Useful Bible Studies > 2 Kings Commentary > chapter 21
God promised that the Messiah, God’s future perfect king, will be from David’s royal family (Jeremiah 23:5-6). Until that time, there would be many kings from David’s family. However, in 2 Samuel 7:11-16, God warned them firmly. Those kings must obey God’s law; they must rule in a right and proper manner. Otherwise, God would permit their enemies to punish them severely.
God had also told Hezekiah about the terrible troubles that Babylon would cause for his family (20:16-18). Soon, Babylon would become the most powerful nation in the world. However, at the time of Manasseh, the king of Assyria still had control over Babylon. For that reason, Assyria’s army was Manasseh’s principal enemy (2 Chronicles 33:10-11).
Manasseh was guilty of many terrible crimes. He persuaded Judah’s people to follow evil and cruel religions (21:3-6). He himself was guilty of the murder of very many innocent people (21:16). For those reasons, God issued a severe judgment against him. He declared that judgment in the messages that he gave by his prophets (holy people).
In those messages, God reminded Judah’s people how strict he had been against Ahab’s family. That family no longer existed because of God’s judgment against them. He had also been strict in his judgment against Samaria, the capital of northern and central Israel. The people in that nation had to leave their own country and their enemies destroyed Samaria.
Now the people in Jerusalem and Judah, and their king, Manasseh, were guilty of even worse crimes. As a person cleans a dish completely, so God would take all the people away from Jerusalem.
God would begin this punishment against Manasseh himself. Less than 100 years later, Judah would no longer exist as a separate nation.
Next part: Ancient crimes against God (2 Kings 21:14-15)
Please use the links at the top of the page to find our other articles in this series. You can download all our articles if you go to the download page for our free 1000+ page course book.
© 2025, Keith Simons.