2 Chronicles 33 – Manasseh is 12 when he succeeds his
father. He reigns 55 years in Jerusalem, but does what is evil in the
sight of God. He rebuilds the high places, erects altars to the Baals, makes
sacred poles and worships “all the host of heaven” (33:3). He builds altars for
these gods even in the two courts of the Temple. He makes his own son “pass through fire in the valley of the son of
Hinnom” (33:6), practices sorcery and consults mediums.
He so misled his people they actually
were worse than the people whom God had displaced in their name (33:9). The Lord speaks to Manasseh and his
people, but they give no heed to him. So God brings the king of Assyria against
them. The king takes Manasseh captive
and brings him to Babylon. There, in distress, Manasseh finally calls upon the
Lord and the Lord “heard his plea, and restored him again to Jerusalem and
to his kingdom” (33:13).
In Jerusalem
again, he builds outer walls, fortifies cities and takes away the foreign gods
from the Temple. He restores the altar of the Lord and offers sacrifices on it.
The people, however, still sacrifice on the high places.
When
Manasseh dies, his son Amon, aged
22, succeeds. He does what is evil as his father had. He did not humble himself
before the Lord though. His servants
conspire against him and kill him. But the people of the land kill the
conspirators and make his son Josiah king at the age of 8.
Augustine’s Treatise
on the Profit of Believing
34 - This is,
believe me, a most wholesome authority, this a lifting up first of our mind
from dwelling on the earth, this a turning from the love of this world unto the
True God. It is authority alone which moves fools to hasten unto wisdom. So long as we cannot understand pure
(truths), it is indeed wretched to be deceived by authority, but surely more
wretched not to be moved. For, if the Providence of God preside not over
human affairs, we have no need to busy ourselves about religion. But if both
the outward form of all things, which we
must believe assuredly flows from some fountain of truest beauty, and some,
I know not what, inward conscience
exhorts, as it were, in public and in private, all the better order of minds to
seek God, and to serve God; we must
not give up all hope that the same God Himself has appointed some authority,
whereon, resting as on a sure step, we may be lifted up unto God. I love the humility
and mindfulness of his words here.
But this, setting aside reason, which (as we have often
said) it is very hard for fools to understand pure, moves us two ways; in part
by miracles, in part by multitude of followers: no one of these is necessary to
the wise man; who denies it? But this is now the business in hand, that we may
be able to be wise, that is, to cleave to the truth; which the filthy soul is
utterly unable to do: but the filth of
the soul, to say shortly what I mean, is the love of any things whatsoever save
God and the soul: from which filth the more any one is cleansed, the more
easily he sees the truth. Therefore to wish to see the truth, in order to purge
your soul, when as it is purged for the very purpose that you may see, is
surely perverse and preposterous. Therefore to man unable to see the truth,
authority is at hand, in order that he may be made fitted for it, and may allow
himself to be cleansed; and, as I said a little above, no one doubts that this
prevails, in part by miracles, in part by multitude. But I call that a miracle,
whatever appears that is difficult or unusual above the hope or power of them
who wonder. Of which kind there is nothing more suited for the people, and in
general for foolish men, than what is brought near to the senses. But these,
again, are divided into two kinds; for there are certain, which cause only
wonder, but certain others procure also great favor and good-will.
For, if one were to
see a man flying, inasmuch as that matter brings no advantage to the spectator,
beside the spectacle itself, he only wonders. But if any affected with grievous
and hopeless disease were to recover straightway, upon being bidden, his
affection for him who heals, will go beyond even his wonder at his healing.
Such were done at that time at which God in True Man appeared unto men, as much
as was enough. The sick were healed, the lepers were cleansed; walking was
restored to the lame, sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf. The men of that
time saw water turned into wine, five thousand filled with five loaves, seas
passed on foot, dead rising again: thus certain provided for the good of the
body by more open benefit, certain again for the good of the soul by more
hidden sign, and all for the good of men by their witness to Majesty: thus, at
that time, was the divine authority moving towards Itself the wandering souls
of mortal men.
Why, say you, do not those things take place now? Because
they would not move, unless they were wonderful, and, if they were usual, they
would not be wonderful. For the
interchanges of day and night, and the settled order of things in Heaven, the
revolution of years divided into four parts, the fall and return of leaves to
trees, the boundless power of seeds, the beauty of light, the varieties of
colors, sounds, tastes, and scents, let there be some one who shall see and
perceive them for the first time, and yet such an one as we may converse with;
he is stupified and overwhelmed with miracles: but we contemn all these,
not because they are easy to understand, (for what more obscure than the causes
of these?) but surely because they constantly meet our senses. Therefore they
were done at a very suitable time, in order that, by these a multitude of
believers having been gathered together and spread abroad, authority might be
turned with effect upon habits.
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