Reader’s Guide: “The Word for Today” Saturday, December 8, 2012 Read – 2 Kings 21 & 22 How strange and tragic it is that one of the very best kings of Judah was followed by the king who was undoubtedly the worst and most evil of Judah’s kings. Manasseh was the polar opposite of his father and he quickly undid all of the good things that Hezekiah had accomplished. In fact, it was the actions of Manasseh that sealed the fate of the Southern Kingdom. Unfortunately, Manasseh’s reign was very long – 55 years – the longest reign of any king. One can do a lot of damage in 55 years and Manasseh apparently did. The narrator’s evaluation of Manasseh is that he “misled them to do more evil than the nations had done that the LORD had destroyed before the people of Israel.” God’s prophets, here unnamed, brought the verdict of God. Because of what Manasseh had done, God will bring “upon Jerusalem and Judah such evil that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. [God] will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line for Samaria, and the plummet for the house of Ahab; [God] will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.” To be listed with Ahab is quite an insult. With the reign of Manasseh the die is cast and the fate of Judah is sealed. The end will not come for a number of years, but the end is certain. Manasseh was succeeded by his son Amon who reigned for only two years. He was evil like his father – so evil that the people rose up and put him to death. With the death of Amon the story will take another turn as another boy is destined to become king. Amon’s son, Josiah, was only eight years old when he became king. His story comes as a reprieve in what is otherwise a downward spiral of destruction. As mentioned above, Josiah was one of the three best kings of Judah. One can only imagine how neglected the Temple must have been during Manasseh’s and Amon’s reigns. Josiah’s kingship sounds a little like that of Joash who was spared as an infant from the massacre of Athaliah. Like Joash, Josiah was only a boy when he became king and thus under the tutelage of others. At the age of twenty-six, Josiah set about to reconstruct the Temple in Jerusalem. During this reconstruction a book is found. Just what this book was is unknown, but it is likely is was a book of the covenant God made with his people and likely contained the covenant God had made with David. Many scholars today think that this book might have been the book of Deuteronomy. That is speculative but may be correct. At any rate upon reading the book Josiah is filled with repentance and sets about restoring the kingdom of Judah.