Family Tree, Part 5

Manasseh’s story reminds us that no matter how far we’ve strayed, God’s mercy and forgiveness are always within reach when we humbly turn to Him. His compassion moves Him to respond to our cries, offering redemption and restoration even in our darkest moments.

The Joy
The Belonging Co.

Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee
Maverick City Music

Holy Forever
Chris Tomlin

No Shadow of Turning
Seven Marks Worship

Matthew 1:6-10
…And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam … Abijah … Asaph … Jehoshaphat … Joram … Uzziah … Jotham … Ahaz … Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,

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2 Chronicles 33:1-11
Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had broken down, and he erected altars to the Baals, and made Asheroth, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem shall my name be forever.” And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And he burned his sons as an offering in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and used fortune-telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. And the carved image of the idol that he had made he set in the house of God, of which God said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever, and I will no more remove the foot of Israel from the land that I appointed for your fathers, if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them, all the law, the statutes, and the rules given through Moses.” Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, to do MORE EVIL than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel. The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention. Therefore the Lord brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon.

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2 Chronicles 33:10
The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention.

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2 Chronicles 33:12-17
And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God. Afterward he built an outer wall for the city of David west of Gihon, in the valley, and for the entrance into the Fish Gate, and carried it around Ophel, and raised it to a very great height. He also put commanders of the army in all the fortified cities in Judah. And he took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside of the city. He also restored the altar of the Lord and offered on it sacrifices of peace offerings and of thanksgiving, and he commanded Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel. Nevertheless, the people still sacrificed at the high places, but only to the Lord their God.

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God’s reach always extends sufficiently to your point of need.

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1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

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God’s ear always extends sufficiently to our cries for help.

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2 Chronicles 33:13
He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom.

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Andrew Hill
“The expression “the Lord was moved” is unusual and marks a theological distinctive of the God of the Bible. Unlike the deaf Baals after which the Israelites continually strayed, the God of Israel is not only approachable, but he listens to prayer and is capable of responding with empathy toward those in dire need. The stark contrast between God who listens to the plea of Manasseh and the people who pay no attention to God would not be lost on the Chronicler’s audience. The episode foreshadows the hallmark attribute of Jesus Christ as the great high priest, who is moved to grant mercy because he sympathizes with human weakness, having experienced it himself.”

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