And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house; and Amon his son reigned in his stead.
Manasseh reigned fifty-five years, and his story ends with one quiet sentence about a grave and a successor. Two questions sit behind it. What happens to a man who sinned worse than any king before him and then repented? And what happens to the son who watched it all?
The parallel account in 2 Kings places his grave in a garden, not among the royal tombs. One writer sees that detail as a shadow left by his sins.
Manasseh "was buried in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzza." His body found no place of rest among the kings, showing how the consequences of sin follow men even to the grave.
Commentators differ on how to read that burial. Another sees the same fact as a mark of honour.
Manasseh reigned 55 years. He died and was buried in his own house, so he received more respect at his death than some of the kings did. His son Amon then took the throne.
Kings and Chronicles close this reign in different ways. One writer explains the reason.
The book of Kings stops once it has noted the king's responsibility. Chronicles shows us grace acting through judgments to restore him. What a blessed thought, that the hearts of the most hardened may become the objects of grace! How many we shall find in the Lord's presence whose lives, as here, seemed broken by judgment! Beyond any doubt, repentance touched them and brought them salvation.
Most of Judah's kings started well and slid. Manasseh's record moves the other way, and that is what makes his death notice remarkable.
This is a very unusual history. Others, sadly, began well and ended badly. He began as badly as anyone ever had, and worse than any king before him; but he had a blessed end. He took away the foreign gods and idols that he had set up himself, and the altars that he had made. He repaired the altar, offered peace offerings and thank offerings, and commanded Judah to serve Jehovah.
Forgiveness did not cancel every effect. God cleared the man; the nation still carried the debt.
But he could never bring back the innocent lives he had taken, and he could never fully undo the evil of his earlier course. His sin, and Judah's sin with him, was so great that God never forgave the nation for it (2 Kings 23:26; 24:4; Jer. 15:4). Yet God did forgive Manasseh personally, through his confession and humbling before Him... He was the Old Testament "chief of sinners." He was a "pattern" at that time, a man in whom God "showed forth all long-suffering" to anyone who would turn to Him in repentance and faith.
One writer sets Manasseh beside Josiah and weighs what each life produced.
In Manasseh and Josiah we see something similar. We shall undoubtedly meet Manasseh in Heaven — a sinner saved by grace, but he wasted most of his life. We shall also meet Josiah in Heaven, but in his case a life was saved too, and it bore fruit for God for many years.
Amon inherited both halves of his father's life and chose only one of them.
His son Amon followed him in his iniquity, but not in his repentance, and he died at the hands of his own servants.
Yet Amon's murder did not end the story. God kept a record of Manasseh's prayer, and He gave him a grandson.
God valued that prayer for pardon in the prison in Babylon so highly that He had it written down. He did it to encourage other repentant sinners who would come back to Him... And God gave that wicked king who humbled himself a little grandson, Josiah, who proved to be one of the very best in Judah's long line of kings. Such is the grace of God.
- Grace comes late. Manasseh began worse than any king before him, and still ended well. Most of Judah's kings ran the other way.
- Grace forgives the person. God pardoned the man who confessed and humbled himself. But He never forgave the nation for the guilt Manasseh had loaded on Judah.
- Grace does not rewind. He could never bring back the lives he took, and a few faithful years at the end could not undo the fifty-five.
- Grace is recorded on purpose. God had his prayer written down so that other repentant sinners would know the way back is open.
- Grace must be taken personally. Amon copied his father's sin but skipped his father's repentance. Josiah, a generation later, took the whole lesson.
Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned two years in Jerusalem.
Manasseh's long reign ends, and his son takes the throne at twenty-two. Amon was old enough to have watched his father's fall into idolatry, his captivity, and his repentance. His two years in Jerusalem raise one question: what does a man do with light he did not ask for?
One writer reads those two years as a measured opportunity:
Amon was 22 years old when taking the throne of Judah, and reigned only for two years, in sharp contrast to the 55 years of his father's reign. He followed his father's example of wickedness, but with no repentance such as his father showed. He did have the advantage of knowing of his father's repentance, but this had no effect on him. The Lord evidently knew that two years was enough for Amon to repent.
Manasseh left his son two things: a record of gross idolatry and a record of humbling himself before God. Amon took one and left the other.
