“But they did not listen; and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the sons (descendants) of Israel.”
2 Kings 21:9 AMP
This might be one of the saddest verses – and one of the most insightful – in the story of the Kings.
The Temple of the Lord – the place where the Israelites stood before Him – became a place of pagan sacrifice and sin. The King sacrificed his own son and practiced witchcraft where once holy sacrifices were made to G-d, and the people came to listen and bow before carved gods – false images – were they once stood listening to the voice of G-d.
How did they go so far? How did they go from hearing the precious voice of G-d to allowing a child to be sacrificed and crying out to wooden and stone images?
The slope between holiness and seduction started when they stopped listening to Him.
The Hebrew word for listen in this passage is shâmaʻ –
to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention and obedience), to carefully and certainly consider, to be content and declare, to be diligent and to discern, to obey, perceive, proclaim, understand, harken, and witness.
This type of “listening” is heart listening. It’s not just hearing what is said but taking it in and meditating on it, allowing it to saturate every part of you. When we “shâmaʻ” we’re doing for our hearts and minds what my dad does with his St Augustine grass. He soaksssssssss it – sometimes overnight. The water runs low, slow, and long to allow the precious liquid to seep deep into the roots. When we shâmaʻ His voice and His presence, we’re allowing Him to seep deep into our spirit and soul and it’s the deep seeping that protects us from being seduced and led astray.
May my roots go deep. May my heart stay tender. And may it be said of me that I knew the art of “shâmaʻ.
Father – thank You for Your Word and for how You Shepard me. You are good and You keep doing good. Your leadership in my life is perfect and You can be trusted. Amen.
Daily Reading: 2 Kings 20-21
August 2, 2022