Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hephzibah.
Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign. He must have been born three years after his father's recovery; and his minority, spent under the influence of guardians who were hostile to the religious principles and reforming policy of his father, may account in part for the anti-theocratic principles of his reign. The work of religious reformation which Hezekiah had zealously carried on was but partially accomplished. There was little appearance of its influence on the heart and manners of the people at large. On the contrary, the true fear of God had vanished from the mass of the people; corruption and vice increased, and were openly practiced (Isaiah 28:7, etc.) by the degenerate leaders, who, having gotten the young prince Manasseh into their power, directed his education, trained him up in their views, and seduced him into the open patronage of idolatry. Hence, when he became sovereign, he introduced the worship of idols, the restoration of high places. and the erection of altars or pillars to Baal, and the placing, in the temple of God itself, a graven image of Ashcrah, the sacred or symbolic tree, which represented "all the host of heaven." This was not idolatry, but pure star worship, of Chaldaic and Assyrian origin (Keil, in loco). The sun, as among the Persians, had chariots and horses consecrated to it (2 Kings 23:11), and incense was offered to the stars on the house-tops (2 Kings 23:12; 2 Chronicles 33:5; Jeremiah 19:13; Zephaniah 1:5), and in the temple-area, with the face turned toward the sunrise (Ezekiel 8:16),