33Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king. He ruled for fifty-five years in Jerusalem.H4519H8147H6240H8141H1121H4427H4427H2572H2568H8141H33892In GOD's opinion he was a bad king—an evil king. He reintroduced all the moral rot and spiritual corruption that had been scoured from the country when GOD dispossessed the pagan nations in favor of the children of Israel.H6213H7451H5869H3068H8441H1471H3068H3423H6440H1121H34783He rebuilt the sex-and-religion shrines that his father Hezekiah had torn down, he built altars and phallic images for the sex god Baal and the sex goddess Asherah and worshiped the cosmic powers, taking orders from the constellations.H1129H7725H1116H3169H1H5422H6965H4196H1168H6213H842H7812H6635H8064H56474He built shrines to the cosmic powers and placed them in both courtyards of The Temple of GOD,H1129H4196H1004H3068H3068H559H3389H8034H57695the very Jerusalem Temple dedicated exclusively by GOD's decree to GOD's Name ("in Jerusalem I place my Name").H1129H4196H6635H8064H8147H2691H1004H30686He burned his own sons in a sacrificial rite in the Valley of Ben Hinnom. He practiced witchcraft and fortunetelling. He held s?nces and consulted spirits from the underworld. Much evil—in GOD's view a career in evil. And GOD was angry.H5674H1121H5674H784H1516H1121H2011H6049H5172H3784H6213H178H3049H6213H7235H7451H5869H3068H37077As a last straw he placed a carved image of the sex goddess Asherah that he had commissioned in The Temple of God, a flagrant and provocative violation of God's well-known command to both David and Solomon, "In this Temple and in this city Jerusalem, my choice out of all the tribes of Israel, I place my Name—exclusively and forever."H7760H6459H5566H6213H1004H430H430H559H1732H8010H1121H1004H3389H977H7626H3478H7760H8034H58658He had promised, "Never again will I let my people Israel wander off from this land I've given to their ancestors. But on this condition, that they keep everything I've commanded in the instructions my servant Moses passed on to them."H3254H5493H7272H3478H5921H127H5975H1H518H8104H6213H6680H8451H2706H4941H3027H48729But Manasseh led Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem off the beaten path into practices of evil exceeding even the evil of the pagan nations that GOD had earlier destroyed.H4519H8582H3063H3427H3389H8582H6213H7451H1471H3068H8045H6440H1121H347810When GOD spoke to Manasseh and his people about this, they ignored him.H3068H1696H4519H5971H718111Then GOD directed the leaders of the troops of the king of Assyria to come after Manasseh. They put a hook in his nose, shackles on his feet, and took him off to Babylon.H3068H935H8269H6635H4428H804H3920H4519H2336H631H5178H3212H89412Now that he was in trouble, he went to his knees in prayer asking for help—total repentance before the God of his ancestors.H6887H2470H3068H430H3665H3966H6440H430H113As he prayed, GOD was touched; GOD listened and brought him back to Jerusalem as king. That convinced Manasseh that GOD was in control.H6419H6279H8085H8467H7725H3389H4438H4519H3045H3068H43014After that Manasseh rebuilt the outside defensive wall of the City of David to the west of the Gihon spring in the valley. It went from the Fish Gate and around the hill of Ophel. He also increased its height. He tightened up the defense system by posting army captains in all the fortress cities of Judah.H310H1129H2346H2435H5892H1732H4628H1521H5158H935H1709H8179H5437H6077H1361H3966H7760H8269H2428H1219H5892H306315He also did a good spring cleaning on The Temple, carting out the pagan idols and the goddess statue. He took all the altars he had set up on The Temple hill and throughout Jerusalem and dumped them outside the city.H5493H5236H430H5566H1004H3068H4196H1129H2022H1004H3068H3389H7993H2351H589216He put the Altar of GOD back in working order and restored worship, sacrificing Peace-Offerings and Thank-Offerings. He issued orders to the people: "You shall serve and worship GOD, the God of Israel."H1129H4196H3068H2076H8002H2077H8426H559H3063H5647H3068H430H347817But the people didn't take him seriously—they used the name "GOD" but kept on going to the old pagan neighborhood shrines and doing the same old things.H61H5971H2076H1116H3068H43018The rest of the history of Manasseh—his prayer to his God, and the sermons the prophets personally delivered by authority of GOD, the God of Israel—this is all written in The Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.H3499H1697H4519H8605H430H1697H2374H1696H8034H3068H430H3478H1697H4428H347819His prayer and how God was touched by his prayer, a list of all his sins and the things he did wrong, the actual places where he built the pagan shrines, the installation of the sex-goddess Asherah sites, and the idolatrous images that he worshiped previous to his conversion—this is all described in the records of the prophets.H8605H6279H2403H4604H4725H1129H1116H5975H842H6456H6440H3665H3789H1697H2374H233520When Manasseh died, they buried him in the palace garden. His son Amon was the next king.H4519H7901H1H6912H1004H526H1121H4427
King Amon
21Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king. He was king for two years in Jerusalem.H526H8147H6242H8141H1121H4427H4427H8147H8141H338922In GOD's opinion he lived an evil life, just like his father Manasseh,H6213H7451H5869H3068H6213H4519H1H526H2076H6456H4519H1H6213H564723but he never did repent to GOD as Manasseh repented. He just kept at it, going from one thing to another.H3665H6440H3068H4519H1H3665H526H819H723524In the end Amon's servants revolted and assassinated him—killed the king right in his own palace.H5650H7194H4191H100425The citizens in their turn then killed the king's assassins. The citizens then crowned Josiah, Amon's son, as king.H5971H776H5221H7194H4428H526H5971H776H4427H2977H1121H4427
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