Good Lesson from a Bad King

My Bible class last Wednesday night was on King Manasseh. It wasn’t supposed to be (only) on Manasseh, but we didn’t get as far as I planned. But then, we never get as far as I plan. (I had this great fear when I started preaching of getting half-way through a class and running out of material, and I still generally prepare too much material). But Manasseh was an interesting fellow. He ruled longer than any other king of Israel or Judah, and he was sandwiched between the two greatest kings of Judah— he was the son of Hezekiah and the grandfather of Josiah.

Despite this pedigree, he was also the most wicked king of Judah, undoing all the reforms of Hezekiah and going even further in introducing pagan evil into Judah than Ahab and Jezebel had done in Israel (see 2 Kings 21:2-9). There is some question as to whether the worship of Molech that he re-introduced included child sacrifice. The NIV rendering of “he sacrificed his own son in the fire” is more literally “he passed his son through the fire” which may indicate a pagan fire dedication rather than burnt offering. Whatever it was, Manasseh was one bad dude who led his people so far from God that not even Josiah would be able to stem the slide into oblivion.

It is the depravity of King Manasseh makes the little story that the Chronicler throws into the mix seem a bit out of bounds. After Manasseh was humiliated and taken prisoner by the Assyrians, “he sought the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers (2 Chron 33:12). And God restored him and the Chronicler says “Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God.” And Manasseh even evidently started some of the reforms that Josiah would complete (2 Chron 33:15-16). Was Manasseh’s conversion what led the young Josiah to also seek after God with all of his heart?

No one is beyond redemption. No one is so evil that they cannot seek God; no one is so depraved that God will refuse to forgive them once they do repent. As Manasseh sat alone in his prison cell and calling on God and promising the moon if God would save him, most of us would likely doubt his sincerity. We may dismiss his repentance as “You are just sorry you got caught!” But God knows genuine repentance, and He always honors it. No one is beyond God’s mercy. That is the good news part of the gospel!