Bad Guys of the Bible: King Manasseh, Rebelled from the Faith of his Father

by David Chadwick

God’s story is the best story! With Jesus Christ as the ultimate hero and Satan as the ultimate villain, God’s story is full of excitement, love, and adventure. The story of God is the ultimate rescue mission. Many heroes, big and small, played significant roles in God’s story. There were also villains. Bad guys who tried to thwart God’s plans. We’ve been taking an in depth look at both kinds of people over the last couple weeks.

Our final bad guy this week is King Manasseh. You’ll find his story in 2 Kings 21:1-18.

Manasseh’s father, Hezekiah, was one of the good kings in the Bible. Unfortunately, Manasseh did not follow in the ways of his dad. He rebelled against everything he knew to be true about the one true God. He blazed a path toward evil and unrighteousness and invited others to join him.

Every generation must make its own decisions as to whether it will follow in faithfulness or idolatry. Good or evil. Obedience or rebellion. The narrow way or the wide path (Matthew 7:13-14). Manasseh chose the latter. He lived on the evil wide path and chose to rebel from a life of faithfulness.

Manasseh also introduced idol worship and godless paganism in the culture. He actually rebuilt the very pagan shrines that his dad had torn down. He was infinitely evil and even went so far as to sacrifice his own children to pagan gods. Tradition says that it was Manasseh who had the prophet Isaiah sawn in two.

During his 40 year reign, godlessness ran rampant.

Each and every one of us has to choose how to live. Some choose to reverse the curses of a bad dad and break generational curses. Others choose to reverse the blessings of a good dad and walk in rebellion. Every man, every woman, every nation has a decision to make. Manasseh chose poorly and established an entire kingdom against God.

May we learn from the mistakes and blatant sin of Manasseh and choose to live lives of righteousness and holiness. Obedience brings blessing and disobedience brings discipline.

But the choice is still ours.