Both 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles say very little about the son of Manasseh who came to his throne. His father had not given him a good example… If he followed his father in sin, he did not follow him in repentance, for "he did not humble himself before the LORD," but instead "incurred guilt more and more." So it is no surprise that he came to an early end. After a reign of two years his own servants killed him in his own house. There was not one ray of light to brighten the darkness of Amon's short and evil reign.
Amon did not invent new idols. He went back to the ones his father had thrown out. One writer calls that the worse offence:
Amon's short reign of two years shows the same lack of reverence as his father's. It is even more serious, if that is possible. He saw the judgment God brought on Manasseh, and his repentance, and his turning away from his idols. He should have taken instruction from it for himself… To set up again idols that have been destroyed is even worse in God's eyes than to set up new ones. It is an insolent contempt for God. He has revealed Himself to us through His ways and His Word, so that He might make us give up what dishonours Him. To go back to such things is to act as though God did not exist and had not spoken.
His age and his mother's name point the same way. Amon grew up in the years after his father came home from Babylon a changed man.
He was probably born after his father's return from Babylon, so must have had a godly upbringing. The statement that he abandoned the LORD seems to show that in his earlier days he had professed to worship Him. His mother's name, Meshullemeth, means reconciliation, or to be safe. It may point to his birth after her husband was reconciled to the Lord, or after his safe return from captivity in Babylon. This would increase Amon's responsibility — having had such advantages — and so increase his guilt.
A good mother is no guarantee, the same writer adds:
Not all good women prove to be good mothers. It would be nothing unusual if some of these Hebrew heirs to the throne were allowed to do much as they pleased. That would prepare them to act the part of self-willed law-breakers and rebels against God when the time came for them to take the kingdom. For "a child left to himself brings shame to his mother."
Amon's evil did not just repeat his father's; it multiplied. Yet God was already at work.
A repentant Manasseh drove out the spirit of idolatry for a while. Now it has returned in sevenfold power, for "Amon sacrificed to all the images that Manasseh his father had made," and did worse and worse… At this point, an hour of almost total turning away from God, the son of Amon comes to the throne — a child eight years old. But how wonderful are the ways of God! In the middle of these detestable practices He has kept a remnant for Himself, who sigh and cry before Him. And the boy king, fed on idolatry from infancy, finds grace in His eyes.
- Light given. Amon grew up after his father's repentance. He had the warning of Manasseh's fall and the example of his recovery.
- Light increases guilt. Advantages do not excuse. They raise responsibility, and Amon had more than most.
- Light despised. Rebuilding the idols his father had destroyed treated God as though He had never spoken.
- Light measured. God judged two years enough space for repentance. Amon never used it, and the reign ended.
- Light kept burning. Even here God kept a remnant, and a boy king found grace, so the darkness was not the end of the story.
And he did evil in the sight of Jehovah, as Manasseh his father had done; and Amon sacrificed to all the graven images that Manasseh his father had made, and served them.
Amon's father Manasseh spent years in idolatry, then repented. So which half of that story did the son copy — and what did it cost him?
The verse measures Amon against his father, and the comparison is the whole tragedy. Manasseh's life ended in humbled prayer; his son picked up only what came before it.
His son Amon followed him in his iniquity, but not in his repentance, and he dies by the hand of his own servants.
So when Scripture says Amon did evil "as did Manasseh his father," it points to a particular stretch of his father's life:
But Amon did what was evil, following his father's beginning, not his end.
The images Amon sacrificed to were not new ones. Manasseh had made them, and after his repentance he had thrown them out.
Though Manasseh had thrown out of the city the idols and idolatrous altars he had made, Amon evidently brought them back, for he sacrificed to all the images that his father had made, placing himself in servitude to these abominations. He certainly must have known that his father had repented and changed his ways radically, but this had no proper effect on Amon.
That detail is what makes the sin heavier than ordinary idolatry, and one writer presses the point into a warning that reaches far past Amon:
Whatever the case may be, to raise up idols that have been destroyed is even worse in the eyes of Jehovah than to set up new ones. It is an insolent despising of God after He has revealed Himself to us through His ways and His Word so that we might forsake what dishonours Him. To return to such things is to act as though God did not exist and had not spoken.
Manasseh had been the worst king Judah had known, yet he was forgiven. The difference between the father's end and the son's is one phrase in the next verse: Amon did not humble himself.
