Bible Commentaries

Verses 1-25

The evil of Manasseh and Amon (33:1-25)

Manasseh receives the full blame for destroying all the good work that his father had done. Over his long reign of fifty-five years he dragged the nation down to its lowest spiritual condition ever. Although he made a brief attempt at reform towards the end of his life, he could not undo the damage of the previous half a century. Nor was any king after him able to reform Judah sufficiently to save it from judgment. Like Israel, Judah would go into captivity because of its wickedness (33:1-20; see notes on 2 Kings 21:1-18). If any trace of Manasseh’s reform remained after his death, Amon soon removed it (21-25; see notes on 2 Kings 21:19-26).