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Menashe (King of Judah)

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Biblical Figures
Menasseh was the fourteenth king of Judah and considered to be a wicked king. He reintroduced polytheistic practices into Judah and was a vassal king of Assyria.
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The Bloodshed of King Manasseh
TANAKH
King Manasseh's reign was marked by extreme bloodshed and idolatry, filling Jerusalem with innocent blood and leading Judah into sin. The biblical account in Kings II summarizes his transgressions.
Moreover, Manasseh put so many innocent persons to death that he filled Jerusalem [with blood] from end to end—besides the sin he committed in causing Judah to do what was displeasing to GOD. The other events of Manasseh’s reign, and all his actions, and the sins he committed, are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Judah.
II Kings 21:16-17
The Persecution of Isaiah
TALMUD
The traditions around King Menasseh include a dramatic narrative of his attempt to kill the prophet Isaiah and the divine judgment that follows. The Jerusalem Talmud recounts a severe actions of King Manasseh, including his persecution of prophets and the miraculous events that ensue.
When Manasse became king, he was wild after Isaiah; he wanted to kill him, but he fled before him. He fled to a cedar tree, the cedar swallowed him, except to a ṣiṣit of his coat. They came and reported it before him. He said, go and cut down the cedar. They cut down the cedar and blood was seen flowing. But the Eternal did not want to pardon: from here that he has no part in the Future World. And is it not written, in addition to the sins of Manasse ben Hezekias, the king of Jehudah. Let us say, before he changed his ways…
Jerusalem Talmud Sanhedrin 10:2:13
The Power of Repentance
MIDRASH
Even someone as wicked as King Manasseh, who committed numerous abominations, was able to find forgiveness through sincere repentance. Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a midrashic work, illustrates the power of repentance through the story of King Manasseh.
Rabbi Joshua said: Know thou the power of repentance. Come and see from Manasseh, son of Hezekiah, who perpetrated all the evil abominations much more than all the nations. He made his son to pass through the fire to Baal outside Jerusalem, causing (doves) to fly, and sacrificing to all the host of heaven. The princes of the troops of the king of Babylon came, and they caught him by the hair of his head, and brought him down to Babylon, and they put him in a pan (over) a fire, and there he called upon all the other gods to whom he had sacrificed…
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 43:4
From Affliction to Redemption
MIDRASH
Despite all the Torah and toil invested in Menasheh by his father Chizkiyahu, it was ultimately afflictions that led to Menasheh's repentance and return to God. The Sifrei, a midrashic commentary on Deuteronomy, recounts the story of King Menasheh's reign and his eventual repentance.
R. Akiva: "It is written (II Chronicles 33:1) 'Menasheh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.' And it is written (Proverbs 25:1) 'These, too, are the proverbs of Solomon, which were copied down by the servants of Chezkiah king of Judah.' Now would it enter your mind that Chizkiyahu taught Torah to all of Israel but not to Menasheh his son? But (it is to be understood that) of all the Torah he taught him and all the toil he invested in him naught availed him but afflictions…
Sifrei Devarim 32:18
Menashe's Redemption Story
COMMENTARY
Menashe’s repentance, despite his grievous sins, demonstrates Hashem’s eagerness to accept those who return in repentance. This contemporary study of the book of Kings explores Menashe’s journey from idolatry to repentance, offering hope for all who seek forgiveness.
From a rationalist perspective, the story does not add up. And yet, the very existence of the tale brings attention to a long-standing ambivalence and debate about Menashe and his Teshuvah. The story reflects a strand in Jewish thought that celebrates the Menashe’s Teshuvah and views his return as a testament to Hashem’s eagerness to accept Ba’alei Teshuvah. There is no Jew in Tanach who sins as grievously as Menashe, and yet, he still does Teshuvah. If Hashem accepts Menashe’s Teshuvah, then there is hope for us all.
From David to Destruction, Malchei Yehudah; Achaz, Chizkiyahu, and Menashe, Ambivalent Feelings Concerning Menashe's Teshuvah 16
The Dual Portrayal of King Menashe
COMMENTARY
The biblical accounts of King Menashe present a complex and variable portrayal, with significant differences between the narratives in the Book of Kings and the Book of Chronicles. Everett Fox's analysis delves into these contrasting portrayals.
Historically, things may well not have been this cut and dried. Scholars note that the presentation of the three kings might be said to follow a classic ancient Near Eastern literary pattern, where good kings alternate with bad. Then, too, it is unclear how much the first reform under Hizkiyyahu has influenced the telling of the second under Yoshiyyahu, and possibly vice versa. We are thus left with, as usual, a series of memories that have been processed. The book of Chronicles, written later and perhaps using other sources, sees the history differently…
The Early Prophets, by Everett Fox, Kings, On Three Kings of Judah 2
The Early Signs of Manasseh's Wickedness
MIDRASH
The lore surrounding Menasseh includes early signs of his wickedness and impiety, even from childhood, foreshadow his future atrocities. Louis Ginzberg’s early 20th-century compilation, Legends of the Jews synthesizes multiple sources into a narrative about King Hezekiah and his son Manasseh.