Amon. Very little is said, either in 2 Kings or 2 Chronicles, about the son of Manasseh who came to his throne. His father had not given him a good example... If he followed his father in sin, he did not follow him in repentance, for "he did not humble himself before the LORD," but on the contrary "incurred guilt more and more." It is therefore not surprising to learn that he came to an untimely end, for after a reign of two years he died at the hands of his servants in his own house. There was not one ray of light to brighten the darkness of Amon's short and evil reign.
Amon was not raised in ignorance. His upbringing counts against him, not for him:
He was probably born after his father's return from Babylon, so he must have had a godly upbringing. The expression "he abandoned the LORD" suggests that in his earlier days he had professed to worship Him... Such advantages would increase Amon's responsibility, and so make his guilt greater.
The principle also runs the other way. A son can watch a wicked father and turn away from what he sees:
This should always be the result for someone who has had such an object lesson before him. Suppose he reads it rightly, and turns from his father's iniquity to walk in the divine statutes. Should he die for the iniquity of his father? No, he should surely live. Father and son are each judged according to their own personal character.
His own household killed him — and even that act of justice was itself lawless.
He made himself so hateful, even to a people who had already drifted from God, that they got rid of him by the hand of assassins... His subjects must have been desperate indeed, to break God's clear command — "Touch not My anointed ones."
- Inherited — He copied his father's sin and refused his father's repentance. Sin passes down. Repentance does not.
- Rebuilt — He dug up idols Manasseh had thrown out. Putting an idol back treats God as though He had never spoken.
- Refused — One word divides a forgiven Manasseh from a doomed Amon: humbled. The throne was never the problem. The stiff neck was.
- Advantaged — He grew up after his father turned back to God. Every advantage he ignored added weight to his guilt.
- Ended — Two years, not one bright spot, and death at his servants' hands in his own house.
And he did not humble himself before Jehovah, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; for he, Amon, multiplied trespass.
Amon became king after watching God humble and restore his own father, Manasseh, from idolatry. The verse judges the son by the one test his father passed — humbling himself before the Lord — and Amon's guilt only grew.
The father's life had two halves, and the son chose only one of them.
His son Amon followed him in his iniquity, but not in his repentance, and he dies by the hand of his own servants.
What he had seen made no difference to what he did. Knowledge of another person's recovery is not the same as your own.
The utter corruption of human nature is seen in the case of his son Amon. He had the awful experience of his father before him. No doubt Manasseh urged him to serve the LORD and be true to Him. Still, he deliberately followed the bad example of his father's idolatry. He trespassed more and more. He did not repent like his father Manasseh, but died in his sins. Under his reign the wickedness reached a higher mark than under any previous king.
Amon's background did not excuse him. It counted against him.
He was probably born after his father's return from Babylon, so he must have had a godly upbringing. The expression, "he forsook the Lord," would seem to show that in his earlier days he had professed to worship Him. His mother's name, Meshullemeth, means reconciliation, or, to be safe. It may point to his birth after her husband's reconciliation to the Lord, or after his safe return from captivity in Babylon. Such advantages would increase Amon's responsibility, and so make his guilt greater.
The verse does not say Amon failed to reform his policies. It says he did not humble himself before the LORD. That work is inward. You cannot put it on for other people.
Notice that the humbling of oneself is in the sight of the Lord, not of men. It is a real inward work which destroys self-esteem. Realising the presence and the greatness of God, it gives Him His true place in the heart, and gives us ours also. Then everything is real, and only then can we act for God according to truth.
Manasseh's repentance shows how far God's mercy reaches toward the guilty.
There Manasseh, in his affliction, greatly humbled himself, and prayed to the Lord his God. His prayer was heard, and he was restored to Jerusalem. Then he knew that Jehovah was God. He removed the idols, repaired the altar of the Lord, and sacrificed to Him... So God gave repentance to this wicked king, for His mercy endures for ever. People often point to him as a trophy of God's marvellous grace in Old Testament times. The New Testament gives Saul of Tarsus and the thief on the cross in the same way.
The same example reached two people in one family with opposite results.
