Manasseh (who makes forget, see ), the elder of the two sons of Joseph, born in Egypt (; ), whom Jacob adopted as his own ()—by which act each became the head of a tribe in Israel. The act of adoption was however accompanied by a clear intimation from Jacob, that the descendants of Manasseh, although the elder, would be far less numerous and powerful than those of the younger Ephraim. The result corresponded remarkably with this intimation [EPHRAIM].
Manasseh, 2
Manasseh, fourteenth king of Judah, son and successor of Hezekiah, who began to reign in B.C. 699, at the early age of twelve years, and reigned fifty-five years. It appears that the secret enemies of the vigorous reforms of Hezekiah reappeared, and managed to gain much influence at court during the youth of Manasseh; and he was prevailed upon to re-establish all the idolatries and abominations which it had taken his excellent father so much pains to subvert. This bent having been unhappily given to the mind of one old enough to listen to evil counsels, but too young to see their danger, the king followed it with all the reckless ardor of youth, and without any of the prudent reservations which older sovereigns, more discreet in evincing the same inclinations, had maintained. Idolatry in its worst forms, and all the abominations connected with its observances, were practiced without stint and without shame, not only in the face of the temple, but in its very courts, where altars to the heavenly bodies were set up, and rites of idolatrous worship performed. Under this altered state of things, the Judahites, with the sanction of the king's example, rushed into all the more odious observances of Syrian idolatry, with all the ardor which usually attends the outbreak of a restrained propensity, till they became far 'worse than the heathen, whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel.' In vain did the prophets raise their voice against these iniquities, and threaten Manasseh and his kingdom with awful tokens of Divine indignation. Instead of profiting by these warnings, the king vented his rage against those by whom they were uttered, and in this, and other ways, filled Jerusalem with innocent blood beyond any king who reigned before him (; ).
At length the wrath of God burst over the guilty king and nation. At this time there was constant war between Assyria and Egypt, and it would seem that Manasseh adhered to the policy of his father in making common cause with the latter power. This or some other cause not stated by the sacred historian, brought into Judea an Assyrian army, under the generals of Esarhaddon, which carried all before it. The miserable king attempted flight, but was discovered in a thorn-break in which he had hidden himself, was laden with chains, and sent away as a captive to Babylon, which was then subject to the Assyrians, where he was cast into prison (B.C. 677). Here, at last, Manasseh had ample opportunity and leisure for cool reflection; and the hard lessons of adversity were not lost upon him. He saw and deplored the evils of his reign, he became as a new man, he humbly besought pardon from God, and implored that he might be enabled to evince the sincerity of his contrition, by being restored to a position for undoing all that it had been the business of his life to effect. His prayer was heard. His captivity is supposed to have lasted a year, and he was then restored to his kingdom under certain obligations of tribute and allegiance to the king of Assyria, which, although not expressed in the account of this transaction, are alluded to in the history of his successors ().
On his return to Jerusalem, Manasseh exerted himself to the utmost in correcting the errors of his early reign, and in establishing the worship of Jehovah in its former purity and splendor. The good conduct of his latter reign was rewarded with such prosperity as enabled him to do much for the improvement and strengthening of his capital and kingdom. He thoroughly repaired the old walls of Jerusalem, and added a new wall on the side towards Gihon; he surrounded and fortified by a separate wall the hill or ridge on the east of Zion, which bore the name of Ophel, and he strengthened, garrisoned, and provisioned 'the fenced cities of Judah' (). He died in peace (B.C. 664), at the age of sixty-eight, after having reigned longer than any other king of Judah, and was buried in a sepulcher which he had prepared for himself in his own garden ().
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John Kitto was an English biblical scholar of Cornish descent.Born in Plymouth, John Kitto was a sickly child, son of a Cornish stonemason. The drunkenness of his father and the poverty of his family meant that much of his childhood was spent in the workhouse. He had no more than three years of erratic and interrupted education. At the age of twelve John Kitto fell on his head from a rooftop, and became totally and permanently deaf. As a young man he suffered further tragedies, disappointments and much loneliness. His height was 4 ft 8 in, and his accident left him with an impaired sense of balance. He found consolation in browsing at bookstalls and reading any books that came his way.
From these hardships he was rescued by friends who became aware of his mental abilities and encouraged him to write topical articles for local newspapers, arranging eventually for him to work as an assistant in a local library. Here he continued to educate himself.
One of his benefactors was the Exeter dentist Anthony Norris Groves, who in 1824 offered him employment as a dental assistant. Living with the Groves family, Kitto was profoundly influenced by the practical Christian faith of his employer. In 1829 he accompanied Groves on his pioneering mission to Baghdad and served as tutor to Groves's two sons. In 1833 Kitto returned to England via Constantinople, accompanied by another member of the Groves mission, Francis William Newman. Shortly afterwards he married, and in due course had several children.
A London publisher asked Kitto to write up his travel journals for a series of articles in the Penny Magazine, a publication read at that time by a million people in Britain, reprinted in America and translated into French, German and Dutch. Other writing projects followed as readers enquired about his experiences in the East amidst people living in circumstances closely resembling those of Bible times.
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