Conversion of King Jehoiakim

by Damien F. Mackey Re-focussing Manasseh and his reform, I have determined in various articles now that Manasseh was the same king of Judah as the likewise wicked Jehoiakim, who, too, was taken into captivity in Babylon. In 2 Chronicles we read something quite extraordinary about that most wicked of Judaean kings, the long-reigning Manasseh son of Hezekiah. While in exile, in Babylon, Manasseh experienced a profound conversion to Yahweh. [This was that Manasseh reputed in the legends to have murdered the prophet Isaiah] Not only that (his conversion), but Manasseh, now back home in Jerusalem, re-built the city and its Temple, its altar, and he greatly enlarged and fortified its walls. The Bible generally seems to be eerily silent about this momentous phase in the history of ancient Israel - but it is not actually so, not when all of this is reconsidered in: A New Perspective Manasseh was the same king of Judah as the likewise wicked Jehoiakim, who, too, was taken into captivity in Babylon. The Assyrian captor of Manasseh, Esarhaddon-Ashurbanipal, was the same as the captor of Jehoiakim, Nebuchednezzar (both he and Ashurbanipal reigned for 43 years). With this significant adjustment brought into effect, we can begin to discover more about king Manasseh. Manasseh’s 55 years of reign now have to be seen somewhat like the 37 years of his son, Jehoiachin (Jeremiah 37:1), when not actually reigning from his throne in Jerusalem. King Manasseh reconsidered Standard view of Manasseh The accepted view of King Manasseh of Judah (c. 687-642 BC, conventional dating) would be, I guess, that he reigned for about 45 years after his father, Hezekiah – {Manasseh being a contemporary of the neo-Assyrian king, Ashurbanipal (c. 668-625 BC, conventional dating)} – with a likely decade-long co-regency (c. 698–688 BC, conventional dating) with his father. It would be accepted, also, that Manasseh’s long reign was briefly interrupted by a phase, or two, of exile in Babylon (by Esarhaddon, by Ashurbanipal), and that, after that, Manasseh had returned to this throne in Jerusalem, a deeply converted monarch, to see out the rest of his reign, during which he began to restore the City, its Temple and altar, after his own, formerly pagan, ravages. “But no conversion could succeed in changing the idolatrous trend of his reign”, write A. G. Wright et al. in “A History of Israel”, for The Jerome Biblical Commentary, 75:83: “The centralization of cult inaugurated by Hezekiah was undone, and the fertility cults associated with the high places were once more in vogue. Even in the Temple there were altars in honor of the astral gods venerated by Assyria, and also sacred prostitution”. Here follows the biblical portrait of King Manasseh gone bad (2 Chronicles 33:1-11): Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, following the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites. He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had demolished; he also erected altars to the Baals and made Asherah poles. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them. He built altars in the temple of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “My Name will remain in Jerusalem forever.” In both courts of the temple of the LORD, he built altars to all the starry hosts. He sacrificed his children in the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, practiced divination and witchcraft, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the LORD, arousing his anger. He took the image he had made and put it in God’s temple, of which God had said to David and to his son Solomon, “In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my Name forever. I will not again make the feet of the Israelites leave the land I assigned to your ancestors, if only they will be careful to do everything I commanded them concerning all the laws, decrees and regulations given through Moses.” But Manasseh led Judah and the people of Jerusalem astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites. The LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. So the LORD brought against them the army commanders of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh prisoner, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon. But then we read of this amazing turnaround (vv. 12-19): In his distress he sought the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his ancestors. And when he prayed to him, the LORD was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God. Afterward he rebuilt the outer wall of the City of David, west of the Gihon spring in the valley, as far as the entrance of the Fish Gate and encircling the hill of Ophel; he also made it much higher. He