The depths & heights of King Manasseh (2 Chronicles 1-2, 4, 9, 10-12)

Manasseh was twelve years old when he succeeded Hezekiah as king of Judah, and he ruled fifty-five years from Jerusalem. Manasseh disobeyed the LORD by following the disgusting customs of the nations that the LORD had forced out of Israel. In the temple, where only the LORD is supposed to be worshiped, Manasseh built altars for pagan gods. The LORD tried to warn Manasseh and the people about their sins, but they ignored the warning. So God let Assyrian army commanders invade Judah and capture Manasseh. They put a hook in his nose and tied him up in chains, and they took him to Babylon. While Manasseh was held captive there, he asked the LORD to forgive him and to help him. When he prayed to him, he was moved by his entreaty and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God. Manasseh was the only disobedient king who repented, either in Judah or in Israel. The history of the bad kings is they go from bad to worse, but never humble themselves to God and confess their need for him. Manasseh and Nebuchadnezzar remind me of one another. Manasseh was carried away to Babylon in hooks and chains and repented. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, rejected God until he made him graze like cattle and then he also repented. His son never learned from his father and lost the Kingdom of Babylon to the Persians. Daily Prayer: Father, I am never too lost to be saved. Jesus tells me to come unto him just the way I am. In Jesus, I can find the righteousness that my flesh cannot do and forgiveness that nobody apart from the Son of God can offer. It is in his name I pray Amen.