Here is the doom of Judah and Jerusalem read, and it is heavy doom. The prophets were sent, in the first place, to teach them the knowledge of God, to remind them of their duty and direct them in it. If they succeeded not in that, their next work was to reprove them for their sins, and to set them in view before them, that they might repent and reform, and return to their duty. If in this they prevailed not, but sinners went on frowardly, their next work was to foretel the judgments of God, that the terror of them might awaken those to repentance who would not be made sensible of the obligations of his love, or else that the execution of them, in their season, might be a demonstration of the divine mission of the prophets that foretold them. The prophets were deputed judges to those that would not hear and receive them as teachers. We have here,

I.A recital of the crime. The indictment is read upon which the judgment is grounded, Kg2 21:11. Manasseh had done wickedly himself, though he knew better things, had even justified the Amorites, whose copy he wrote after, by outdoing them in impieties, and debauched the people of God, whom he had taught to sin and forced to sin; and besides that (though that was bad enough) he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood (Kg2 21:16), had multiplied his murders in every corner of the city, and filled the measure of Jerusalem's blood-guiltiness (Mat 23:32) up to the brim, and all this against the crown and dignity of the King of kings, the peace of his kingdom, and the statutes in these cases made and provided.

II.A prediction of the judgment God would bring upon them for this: They have done that which was evil, and therefore I am bringing evil upon them (Kg2 21:12); it will come and it is not far off. The judgment should be, 1. Very terrible and amazing; the very report of it should make men's ears to tingle (Kg2 21:12), that is, their hearts to tremble. It should make a great noise in the world and occasion many speculations. 2. It should be copied out (as the sins of Jerusalem had been) from Samaria and the house of Ahab, Kg2 21:13. When God lays righteousness to the line it shall be the line of Samaria, measuring out to Jerusalem that which had been the lot of Samaria; when he lays judgment to the plummet it shall be the plummet of the house of Ahab, marking out for the same ruin to which that wretched family was devoted. See Isa 28:17. Note, Those who resemble and imitate others in their sins must expect to fare as they fared. 3. That it should be an utter destruction: I will wipe it as a man wipes a dish. This intimates, (1.) That every thing should be put into disorder, and their state subverted; they should be turned upside down, and all their foundations put out of course. (2.) That the city should be emptied of its inhabitants, which had been the filth of it, as a dish is emptied when it is wiped: "They shall all be carried captive, the land shall enjoy her sabbaths, and be laid by as a dish when it is wiped." See the comparison of the boiled pot, not much unlike this, Eze 24:1-14. (3.) That yet this should be in order to the purifying, not the destroying, of Jerusalem. The dish shall not be dropped, not broken to pieces, or melted down, but only wiped. This shall be the fruit, the taking away of the sinners first, and then of the sin. 4. That therefore they should be destroyed, because they should be deserted (Kg2 21:14): I will forsake the remnant of my inheritance. Justly are those that forsake God forsaken of him; nor does he ever leave any till they have first left him: but, when God has forsaken a people, their defence has departed, and they become a prey, an easy prey, to all their enemies. Sin is spoken of here as the alpha and omega of their miseries. (1.) Old guilt came in remembrance, as that which began to fill the measure (Kg2 21:15): "They have provoked me to anger from their conception and birth as a people, since the day their fathers came out of Egypt." The men of this generation, treading in their fathers' steps, are justly reckoned with for their fathers' sins. (2.) The guilt of blood was that which filled the measure, Kg2 21:16. Nothing has a louder cry, nor brings a sorer vengeance, than that.

This is all we have here of Manasseh; he stands convicted and condemned; but we hope in the book of Chronicles to hear of his repentance, and acceptance with God. Meantime, we must be content, in this place, to have only one intimation of his repentance (for so we are willing to take it), that he was buried, it is likely by his own order, in the garden of his own house (Kg2 21:18); for, being truly humbled for his sins, he judged himself no more worthy to be called a son, a son of David, and therefore not worthy to have even his dead body buried in the sepulchres of his fathers. True penitents take shame to themselves, not honour; yet, having lost the credit of an innocent, the credit of a penitent was the next best he was capable of. And better it is, and more honourable, for a sinner to die repenting, and be buried in a garden, than to die impenitent, and be buried in the abbey.

Now the rest of the acts - In Ch2 33:11, etc., we read that the Assyrians took Manasseh, bound him with fetters, and took him to Babylon; that there he repented, sought God, and was, we are not told how, restored to his kingdom; that he fortified the city of David, destroyed idolatry, restored the worship of the true God, and died in peace.

In Ch2 33:18, Ch2 33:19, His prayer unto God is particularly mentioned. What is called his prayer, is found in the Apocrypha, just before the first book of the Maccabees. There are some good sentiments in it; but whether it be that which was made by Manasseh is more than can be proved. Even the Romish Church have not received it among the canonical books.

Are they not written - There are several particulars referred to here, and in Ch2 33:11-19, which are not found in any chronicles or books which now remain, and what the books of the seers were, mentioned in Chronicles, we cannot tell.

Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and all that he did,.... Both good and bad, for he repented, and was humbled, and did many good things afterwards, though not recorded in this book:

and his sin that he sinned; his idolatry:

are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? in which were recorded the most memorable events of their reigns; and in the canonical book of Chronicles are many things concerning Manasseh, which are not written here; see Ch2 33:11.

Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood--Not content with the patronage and the practice of idolatrous abomination, he was a cruel persecutor of all who did not conform. The land was deluged with the blood of good men; among whom it is traditionally said Isaiah suffered a horrid death, by being sawn asunder (see on Heb 11:37).