In 2 Kings 2:1–7 it was about Manasseh; in 2 Kings 2:8 there was a transition to the people. In 2 Kings 2:9 that comes together, and it becomes clear that both the king and the people are guilty. The people did not listen to the Lord, and they let themselves be tempted by their king. Manasseh’s responsibility had been amply shown in the previous verses. Now, the writer places guilt on the people by saying that the people, by following their king, did more evil than the Canaanites before Israel arrived. This last sentence almost automatically raises the question: Does it make sense that the Lord drove the Canaanites out of the land? The Israelites is a population that is even more guilty than the previous inhabitants. That is very bad.
9 But they did not listen, and Manasseh led them astray to do more evil than the nations had done whom the LORD destroyed before the people of Israel.