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.