That little grandson of Manasseh was only six years old when his grandfather died. But we may well believe that the old king's deep humbling and repentance made a deep impression on the little child. So did his energy in removing the idols he had made and in repairing the altar of the Lord (2 Chronicles 33:12-16). Under God's good hand, these things may have been the means of turning his face so boldly in the same direction. It is sad indeed to see that Manasseh's own son Amon, though only twenty-two at his father's death, was not influenced at all by his repentance, but only followed the sins of his earlier years. What a solemn and urgent message this is to our hearts, to make sure that we lead our children in the right way, even from when they are small. And let us remember, they follow where we lead.
Sin that is never judged in the heart does not stay still; it multiplies. Amon's own people finally turned against him.
There is not one bright spot in this king's character to relieve the darkness of his life's brief record... He made himself hateful even to the people who had themselves turned away from God. So they got rid of his unwelcome presence by the hand of assassins.
- Two halves. A father's life gave his son a sin to copy and a repentance to copy. Amon "followed him in his iniquity, but not in his repentance."
- Advantage. Amon had a godly upbringing. Such advantages "increase Amon's responsibility, and so make his guilt greater."
- Inward. Humbling yourself happens "in the sight of the Lord, not of men" — a real work that gives God His true place in the heart.
- Reach. The mercy Amon walked past had just taken in his own guilty father, "a trophy of God's marvellous grace."
- Result. Refused repentance does not hold steady; it multiplies. The reign with "not one bright spot" ended at the hands of Amon's own servants.
And his servants conspired against him, and slew him in his own house.
Amon's two-year reign ends with a plot inside the palace. His own servants kill him at home. Was this just politics? Or was it the hand of God reaching a man who had every chance to turn back?
Amon knew what his father had finally learned. He wanted none of it, and his reign lasted only two years.
Amon was 22 years old when taking the throne of Judah, and reigned only for two years, in sharp contrast to the 55 years of his father's reign. He followed his father's example of wickedness, but with no repentance such as his father showed. He did have the advantage of knowing of his father's repentance, but this had no effect on him. The Lord evidently knew that two years was enough for Amon to repent. But nothing is said of him to his credit. He walked in cold refusal of the ways of God, choosing idols instead, and his own servants conspired against him and killed him in his own house. How sad an end for one who had a godly grandfather!
The blow came from inside, from the men closest to him. How far must a king sink before his own court breaks a law they know — that no one may touch God's anointed king?
There is not one bright spot in this king's character to relieve the darkness of his life's brief record. The record says he "did not humble himself before the LORD, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself, but this Amon incurred guilt more and more." He made himself so hateful, even to a people who had already drifted from God, that they got rid of him by the hand of assassins. "And his servants conspired against him and put him to death in his house." His subjects must have been driven to desperate straits to break God's clear command like this: "Touch not my anointed ones."
Amon was not a man raised in ignorance.
He was probably born after his father's return from Babylon, so he must have had a godly upbringing. The words "he abandoned the LORD" seem to show that in his earlier days he had professed to worship Him... This would increase Amon's responsibility — having had such advantages — and so make his guilt greater... it would be no strange or unusual thing if some of these Hebrew heirs to the throne were allowed to do pretty much as they pleased. That is how they were prepared to act the part of self-willed law-breakers and rebels against God when the time came for them to take the kingdom. For "a child left to himself brings shame to his mother."
What Amon saw in his father was both a warning and an invitation, and he took neither.
He certainly must have known that his father had repented and changed his ways radically, but this had no proper effect on Amon, who did not at all humble himself, but sinned more and more. His evil was so great that even his own servants had no respect for him, but conspired together and killed him in his own house. How sad it is that he had learned nothing either from the folly of his father or from the repentance of his father!
The killers did not escape either.
The record gives the horrors of Manasseh's reign briefly, and his repentance and restoration after captivity too. Amon's evil follows in the same chapter, 2 Chronicles 33, but his own servants punished him — and they were punished themselves.
Amon's end follows a wider rule.
Sin naturally tends to shorten life. "Men of blood and treachery shall not live out half their days." Excesses bring their own consequences. Violence often brings human vengeance down on its own head. Besides this, God makes examples of evil men, especially those who claim to be under His government.
Amon's murder is also a hinge. The verse belongs to the gloom out of which Josiah's reign rises.
The moment when Josiah came to the throne of his fathers was one of unusual gloom and heaviness. The tide of corruption, fed by many streams, had risen to its highest point. God's patience and long-suffering had long held back the sword of judgement, but it was about to fall with terrible severity on the city of David. Hezekiah's brilliant reign was followed by a long, dreary period of fifty-five years under the rule of his son Manasseh. The rod of correction did lead this great sinner to repentance and amendment. But as soon as the sceptre fell from Manasseh's hand, his godless and unrepentant son Amon seized it.
