Wherefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.
Ver. 11. Wherefore the Lord brought upon them.] Manasseh, though son to good Hezekiah, and one of our Saviour's progenitors, was not spared; and shall other such sinners go unpunished? Never think it.
Of the king of Assyria.] Of the king of Babylon, saith Josephus: but herein, saith Lyra, there is no difference. Assyria was the beginning of the Babylonish monarchy.
Which took Manasseh among the thorns.] Or, Thistles, as 2 Kings 14:9. Thither he had now fled to hide himself, who erst had faced the heavens, and opposed with crest and breast whatsoever stood in the way of his sins and lusts. The prophet Isaiah he had sawn asunder, if all be true that is storied of him. Now himself was carried bound to Babylon, and there put into a brazen vessel full of holes, saith Jerome, and therein tormented by fire put about it. At other times he was fed, saith Chrysostom, a but with so much barley bread in a day, and so much water mingled with vinegar, as might keep him alive: being all the while bound with chains in the prison house, and this of itself was misery enough for a king to endure. We know the proverb, Si non sis qui fueris, non est cur velis vivere.
a Hom. i. in Matt,