2 Kings 21:1

Evil Manasseh Reigns after Godly Hezekiah

1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. The name of 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 began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother [was] Hephzibah.

2 He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, according to the detestable things of the nations that Yahweh had driven out from the presence of the {Israelites}.

3 He returned and rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed. He erected altars for Baal and made a pole of Asherah worship just as Ahab king of Israel had made, and he bowed down to all of the host of heaven and served them.

4 He built altars in the temple of Yahweh [about] which Yahweh had said, "I will put my name in Jerusalem."

5 He built an altar to all of the host of heaven in the two courtyards of the temple of Yahweh.