Determined Demolition

by Sandra Perry
Published May 27, 2005

With a little hard work, you too can become one of the rich and infamous…

Some people are just determined to do wrong things. In II Kings 21, we’re introduced to Manasseh, the new king of Judah. His father was Hezekiah, a king who did right in the eyes of the Lord. Now, an apple may not fall far from the tree, but sometimes, if it hits a slope at just the right angle…

Manasseh was not at all like his father. After becoming king, he got right to the work of rebuilding all the high places and Asherah poles his father had painstakingly destroyed. He burned incense to every pagan god he could think of, even sacrificing his own son in fire to appease the god, Molech. If it was against the law of God, Manasseh was all over it.

Now, I’m certainly not saying that Manasseh was the first king of Judah to ever do wrong. Far from it. However, what distinguishes Manasseh from other kings was his zeal to do wrong. It wasn’t just a revisiting of old practices; it was a rebuilding. While Hezekiah had been determined to rid Judah of pagan practices, Manasseh was determined to bring them back.

While Manasseh may be an extreme case, we’ve all suffered from the same sickness. How many times has God rid us of pockets of pride, sin and destruction in our lives, only for us turn around and fall right back into the same old traps? Like Manasseh, sometimes we even engineer our own destruction by purposefully readopting the bad habits that got us into trouble in the first place. Perhaps we receive wise instruction only to disregard it as soon as the teacher turns his back. Sometimes we want to do whatever “everyone else” is doing no matter what the personal cost.

So what did Manasseh’s sin cost? His idolatry was adopted throughout Judah. He shed more innocent blood than any other king before him. As a result, God wiped “out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.” (II Kings 21:13b)

Jesus described this behavior as pulling our own houses down on our heads. It’s also the most effective way to break God’s heart.

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