What is the meaning of 2 Kings 21:6? He sacrificed his own son in the fire Manasseh’s action was not symbolic—it was the literal burning of his child in a pagan rite (2 Kings 21:6). • God had already forbidden this horror: “You must not give any of your children to sacrifice to Molech” (Leviticus 18:21). • Such sacrifices “do what is evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger” (Deuteronomy 12:31). • Earlier kings flirted with the same sin (2 Kings 16:3), and the prophets condemned it repeatedly (Jeremiah 7:31). • The act shows how far God’s covenant people could fall when they rejected His word and imitated surrounding nations. practiced sorcery and divination The verse continues: “practiced sorcery and divination” (2 Kings 21:6). • God’s law is clear: “Let no one be found among you who practices divination or sorcery… the LORD your God detests anyone who does these things” (Deuteronomy 18:10-12). • Sorcery seeks hidden power apart from God; divination attempts to control outcomes or gain secret knowledge. • Isaiah warned Judah, “They are full of diviners like the Philistines” (Isaiah 2:6), showing how common the practice had become. • New-Testament believers also confront sorcery as an enemy of the gospel (Acts 13:6-10). consulted mediums and spiritists “And consulted mediums and spiritists” (2 Kings 21:6). • Mediums claim to channel the dead; spiritists claim contact with unseen forces. Both invite deception from demonic powers. • “Do not turn to mediums or seek spiritists; you will be defiled by them” (Leviticus 19:31). • King Saul’s fatal visit to the medium of Endor (1 Samuel 28) stands as a sobering precedent. • Scripture says Saul died “because he was unfaithful… and consulted a medium” (1 Chronicles 10:13). Manasseh deliberately repeated that sin. He did great evil in the sight of the LORD The divine verdict is blunt: “He did great evil in the sight of the LORD” (2 Kings 21:6). • God alone defines good and evil; human standards shift, but His judgment is fixed (Judges 2:11). • Manasseh surpassed even the wickedness of the Canaanites (2 Chronicles 33:9). • Repeated formulas in Kings—“did evil in the sight of the LORD”—remind readers that every king is measured against God’s revealed will (1 Kings 16:25). • The verse underscores personal responsibility; Manasseh cannot blame culture, advisors, or tradition. provoking Him to anger Manasseh’s sins were not private; they “provoked” the Almighty (2 Kings 21:6). • God’s anger is righteous, not capricious: “They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods” (Deuteronomy 32:16). • Israel’s history shows repeated cycles: sin, provocation, and judgment (Psalm 78:58). • God warned that persistent rebellion would bring national catastrophe, a warning fulfilled in exile (2 Kings 24:3-4). • Even in the New Testament, divine wrath is real: “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness” (Romans 1:18). Manasseh’s story illustrates why that wrath is justified—and why grace is so necessary. summary 2 Kings 21:6 lays out five escalating acts of rebellion by King Manasseh: child sacrifice, occult practices, trafficking with the dead, wholesale evil, and deliberate provocation of God. Each action violated explicit commands, showing a heart set against the covenant. The verse answers our question by revealing how seriously God views idolatry and the occult, how personal and national sin are intertwined, and how righteous His anger is when His people reject His truth. |
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