2 Kings

Chapter 20 There are clues later in Scripture about Hezekiah and the condition of his heart.

In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill; and he prayed to the LORD, and the LORD spoke to him and gave him a sign. But Hezekiah gave no return for the benefit he received, because his heart was proud; therefore wrath came on him and on Judah and Jerusalem. However, Hezekiah humbled the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the LORD did not come on them in the days of Hezekiah. 2 Chronicles 32:24-26

21:7 Manasseh even made a carved image of Asherah and set it up in the Temple, the very place where the Lord had told David and his son Solomon: "My name will be honored forever in this Temple and in Jerusalem-the city I have chosen from among all the tribes of Israel." Manasseh sounds like an antichrist type, setting up an object of abomination in the Temple.

Don't forget from our earlier studies that the Asherah poles were tied to Ishtar and other pagan worship, from whence we get "Easter." In fact, Easter is just another name for Ishtar. If you Google "Asherah" and "Easter," you get a lot of information. Here is some brief info I found on one site:

Out of this practice came many other variations of these pagan festivals until the Roman Catholic Church adopted the Asherah worship and named it EASTER around 155 A.D. According to the CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA...

21:18 Then his son Amon became the next king. The fact that Manasseh would even name his son "Amon" after the Babylonian god is quite a testimony to his evil.

22:1-2 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. His mother was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah from Bozkath. He did what was pleasing in the Lord's sight and followed the example of his ancestor David. He did not turn away from doing what was right. Remember, "Thee Josiah?" He was prophesied by the Lord back in earlier chapters, by name. It's amazing that he came from such evil men. Perhaps his mother was godly.

"O altar, altar, thus says the LORD, `Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.' " 1 Kings 13:2

Acts

21:17-26 If I understand this correctly, it appears that Paul upheld the Torah here for the Jews. It appears that they did not necessarily expect the Gentiles to adhere to the same customs (circumcision), but we need to sort this out as we move through Acts and the rest of the NT.

Psalm

150:6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD! Do we ever stop to think about what this says?