Verses 1-6 -Since Manasseh was only 12 years old when his father died, he hadn’t seen the victory over the Assyrians by Hezekiah. Manasseh did more evil than all the kings before him. He rebuilt all the sites for idol worship; used sorcery which is power gained from evil spirits; used divination by predicting the future through omens; and sacrificed children to the pagan gods. Ultimately, he brought the entire nation down. Evidently, Manasseh’s fortune-telling wasn’t that good or he would have seen the punishment coming.
Verses 11-13 – Now Manasseh is captured by the Assyrians and taken to Babylon. You might say, he came to himself while in captivity and repented. This was a sincere repentance because God heard him and he was returned to Jerusalem and took up his duties as King again.
Verses 14-17 – When Manasseh returned to Jerusalem, he tried to undo the damage that had been done. Although the people worshiped God alone, they sacrificed in the wrong places. God had told them (Deuteronomy 12:13, 14) to only sacrifice in the places that He chose. This kept them from the influence of pagan religious practices. Unfortunately they worshiped where they wanted and started mixing pagan beliefs with the worship of God.
Verse 18-20 – Manasseh’s son became king, at 22 years of age. He worshiped idols and sacrificed to them. Scripture says he did not humble himself before the Lord and his servants conspired against him and killed him. He lasted 2 years. Then the people had Amon’s assassins executed.
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