2Ch 33:3-13 | KD | STEP | The reign of Manasseh; cf. 2 Kings 21:1-18. - The characteristics of this king’s reign, and of the idolatry which he again introduced, and increased in a measure surpassing all his predecessors ( ), agrees almost verbally with 2Ki 21:1-9. Here and there an expression is rhetorically generalized and intensified, e.g., by the plurals לבּעלים and אשׁרות ( ) instead of the sing. לבּעל and אשׁרה (Kings), and בּנין ( ) instead of בּנו (see on ); by the addition of וכשּׁף to ונחשׁ עונן, and of the name the Vale of Hinnom, (see on , גּי for גּיא); by heaping up words for the law and its commandments ( ); and other small deviations, of which הסּמל פּסל ( ) instead of האשׁרה פּסל (Kings) is the most important. The word סמל, sculpture or statue, is derived from , but has perhaps been taken by the author of the Chronicle from , where סמל probably denotes the statue of Asherah. The form עילום for עולם ( ) is not elsewhere met with.

‏ 2 Chronicles 33:3-13

2Ch 33:1-9 The reign of Manasseh; cf. 2 Kings 21:1-18. - The characteristics of this king’s reign, and of the idolatry which he again introduced, and increased in a measure surpassing all his predecessors (2Ch 33:1-9), agrees almost verbally with 2Ki 21:1-9. Here and there an expression is rhetorically generalized and intensified, e.g., by the plurals לבּעלים and אשׁרות (2Ch 33:3) instead of the sing. לבּעל and אשׁרה (Kings), and בּנין (2Ch 33:6) instead of בּנו (see on 2Ch 28:3); by the addition of וכשּׁף to ונחשׁ עונן, and of the name the Vale of Hinnom, 2Ch 33:6 (see on Jos 15:18, גּי for גּיא); by heaping up words for the law and its commandments (2Ch 33:8); and other small deviations, of which הסּמל פּסל (2Ch 33:7) instead of האשׁרה פּסל (Kings) is the most important. The word סמל, sculpture or statue, is derived from Deu 4:16, but has perhaps been taken by the author of the Chronicle from Eze 8:3, where סמל probably denotes the statue of Asherah. The form עילום for עולם (2Ch 33:7) is not elsewhere met with. 2Ch 33:10

At 2Ch 33:10, the account in the Chronicle diverges from that in 2 Kings. In 2Ki 21:10-16 it is related how the Lord caused it to be proclaimed by the prophets, that in punishment of Manasseh’s sins Jerusalem would be destroyed, and the people given into the power of their enemies, and how Manasseh filled Jerusalem with the shedding of innocent blood. Instead of this, in 2Ch 33:10 of the Chronicle it is only briefly said that the Lord spake to Manasseh and to his people, but they would not hearken; and then in 2Ch 33:11-17 it is narrated that Manasseh was led away to Babylon by the king of Assyria’s captains of the host; in his trouble turned to the Lord his God, and prayed; was thereupon brought by God back to Jerusalem; after his return, fortified Jerusalem with a new wall; set commanders over all the fenced cities of Judah; abolished the idolatry in the temple and the city, and restored the worship of Jahve. 2Ch 33:11

As Manasseh would not hear the words of the prophets, the Lord brought upon him the captains of the host of the king of Assyria. These “took him with hooks, and bound him with double chains of brass, and brought him to Babylon.” בחוחים ילכּדוּ signifies neither, they took him prisoner in thorns (hid in the thorns), nor in a place called Chochim (which is not elsewhere found), but they took him with hooks. חוח denotes the hook or ring which was drawn through the gills of large fish when taken (Job 41:2), and is synonymous with חח (2Ki 19:28; Eze 19:4), a ring which was passed through the noses of wild beasts to subdue and lead them. The expression is figurative, as in the passages quoted from the prophets. Manasseh is represented as an unmanageable beast, which the Assyrian generals took and subdued by a ring in the nose. The figurative expression is explained by the succeeding clause: they bound him with double chains. נחשׁתּים are double fetters of brass, with which the feet of prisoners were bound (2Sa 3:34; Jdg 16:21; 2Ch 36:6, etc.). 2Ch 33:12-13 לו וּכהצר = לו הצר וּבעת, 2Ch 28:22. In this his affliction he bowed himself before the Lord God of his fathers, and besought Him; and the Lord was entreated of him, and brought him again to Jerusalem, into his kingdom. The prayer which Manasseh prayed in his need was contained, according to 2Ch 33:18., in the histories of the kings of Israel, and in the sayings of the prophet Hozai, but has not come down to our day. The “prayer of Manasseh” given by the lxx is an apocryphal production, composed in Greek; cf. my Introduction to the Old Testament, § 247.