Recovery Devotional 309 With Hooks and Fetters

JMD Devotional 309 2 Chronicles 33:1,2,6,10-13 With Hooks and in Fetters

1-3 MANASSEH WAS twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. But he did evil in the Lord's sight, like the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord drove out before the Israelites. For he built again the [idolatrous] high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared altars for the Baals and made the Asherim and worshiped all the hosts of the heavens and served them.

6 And he burned his children as an offering [to his god] in the Valley of Ben-hinnom [son of Hinnom], and practiced soothsaying, augury, and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and wizards. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger.

10-13 The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they would not hearken. So the Lord brought against them the commanders of the host of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh with hooks and in fetters and brought him to Babylon. When he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. He prayed to Him, and God, entreated by him, heard his supplication and brought him again to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is God.

The Assyrians were particularly cruel oppressors. They humiliated and tormented their prisoners. Hooks pierced their flesh, often through their upper lip, and were used to pull captives along who stumbled with leg irons (fetters). Nobility was not exempt from this harsh treatment. In a metaphorical sense, Manasseh was ‘hooked’ when he was young and rebelled against his father’s (Hezekiah) reforms. The hedonistic lifestyle of idolatry beaconed. The lure of power and pleasure out-drummed the lessons of the past cycles of affliction that was always the consequence of departing from God’s way. It probably started small, and grew as each broken taboo failed to sustain excitement and as pleasure tarnished through the law of diminishing returns. Most people in bondage put themselves there and wonder where the misery came from. Long before the pain and isolation of captivity bring one to his senses, his marriage and family have been sacrificed to his selfish vice. Manasseh was like most addicts, he needed to hit bottom before looking up to the Lord for help. How much suffering did it take to get our attention?

Dear God,

If there was hope for Manasseh; mercy and forgiveness long before the Cross; how much more now for sinners who repent! Misery is found on every corner; avoidable pain and suffering forged by foolish striving after ‘the good life.’ Forgive the willfully blind. Send suffering and restlessness into the rebellious soul to bring them to their senses, to experience the fruit of their own works, and to know that the Lord is God. Bring Your children to repentance, and through recovery to abundant life in Christ as a witness to a world pulled along with hooks and in fetters.

Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by

the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

I originally produced these blogs between 2006 and 2007, which were then published in my book, JMD Recovery Devotionals. In 2010, I am sending these out to a few people as I review them and see if my point of view has changed.

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