2 Chronicles 33:10

2Ch 33:10 And the LORD spake to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not hearken.

Ver. 10. And the Lord spake to Manasseh,] sc., By his prophets, Isaiah, Joel, Micah, Habakkuk, and others; sed surdo fabulam; they lost their sweet words.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ch_33:10-11

And bound him with fetters.

Divine discipline

The proper way for a sinner to be brought to God is for God to speak to him, and for him to hear. Manasseh would not come that way, so God fetched him back by a rougher road.

I. The Lord often allows temporal trials to take men captive.

1. Business disasters.

2. Want of employment.

3. Extraordinary troubles.

4. Bodily affliction.

5. The loss of dear friends.

II. The lord sometimes allows men to be bound by mental trials; bound with fetters. Such as--

1. When sin ceases to afford pleasure. The very things that once made him all aglow with delight do not affect him now, nor cast a single ray of light on his path.

2. The daily avocation becomes distasteful.

3. There is great inability in prayer.

4. Your old sins come out of their hiding-places.

5. A great want of power to grasp the promises.

6. A fear of death and dread of judgment.

Conclusion: In order to your comfort and peace--

1. Know that the Lord is God.

2. Humble yourself before Him.

3. Begin to pray.

4. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

At Ch2 33:10, the account in the Chronicle diverges from that in 2 Kings. In Kg2 21:10-16 it is related how the Lord caused it to be proclaimed by the prophets, that in punishment of Manasseh's sins Jerusalem would be destroyed, and the people given into the power of their enemies, and how Manasseh filled Jerusalem with the shedding of innocent blood. Instead of this, in Ch2 33:10 of the Chronicle it is only briefly said that the Lord spake to Manasseh and to his people, but they would not hearken; and then in Ch2 33:11-17 it is narrated that Manasseh was led away to Babylon by the king of Assyria's captains of the host; in his trouble turned to the Lord his God, and prayed; was thereupon brought by God back to Jerusalem; after his return, fortified Jerusalem with a new wall; set commanders over all the fenced cities of Judah; abolished the idolatry in the temple and the city, and restored the worship of Jahve.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

Meaning by his Prophets, but their hearts were not touched to believe and repent, without the which the preaching of the word taketh no place.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(10) And the Lord spake to Manasseh.—“By the hand of his servants the prophets.” See

2Ki_21:10-15, where the substance of the prophetic message is given; and it is added (2Ch_33:16) that Manasseh also shed very much innocent blood, “till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to the other.” The reaction against the reforms of Hezekiah ended in a bloody struggle, in which the party of reform was fiercely suppressed.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. the Lord spake] i.e. by prophets; cp. 2Ki_21:10-15.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria,.... Who was Esarhaddon, the son and successor of Sennacherib; this, according to the Jewish chronology (f), was in the twenty second year of Manasseh's reign:

which took Manasseh among the thorns; in a thicket of briers and thorns, where, upon his defeat, he had hid himself; a fit emblem of the afflictions and troubles his sins brought him into:

and bound him with fetters; hands and feet; with chains of brass, as the Targum, such as Zedekiah was bound with, Kg2 25:7, not chains of gold, with which Mark Antony bound a king of Armenia, for the sake of honour (g):

and carried him to Babylon; for now the king of Assyria was become master of that city, and added it to his monarchy, and made it the seat of his residence; at least some times that and sometimes Nineveh, Merodachbaladan being dead, or conquered; though, according to Suidas (h), it was he that took Manasseh; and by an Arabic writer (i), he is said to be carried to Nineveh.

(f) Seder Olam Rabba, c. 24. p. 67. (g) Vell. Patercul. Hist. Roman. l. 2. (h) In voce (i) Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. Dyn. 3. p. 67. So Suidas, ib.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Spoke, by his prophets, 4 K.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

(See parallel, vers. 11-15.)

Vers. 10-17.

The penitent.

