Well, Theophilus, I'm afraid I must completely and wholeheartedly disagree with your commentator.
1) Saul may not have been practicing literal kasaph for most of his reign, but what he did was every bit as bad in God's eyes. "Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft" (1 Samuel 15:23), remember?
2) Saul ended his reign practicing kasaph. He consulted the witch of Endor, remember? Almost the very last act of his life? God wouldn't answer him by Urim or by prophets, so he turned to witchcraft for his answers.
3) What about Jeroboam? He instituted the sin of the golden calf and led Isreal into idolatry (1 Kings 12), among the single greatest sins ever committed by a king of Isreal, yet God did not command the Isrealites to kill Jeroboam. Instead, he raised up a prophet to rebuke him (1 Kings 13) and later brought judgement on him and his family at the hands of the house of Baasha.
4) What about Ahab? I mentioned that in the previous post. Elijah rebuked Ahab, but he neither attempted to murder him nor did he command others to do so. He commanded that the priests of Baal should die at Mount Carmel, but he did not raise his hand against Ahab, who was present at the time (1 Kings 18).
5) What about Jehoram? He was a son of the line of David, and he brought to Judah all the detestable practices of the house of Ahab. And he murdered his own brothers. Yet again no man laid a hand on him, nor is anyone condemned for not doing so. Instead, God speaking through Elijah cursed him, and he died of a lingering painful disease (2 Chronicles 21:4-21), "to no one's regret".
6) What about Ahaz, the son of Hezekiah, who was king in the time of the prophet Isaiah? He also sacrificed his son in the fire ... what does the Bible say ...
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3 He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in [a] the fire, following the detestable ways of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites. 4 He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places, on the hilltops and under every spreading tree.
2 Kings 16:3-4.
Ahaz was king during the time of the prophet Isaiah, and in fact Isaiah speaking to Ahaz is recorded in the book of Isaiah (Isaiah 7).
There are 66 chapters in the book of Isaiah. It's one of the longest prophetic books in the OT. There is much blessing and much cursing, and many prophetic visions. But at no time does Isaiah attempt to murder Ahaz, nor does he command others to do so.
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Shall I go on?
Reading through this brief survey, it seems to me that kings who led Judah or Isreal astray through idolatry or mediums or spiritism or sorcery were the rule rather than the exception. But that still doesn't give the people of Judah or Isreal the right to kill the king. That is murder and treason, *unless* God specifically authorizes the task, as he authorized Jehu to kill Joram and the family of Ahab. It's a duty that God could appoint men to, but no man should simply take upon himself.
I distrust the doctrine that teaches otherwise -- that men have the right to kill other men simply because they see them doing evil. We are not the appointed judges of our fellow men, and God may lead them to repentence. I am worried that following too far down that road leads us to murderous fundamentalists stabbing people to death in their beds "in the name of God". It's happened before. And that is so far from the Spirit I have come to know and commune with it might as well be in another solar system.
IMO, the appropriate response to Manasseh was to refuse to bow down to his idols, and to refuse to carry out his commands to murder the innocent. To play Elijah, rebuking his madness. At the last need, relieve him of his office and confine him to quarters, the way a ship's captain might be relieved due to insanity. I understand something like that happened in the time of King Uzziah, when he came down with leprosy (2 chronicles 26:21). King in name only, he lived in quarantine while Jotham his son ruled the kingdom. Something very like that could perhaps have been done with Manasseh, except that the "disease" in this case isn't leprosy, but being Too Evil To Live.
Instead, we are told
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Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end
2 Kings 21:16.
And again in 2 Kings 24:
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3 Surely these things happened to Judah according to the LORD's command, in order to remove them from his presence because of the sins of Manasseh and all he had done, 4 including the shedding of innocent blood. For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD was not willing to forgive.
Manasseh didn't do that alone. IMO, the reason judgement fell on Judah was because Judah was with Manasseh, body and soul, and they did not repent of his deeds even in the time of Josiah (Jeremiah 3:6-10). They played along with a good king, but were quick to turn to evil when Josiah left the scene.
Manasseh may have led the nation into evil, but the nation followed him. God sent them prophets to follow, to turn away from wickedness, but they chose to follow Manasseh into sin rather than Jeremiah and those like him into righteousness. IMO, that is why judgement fell on the entire nation rather than on the man only , as happened in the time of Jehoram.
Respectfully,