In the USA, our Presidents serve four-year terms, and none can be elected more than twice. But imagine living in a land where the same person occupied the top office for fifty-five straight years. And what if this person was also the most wicked ruler in the history of that nation? Welcome to 2 Kings 21. Evil reigned in Judah for more than a half century after King Manasseh took the throne. No king in Israel or Judah reigned as long, nor did as much harm. Godly folks who lived their whole lives under the reign of Manasseh must have wondered why God allowed it, but His ways are often a mystery to us. In this case, all the good that was done by a father was quickly undone by his son. Hezekiah had been responsible for a spiritual reformation in Judah, but Manasseh reversed course and wiped out those reforms. Like King Ahab, the “antichrist” of the northern kingdom, he not only reinstituted the worship of idols, but even installed an idol in the temple itself. Like Ahab, he also stooped to the horror of child sacrifice. Manasseh worshiped the sun, moon, and stars. He gave himself over to all kinds of divination, and wickedness increased exponentially under his reign. The great tragedy though, is not simply what this king embraced, but what he abandoned. The LORD had put His name in the temple and in Jerusalem. What greater privilege than to have the LORD’s presence and promise? But Manasseh despised this infinite treasure (v 1-9). The writer doesn’t say that Manasseh was more evil than previous kings of Judah; he says Manasseh’s wickedness exceeded that of the Amorites, the pagan residents of the land that Joshua had driven out. So the judgment is not surprising. Jerusalem’s ruin will be terrifying, inevitable, and total. The LORD vows to abandon His people, giving them up to their enemies. Israel had embraced a tradition of evil throughout their history, but Manasseh’s sin had simply put Judah beyond the hope of recovery. They had reached the point of no return, a condition which can characterize an individual as well as a nation. There is a line we can cross without knowing it, and this sobering reality should surely lead us to repentance. Yes, there is a limit to God’s patience, a point after which His judgment becomes irreversible (v 10-18). 2 Chronicles 33 tells us that Manasseh did repent at the end of his life, so we marvel that he is likely in heaven today. But whatever change took place in his life, it had no impact on Amon, his son. Manasseh had already made his impression there. A healthy spiritual legacy more typically flows from lifelong faithfulness to the LORD than from a late and sudden conversion (v 19-26). For further meditation: