Chapter 21 in Melachim B is one of the most difficult chapters in the book: a chapter that is entirely a description of the decline of the kingdom of Yehudah in the days of Menashe son of Chizkiyahu, and after him his son Amon. The chapter opens with Menashe's ascent to the throne and describes gradually, step by step, how he adds sin upon transgression until the decree of destruction. We will proceed according to the order of the pesukim following the explanations of the Malbim, and we will incorporate the words of Chazal and the Midrashim.
בֶּן־שְׁתֵּים עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה מְנַשֶּׁה בְמׇלְכוֹ, וַחֲמִשִּׁים וְחָמֵשׁ שָׁנָה מָלַךְ בִּירוּשָׁלָ͏ִם, וְשֵׁם אִמּוֹ חֶפְצִי־בָהּ׃ - Menashe was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty five years in Yerushalayim, and his mother's name was Cheftzi-bah.
We saw in the previous chapters that Chizkiyahu did not want to take a wife, because he knew through ruach hakodesh that wicked sons were destined to come forth from him. He said: better that I not take a wife than that I father sons who will anger the Creator of the world. The prophet Yeshayahu came and rebuked him, and in the end Chizkiyahu married the daughter of Yeshayahu, and he merited to father two sons: Menashe and Ravshakeh. Their story in greater detail we will see further on.
וַיַּעַשׂ הָרַע בְּעֵינֵי יְהֹוָה, כְּתוֹעֲבֹת הַגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר הוֹרִישׁ יְהֹוָה מִפְּנֵי בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - And he did what was evil in the eyes of Hashem, like the abominations of the nations whom Hashem drove out before Bnei Yisrael.
Just as Chizkiyahu saw through ruach hakodesh, so it indeed came to be. At first Menashe did what was evil in the eyes of Hashem for himself alone, and the verse gradually describes for us how he broadened his wickedness.
וַיָּשׇׁב וַיִּבֶן אֶת־הַבָּמוֹת אֲשֶׁר אִבַּד חִזְקִיָּהוּ אָבִיו, וַיָּקֶם מִזְבְּחֹת לַבַּעַל, וַיַּעַשׂ אֲשֵׁרָה כַּאֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה אַחְאָב מֶלֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל, וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ לְכׇל־צְבָא הַשָּׁמַיִם וַיַּעֲבֹד אֹתָם׃ - And he again built the bamot that Chizkiyahu his father had destroyed, and he set up altars for the Baal, and he made an Asherah as Achav king of Yisrael had done, and he bowed down to all the host of heaven and served them.
In the first stage Menashe built the bamot. Most of the bamot were for the sake of Heaven, except that it is forbidden to offer sacrifices outside the Beit HaMikdash, and he rebuilt them anew in order to cause the multitudes to sin; and among them he also built the bamot that were for avodah zarah. In Sefer Divrei HaYamim it does not say "that Chizkiyahu had destroyed" but rather "that Chizkiyahu had smashed." The Malbim explains: "destroyed" speaks of the bamot that were built for the sake of Heaven, which Chizkiyahu destroyed because it is forbidden to offer to Hashem outside the Mikdash; "smashed" speaks of the bamot that were built for avodah zarah, which Chizkiyahu smashed. And his son Menashe came and renewed both of them: both the bamot on which they had served Hashem and those on which they had served avodah zarah.
Afterward he added to sin by building altars for the Baal and by making an Asherah. The Baal was a form of worship dedicated to the sun (the sun worshippers), and the Asherah was worship dedicated to the moon. Both of these Achav made in Yisrael, and Menashe came and renewed them in Yehudah. Note the wording: here it says "altars for the Baal" and "Asherah" in the singular, whereas in Divrei HaYamim it says "Baalim" and "Asherot" in the plural. The reason: here the verse compares him to Achav, and Achav had one Baal and one Asherah. But Menashe himself made many deities, many Baalim and many Asherot, and therefore there it is written in the plural.
It further says "and he bowed down to all the host of heaven and served them," and there are two matters here. Bowing down is not avodah zarah in itself, as we explained in our study in Nefesh HaChaim, but rather relating to the force as a means through which one turns to the Creator of the world, like one who bows down to an official of the king. But Menashe added sin upon transgression: "and he served them" - in the second stage he already served them as an independent force, as if they possessed divinity and power apart from the Creator of the world.
וּבָנָה מִזְבְּחֹת בְּבֵית יְהֹוָה, אֲשֶׁר אָמַר יְהֹוָה בִּירוּשָׁלַ͏ִם אָשִׂים אֶת־שְׁמִי׃ וַיִּבֶן מִזְבְּחוֹת לְכׇל־צְבָא הַשָּׁמָיִם, בִּשְׁתֵּי חַצְרוֹת בֵּית־יְהֹוָה׃ - And he built altars in the House of Hashem, of which Hashem had said, In Yerushalayim I will place My Name. And he built altars for all the host of the heavens, in the two courtyards of the House of Hashem.
Beyond the altar that the Torah established in the courtyard of the House of Hashem, Menashe added more altars for other offerings. This is a denial of the unity of Hashem, as if within the service of Hashem itself there are several kinds of worship and two faces and two powers. Moreover, he built altars in the two courtyards of the House of Hashem for all the host of the heavens, and here it was no longer for the sake of Hashem at all. The hint in this: inside the House is the governance of Hashem, the inner and exalted governance, and outside the House are the powers, as it were the officers through whom the Holy One, blessed be He, bestows His influence, and all the host of the heavens are the ones who receive their worship there.
And how grave is the matter: "of which Hashem had said, In Yerushalayim I will place My Name." Yerushalayim was chosen for the dwelling of the Shechinah of Hashem and for His governance, and Menashe came and appointed, as it were, helpers to the Holy One, blessed be He, stars and constellations in the courtyards of the House of Hashem. It is seven times more grave to bring in an aspect of a molten image and idolatry precisely in the place where Hashem, may He be blessed, rules.
וְהֶעֱבִיר אֶת־בְּנוֹ בָּאֵשׁ, וְעוֹנֵן וְנִחֵשׁ, וְעָשָׂה אוֹב וְיִדְּעֹנִים, הִרְבָּה לַעֲשׂוֹת הָרַע בְּעֵינֵי יְהֹוָה לְהַכְעִיס׃ - And he passed his son through the fire, and practiced soothsaying and divination, and made an ov and yidonim, he did much evil in the eyes of Hashem, to provoke Him.
Here the verse begins to describe that he did the evil like the sins of the Canaanites. First, the worship of Molech. What is it? In the valley of Ben Hinnom they would light two bonfires and beat on drums, and they would make the child run between the two fires, and usually the child would breathe out his soul. His screams were terrible, and so that they would not be heard they would beat on drums, and from this the place was called "Tofet," from the word for the drum (tof) that they beat so that the screams would not be heard.
Here it says "his son" in the singular, and in another place it says "his sons." Chazal say that he did this to provoke. It is a halachah that one who passes all his offspring to Molech is exempt, and only one who passes his son is liable. Why is he exempt, when this transgression is punishable by death? One explanation: a person who passed all his sons and did not leave himself even one showed that he had lost his sanity, and there is nothing to judge him for. Another explanation: this sin is so great that there is no death penalty that can atone for it, for stoning or burning or killing are but one punishment, and there is no punishment equal in value to the deed, and therefore the Torah does not exact payment from him here, but rather he will arrive above, where the punishments are without limit.
And Menashe was "scrupulous and stringent": he did not want to be exempt but liable. Therefore at first he passed one son, since one who passes all his sons is exempt, and afterward he passed the rest of his sons. The Malbim adds here a scholarly explanation of the difference between one who passes them himself and one who passes them by means of the priests, and we will not enter into it now. In short, he arranged the matter so that he would pass all his sons and nevertheless be liable, in order to show how much he wanted to rebel against Hashem, may He be blessed. And as for what we see later, that Amon his son reigned after him, he was born after Menashe repented, and therefore he was not among those passed to Molech; but his offspring that preceded this were passed to Molech.
"And practiced soothsaying and divination" - these are acts of divination and of determining the times of the heavens, the seasons of the time and the times of the day, to say that this time is good to do such and such, and this time is not good. "And made an ov and yidonim" - he set up people who would raise the dead through an ov, so that one could inquire through them of the dead. "He did much evil in the eyes of Hashem, to provoke Him" - and this is what distinguishes him from the other kings, that with him it was to provoke. And what is the provocation? Chazal say that he removed the supernal fire that had been upon the altar since the time of Shlomo, that fire which had descended from the heavens, which he removed from upon the altar.
וַיָּשֶׂם אֶת־פֶּסֶל הָאֲשֵׁרָה אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה בַּבַּיִת, אֲשֶׁר אָמַר יְהֹוָה אֶל־דָּוִד וְאֶל־שְׁלֹמֹה בְנוֹ: בַּבַּיִת הַזֶּה וּבִירוּשָׁלַ͏ִם אֲשֶׁר בָּחַרְתִּי מִכֹּל שִׁבְטֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אָשִׂים אֶת־שְׁמִי לְעוֹלָם׃ - And he placed the idol of the Asherah that he had made in the House, of which Hashem had said to David and to Shlomo his son: In this House and in Yerushalayim, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Yisrael, I will place My Name forever.
This is the greatest abomination that he did. If at first he still gave some honor and set up the images in the courtyard, now he brings them inside, to the point that he equated the idolatry with the service of Hashem. "For the bed is too short to stretch out" - too short for two companions to prevail over it as one, as if there are two powers in the governance: there is Hashem and there is, Heaven forbid, the Asherah.
In Divrei HaYamim it says "the graven image of the semel." What is this? The Malbim explains that he added to his wickedness and afterward made a semel: an idol of four forms corresponding to the four living creatures that bear the Throne, the four creatures of the Merkavah, one opposite the other. This is what is meant by "and you make a graven image, the form of any semel," and it mentions there the form of an animal, the form of a bird, the form of a fish and the form of a creeping thing, all of which encompass all the powers of the living creatures in creation: that which flies, that which swims in the water, that which walks on land and that which creeps upon the earth. This is what is called in Yechezkel "the semel of jealousy," which he made in order to arouse the jealousy of Hashem, His wrath and the fury of His anger. So too the Sages expound in Midrash Rabbah on the verse "a plague appears to me in the house" - this is the image that Menashe made, which corresponded to the four appearances of plagues, and where? In the house, in the House of Hashem, to provoke his Creator.
And the verse emphasizes how great his sin was: first, this is a place where Hashem set His dwelling and His holy Name to abide there forever. Second, this is a place chosen "from all the tribes of Israel," for the service offered in the Beit HaMikdash is performed on behalf of all of Israel, and this is the place that has a connection to the entire people of Israel. And in the place that is the heart of all Israel, there he brought in the semel of jealousy.
וְלֹא אֹסִיף לְהָנִיד רֶגֶל יִשְׂרָאֵל מִן־הָאֲדָמָה אֲשֶׁר נָתַתִּי לַאֲבוֹתָם, רַק אִם־יִשְׁמְרוּ לַעֲשׂוֹת כְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר צִוִּיתִים וּלְכׇל־הַתּוֹרָה אֲשֶׁר־צִוָּה אֹתָם עַבְדִּי מֹשֶׁה׃ - And I will no longer make the foot of Israel wander from the land that I gave to their fathers, only if they take care to do according to all that I commanded them and according to all the Torah that My servant Moshe commanded them.
The Holy One, blessed be He, made His promise conditional: the Beit HaMikdash will endure and "I will no longer make the foot of Israel wander from the land," meaning that Hashem will plant the people of Israel in that place, as it says "and I will plant them, and they shall dwell in their place and be disturbed no more, and the children of iniquity shall no longer afflict them." But all this is on condition that Israel does the will of Hashem. And Menashe, precisely in the place where the Holy One, blessed be He, warned, went and set up an idol and a semel against these conditions, and provoked the Master of the world.
וְלֹא שָׁמֵעוּ, וַיַּתְעֵם מְנַשֶּׁה לַעֲשׂוֹת אֶת־הָרָע מִן־הַגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר הִשְׁמִיד יְהֹוָה מִפְּנֵי בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - But they did not listen, and Menashe led them astray to do more evil than the nations that Hashem destroyed before the children of Israel.
Because they did not listen to the words of the Torah, Menashe was able to lead them astray. The Malbim says: had they listened to the words of the Torah, they would have risen up and rebelled against him. Is it conceivable that the king would do such a thing? After all, even against Rechavam son of Shlomo they rebelled, and over what did they rebel against him? Over taxes alone. And this king acts against the Master of the world, and you are the generation of Chizkiyahu, in whose days there was no boy or girl who was not expert in the laws of impurity and purity from Gevat to Antipras, and there were Torah scholars there. Why did you not rise up and rebel against him? On this the verse says "but they did not listen": that generation reached such a low point that they allowed Menashe to set up an image in the Heichal and did not protest against him. It turns out that this is the sin of the many and not the private sin of Menashe, for the Mikdash belongs to all Israel and is like the soul of the nation, and all have a share in it.
