My Thoughts on King Hezekiah's Reformation and What Could've Led to Ruin During Manasseh's Reign
The history of the Davidic Dynasty proved one thing - good fathers can sire bad sons and the other way around. Just because the father is great doesn't mean that the son wouldn't be a fool. Just because the father is a fool doesn't mean the son wouldn't be great. Such is the case of Hezekiah. You can examine the Davidic Dynasty and see how the cycle went:
- David was a king after God's own heart even with all his mistakes.
- Solomon was a righteous king but had a half heart. His sinful pluralistic marriages led to the division of the kingdom after he died.
- Rehoboam was easily influenced but repented later on after Shishak's invasion.
- Abijah ruled only for three years and the cause of his death is unknown.
- From Asa down to Jehoshaphat were righteous kings. However, Jehoshaphat's ungodly alliance with Ahab caused a ripple effect down to his son (Jehoram) and his grandson (Ahaziah). Jehoshaphat had his son Jehoram marry the wicked Athaliah, daughter of Ahab and Jezebel.
- After Jehoram and Ahaziah then came Joash. Joash was the boy king who never grew up. Joash was succeeded by Amaziah who like Joash fell into severe backsliding.
- After Amaziah was Uzziah who ruled well but later fell down due to arrogance.
- After Uzziah was Jotham who was righteous but the people entered the temple corruptly. Not much is known of Jotham except that he sired Ahaz.
- Ahaz was described to be a very wicked king though he wasn't as wicked as the kings of the Northern Kingdom. Yet much of his corruption is recorded in the Scriptures. Yet, he was also the father of Hezekiah a righteous king.
The story of Hezekiah can be found in 2nd Kings 18-20, 2nd Chronicles 29-32, and Isaiah 36-39. Hezekiah was known to be a righteous king who had implemented badly needed reforms considering the damage his father did. He didn't sulk and say he was going to be no better. Instead, he decided to follow the examples of his ancestor David did. Hezekiah tore down everything that was abominable such as the high places (which were used for pagan worship), the idols, and cut down every idolatrous grove. We can also read that he got rid of the brazen serpent when it was already worshiped by the people. We can read that Hezekiah cleaved unto the LORD and departed not from following him. He had such a strong faith such as when he chose not to give in to Rabshakeh's vulgar language. Hezekiah had a high trust in God that resulted in the victory against the Assyrian army.
There's also the incident that Hezekiah was sick unto death and his faith healed him. However, he soon fell into the lapse of sin. After he got well, he decided to boast of the wealth of the temple to the Babylonian prince Merodach-Baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon. Babylon was a pagan nation so he had no business in dealing with the heathen. Remember Manasseh was 12 years old so where did he go wrong? Did he marry the wrong woman? Manasseh's mother was eventually mentioned to be Hephzibah. Did he marry an unbeliever? Or did the mother of Manasseh die before the ascension? The Bible doesn't reveal all that. What can be certain was that inviting a heathen prince over was really a terrible idea as all that wealth would be carried away.
It would be so amazing is that Manasseh reversed all the reforms of his father Hezekiah. We can read the story of Manasseh in 2nd Kings 21 and 2nd Chronicles 33. Manasseh was 12 when he sat on the throne. It's most likely a boy his age was easily manipulated by whatever remnants there were that were not destroyed by Hezekiah's reforms. Probably, these guys pressured him to do wickedly. I even hear that there's a tradition that Manasseh ordered Isaiah to be sawn into two. If that's true then that's a real trade-off Satan had in the process. We can see that what Hezekiah destroyed for righteousness - Manasseh rebuilt them for wickedness. The high places and the pagan altars were erected once more. Did Hezekiah fail to guide Manasseh properly?
Fortunately, we can read Manasseh's repentance in 2nd Chronicles 33. However, the very misdeeds of Manasseh's earlier reign caused so much damage as read in 2nd Kings 24:3. Manasseh's repentance couldn't reverse the damages he did before his captivity to Babylon. Manasseh was following in the footsteps of his grandfather Ahaz prior to his repentance. The consequences went worse when Ammon became king for two years. Later, one of Manasseh's grandsons Josiah would be a boy-king like Joash was back then. However, Josiah as a good king failed to raise good sons too. It looks like that Hezekiah was too busy with the nation that he failed to instruct Manasseh on how to rule properly. It's a lesson for fathers not to neglect training their children to walk the right path.
See also: