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April 13, 2017 in Talks
Author: Archimandrite Cleopas (Ilie)
The Old Testament Jewish king Manasseh committed as many sins before God as anyone else did. For fifty-two years he forcibly forced the people to worship idols and demons, commanding the Jews to deny God. He denied God and himself, as well as his children, and his whole family. And those who did not want to worship idols and sacrifice to demons, he subjected to the most terrible tortures until they left the world.
So this king committed countless sins. But the Most Holy God, desiring to manifest the depth of His mercy and unlimited pity for men, through His providence, led Manasseh to repentance. What exactly?
Although he was very bad, this king came from a good family. His father, Hezekiah, a king who lived in the times of the prophet Isaiah, was godly (see 4 Samuel 18–20). I think it was he who asked God to turn His son who turned away from the Creator of heaven and earth. How did that happen?
Seeing Manasseh's malice and unbelief, as well as the darkness of his mind, and therefore the king not only turned away from God, but dragged the whole people into ruin, He, who knew how to bring everyone to repentance, gave him a bridle and tightened the waters, as it is said in the Psalter: "With a halter and bridle you will tighten their jaws, that they may obey you" (Psalm 31:9). For if God had forsaken him, he would never have repented alone. But God sent the captains of the army of king Assyria with a great army from Babylon, and they took Jerusalem, and Manasseh led into slavery (see 2 Par. 33:11). They bound him and threw him into a tight cage, In which he could not even stand up in full stature and raise his head, and all the time he lay motionless, curled up on a bun. His head was nailed to his legs with two copper chains.
The Babylonian king Assyria thought that he would spend a week or even less. He ordered him to be fed only twice a week with bread of bran and water. And he kept asking his servants:
Isn't Manasseh dead already?
"He is not dead, Your Majesty. He's alive, he's still moving in his cage! What a miracle!
Thus, connected with chains, King Manasseh lived not a week, not a month, not even ten months, but more than seven years. It was a terrible miracle – a man with his head and legs nailed, receiving a small amount of water and bread of bran twice a week, lives and lives. From these torments and bitter torments, the king, from whom God did not want to take away the spark of life, remained skin and bones. Imagine what his suffering was. Then he remembered God and said to himself, "God sent me this torment as a punishment for making him angry; I myself turned away from Him and forced God's people to offer sacrifices to idols!" And he thought in his heart, "If God has kept me alive until now, then He expects something from me. And what is it if not my salvation?"
Then he cried out to God from the depths of his soul, began to shed tears and pray fervently: "O Lord God of Abraham, of Isaac and Jacob, God of heaven and earth! O Lord God, if You have shown me mercy and have not suffered me to die for so many years, though I have tormented myself in these heavy chains, and have not broken the thread of my life, then apparently You are waiting for my conversion to You. I, O Lord my God, cannot bend my knees, I cannot fall to the ground before You and pray to You, for I am nailed with these heavy chains of iron and brass that have cut me into a ball – head to the feet. But I beseech thee, O LORD God, and bow down the knees of my heart: remember, O LORD, that if thou wilt have mercy on the righteous, there shall be nothing marvellous in it. You have not ordained repentance for Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their righteous descendants, but You have ordained repentance for sinners.
Therefore, O Lord God, if You have mercy on me, if You look kindly on my heart and turn me to repentance, if You forgive me with all my sins that are greater than the sand of the sea, then Your ineffable mercy and Your incomprehensible kindness will become manifest."
When he prayed with great pain from the depths of his soul and shed streams of tears amid the tortures, the Most Holy God remembered him and instilled in King Assyria to remove the chains from him and free him from the cage, from this terrible prison of his.
Because he had been chained for a very long time, when he was released, he began to toss and roll, curled up on a wheel. His bones were twisted and he could no longer stand up. Imagine how pathetic it was to see a man curled up on a bun and there was skin and bones left.
The Babylonians, the Gentiles, wept, saying:
Is there still a life in this man? Can you call this creature a man? God, whom he worships, has forgiven him for his strong repentance!
They released him and began to feed him a little, took care of him, and after a few months he got back on his feet. As soon as he arose and corrected himself, the king of Babylon said:
"His God has forgiven him for his strong repentance. He sent him back to Jerusalem.
Manasseh reigned again and turned the whole nation to worship, doing all sorts of good deeds as they could for the rest of their lives. He wrote this heartbreaking prayer, which we now read to the Great Treasury, and which bears the name "Prayer of the Jewish King Manasseh"1
Have you seen God's wisdom? Did you hear what God was doing? The Gentile King, whose sins were more numerous than the stars of heaven and the sand of the sea, He turned into a saint-king, because he repented from the depths of his soul, shed bitter tears and suffered so many years in fasting, torture and pain without losing the hope of God's mercy!
Notes:
1. In the Holy Scriptures the prayer of King Manasseh is found at the end of the Second Book of Paralipomenon. The Great Feast is served in the evening, on certain days of Lent.
Prayer of Manasseh, king of Judah,
when he was in captivity in Babylon
O LORD, O Almighty, O God of our fathers, of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and of their righteous seed, who created heaven and earth with all their prosperity, who hast bound the sea with the word of thy commandment, and hath shut up the deep, and hast sealed it with thy fearful and glorious name, which all fear and tremble at the face of thy might; For no one can stand before the splendor of Your glory, and the wrath of Your threat against sinners is intolerable. But the mercy of Your promise is immeasurable and unsearchable, for You are the Lord Most Exalted, kind, slow to anger, abundant in mercy, and sorry for man's evils. You, O Lord, have promised repentance and forgiveness to those who have sinned against You, and according to Your many mercies You have appointed repentance to sinners for salvation. Therefore, O LORD God of the righteous, you have not ordained repentance for the righteous, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, who have not sinned against you, but have ordained repentance for me, the sinner, because I have committed sins more than the sand of the sea. My iniquities are many, O LORD; my iniquities are many, and I am not worthy to look and see the height of heaven because of the multitude of my iniquities. I am hunched down by the multitude of fetters of iron, that I cannot lift up my head, and there is no rest for me: for I have provoked thee, and done evil in thy sight: I have not done thy will, and have set abominations, and multiplied the stumbling-blocks. And now I bow the knees of my heart and ask You for kindness. I have sinned, O LORD, and have sinned, and know my iniquities: but I ask, and I beseech thee: forgive me, O LORD, forgive me, and destroy me not with my iniquities; condemn me not in hell. For thou, O God, the God of repentants, and shew me all thy goodness upon thee, to save me that is unworthy according to thy great mercy; and I will praise thee all the days of my life: for thee all the powers of heaven glorify thee, and thine is the glory for ever and ever. Amen.
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