And the verse adds further: "more than the nations that Hashem destroyed before the children of Israel" - you do evil greater than the nation that the Holy One, blessed be He, expelled in order to bring you in its place. I brought you because you are better than that nation, and you become worse than it?
וַיְדַבֵּר יְהֹוָה בְּיַד־עֲבָדָיו הַנְּבִיאִים לֵאמֹר׃ - And Hashem spoke by the hand of His servants the prophets, saying.
The names of the prophets are not mentioned here. The Sages say that these are Yoel, Nachum and Chavakuk, who prophesied in the days of Menashe. And since Menashe was not a fitting king, the verse did not want to call them by his name and mention the name of a wicked man alongside holy prophets, and therefore it spoke without specifying and said "by the hand of His servants the prophets."
יַעַן אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה מְנַשֶּׁה מֶלֶךְ־יְהוּדָה הַתֹּעֵבוֹת הָאֵלֶּה, הֵרַע מִכֹּל אֲשֶׁר־עָשׂוּ הָאֱמֹרִי אֲשֶׁר לְפָנָיו, וַיַּחֲטִא גַם־אֶת־יְהוּדָה בְּגִלּוּלָיו׃ - Because Menashe king of Yehudah did these abominations, doing more evil than all that the Emori who were before him did, and he also caused Yehudah to sin with his idols.
Two things are said here: that his abominations were worse than the deeds of the Amorites, and that he also led Yehudah to sin. The Malbim compares him to Achaz: Achaz too was wicked, but he himself did not commit so great an evil. It is said of him that he sealed the Torah, meaning he closed the study halls and forbade praying and learning Torah. But Menashe carved out the mentions of God's name: wherever the name of Hashem was written he would cut it out and write in its place "the Baal" - "In the beginning the Baal created the heavens and the earth," "and the Baal said," and so in every place. And this was truly to provoke. For if you do not care about the Torah, do as Achaz did, close the synagogues and close the Torah and say we have no connection to this, and that is the end of it. But to go and take the Torah and say: we are connected to this, only that this is not Hashem but the Baal - that is to provoke.
Therefore it is written of Achaz that he was ashamed before Yeshayahu, and we do not find that he killed him; whereas Menashe killed Yeshayahu, as we will see later on. Menashe was an apostate out of spite, while Achaz was an apostate merely out of appetite. Achaz did not lead all of Israel to sin, and not everyone followed him. Chazal say "Achaz set it up in an upper chamber" - he did not have the power to set up an idol in the Sanctuary, since the people were not drawn after his idolatry and would oppose such a deed. But Menashe led Yehudah to sin with his idols, and therefore he had the power to set up the idol not in an upper chamber and not on a second floor but in the Sanctuary itself, since the entire people was drawn after him, and by this he led all of Israel to sin.
לָכֵן כֹּה־אָמַר יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל: הִנְנִי מֵבִיא רָעָה עַל־יְרוּשָׁלַ͏ִם וִיהוּדָה, אֲשֶׁר כׇּל־שֹׁמְעָהּ תִּצַּלְנָה שְׁתֵּי אׇזְנָיו׃ - Therefore thus said Hashem the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing evil upon Yerushalayim and Yehudah, that whoever hears of it, both his ears will tingle.
Anyone who hears of the evil, "both his ears will tingle" - they will tremble and shake. In our language: he will have ringing in his ears from the great fear and dread of the evil that is to come.
וְנָטִיתִי עַל־יְרוּשָׁלַ͏ִם אֵת קָו שֹׁמְרוֹן וְאֶת־מִשְׁקֹלֶת בֵּית אַחְאָב, וּמָחִיתִי אֶת־יְרוּשָׁלַ͏ִם כַּאֲשֶׁר־יִמְחֶה אֶת־הַצַּלַּחַת מָחָה וְהָפַךְ עַל־פָּנֶיהָ׃ - And I will stretch over Yerushalayim the line of Shomron and the plummet of the house of Achav, and I will wipe Yerushalayim as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it on its face.
