---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  2 Chronicles 33"
description: "CHAPTER 33   :-. MANASSEH"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/2-chronicles/33"
---

CHAPTER 33

. MANASSEH'S
WICKED REIGN.

**1, 2. Manasseh . . . did that which
was evil in the sight of the Lord**—(See on ).
. HE IS
CARRIED UNTO BABYLON,
WHERE HE
HUMBLES HIMSELF
BEFORE GOD, AND IS
RESTORED TO HIS
KINGDOM.

**11. the captains of the host of the
king of Assyria**—This king was Esar-haddon. After having devoted
the first years of his reign to the consolidation of his government
at home, he turned his attention to repair the loss of the tributary
provinces west of the Euphrates, which, on the disaster and death of
Sennacherib, had taken the opportunity of shaking off the Assyrian
yoke. Having overrun Palestine and removed the remnant that were left
in the kingdom of Israel, he despatched his generals, the chief of
whom was Tartan ([Isaiah 20:1](../../../kjv/isaiah/20/1)),
with a portion of his army for the reduction of Judah also. In a
successful attack upon Jerusalem, they took multitudes of captives,
and got a great prize, including the king himself, among the
prisoners.
**took Manasseh among the
thorns**—This may mean, as is commonly supposed, that he had hid
himself among a thicket of briers and brambles. We know that the
Hebrews sometimes took refuge from their enemies in thickets ([Isaiah 20:1](../../../kjv/isaiah/20/1)). But, instead of the *Hebrew, Bacochim,* "among
the thorns", some versions read *Bechayim,* "among the
living", and so the passage would be "took him alive."
**bound him with fetters, and
carried him to Babylon**—The *Hebrew* word rendered
"fetters" denotes properly two chains of brass. The
humiliating state in which Manasseh appeared before the Assyrian
monarch may be judged of by a picture on a tablet in the Khorsabad
palace, representing prisoners led bound into the king's presence.
"The captives represented appear to be inhabitants of Palestine.
Behind the prisoners stand four persons with inscriptions on the
lower part of their tunics; the first two are bearded, and seem to be
accusers; the remaining two are nearly defaced; but behind the last
appears the eunuch, whose office it seems to be to usher into the
presence of the king those who are permitted to appear before him. He
is followed by another person of the same race as those under
punishment; his hands are manacled, and on his ankles are strong
rings fastened together by a heavy bar" [*Nineveh and Its
Palaces*]. No name is given, and, therefore, no conclusion can be
drawn that the figure represents Manasseh. But the people appear to
be Hebrews, and this pictorial scene will enable us to imagine the
manner in which the royal captive from Judah was received in the
court of Babylon. Esar-haddon had established his residence there;
for though from the many revolts that followed the death of his
father, he succeeded at first only to the throne of Assyria, yet
having some time previous to his conquest of Judah, recovered
possession of Babylon, this enterprising king had united under his
sway the two empires of Babylon and Chaldea and transferred the seat
of his government to Babylon.

**12, 13. when he was in affliction,
he besought the Lord his God**—In the solitude of exile or
imprisonment, Manasseh had leisure for reflection. The calamities
forced upon him a review of his past life, under a conviction that
the miseries of his dethronement and captive condition were owing to
his awful and unprecedented apostasy () from the God of his fathers. He humbled himself, repented,
and prayed for an opportunity of bringing forth the fruits of
repentance. His prayer was heard; for his conqueror not only released
him, but, after two years' exile, restored him, with honor and the
full exercise of royal power, to a tributary and dependent kingdom.
Some political motive, doubtless, prompted the Assyrian king to
restore Manasseh, and that was most probably to have the kingdom of
Judah as a barrier between Egypt and his Assyrian dominions. But God
overruled this measure for higher purposes. Manasseh now showed
himself, by the influence of sanctified affliction, a new and better
man. He made a complete reversal of his former policy, by not only
destroying all the idolatrous statues and altars he had formerly
erected in Jerusalem, but displaying the most ardent zeal in
restoring and encouraging the worship of God.

**14. he built a wall without the city
. . . on the west side of Gihon . . . even to the entering in at the
fish gate**—"The well-ascertained position of the fish gate,
shows that the valley of Gihon could be no other than that leading
northwest of Damascus gate, and gently descending southward, uniting
with the Tyropoeligon at the northeast corner of Mount Zion, where
the latter turns at right angles and runs towards Siloam. The wall
thus built by Manasseh on the west side of the valley of Gihon, would
extend from the vicinity of the northeast corner of the wall of Zion
in a northerly direction, until it crossed over the valley to form a
junction with the outer wall at the trench of Antonia, precisely in
the quarter where the temple would be most easily assailed"
[BARCLAY].

**17. the people did sacrifice still
in the high places, yet unto the Lord their God only**—Here it
appears that the worship on high places, though it originated in a
great measure from the practice of heathenism, and too often led to
it, did not necessarily imply idolatry.
. HE DIES
AND AMON SUCCEEDS
HIM.

**20, 21. Manasseh slept with his
fathers . . . Amon began to reign**—(See on ).

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