God’s Word for You

2 Chronicles 33:14-20 Return and rest of Manasseh

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Tuesday, June 10, 2025

14 After this, he built an outer wall for the city of David in the valley west of Gihon Spring, up to the entrance into the Fish Gate. He encircled the Ophel with it, and raised it to a very great height. He also stationed commanders of the army in all the fortified cities in Judah. 15 He took away the foreign gods and the idol from the House of the LORD. He took away all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the House of the LORD and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside of the city. 16 He also restored the altar of the LORD and offered sacrifices of fellowship offerings upon it and thank offerings as well. He commanded Judah to serve the LORD the God of Israel. 17 Nevertheless the people still sacrificed at the high places, but only to the LORD their God. 18 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the LORD the God of Israel—these are in the Annals of the Kings of Israel. 19 And his prayer, and how God received it, and all his sin and his faithlessness, and the sites on which he built high places and set up Asherah poles and the carved images (before he humbled himself)—these are written in the Chronicles of the Seers. 20 Manasseh rested with his fathers. They buried him in his own house; and Amon his son became king after him.

The king’s repentance led to his restoration on the throne. Like his father, he built up the walls and towers of the city, and he removed the altars and high places. The new taller wall went around the upper east and north end of the city. The desecrated places were re-consecrated. The false gods were removed and thrown out, probably into the Kidron Valley or into the Valley of Ben-Hinnom. The king ordered offerings to be made on the altar once again, and this was done.

We groan a little to hear that the high places were still being used for worship, and even though this was “only to the Lord their God” it was not the Lord’s will, and time and again this behavior led to false worship in just a few years.

Manasseh tried to command the people to worship only the true God, but worship and faith cannot be forced with a sword, or with threats, or by any force. Setting aside faith and turning only to ordinary morality, there is no government, institution, school, or parent who can possibly force any kind of morality or moral behavior on anyone and think that they are actually creating a useful change in the person’s heart. A government or a parent might hope that the one commanded would change, but force (that is to say, the Law) only works wrath and fear. It does not make a true change. The heart that is truly changed is changed only by the Gospel. This is the heart that grasps the Gospel, loves the Gospel, and completely forsakes the self and risks everything on the promise. And promise is found only in the Scriptures.

There are two ancient books mentioned here: The Annals of the Kings of Israel, and the Chronicles of the Seers. There are many books like these that are mentioned in the Scriptures, but that are not themselves the Scriptures. Besides these two, we have: The Book of Jashar (Joshua 10:13; 2 Samuel 1:18), an early account of the history of Israel in Canaan. There is the Book of the Wars of the Lord (Numbers 21:14), the Book of the Annals (Acts) of Solomon (1 Kings 11:41), the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel (1 Kings 14:19, 15:31, 16:5, 16:14, 16:20) and the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah (1 Kings 14:29, 15:7, 15:23). With similar names, we find The Book of the Kings of Israel (1 Chronicles 9:1; 2 Chronicles 20:34), The Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel (2 Chronicles 16:11), and The Records of the House of Israel (Ezekiel 13:9). Then there are The Annals of King David (1 Chronicles 27:24) and The Book of the Annals (Chronicles) (Nehemiah 12:23)—apparently not the same as the book before us now.

There are also The Records of Nathan the Prophet (2 Chronicles 9:29), The Prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite (2 Chronicles 9:29), The Annals of Shemaiah the prophet (2 Chronicles 12:15), The Annals of Iddo the Seer (2 Chronicles 12:15) and The Visions of Iddo the Seer (2 Chronicles 9:29). There are The Annals of Jehu son of Hanani (2 Chronicles 20:34), and finally The Chronicles (Records) of the Seers (2 Chronicles 33:19). These are only the Old Testament references, since we have the Epistle to the Laodiceans (Colossians 4:16) and the other letters, two or three, written by Paul to the Corinthians (and from them to him) that are hinted at in the two letters we do have.

None of these is vital of our understanding of salvation. If they were, the Holy Spirit would have brought them down to us. But what we have in Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms, and in the Gospels and Epistles, is enough. We might ache to find out more, like Paul aching to have his thorn removed, but God’s response is the same: “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

And in fact, we are blessed to have a Bible that is exactly as long as it is, no larger and no smaller. For many ancient believers, the lists of genealogies was the greatest thing recorded, for they found their own families listed there. Their very ancestors. For others, the Law of Moses is everything. Or the history books of the Old Testament. For some, the poetic books or the prophets are the main thing. For many Christians, the Letters of Paul and Peter are the key, while others are content with nothing but the Gospels. And there are those who would rather probe the exotic depths of Revelation than anything else. Don’t we learn from all of these human preferences that God knows us, each one of us, and gives to each of us everything we need to know about his plan of salvation, he does it in forms of writing best suited to us as individuals; as flawed human beings who dare to say, “I prefer Jeremiah,” or “It’s John’s Gospel for me.” When Jesus met Sadducees who rejected everything apart from Moses, he responded by quoting Moses to them. When I was still a student, I met a man, a Jewish Rabbi, who said he would join our church if I would show him Jesus in the Minor Prophets. And God be praised, I did just that, and this man who had once been a Rabbi became that church’s janitor, and was content for the rest of his life.

The authority of the 66 Books of the Bible comes from the One who caused them to be written in the first place, God Almighty himself, beginning with his command to Moses to “write” (Exodus 17:14, 34:27). God gives the Scriptures all their authority. Those who are outside the church are either those who reject all or part of the Scriptures, or else they are simply ignorant of the authority of the Scriptures. If they refuse to submit to the authority of God’s holy Word, then they fall under Paul’s judgment in Titus 3:10, “Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him.”

Holy Spirit, teach us to love your holy Word more and more each and every day. Plunge with us into your truth so that we discover new depths of love and understanding. Even the angels long to look into these things (1 Peter 1:12), but we are ones privileged to dedicate our lives to it.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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