A "line" is a kind of measuring cord, a measuring tool with which one measures the wall along its length and width. A "plummet" is a measuring tool for height, a level in which one stretches a cord with a weight to check that the wall is straight. The parable: over Shomron Hashem stretched a line of chaos, of destruction and ruin, and over the house of Achav He stretched a plummet of annihilation. And note: the plummet is held from above, whereas the line is held from below. Shomron was destroyed here below, and therefore "the line of Shomron"; but of Achav no trace remained at all, and he was destroyed also from above, for he has no share in the World to Come and has no continuity whatsoever, and therefore "the plummet of the house of Achav."
"And I will wipe Yerushalayim as one wipes a dish" - just as one cleans a dish in order to remove from it everything that has stuck to it, and afterward, so that it will not become dirty again, one turns it on its face so that nothing further will fall upon it.
וְנָטַשְׁתִּי אֵת שְׁאֵרִית נַחֲלָתִי, וּנְתַתִּים בְּיַד אֹיְבֵיהֶם, וְהָיוּ לְבַז וְלִמְשִׁסָּה לְכׇל־אֹיְבֵיהֶם׃ - And I will forsake the remnant of My inheritance, and give them into the hand of their enemies, and they will become plunder and spoil to all their enemies.
Hashem says: afterward I will forsake them from their land to another land, and there they will be delivered into the hand of their enemies for plunder and spoil. Just like those who remained among the poorest of the land and became vinedressers and farmers, and afterward went down to Egypt and there fell as ruined captives, so said the Holy One, blessed be He: I will give them into the hand of their enemies who will plunder and despoil them.
יַעַן אֲשֶׁר עָשׂוּ אֶת־הָרַע בְּעֵינַי, וַיִּהְיוּ מַכְעִסִים אֹתִי מִן־הַיּוֹם אֲשֶׁר יָצְאוּ אֲבוֹתָם מִמִּצְרַיִם וְעַד הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה׃ - Because they did what was evil in My eyes, and they have been provoking Me from the day their fathers came out of Egypt until this day.
At first glance Menashe repented, and if so there would be room to say that the sin should be atoned for. To this the verse comes and says that this is not the case. First, the people did not abandon their abominations: Menashe indeed repented, but the people remained in their wickedness. And second, says the Malbim, Menashe himself repented of one thing and did not repent of another, and this is expressed in the following verse.
וְגַם דָּם נָקִי שָׁפַךְ מְנַשֶּׁה הַרְבֵּה מְאֹד, עַד אֲשֶׁר־מִלֵּא אֶת־יְרוּשָׁלַ͏ִם פֶּה לָפֶה, לְבַד מֵחַטָּאתוֹ אֲשֶׁר הֶחֱטִיא אֶת־יְהוּדָה לַעֲשׂוֹת הָרַע בְּעֵינֵי יְהֹוָה׃ - Moreover Menashe shed very much innocent blood, until he had filled Jerusalem from end to end, besides his sin with which he caused Yehudah to sin, to do that which was evil in the eyes of Hashem.
One interpretation: that he killed Yeshayahu. Another interpretation, as the Radak explains in the name of Chazal: that he shed a great deal of blood. And another interpretation: that he would kill anyone who refused to serve idolatry, and all the prophets of Hashem, in the same way that Izevel did. And the Metzudat David explains: when the people saw that Menashe treated bloodshed lightly, they understood that the matter was not so severe, and that one could kill and murder with no law and no judge. This is what Chazal said: were it not for the fear of the government, a man would swallow his fellow alive. When there is no fear of the government, there is no one to be wary of, and anyone who had a problem with someone would settle scores with him.
And what is meant by "filled from end to end"? The intent is from one opening to another, from this opening until that opening, and Jerusalem was filled with the blood he shed in it. Says the Malbim: from here you see that Menashe indeed repented, but his repentance was between himself and Hashem regarding the idolatry he had done, which he abolished; but for having murdered and filled Jerusalem with blood from end to end he did not repent. Therefore Hashem did not turn from His fierce anger with which Menashe had provoked Him, and he had to be punished for this as well.
