Commentaria in IV Regum
Chapter Twenty-one. Synopsis of the Chapter
The impious Manasses reigns and restores the idols, and kills the prophets. He is succeeded, v. 18, by his impious son Amon, who after two years is slain by his own people, and is succeeded by his pious son Josias.
1. Manasses was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem: his mother’s name was Haphsiba. 2. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the idols of the nations which the Lord destroyed from before the children of Israel. 3. For he turned and built up the high places which Ezechias his father had destroyed: and he set up altars to Baal, and made groves, as Achab king of Israel had done, and he adored all the host of heaven, and served them. 4. And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord said: In Jerusalem will I put my name. 5. And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the temple of the Lord. 6. And he made his son pass through fire: and used divination, and observed omens, and appointed pythons, and multiplied soothsayers, to do evil before the Lord, and to provoke him. 7. He set also an idol of the grove, which he had made, in the temple of the Lord, of which the Lord said to David, and to Solomon his son: In this temple, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name for ever. 8. And I will not make the feet of Israel to be moved any more out of the land which I gave to their fathers: only if they will observe to do all that I have commanded them, and all the law which my servant Moses commanded them. 9. But they hearkened not: but were seduced by Manasses to do evil more than the nations which the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel. 10. And the Lord spoke in the hand of his servants the prophets, saying: 11. Because Manasses king of Juda hath done these wicked abominations beyond all that the Amorrhites did before him, and hath made Juda also to sin with his filthy doings; 12. Therefore thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: Behold I will bring such evils upon Jerusalem and Juda, that whosoever shall hear of them, both his ears shall tingle. 13. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the weight of the house of Achab: and I will efface Jerusalem as tables are wont to be effaced: and I will wipe and turn it down, and will draw the stylus often over the face of it. 14. And I will leave the remnants of my inheritance, and will deliver them into the hands of their enemies: and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies: 15. Because they have done evil before me, and have continued to provoke me, from the day that their fathers came out of Egypt, even unto this day. 16. Moreover Manasses shed also very much innocent blood, till he filled Jerusalem up to the mouth: besides his sins, wherewith he made Juda to sin, to do evil before the Lord. 17. Now the rest of the acts of Manasses, and all that he did, and his sin which he sinned, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda? 18. And Manasses slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Oza: and Amon his son reigned in his stead. 19. Amon was two and twenty years old when he began to reign: and he reigned two years in Jerusalem: his mother’s name was Messalemeth the daughter of Harus of Jeteba. 20. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, as Manasses his father had done. 21. And he walked in all the way in which his father had walked: and he served the abominations which his father had served, and adored them, 22. And he forsook the Lord the God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the Lord. 23. And his servants laid snares for him, and slew the king in his own house. 24. But the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon: and they made Josias his son king in his stead. 25. Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda? 26. And they buried him in his sepulchre in the garden of Oza; and Josias his son reigned in his stead.
7. HE SET ALSO AN IDOL OF THE GROVE WHICH HE HAD MADE (he set an idol placed in a grove built before by himself, now surrounded by a carved grove) IN THE TEMPLE,—as if to say: Manasses had before built a grove or wood sacred to the gods, and had placed in it an idol, which he then transferred from the grove to the temple; but because he could not transfer the grove with the idol, he therefore, in place of the grove, made an image or likeness of a grove of gold, silver or brass, and set the idol in it, and transferred it with the grove into the temple, that there not God in the temple, but a demon was worshipped in the grove. Whence Josias, the grandson of Manasses, afterwards destroyed both, chapter 23.
10. AND THE LORD SPOKE IN THE HAND OF HIS SERVANTS THE PROPHETS,—namely through Osee, Amos, Joel, Nahum, Jonas, Abdias, and most of all Isaias, the father-in-law of Manasses, who was therefore sawn asunder by Manasses with a wooden saw, a type of Christ crucified on the wood, as I said in the preface to Isaias, and many other prophets, so that Josephus, book 10, ch. 3, asserts that “of their number some one was daily put to death by Manasses.”
13. I WILL STRETCH OVER JERUSALEM THE LINE OF SAMARIA,—The measuring “line” metaphorically signifies the same measure, as if to say: By the measure by which I punished, laid waste and carried away the Israelites from Samaria into Assyria, by the same I will punish, lay waste and carry away the Jews from Jerusalem into Babylon: for as they were equal in guilt and idolatry, so they shall be equal in punishment and captivity. It is a metaphor from builders, who use an iron or a line which they stretch with a mass of lead, that by it they may build a structure to the plumb-line, or pull down and destroy one already built; as if to say: I will destroy Jerusalem, and level it with the ground as with a line, as a builder is wont to pull down houses, and level and flatten them to the ground by the measuring line; whence, explaining this very thing by another likeness, he clearly declares it, saying: “I will efface Jerusalem as tables are wont to be effaced: and I will wipe and turn it down, and will draw the stylus often over the face of it,” as if to say: I will efface Jerusalem as letters are wont to be effaced on a tablet scored in wax. For anciently, before the invention of paper, they were wont to write on tablets coated with wax, and to form letters in it with a stylus as with a pen. Wherefore this stylus was sharp at one end, and blunt at the other, so that with it they might smooth over the letters written in the wax when they wished, and the wax being levelled, write other letters in it; if therefore only one word or letter had to be erased, they did it with one or two strokes of the stylus through the wax; if several, with several strokes; if all, with all strokes, until the letters being erased the wax was restored pure and level. So God did here in the destruction of Juda and Jerusalem. For first he brought upon it the hostile stylus of the king, when he carried off from it Manasses and the chief men of the kingdom captive into Babylon, 2 Paralipomenon 33:11. Second, when Pharao Nechao slew Josias, who was the whole hope of the Jews, and carried off his son Joachaz into Egypt, chapter 23, v. 33. Third, when Nabuchodonosor took and bound Joakim, the brother of Joachaz. Fourth, when the same sent Joachim, the son of Joakim, with a great number of nobles and people into Babylon. Fifth and last, when the same carried off Sedecias, the last king, with the rest, and burned the city and the temple.
