  manasseh (; ; ; ) was a king of the kingdom of judah. he was the only son of hezekiah with hephzibah. he became king at an age of 12 and reigned for 55 years. (; ) edwin thiele has concluded that he commenced his reign as co-regent with his father hezekiah in 697/696 bc, with his sole reign beginning in 687/686 bc and continuing until his death in 643/642 bc.edwin thiele, the mysterious numbers of the hebrew kings, (1st ed.; new york: macmillan, 1951; 2d ed.; grand rapids: eerdmans, 1965; 3rd ed.; grand rapids: zondervan/kregel, 1983). isbn 0-8254-3825-x, 9780825438257, 217. william f. albright has dated his reign from 687â642 bc. manasseh was the first king of judah who would not have had a direct experience with the kingdom of israel, which had been destroyed by the assyrians in c. 720 bc and much of its population deported. he re-instituted pagan worship and reversed the religious reforms made by his father hezekiah; for which he is condemned by several religious texts. he was married to meshullemeth, daughter of haruz of jotbah, and they had a son amon, who succeeded him as king of judah upon his death. after a reign of 55 years (for 10 of which he was co-regent with his father), the longest in the history of judah, he died in c. 643 bc and was buried in the garden of uzza, the "garden of his own house" (; ), and not in the city of david, among his ancestors. the biblical account of manasseh is found in ii kings 21:1-18 and ii chronicles 32:33-33:20. he is also mentioned in jeremiah 15:4. ==relations with assyria== when manasseh's reign began, sennacherib was king of assyria, who reigned until 681 bc. manasseh is mentioned in assyrian records as a contemporary and loyal vassal of sennacherib's son and successor, esarhaddon.[http://books.google.com/books?id=0vg67yls-lac&pg=pa311&lpg=pa311&dq=assyrian+records,+manasseh,+esarhaddon&source=bl&ots=v_kphquxe3&sig=zmwqxtazvlsrcbxytvo45ka_fpq&a
7th-century_BC_biblical_rulers Filicides Kings_of_ancient_Israel Kings_of_ancient_Judah Old_Testament_Apocrypha_people