You Don't Have To Duck

“Now after this he built a wall without the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entering in at the fish gate, and compassed about Ophel, and raised it up a very great height, and put captains of war in all the fenced cities of Judah.” (2Ch 33:14 AV)

I’ll bet he did!  Manasseh, son of Hezekiah and King of Judah, did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any Judean king in the history of Israel.  In fact, the Bible tells us he did more wickedness than all the pagan nations around him.  It sort of reminds me of the USA.  We condone and encourage insanity manifested and perverse immorality that even secular and pagan nations do not allow.  We have lost our moral authority.  Yet we dare to call ourselves a Christian nation.  We have lost the ability to share the gospel with the world because back home, we entertain all sorts of perverseness.  The world wants nothing to do with us.  They are protecting their society, people, and children from the likes of a warped, wicked, and totally depraved nation.  This is where Manasseh had taken his nation.  Not even unbelievers would dare go where they went.  As a consequence, the LORD brought an adversary and dragged Manasseh by the way of thorns, back to his nation.  While there, Manasseh was tortured.  When he greatly humbled himself, the LORD delivered him and brought him back to Jerusalem.  This is where we pick up the story.  The first thing Manasseh did was to fortify the city as it had never been done before.  This is totally understandable.  However, one wonders if he truly understood the significance of his chastening and deliverance.

My father was a strict disciplinarian.  I think that is why, for the most part, his kids didn’t go all that astray.  We were terrified of him.  When he lit into us, there was no chance we would ever fail in that area again.  With him, it was a one-and-done chastening.  However, what this also accomplished was building barriers so that Dad could never do that again.  When Dad was on the warpath, we avoided him like the plague.  We didn’t want to be in the crosshairs of his ire.  We also did other things.  We had these secret places we could go.  When we felt the wrath of Dad rising, we could grab our bikes and ride all over the city.  Or we would go to a park we knew he wouldn’t think of.  Friend’s houses were out because my Dad knew every one of our friend’s parents.  We had this one place that worked really well.  It was up in the attic.  We modified our toy locker so that if you peered inside, you could not see us.  We would be in there but hidden from any adult eyes.  We didn’t stop and think that the reason we got spanked the first time was that we deserved it.  As long as we were not guilty of some infraction, the wrath of Dad did not apply to us.  It never occurred to us that once the chastening was over, we were ok with Dad.  Unfortunately, we saw Dad in the light of his anger no matter the situation.

As I wrote earlier.  I wouldn’t blame Manasseh for doubling the defenses against the enemy who God used to torture him to repentance.  I think I would have done the same thing.  I would have hardened myself against repeating that same event.  This misses the point.  The chastening was of God.  As long as Manasseh walked in obedience and faith toward God, there was no need of doubling the defenses around the city.  He was so shocked by Divine correction, he overreacted and built defenses against this ever happening again.  What he did right was to continue revival.  He did not build these defenses to fall back into sin.  That’s the good side of it.  Where he failed was to see God as one who had permanently forgiven him, trusting in His mercy to continue through his obedience.  This whole thing shock Manasseh to the core.  Some might say he suffered a form of PTSD.  What he needed to do is celebrate his deliverance, fortify the city, and cease to live in fear.  Once God is done with correction, he is done.  There is no need to be terrified of correction that is not coming.

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