I. It deserves to be noticed that the fall of Manasseh was an exception to the general law respecting the history of children of a godly parentage. It is a fact which children in Christian households should ponder seriously that if they do break loose from the restraints of their religious training, they become exceptionalcases of sin against exceptional privilege.
II. This is confirmed by the fact, which the early manhood of Manasseh also illustrates, that when the children of the good become vicious, they do become worse than the average of wicked men. Manasseh fell back to the disgraceful level of his grandfather Ahaz.
III. The fall of Manasseh proves that the virus of an evil parentage when arrested in one generation may pass over and reappear in the generation following.
IV. The fall of Manasseh illustrates the power of high station and worldly prosperity to counteract the influence of a religious education.
V. The misfortunes which followed the apostasy of Manasseh illustrate the faithfulness of God to His covenant with godly parents.
VI. The salvation of the penitent prince should be both an encouragement and a warning to those sons of Christian parents who have lost the paths of virtue.
A. Phelps, The Old Testament a Living Book,p. 124.
References: 2 Chronicles 33:11. E. H. Plumptre, Expositor,2nd series, vol. iv., pp. 450,452. 2 Chronicles 33:13. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. ii., No. 105.