The sense therefore is: “I will stretch over Jerusalem the line,” as if to say: I will not only demolish the city, but dig up the foundations, and level them with the ground as if by a line, so that no trace of it remain, nor its first outline; just as is wont to be done when lines or characters on waxed tablets are erased.
For “tables” the Hebrew has tsallachat, which is commonly rendered dish, frying-pan, kettle, caldron. Hence Vatablus renders thus: I will wipe Jerusalem, as one wipes a dish and turns it over. And he explains it thus: I will cleanse Jerusalem of wicked men, whom, when I have driven them out, I will turn it over, as a dish that has been cleaned is wont to be turned over by rustics. Our Jerome Prado, on Ezechiel ch. 5, v. 11, renders and expounds thus: “I will wipe Jerusalem, as a caldron is wont to be cleaned by wiping and turned upon its face.” That is, as is wont to be done when it has been well wiped, the back is turned toward the face, so that no rinsing is left, but the last drop trickles down to the ground: so I will cleanse Jerusalem, wiping out of it all its inhabitants and houses, and overturning it from the foundations.
16. MOREOVER MANASSES SHED ALSO VERY MUCH INNOCENT BLOOD,—especially of those who resisted his impiety and rebuked him for it, such as Isaias and the other Prophets; so that every day he slew some one of the Prophets, says Josephus. Hence he was fittingly called “Manasses,” that is, “from one rising up or from forgetfulness,” says the author of the Imperfect Work, homily 4 on Matthew: “For the providence of God so ordered that he should be called, because he was to forget the whole holy conduct of his father, and all the benefits of God conferred upon himself in return for his father’s merit, and, stirred up by the devil rising up, who is wont to rise up against the human race to overthrow it, was to do all that would provoke God to anger.” The same author adds something new and wonderful about Manasses, and says: “Finally, when Ezechias was sick at a certain time, and Isaias the Prophet had come to visit him, Ezechias called his son Manasses, and began to charge him how he ought to fear God, how to rule the kingdom, and many other things. And Isaias said to him: Truly, because thy words do not go down into his heart, I too must be put to death by his hand. Hearing this, Ezechias wished to kill his son, saying: Because it is better for me to die without a son than to leave such a son, who will both provoke God and persecute his saints. But Isaias the prophet barely restrained him, saying: May God make void this thy counsel, seeing the religion of Ezechias, because he loved God more than his own son.” But this seems a fable of the Rabbis. For when Ezechias was sick Manasses was not yet born, because after his sickness Ezechias survived 15 years, and when he died Manasses succeeded him at twelve years old. Manasses was born, therefore, in the third year after the sickness and the recovered health of his father Ezechias.
18. AND MANASSES SLEPT (in the sleep of death) WITH HIS FATHERS.—Note that in 2 Paralipomenon 33:11 the punishment inflicted on Manasses by God is related, namely captivity in Babylon, and thence his serious penance and conversion to God.
Further, Manasses seems to have been carried off to Babylon by Merodach Baladan: for he was then reigning in Babylon; hence Ezechias, the father of Manasses, had shown him his wealth, and so had enticed him to it; which God also foretold would happen to him, chapter 20, v. 17, and he soon after accomplished it, when he brought it about that Manasses, for his crimes, was carried bound to Babylon with the royal treasure by the same Baladan. So Bellarmine, Salianus and others. Manasses is said, however, to have been taken by the king of the Assyrians, either because the Babylonians are called Assyrians, or because Merodach was tributary to Asarhaddon king of the Assyrians, whose yoke he afterwards shook off.
AND WAS BURIED IN THE GARDEN OF HIS OWN HOUSE, IN THE GARDEN OF OZA,—namely where Oza was slain by God, because he had rashly touched the tottering ark, 2 Kings 6:7. This garden was near Jerusalem, and joined to the royal gardens, in which Manasses, returning from Babylon, built himself a royal mausoleum, and in it he himself and his son Amon were buried.
20. AND HE DID EVIL.—So Scripture calls idolatry, as the supreme evil of evils; for as the Wise Man says, Wisdom 14:27: “For the worship of abominable idols is the cause, and the beginning, and the end of all evil.” Amon imitated his father Manasses in sinning, but not in repenting. Glycas adds that he said: “My father from a boy committed many crimes, and in old age did penance; therefore I too at this age will conduct myself according to my heart’s desire, and afterwards I will turn to the Lord.” Wherefore God punished this presumption of his by a swift death: for after two years he was slain by his servants. Hear St. Clement, Apostolic Constitutions, book 2, ch. 22: “Such was Amon the son of Manasses, of whom the Scripture says: Amon deceived himself by an evil thought of transgression, and said: My father committed many sins from his youth, and when he was old repented of having committed them; and now I will walk as my soul desires, and afterwards I will return to the Lord; he did evil before the Lord above all who were born before him, and God swiftly destroyed him from his good land, and his servants made an attack upon him, and slew him in his house, and he reigned only two years.”
Let young men note this, who in youth indulge in pleasure and luxury, and devote it to the devil, promising to devote old age to God: for most of such are cut off by the various chances of human life and die, and by the just judgment of God do not attain to old age, and thence to amendment of life and eternal salvation.