The Repentance

One day I was reading through the Kings of Israel. I was bewildered that most of the king had done evil in the eyes of the Lord. I read on, hoping that maybe one might have been different. Then I came to Manasseh, but in the beginning he had also done evil in the eyes of the Lord. His story was a little longer and it said that near the end of his life, while he was imprisoned, he repented. I got the impression that the repentance was total, and even violent it was so strong. In this piece of sculpture he is rending his clothes. The clothes he is wearing are heavy on him. They represent the sin in his life. He is doing two things; he is breaking from sin in tearing his clothes, and arching backwards sin trying to separate himself from that sin.