At one point when I was in high school, I refused to attend worship services with my parents.
I claimed all I saw was hypocrisy and argued that there was nothing at these worship services for me.
After a period, my mother asked if I would at least play through some hymns while they were at church.
I agreed to do this, not because my heart was humbled towards the Lord, but because I knew that playing four-part hymns would improve my sightreading skills as a pianist.
God drew me back to attending worship with my parents through the words of the hymns I played.
During a time of silent prayer, the first time I was back at corporate worship, I distinctly heard His still small voice say, “You belong here.”
A single tear fell down my cheek at that moment.
I will never forget that day.
Today’s study looks at the journey of a king of Judah whose heart also needed humbling.
Brazen Rebellion, Consequences and Humility
A Study of 2 Chronicles 33:1-20 | Study Questions
Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.[i]
Using 2 Chronicles 29:1, compare the ages Manasseh and his father became king and how long they each reigned.
2 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.[ii]
What is this verse hinting at?
3 For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had broken down, and he erected altars to the Baals, and made Asheroth, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. 4 And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem shall my name be forever.” 5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. [iii]
What is verse four pointing out regarding Manasseh’s actions?
6 And he burned his sons as an offering in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and used fortune-telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.[iv]
How does the Lord feel about Manasseh’s brazen rebellion against Him?
7 And the carved image of the idol that he had made he set in the house of God, of which God said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever, 8 and I will no more remove the foot of Israel from the land that I appointed for your fathers, if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them, all the law, the statutes, and the rules given through Moses.”[v]
What had God promised for obedience? For brazen rebellion?
9 Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel. [vi]
How bad did the brazen rebellion of Manasseh get?
10 The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention. 11 Therefore the Lord brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon.[vii]
What did the Lord do first?
How did Manasseh and the people respond to the Lord?
What were the consequences of their brazen rebellion?
12 And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. 13 He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God. [viii]
What changed in Manasseh? Why?
How did God respond to this change?
What does, “Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God,” reveal?
14 Afterward he built an outer wall for the city of David west of Gihon, in the valley, and for the entrance into the Fish Gate, and carried it around Ophel, and raised it to a very great height. He also put commanders of the army in all the fortified cities in Judah. 15 And he took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord, and 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. [ix]
How thorough was Manasseh’s humility before the Lord?
16 He also restored the altar of the Lord and offered on it sacrifices of peace offerings and of thanksgiving, and 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. [x]
How did this impact the people of Judah?
18 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and 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, behold, they are in the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. 19 And his prayer, and how God was moved by his entreaty, and all his sin and his faithlessness, and the sites on which he built high places and set up the Asherim and the images, before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the Chronicles of the Seers. 20 So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his house, and Amon his son reigned in his place. [xi]
What do these last summary sentences from chapter 33 encourage us to remember most about Manasseh and the Lord?
Brazen Rebellion, Consequences and Humility
A Study of 2 Chronicles 33:1-20 | Application Questions
What was your relationship with the Lord like when you were twelve years old?
Has the Lord ever needed to humble you? Why or why not?
How has your relationship with the Lord changed over time?
Consider the words of Paul when he was on trial before King Agrippa.
19 “Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, 20 but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance. 21 For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. 22 To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass: 23 that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.” [xii]
Manasseh humbled himself before God and performed deeds in keeping with his humility because he now truly knew God.
What do you need to do differently in your own behavior so that those you encounter will recognize that you truly know the Lord?
How will you use this study to encourage someone else on their own faith journey?
Share your thoughts in the comments below or on your own social media accounts.
Warmly,
Barbara Lynn
[i] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), 2 Ch 33:1.
[ii] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), 2 Ch 33:2.
[iii] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), 2 Ch 33:3–5.
[iv] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), 2 Ch 33:6.
[v] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), 2 Ch 33:7–8.
[vi] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), 2 Ch 33:9.
[vii] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), 2 Ch 33:10–11.
[viii] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), 2 Ch 33:12–13.
[ix] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), 2 Ch 33:14–15.
[x] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), 2 Ch 33:16–17.
[xi] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), 2 Ch 33:18–20.
[xii] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), Ac 26:19–23.