Bad to the Bone
- Manasseh starts reigning over Judah at the age of twelve and continues for fifty-five years.
- Unlike his father, he's a bad king. He rebuilds the high places that Hezekiah had demolished, builds altars to foreign gods in the Temple, and brings back the worship of sacred poles and of Baal.
- He also sacrifices one of his sons in fire and consults with wizards and mediums.
- He puts a carved image of the Asherah (a goddess considered to be a consort of God by some) in the Temple, further disobeying the laws against polytheism God gave to Moses.
- Manasseh leads the people to do worse than the nations that preceded them in the region.
God Does Some Dishwashing
- God sends a message through the prophets, telling the people that he's going to punish the nations for all these sins into which Manasseh has been leading them.
- Manasseh, says God, is worse than the Amorites who came before him.
- The same evil fate Ahab brought on Israel, Manasseh is now bringing on Jerusalem. God will wipe the city clean like a dirty dish, emptying it and sending the remaining remnant into exile, into the hands of enemies.
- In addition to idolatry, Manasseh also kills plenty of innocent people in Jerusalem.
- When Amon dies, his son (also Amon) takes over and leads the people in the same wicked deeds. He starts reigning when he's twenty-two years old, and reigns for two years.
- A group of conspirators kill Amon Jr., but the people kill the conspirators too and make Amon's other son Josiah their new king.