Tuesday - 2nd Kings 21 - A Couple of Judah's Worst Kings

Hezekiah was a good king. His son and grandson were not. Manasseh and Amon were both idol­worshipping, devil-following, innocent-people-murdering monarchial failures. Manasseh's misery lasted for a term of 55 years; Amon's awfulness for only 2 years. Manasseh unraveled the good reforms which had been brought in by his father, Hezekiah. He reinstituted the influence of Baal among the Jews. He practiced astrology. He burned his own son as a sacrifice. He was an occultist. In the end, he was really the proverbial straw which broke the camel's back and brought about the expunging of the Jews from the land of Judah (II Kings 21:11, 23:26 & 24:3). He was no longer alive when Judah was ultimately overrun by the Babylonians in a providential display of divine justice, but he was STILL one of the primary persons to be blamed.