On Prophets, Warriors, and Kings by George J. Brooke Ariel Feldman

Author:George J. Brooke, Ariel Feldman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: WDGO
Published: 2016-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

2Manasseh the Penitent Sinner

The motif of King Manasseh, the penitent sinner, proved to be both potent and malleable. One of the first writers to pick up on the story of Manasseh’s repentance was Josephus.427 In his retelling of the reign of Manasseh, Josephus omits most details about Manasseh’s idolatry and replaces them with a more general statement about the king. Manasseh broke away from his father’s religious practices and exhibited “every form of wickedness in his conduct” (Ant. 10.37). For Josephus, Manasseh’s great sin is not his idolatry but his lawlessness, a theme that runs through his work.428 The statement in 2 Kgs 21:16 that Manasseh shed much innocent blood meant for Josephus that the king committed many murders. He killed “all the righteous men among the Hebrews, nor did he spare even the prophets” (Ant. 10.38). At this point Josephus follows the account of the Chronicler and gives considerable attention to Manasseh’s penance (Ant. 10.41–42).

Then at last did Manasseh realize in what a bad plight he was, and, believing himself to be the cause of it all, he prayed to God to make the enemy humane and merciful to him. And God harkened to his supplication and granted this, and so Manasseh was set free by the king of Babylonia and was safely restored to his own land. When he came to Jerusalem, he strove to cast from his mind, if that were possible, the very memory of his former sins, of which he was anxious to repent, and to show God the utmost reverence; and he sanctified the temple and purified the city, and thereafter his only care was to show his gratitude to God for having been saved, and to keep His favor throughout his whole life.

Josephus describes how, when Manasseh was in exile and came to realize that he himself was the only reason for his plight, he asked God in prayer “to make the enemy humane and merciful to him (παρέχειν αὐτῷ φιλάνθρωπον καὶ ἐλεήμονα τὸν πολέμιον).” His prayer was heard and Manasseh was returned to Jerusalem, where he engaged in a massive religious reform. For Josephus there is little doubt that the king was entirely sincere. Manasseh even strove to forget the very memory of his sins and to show God the utmost respect, none of which is mentioned in the Bible. Josephus tells of Manasseh’s religious reforms and his building projects, and unlike the Chronicler ends on an entirely positive note. Whereas the Chronicler is clear that the people continued to bring sacrifices at the high places beyond Manasseh’s time (2 Chr 33:17), Josephus amplifies Manasseh’s piety and concludes his account by remarking that the king was a “blessed (μακαριστός) and enviable (ζηλωτός) man” for the rest of his life (Ant. 10.45).429

Whereas Josephus remains general in his paraphrastic summary of Manasseh’s reign, other early interpreters singled out specific aspects of the remarkable story about the royal penitent sinner and then expanded on them. We begin our overview with two pseudepigraphic texts that provide

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