Hezekiah had finally yielded to the admonitions of Isaiah, and had taken a wife unto himself, the daughter of the prophet. But he entered upon marriage with a heavy heart. His prophetic spirit foretold to him that the impiousness of the sons he would beget would make their death to be preferable to their life. These fears were confirmed all too soon. His two sons, Rabshakeh and Manasseh, showed their complete unlikeness to their parents in early childhood. Once, when Hezekiah was carrying his two little ones on his shoulders to the Bet ha-Midrash, he overheard their conversation…
Legends of the Jews 4:9:43
The Continuity of the Davidic Line
HALAKHAH
Despite King Menasheh's wickedness, the Davidic dynasty continued through him, ultimately leading to the emergence of the Messiah. Rabbi Eliezer Melamed’s contemporary halakhic work, Peninei Halakhah, explores the biblical story of King Hezekiah, Menasheh's father, as expanded on by the Talmud, and its implications for Jewish law and ethics, particularly focusing on the importance of procreation and the Davidic dynasty.
Then, “Ḥizkiyahu turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord. ‘Please, O Lord,’ he said, ‘remember how I have walked before You sincerely and wholeheartedly, and have done what is pleasing to You.’ And Ḥizkiyahu wept profusely” (Yeshayahu 38:2-3). God heard him and commanded Yeshayahu to inform Ḥizkiyahu that He had added another fifteen years to his life. Additionally, God would save him from Assyria’s army. In fact, in the middle of the night, an angel of God struck down all of Sennacherib’s soldiers, and Jerusalem was saved…
Peninei Halakhah, Simchat Habayit U'Virkhato 5:2:6
The Sin of Leading Others Astray
HALAKHAH
Menasheh, King of Judah, not only sinned himself but also led others astray, making him a prime example of those who cause communal transgression. In his 12th-century legal code, the Mishneh Torah, Maimonides discusses the severe consequences of leading others to sin, using Menasheh as a key example.
[The category of] "those who cause the many to sin" includes those who cause them to commit a severe sin like Jeroboam, Tzadok, or Beitus; and also, those who cause them to commit a slight sin, even the nullification of a positive command.
It includes [both] those who force others to sin like Menasheh who would kill the Jews if they did not worship idols and those who entice others and lead them astray.
Mishneh Torah, Repentance 3:10
Manasseh's Dark Reign
SECOND TEMPLE
King Manasseh's extreme wickedness and departure from his father's righteous ways led to the defilement of the temple and the city, and the barbaric slaughter of the righteous and prophets. Josephus, in his first-century historical work, details the reign of Manasseh and the resulting divine anger and prophetic warnings of impending calamities.
How Manasseh Reigned After Hezekiah; And How When He Was In Captivity He Returned To God And Was Restored To His Kingdom And Left It To [His Son] Amon.
1. When king Hezekiah had survived the interval of time already mentioned, and had dwelt all that time in peace, he died, having completed fifty-four years of his life, and reigned twenty-nine. But when his son Manasseh, whose mother's name was Hephzibah, of Jerusalem, had taken the kingdom, he departed from the conduct of his father, and fell into a course of life quite contrary thereto…
The Antiquities of the Jews 10:3:1
The Wickedness of King Menashe
TANAKH
King Menashe led the people of Judah into greater evil than the nations that God had previously destroyed, as described by the book of Kings.
But they did not obey, and Manasseh led them astray to do greater evil than the nations that GOD had destroyed before the Israelites.
II Kings 21:9
Purging Idolatry in Judah
COMMENTARY
King Josiah's efforts to purge Judah and Jerusalem of idolatrous practices highlight a significant moment of religious reform in Jewish history, after the desecrations of Menashe and other wayward kings. Rashi, the renowned 11th-century Jewish commentator, provides detailed insights into these reforms, emphasizing the removal of high places and asherim.
he started to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the asherim that Manasseh had made and that Amon his son had renewed, as above (33:3): “And he rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had demolished, etc.”
Rashi on II Chronicles 34:3:2
The Legacy of Idolatry
TANAKH
Amon, the son of King Manasseh, perpetuated the idolatrous practices that his father had initiated, defying the path of repentance. The book of II Chronicles recounts the reigns of the kings of Judah, including the actions of Amon and his father Manasseh, highlighting their idolatry and its consequences.
He did what was displeasing to the LORD, as his father Manasseh had done. Amon sacrificed to all the idols that his father Manasseh had made and worshiped them.
II Chronicles 33:22

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