stationed military commanders in all the fortified cities in Judah. He got rid of the foreign gods and removed the image from the temple of the LORD, as well as all the altars he had built on the temple hill and in Jerusalem; and he threw them out of the city. Then he restored the altar of the LORD and sacrificed fellowship offerings and thank offerings on it, and told Judah to serve the LORD, the God of Israel. The people, however, continued to sacrifice at the high places, but only to the LORD their God. The other events of Manasseh’s reign, including his prayer to his God and the words the seers spoke to him in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, are written in the annals of the kings of Israel. His prayer and how God was moved by his entreaty, as well as all his sins and unfaithfulness, and the sites where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and idols before he humbled himself—all these are written in the records of the seers. The prophet Jeremiah unexpectedly (from a conventional point of view) seems to blame the idolatrous Manasseh for the Babylonian captivity, even though the monumentally evil king Jehoiakim was Jeremiah’s known contemporary (Jeremiah 15:4): “… because of Manasseh [’s] … misdeeds in Jerusalem”. The Bible, apart from 2 Chronicles, seems at first glance to be almost completely silent about the spectacular conversion of Manasseh and his worthy deeds following on upon that. My altered view of Manasseh What I am suggesting for Manasseh, though, is quite different. Manasseh did not reign on the throne in Jerusalem for an incredible 45-55 years straight. No, Manasseh was the short-reigning (as to sitting on the actual throne of Jerusalem) King Jehoiakim. Hence: - Jeremiah’s blaming and naming “Manasseh” (but not naming “Jehoiakim”) for Judah’s punishments; - hence why Jehoiakim is completely missing from Matthew’s Davidic genealogy of Jesus Christ (1:1-17). King Jehoiakim reigned for a mere (but disastrous) 11 years (2 Kings 23:36) before being taken to Babylon, with hooks and chains, by Esarhaddon-Ashurbanipal (as Manasseh), and by Nebuchednezzar (as Jehoiakim). Hence: Esarhaddon-Ashurbanipal = Nebuchednezzar (as I have argued in various articles now). There, in Babylon, King Manasseh-Jehoiakim experienced a dramatic conversion to Yahweh and he uttered some wondrous praises to the Lord, said to resemble those of the young Azariah in the Fiery Furnace. {By the way, as I have noted elsewhere, Ashurbanipal king of Assyria and Babylon had a fiery furnace and he burned people (e.g. his brother) in it}. Sent back to Jerusalem, Manasseh no longer figured there as a king – though the biblical scribes kept up a continuous count of his reign - as in the case of the 37th year of Jehoiakim’s son, Jehoiachin (or Coniah) (2 Kings 25:27), that occurred whilst the latter was still in Babylonian exile. Zedekiah was now the king of Judah in Manasseh’s place. Zedekiah, a relative of Jehoiakim’s, had been appointed by Nebuchednezzar to replace Jehoiakim and his briefly reigning son, Coniah (2 Chronicles 36:9-10). Prayer of Manasseh Common English Bible 1 Lord Almighty, God of our ancestors, God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their righteous children, 2 you made heaven and earth with all their beauty. 3 You set limits for the sea by speaking your command. You closed the bottomless pit, and sealed it by your powerful and glorious name. 4 All things fear you and tremble in your presence, 5 because no one can endure the brightness of your glory. No one can resist the fury of your threat against sinners. 6 But your promised mercies are beyond measure and imagination, 7 because you are the highest, Lord, kind, patient, and merciful, and you feel sorry over human troubles. Syriac 9 Now, Lord, I suffer justly. I deserve the troubles I encounter. Already I’m caught in a trap. 10 I’m held down by iron chains so that I can’t lift up my head because of my sins. There’s no relief for me, because I made you angry, doing wrong in front of your face, setting up false gods and committing offenses. 11 Now I bow down before you from deep within my heart, begging for your kindness. 12 I have sinned, Lord, I have sinned, and I know the laws I’ve broken. 13 I’m praying, begging you: Forgive me, Lord, forgive me. Don’t destroy me along with my sins. Don’t keep my bad deeds in your memory forever. Don’t sentence me to the earth’s depths, for you, Lord, are the God of those who turn from their sins. 14 In me you’ll show how kind you are. Although I’m not worthy, you’ll save me according to your great mercy. 15 I will praise you continuously all the days of my life, because all of heaven’s forces praise you, and the glory is yours forever and always. Amen.