Wednesday Bible Study: A whole different story

The reign of Manasseh is described in the Book of Kings (2 21), and it starts off the same way, with him taking the throne at age 12 and doing all the abominations, but it ends completely differently. In Kings, God just threatens to do bad shit to Judah, specifically:12 Thereforethus saith the LORD God of Israel,Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah,that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle. God said to his prophets, Because Manasseh has been so wicked, even more wicked than the Amorites,and has made Judah sin with his idols,I will bring so much evil on Jerusalem and Judah that it will make people ' s ears tingle. [2]13 And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: andI will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down.14 And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies; However, he doesn ' t actually get around to doing it, and Manasseh dies of natural causes, apparently unmolested.  The whole story we get here, about him being carried off to Babylon, and repenting, and coming back to set everything right, is completely absent from Kings. It seems improbable -- why kidnap him instead of just killing him, and why return him just because he repents before the Hebrew God? I suspect this is an interpolation into the history intended to foreshadow...
Source: Stayin' Alive - Category: American Health Source Type: blogs