וְיֶתֶר דִּבְרֵי מְנַשֶּׁה וְכׇל־אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה וְחַטָּאתוֹ אֲשֶׁר חָטָא, הֲלֹא־הֵם כְּתוּבִים עַל־סֵפֶר דִּבְרֵי הַיָּמִים לְמַלְכֵי יְהוּדָה׃ וַיִּשְׁכַּב מְנַשֶּׁה עִם־אֲבֹתָיו וַיִּקָּבֵר בְּגַן־בֵּיתוֹ בְּגַן־עֻזָּא, וַיִּמְלֹךְ אָמוֹן בְּנוֹ תַּחְתָּיו׃ - And the rest of the acts of Menashe and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah? And Menashe slept with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzza, and Amon his son reigned in his place.
בֶּן־עֶשְׂרִים וּשְׁתַּיִם שָׁנָה אָמוֹן בְּמׇלְכוֹ, וּשְׁתַּיִם שָׁנִים מָלַךְ בִּירוּשָׁלָ͏ִם, וְשֵׁם אִמּוֹ מְשֻׁלֶּמֶת בַּת־חָרוּץ מִן־יׇטְבָה׃ - Amon was twenty two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Meshulemet the daughter of Charutz of Yotvah.
וַיַּעַשׂ הָרַע בְּעֵינֵי יְהֹוָה כַּאֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה מְנַשֶּׁה אָבִיו׃ וַיֵּלֶךְ בְּכׇל־הַדֶּרֶךְ אֲשֶׁר־הָלַךְ אָבִיו, וַיַּעֲבֹד אֶת־הַגִּלֻּלִים אֲשֶׁר עָבַד אָבִיו וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ לָהֶם׃ וַיַּעֲזֹב אֶת־יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵי אֲבֹתָיו, וְלֹא הָלַךְ בְּדֶרֶךְ יְהֹוָה׃ - And he did that which was evil in the eyes of Hashem, as Menashe his father had done. And he walked in all the way that his father had walked, and served the idols that his father had served, and bowed down to them. And he forsook Hashem, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of Hashem.
That is, he forsook Him entirely. For although Menashe repented, Amon remained in his wickedness and walked in the whole way that his father had walked before his repentance.
וַיִּקְשְׁרוּ עַבְדֵי־אָמוֹן עָלָיו, וַיָּמִיתוּ אֶת־הַמֶּלֶךְ בְּבֵיתוֹ׃ וַיַּךְ עַם־הָאָרֶץ אֵת כׇּל־הַקֹּשְׁרִים עַל־הַמֶּלֶךְ אָמוֹן, וַיַּמְלִיכוּ עַם־הָאָרֶץ אֶת־יֹאשִׁיָּהוּ בְנוֹ תַּחְתָּיו׃ - And the servants of Amon conspired against him and put the king to death in his house. And the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made Yoshiyahu his son king in his place.
Yoshiyahu son of Amon, son of Menashe, son of Chizkiyahu.
וְיֶתֶר דִּבְרֵי אָמוֹן אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה, הֲלֹא־הֵם כְּתוּבִים עַל־סֵפֶר דִּבְרֵי הַיָּמִים לְמַלְכֵי יְהוּדָה׃ וַיִּקְבֹּר אֹתוֹ בִּקְבֻרָתוֹ בְּגַן־עֻזָּא, וַיִּמְלֹךְ יֹאשִׁיָּהוּ בְנוֹ תַּחְתָּיו׃ - And the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Yehudah? And he buried him in his sepulcher in the garden of Uzza, and Yoshiyahu his son reigned in his place.
Chapter 21 describes Menashe's decline step by step: from the evil he did to himself, to the rebuilding of the high places that his father had removed and shattered, to the altars of the Baal and the Asherah, to altars within the House of Hashem and its courtyards, to the worship of the Molech and sorcery, until the climax: the placing of the image of the Asherah and the symbol of jealousy within the Sanctuary itself, in the very place where Hashem chose to rest His name forever. Menashe was not an apostate out of appetite like Achaz, but an apostate out of spite, who blotted out the mentions of Hashem's name and led all of Yehudah to sin, and since the people did not listen and did not protest, this became the sin of the multitude. Therefore the decree was issued: the line of Shomron and the plummet of the house of Achav upon Yerushalayim, and its wiping out like a dish that is wiped clean and turned upside down. And although Menashe repented, he repented only from the idolatry and not from the innocent blood with which he had filled Yerushalayim from end to end, and therefore Hashem did not turn back from His fierce anger. His son Amon continued in wickedness and did not repent at all, was killed in a conspiracy of his servants, and the people of the land made Yoshiyahu his son king in his place.