2 Kings 21:1

1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for fifty-five years. His mother was Hephzibah.

2 Kings 21:1 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 21:1

Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign
So that he was born three years after Hezekiah's recovery from his sickness, and in the seventeenth year of his reign:

and reigned fifty five years in Jerusalem:
among which must be reckoned the time of his captivity in Babylon; his reign was the longest of any of the kings of Judah: and his mother's name was Hephzibah; the name the church goes by, and signifies, "my delight or pleasure is in her", ( Isaiah 62:4 ) , no doubt she was a good woman, or Hezekiah would not have made choice of her for a wife; it is a tradition of the Jews ^F1, that she was the daughter of Isaiah, whose name, they say, is not mentioned, because so wicked a king was unworthy of such a grandfather.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 Hieron. Trad. Heb. in lib. Paralipom. fol. 86. F.

2 Kings 21:1 In-Context

1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for fifty-five years. His mother was Hephzibah.

2 Following the disgusting practices of the nations whom the Lord had driven out of the land as his people advanced, Manasseh sinned against the Lord.

3 He rebuilt the pagan places of worship that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he built altars for the worship of Baal and made an image of the goddess Asherah, as King Ahab of Israel had done. Manasseh also worshiped the stars.

4 He built pagan altars in the Temple, the place that the Lord had said was where he should be worshiped.

5 In the two courtyards of the Temple he built altars for the worship of the stars.