Daily Journey Through the Great Fast With the Early Churchনমুনা

After the United Kingdom was split into Judah and Israel, there were a total of 39 Kings between the two - 20 Kings of Judah and 19 Kings of Israel, with 8 Kings (all from Judah) that were good...everyone else was bad. There was one king that started out bad and then at the end repented - King Manasseh.

His dad, King Hezekiah, was a good king, but Manasseh, when he became king, reverted Judah back to the ways of his grandfather, King Ahaz. Don’t take my word for it that he was bad, go back and read 2 Chronicles 33, but in short: King Manasseh (which means “forgetting” or “to let go”) let go of the ways of his father and rebuilt temples to the Baals (devil), made altars for them, made idols for them, and worshipped them - worst of all he did these also in the house of the Lord, in His holy temple. He practiced soothsaying, used witchcraft and sorcery, he consulted mediums and spiritists, sacrificed his sons to the Baals and made the people of Judah and Jerusalem (the capital of Judah) to follow him in his evil ways. He was reallyreallybad.

The Lord spoke to him and the people but they wouldn’t listen, so God allowed the Assyrians to take King Manasseh and the people captive and dragged them away in chains. “Now when he (King Manasseh) was in affliction, he implored the Lord his God, andhumbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed to Him; and He received his entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LordwasGod.” [2 Chronicles 33:12-13].

Who knows if this affliction would have taken place had he listened to God when He spoke to him, however, he eventually did listen - he eventually did turn away from his evil ways and he took away the foreign gods, the idols and altars from the house of the Lord he threw them out of the city, repaired the altar of the Lord, sacrificed peace and thanks offerings and commanded the people to serve the Lord.

His prayer below, which is a book in the Orthodox canon, is one of the most sincere prayers of repentance recorded in the Bible - imagine, if God can accept back an evil man, not just a man, a king, such as Manasseh, then what about us? If God freed Manasseh, who forgot and let go of Him, from the literal and spiritual chains of sin, then God is not only able but waiting and willing to free us from sins - we need only to repent, confess and abide in Him, then He will forget and let go of our sins.

The Prayer of Manasseh

“(1) O Lord Almighty, God of our ancestors, of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and of their righteous offspring; (2) you who made heaven and earth with all their order; (3) who shackled the sea by your word of command, who confined the deep and sealed it with your terrible and glorious name; (4) at whom all things shudder, and tremble before your power, (5) for your glorious splendor cannot be borne, and the wrath of your threat to sinners is unendurable; (6) yet immeasurable and unsearchable is your promised mercy, (7) for you are the Lord Most High, of great compassion, long-suffering, and very merciful, and you relent at human suffering. O Lord, according to your great goodness you have promised repentance and forgiveness to those who have sinned against you, and in the multitude of your mercies you have appointed repentance for sinners, so that they may be saved. (8) Therefore you, O Lord, God of the righteous, have not appointed repentance for the righteous, for Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, who did not sin against you,but you have appointed repentance for me, who am a sinner. (9) For the sins I have committed are more in number than the sand of the sea; my transgressions are multiplied, O Lord, they are multiplied! I am not worthy to look up and see the height of heaven because of the multitude of my iniquities. (10) I am weighted down with many an iron fetter, so that I am rejected because of my sins, and I have no relief; for I have provoked your wrath and have done what is evil in your sight, setting up abominations and multiplying offenses. (11) And now I bend the knee of my heart, imploring you for your kindness. (12) I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned, and I acknowledge my transgressions. (13) I earnestly implore you, forgive me, O Lord, forgive me! Do not destroy me with my transgressions! Do not be angry with me forever or store up evil for me; do not condemn me to the depths of the earth. For you, O Lord, are the God of those who repent, (14) and in me you will manifest your goodness; for, unworthy as I am, you will save me according to your great mercy, (15) and I will praise you continually all the days of my life. For all the host of heaven sings your praise, and yours is the glory forever. Amen.”