So what caused the national exile according to 2 Chronicles if not Manasseh’s sins? The people were at fault. They followed the repentant Manasseh in restricting their worship to Yahweh alone, yet they continued to worship Yahweh by sacrificing at the high places, altars erected here and there, rather than in the Temple alone. This author couldn’t ignore the exile, but he did give it a different cause. The people were to blame, not Manasseh.
