TWELVE YEARS OLD WHEN HE BECAME KING: Thus he was not
born until 3 years after Hezekiah's life was extended (cp Isa 53:8).
2Ki 21:2
HE DID EVIL IN THE EYES OF THE LORD...: The tragedy is
that Hezekiah, the good king, had a son in his old age who was an appalling
example of evil. So faithful men do not always have faithful sons. A comfort to
those righteous ones with children who have not accepted the gospel (yet! --
for, remember that Manasseh repented at the end of his life!).
THE EARS OF EVERYONE WHO HEARS OF IT WILL TINGLE: The
dreadful news will affect him like a sharp piercing sound. This phrase, which is
first used in the time of Samuel, passes into use by the prophets to remind
Israel that they are following the sins of the house of Eli: 1Sa 3:11; Jer
19:3.
2Ki 21:13
I WILL WIPE OUT JERUSALEM AS ONE WIPES A DISH, WIPING IT
AND TURNING IT UPSIDE DOWN: (1) As one wipes a dish clean, turning it over
so that no drop is left, so Jerusalem's destruction would be total. None would
remain. Yet the dish is not destroyed, "signifying hereby the emptying of
Jerusalem of its palaces and houses, wealth and riches and of all its
inhabitants; and yet the empty dish being preserved, seems to denote the
restoration of Jerusalem after the seventy years' captivity" (Gill).
Or... (2) " 'I will blot out Jerusalem as tablets are wont to
be blotted out' [Vulgate]. This is a metaphor taken from the ancient method of
writing: they traced their letters with a stylus on boards thinly spread over
with wax; for this purpose one end of the stylus was sharp, the other end blunt
and smooth, with which they could rub out what they had written, and so smooth
the place and spread back the wax, as to render it capable of receiving any
other word. Thus the Lord had written down Jerusalem, never intending that its
name or its memorial should be blotted out. It was written down The Holy City,
The City of the Great King; but now God turns the stylus and blots this out; and
the Holy Jerusalem, the City of the Great King, is no longer to be found! This
double use of the stylus is pointed out in this ancient riddle: 'I am flat at
the top, but sharp at the bottom; I turn either end, and perform a double
function: One end destroys what the other end has made' " (Clarke).
Ct with Rev 14:1; 3:10-12: God's name written on their
foreheads. Also ct Rev 3:5: "I will never blot out his name from the book of
life."
2Ki 21:17
See 2Ch 33:11-19. Manasseh is carried captive to Babylon,
where he repents and is heard by God. He returns and begins his
reforms.