In these words we have

I THE LAST AND WORST SYMPTOM OF DEPARTURE FROM GOD OBDURACY. "The Lord spake to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not hearken" (ver. 10). Sin reaches its extremity when it deliberately and determinately closes its ear against the recognized voice of God. A defiant refusal to listen when God is speaking to us is surely the ne plus ultra of iniquity; guilt can go no further. (see Pro_2:2-4)

II THE DESCENT OF THE DIVINE PENALTY. When other means of instruction and of influence have been tried and failed, God visits in severe discipline. To Manasseh this came in defeat, humiliation (he was bound in fetters), and captivity; he had to leave the city of David and the land of his fathers, and become a show in the distant land of the enemy. To us the Divine discipline comes in various ways, of which the most common are bodily affliction, the vision of death, substantial loss, the estrangement of those who had been near and dear to us, some form of bitter humiliation, bereavement and consequent loneliness.

III THE RISE OF TRUE PENITENCE IN THE HUMAN HEART. At length Manasseh had his eyes opened, and he saw his folly and his sin; at length he learnt that he had not only forsaken the good way of his father Hezekiah, but had grievously and guiltily departed from the living God. We can never tell what will humble the heart of a man; one is affected and subdued by one affliction, another by another. But at length the blow falls, and the edge of the sword enters in, and the heart bleeds, and it is wounded not unto death, but unto life.

1. Then comes recognition of the truth. Then God is recognized his nearness, his claims, his displeasure, his fatherly purpose. Then guilt also is discerned its greatness, its heinousness.

2. Then comes acknowledgment and appeal. The heart humbles itself before God, even as Manasseh now "humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers" (ver. 12); and the soul prays for mercy, asks that its guilt may be forgiven, and itself restored.

3. And then comes self-surrender; for if there be not a willingness, a readiness to yield ourselves unto God, an exhibition of penitence is only an affectation; it is unreal and untrue. If it is genuine, it must be accompanied by a pure desire and a firm resolve to return unto him whom we have guiltily forsaken.

IV THE BESTOWAL OF DIVINE MERCY. Manasseh soon found how immeasurable had been his mistake in his great apostasy. For the God of his fathers proved to be a God full of compassion and of great mercy, and he heard the humbled suppliant and restored him, and brought him back to his kingdom. So God now hears and pardons and restores; he forgives us our sin, and he takes us back to his Divine favour, and he restores to us our peace, our hope, our joy, our life in him and with him. For there is one invariable and inseparable sequence, viz.

V NEWNESS OF LIFE ON THE PART OF THE FORGIVEN. Manasseh goes back to Jerusalem, takes away the strange gods and the altars he had built, and casts them out of the city; and he repairs the altar of the Lord, and re-establishes the worship of Jehovah (vers. 15, 16). We return unto God, and at the same time to all purity, to all temperance, to all uprightness, to all reverence both in spirit and in action, to all piety of thought and of behaviour. This is precious indeed, beyond all price, this restoration to God and to our true self; yet is there

VI ONE SERIOUS DRAWBACK. Manasseh could not altogether undo what he had done. Nevertheless the people did sacrifice," etc. (ver. 17). He could not, by one enactment or by a number of them, bring back the situation he had so completely broken up. It takes a long time to restore a people to the habits they have forsaken. Nor could Manasseh recall to life the brave and faithful men whom he had "done to death" with his cruelties. (2Ki_21:16) There are some things which the most genuine repentance will not effect. It will not recall the wasted years; nor undo the malign and death-bearing influences which have been at work in human hearts and lives; nor compensate the wronged for the injuries they have suffered in body or in spirit. Therefore let all remember that, while repentance and restoration are blessed, a life of holy service from the beginning is far more blessed still. C.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

brought on them

Yahweh sent the army to attack Jerusalem. AT: "brought about an attack on them by" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria

The commanders were accompanied by their soldiers. AT: "the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria and their soldiers" (See: Synecdoche)

took Manasseh in chains, bound him with fetters, and took him off to Babylon

Here Manasseh being taken as a prisoner is represented by him being bound by chains and fetters. Fetters were chains placed around the feet. AT: "seized Manasseh, bound him in chains, and took him as a prisoner to Babylon" (See: Metonymy)

translationWords

Yahweh

commander

king

Assyria

Babylon

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.