II Chronicles 33:11 - Wherefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.

I. Look at all the wicked things Manasseh did.

A. Manasseh is the son of Hezekiah, who was king of Judah for 29 years.

1. Hezekiah received an additional 15 years of life and reigning over Judah from the Lord.

2. It was during that additional 15 years of life that Manasseh was born.

3. Manasseh was raised in a Godly home, and taught Godly principles, but forsook all his training to run wild and do wickedly.

B. A list of all the wicked things Manasseh did is given in II Chronicles 33:1-10.

1. Verse 1-2 – Here is what God said about the reign of Manasseh and all he did.

2. Verse 3 – Built up the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down.

a. Judah was supposed to worship in the temple, but the priests did not think the temple was a safe place to keep the ark of the covenant, therefore they transported the ark of the covenant to a high place, where true worshippers could travel to worship.

b. II Chronicles 35:3 – Josiah told the priests not to carry the ark of the covenant upon their shoulders any more, but let it remain in the house of the Lord for worship.

1.) II Chronicles 34 – Josiah told them this only after the house of God was properly repaired and prepared for worship.

2.) This chapter also records that much of the false worship was stopped.

3.) The times were so bad they did not have the word of God as revealed in II Chronicles 34:14-15.

c. He reared up altars for the worship of Baalim.

1.) Build = cause to be erected.

2.) Reared = cause to rise up, to confirm and establish.

d. He made groves and worshipped all the host of heaven and served them.

1.) Made groves = prepared them and committed them as a place of worship.

2.) Worshipped all the host of heaven = A worshipper of the sun, moon, stars, and constellations.

a.) Worship = bowing down before them, doing obeisance to them.

b.) Served = being a servant of, laboring for their benefit.

3. Verse 4-5 – The house of the Lord.

a. Built altars in the house of the Lord (the most holy place, as opposed the court of the temple in the next verse).

b. Built altars to the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord.

1.) These are idols to the sun, moon, stars, so forth.

2.) This is the area surrounding the temple, where all the people would assemble before going into the temple.

3.) These idols would expose all the people (men, women, and children) to this vile wickedness.

4. Verse 6 –

a. Caused his children to pass through the fire – burning his children to these false gods, or given them to that god to do with as that god is pleased.

b. Observed times – determining daily activities based on observation of the clouds, the sun, the moon, the stars, so forth.

c. Used enchantments – used spells, so forth.

d. Used witchcraft – trying to determine and control the future. This is demon worship.

e. Dealt with a familiar spirit – These are those who pretend to contact dead people or spirits to determine actions.

f. Dealt with wizards – these are "wise ones" determining the future or the unknown by use of interpretations of dreams, lines on the hands, or some other such thing.

g. Provoked the Lord to anger against him – God is against Manasseh personally, because of his wicked acts.

5. Verse 7 –

a. Carved image – probably an image of Ashtoreth (Astarte), a goddess of the Zidonians.

b. Manasseh is replacing God with this carved image, in the very place where God said he would put his name.

6. Verse 8 –

a. This verse is a continuing thought from verse 7.

b. God declared he would put his name in the temple in Judah, and Judah would no longer be moved from the land.

c. The acts of Manasseh caused God to bring in the invading armies of Assyria, taking Manasseh (and others) to the prison house where Manasseh would have time to think about his life and how he rejected the counsel of his youth.

II. Look at all the wicked things the people did, as they followed their leader into wickedness.

A. Verse 9 – Manasseh made the people to err, and do worse than the heathen, for which they will pay a high price.

B. God send the invading armies to destroy his people because they willingly followed a bad leader.

1. God sees everything that is going on – nothing escapes his gaze, nor his judgment – right or wrong.

2. Are you going to have to go to prison before you straighten up?

3. I must remind you that many people go to prison, but few straighten up.

a. The head jailer told Jim and I that there would be no converts to our preaching there.

b. If one person ever truly repented in jail it would be a very major victory.

c. We know people can truly repent in prison, but they are few and far between.

d. What about you – must you go to prison – be totally defeated and beaten down before you turn to the Lord?

C. It is very important that we all serve, fear, honor and worship God, because he sees everything we do – even those things we do in secret.

1. The common people – every person – had to fear the invading army because their leader went wrong.

2. It is essential that people pray for the leaders – both political and religious.

a. Do you pray for your leaders or just complain when they don’t do what you think they ought to do?

b. When was the last time you prayed for your pastor?

III. Manasseh repented and prayed.

A. God granted repentance and faith and returned Manasseh to his kingdom.

B. Manasseh tried to do right, and did, but the evil influence of his life was not overcome.

C. When Manasseh died, his son Amon ruled, but served wickedness, therefore was killed by his servants, who in turn were killed by the people, then Josiah was established as king when he was eight years old.