This was for all the sins committed by Baasha and his son Elah. They sinned, led Israel to sin, and made the Lord God of Israel furious because of their worthless idols.
He said, “I raised you from the dust and made you leader of my people Israel. But you have lived like Jeroboam. You have led my people to sin, and their sins make me furious.
I will make your family like the family of Jeroboam (Nebat’s son) and like the house of Baasha, son of Ahijah, because you made me furious. You led Israel to sin.”
He did what the Lord considered evil. He continued to commit the sins that Jeroboam (Nebat’s son) led Israel to commit. He never gave up committing those sins.
But they didn’t turn away from the sins that Jeroboam and his dynasty led Israel to commit. They continued to commit those sins. In addition, the pole dedicated to the goddess Asherah remained standing in Samaria.
When he tore Israel away from the family of David, the people of Israel made Jeroboam (Nebat’s son) king. Jeroboam forced Israel away from the Lord and led them to commit a serious sin.
Finally, the Lord turned away from Israel as he had said he would through all his servants, the prophets. So the people of Israel were taken from their land to Assyria as captives, and they are still there today.
In addition to his sin that he led Judah to commit in front of the Lord, Manasseh also killed a lot of innocent people from one end of Jerusalem to the other.
He also tore down the altar at Bethel—the place of worship made by Jeroboam (Nebat’s son), who had made Israel sin. He tore down both the altar and the place of worship. They burned the worship site, crushing it to powder and burning the pole dedicated to Asherah.
They have hardly been planted. They have hardly been sown. They have hardly taken root in the ground. Then he blows on them and they wither, and a windstorm sweeps them away like straw.
You have kept Omri’s laws and all the practices of the descendants of Ahab, and you have followed their advice. That is why I will ruin you. Your people will be ridiculed. You will bear the disgrace of my people.”
How horrible it will be for the world because it causes people to lose their faith. Situations that cause people to lose their faith will arise. How horrible it will be for the person who causes someone to lose his faith!
So let’s stop criticizing each other. Instead, you should decide never to do anything that would make other Christians have doubts or lose their faith.
How could one person chase a thousand or two people make ten thousand flee? Their rock used these people to defeat them and the Lord gave them no help.