out Jerusalem as an alabaster vase is wiped, and turned downwards.” Prot. “as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.” Bible.—Often. 1. Under Manasses; 2. under Josias and Joachaz; 3. under the last kings of Juda. 2 Chronicles 23. and so forth Tirinus.
2 Kings
Verse 14. Leave. Septuagint “with horror,” απεασομαι ( Bible.) “I will cast off.” So Chal. Syr. and so forth—Remnants. Juda, and so forth who shall be treated like the ten tribes. Calmet.—All shared in the punishment, though some preserved the true religion. Psalms 88:35. Worthington.
2 Kings
Verse 16. Mouth. Chal. “extremity.” All was full of blood, and impure idols, verse 11.—Besides, (absque) “without” mentioning his other scandalous sins of idolatry.
2 Kings
Verse 17. Sinned. It is rather wonderful that his repentance is not here noticed; but we find it mentioned 2 Chronicles 33:12. Bible.—He was probably taken prisoner by Thartan, general of Sargon, or Asarhaddon, who had reunited the two kingdoms of Assyria and Babylon. Isaiah 20:1. In prison Manasses composed a penitential prayer, which is not absolutely rejected by the Church, but left in the rank of Apocryphal writings; ( Calmet.) the authority of which is not clearly ascertained. Bible.—The Greek church admits this prayer into her Euchologium, ( Calmet.) or Office-book. Bible.—Being liberated, probably by Saosduchin, Manasses did all things well, only he left the high places, where the people had been accustomed to sacrifice to the Lord. Hozai wrote his history. 2 Chronicles 33:19.
2 Kings
Verse 18. Oza, a private man, to whom it had belonged; ( Menochius.) or the place where the Levite had been punished for touching the ark; (1 Kennicott. 6:8) or, in fine, the garden to which king Ozias had retired after he became a leper. Calmet.—It is said, that Manasses chose this place for his tomb out of humility. Grotius.
2 Kings
Verse 20. Done, in his youth, flattering himself that he should also repent, when he had gratified his passions (Glycas) but God presently chastised this presumption, after suffering him to reign only two years. Tirinus.