Chapter 3.
HOW MANASSEH REIGNED AFTER HEZEKIAH; AND HOW WHEN HE WAS
IN CAPTIVITY HE RETURNED TO GOD AND WAS RESTORED TO HIS KINGDOM AND LEFT
IT TO [HIS SON] AMON.FJAJ 10.12
1. WHEN king Hezekiah had survived the interval of time already mentioned,
and had dwelt all that time in peace, he died, having completed fifty-four
years of his life, and reigned twenty-nine
But when his son Manasseh,
whose mother's name was Hephzibah, of Jerusalem, had taken the kingdom,
he departed from the conduct of his father, and fell into a course of life
quite contrary thereto, and showed himself in his manners most wicked in
all respects, and omitted no sort of impiety, but imitated those transgressions
of the Israelites, by the commission of which against God they had been
destroyed; for he was so hardy as to defile the temple of God, and the
city, and the whole country; for, by setting out from a contempt of God,
he barbarously slew all the righteous men that were among the Hebrews;
nor would he spare the prophets, for he every day slew some of them, till
Jerusalem was overflown with blood
So God was angry at these proceedings,
and sent prophets to the king, and to the multitude, by whom he threatened
the very same calamities to them which their brethren the Israelites, upon
the like affronts offered to God, were now under
But these men would not
believe their words, by which belief they might have reaped the advantage
of escaping all those miseries; yet did they in earnest learn that what
the prophets had told them was true.FJAJ 10.13
2. And when they persevered in the same course of life, God raised up
war against them from the king of Babylon and Chaldea, who sent an army
against Judea, and laid waste the country; and caught king Manasseh by
treachery, and ordered him to be brought to him, and had him under his
power to inflict what punishment he pleased upon him
But then it was that
Manasseh perceived what a miserable condition he was in, and esteeming
himself the cause of all, he besought God to render his enemy humane and
merciful to him
Accordingly, God heard his prayer, and granted him what
he prayed for
So Manasseh was released by the king of Babylon, and escaped
the danger he was in; and when he was come to Jerusalem, he endeavored,
if it were possible, to cast out of his memory those his former sins against
God, of which he now repented, and to apply himself to a very religious
life
He sanctified the temple, and purged the city, and for the remainder
of his days he was intent on nothing but to return his thanks to God for
his deliverance, and to preserve him propitious to him all his life long.
He also instructed the multitude to do the same, as having very nearly
experienced what a calamity he was fallen into by a contrary conduct
He
also rebuilt the altar, and offered the legal sacrifices, as Moses commanded.
And when he had re-established what concerned the Divine worship, as it
ought to be, he took care of the security of Jerusalem: he did not only
repair the old walls with great diligence, but added another wall to the
former
He also built very lofty towers, and the garrisoned places before
the city he strengthened, not only in other respects, but with provisions
of all sorts that they wanted
And indeed, when he had changed his former
course, he so led his life for the time to come, that from the time of
his return to piety towards God he was deemed a happy man, and a pattern
for imitation
When therefore he had lived sixty-seven years, he departed
this life, having reigned fifty-five years, and was buried in his own garden;
and the kingdom came to his son Amon, whose mother's name was Meshulemeth,
of the city of Jotbath.FJAJ 10.14