- Given — Amon had a godly grandfather, a repentant father, and probably a godly mother. Every advantage raised his responsibility, and so his guilt.
- Refused — He copied his father's beginning, not his father's end. He did not humble himself, and sinned more and more instead.
- Measured — Two years was enough time for repentance, and nothing stands to his credit in the record.
- Reached — The judgment came from inside his own house, by his own servants. The conspirators were punished too, so God's government touched both sides.
- Followed — Judah's darkest hour is where Josiah's reign begins. Judgment held back, mercy still at work.
But the people of the land smote all them that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead.
Amon's brief reign ends in blood: his own servants murder him at home, and then the country people kill the murderers. The same verse records a rescue too — David's line holds, and the people crown a boy of eight.
Amon died violently, and so did the men who killed him. One writer sees the same hand at work in both deaths.
The people of the land had some sense of the wrong of servants killing their master, and they executed those who had done this. So in both cases God shows that He has ways of bringing judgment on the guilty.
Amon grew up with every advantage and threw it away. The plot against him was no act of virtue either — the killers broke God's own command, and only desperation explains why they dared.
He was probably born after his father Manasseh came back from Babylon, so he must have had a godly upbringing. That would increase Amon's responsibility, since he had such advantages, and so make his guilt greater. There is not one bright spot in this king's character to relieve the darkness of his life's brief record. He "did not humble himself before the LORD, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself, but this Amon incurred guilt more and more." He made himself so hateful — even to a people who had already drifted from God — that they used assassins to get rid of him. "And his servants conspired against him and put him to death in his house." His subjects must have been desperate indeed to break God's clear command like this: "Touch not My anointed ones."
The phrase points to the country people rather than the people of the capital.
"The people of the land," or country, may be in contrast to the "inhabitants of Jerusalem." The place with the most light and privilege is not always the home of righteousness and "godly sincerity." Usually it is the reverse, as it seems to be here. The country dweller is often more loyal and upright than the overbearing citizen of the capital.
By crowning Amon's son, they kept the killers from taking power and kept David's line on the throne.
Amon's servants were not able to take control of the government. The people of the land intervened and executed the servants responsible for Amon's death. This appears to be the energy of faith, for they made sure that one of the true line of David took the throne, even though he (Josiah) was only eight years old.
By every normal standard, an eight-year-old king was a disaster for a nation in this condition.
It is startling to read in 2 Chron. 34:1: "Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign." This was surely not as it should be. Every nation needs strong and sound leadership, so that evil may be suppressed and righteousness may prevail. What could a child of eight do with a turbulent people far advanced in wickedness, and dangerously near to overwhelming judgment? What follows will show that the LORD had mercy on the child, and also on the nation. Josiah shines on the page of inspiration as one of its brightest lights. His name means "Given of the LORD." This is suggestive. Such a devoted and conscientious king was a priceless gift to the people of Judah at a critical moment.
Amon followed the worst of his father, not the best. The son who came after him was nothing like him.
Amon did what was evil, following his father's beginning, not his end. ... Josiah was a king as remarkable for conscientious service to God as any man who ever reigned in Judah. How remarkable — not, sadly, that a godly king should have an ungodly son, but that an ungodly father should have a godly son. This indeed was grace.
The murder emptied the throne. It also cleared the way for a name announced long before Amon was born.
First notice that the untimely death of the wicked king Amon was an event full of blessing for Judah. The throne was suddenly left empty, and a child now filled it — a child whose name had been announced at Bethel hundreds of years earlier. It was announced by the man of God who spoke against the altar of Jeroboam (1 Kings 13:2).
- Crime. Amon's own servants killed him at home. They hated a wicked king, but they still broke God's word: "Touch not My anointed ones."
- Recompense. The killers were struck down in turn. God has ways of bringing judgment on the guilty at every level.
- Loyalty. The country people acted, not the capital. The place with the most privilege is not always the place of uprightness.
- Rescue. Crowning Josiah looks like the energy of faith. It kept David's true line on the throne instead of the assassins.
- Grace. An ungodly father had a godly son, named centuries in advance. The boy king was a priceless gift to a nation near judgment.