And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza; and Amon his son reigned in his stead.
Manasseh reigned fifty-five years, and his story ends here with one line about a grave in a garden. The throne then passes to a son who repeats his father's worst years.
Manasseh is not laid among the kings of Judah but on his own property. One commentator sees more than geography in that:
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 this burial. Another writer sees a private grave as a mark of honour, not shame:
Manasseh reigned 55 years. When he died, they buried him in his own house. That showed him more respect at his death than some of the kings received. His son Amon then took the throne.
Manasseh's story did not end in his sin. Taken prisoner to Babylon, he humbled himself, was restored, and spent his last years tearing down the idols he had built. But the pardon he received did not erase what he had set in motion:
The innocent lives he had taken he could never restore, and he could never wholly undo the evil of his earlier course. His sin, and Judah's with him, had been so great that God never forgave the nation for it. The man himself was forgiven, though, because he confessed and humbled himself before God. It is good to see the great change in his later life. He did not forget what he owed God for His matchless grace to him, as his "thank offerings" on the restored altar show.
A pardoned man and a judged nation are not a contradiction. One writer names the two things at work:
It is as true today as it ever was that "whatever one sows, that will he also reap." So it would be a serious mistake to use the freedom of divine grace as an excuse to treat the rules of divine government lightly. The two things are completely separate, and we should never confuse them. Grace can pardon — freely, fully, for ever. But the wheels of the Lord's governmental chariot roll on, with crushing power and terrible seriousness. Grace pardoned Adam's sin. But government drove him out of Eden, to earn his living by the sweat of his brow among the thorns and thistles of a cursed earth. Grace pardoned David's sin, but the sword of government hung over his house to the end.
The grave closes over a very long reign. But length of life and worth of life turn out to be two different things:
When his 55-year reign ended, he died, and they buried him in the garden of his own house, and his son Amon became king. How sad that a long reign of 55 years produced nothing but evil. Manasseh will be in heaven, but almost all of his life's work will burn up.
The verse ends by naming the next king. Amon had two versions of his father to copy — the idolater and the man who turned back — and he copied the first:
But Amon did what was evil, following his father's beginning, not his end. His servants plotted against him and killed him in his own house, and made his son Josiah king in his place.
- Forgiven. Manasseh humbled himself, and God pardoned him. His grave is the grave of a saved man, not a lost one.
- Yet reaping. Grace pardons fully and for ever. But God's government still rolls on: the lives he took could never be given back, and Judah's judgment still stood.
- Buried apart. They did not lay him with the kings, but in his own garden. Commentators differ over whether that marks shame or honour.
- Nearly empty-handed. Fifty-five years on the throne produced almost nothing that will survive the fire. A long life is not the same as a full one.
- Copied at the worst point. Amon copied his father's beginning, not his end. A late turn to God saves the man, but it may not save those watching him.
Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned two years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Meshullemeth, daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.
This verse gives only numbers and a name: Amon's age, the length of his reign, and his mother's family. Behind those few details lies a hard question — why did a son who watched his father's ruin and recovery learn nothing from either?
Amon took the throne straight after a father whose long reign had ended in repentance.
After the brilliant reign of Hezekiah came a long, dreary period of fifty-five years under his son Manasseh. God's rod of correction did work: it led this great sinner to repentance and to a changed life. But the moment the sceptre fell from Manasseh's hand, his godless and unrepentant son Amon seized it.
The verse names Amon's mother, and one writer reads that name as a clue to when Amon was born — and to how much he had been given.
He was probably born after his father's return from Babylon, so he must have had a godly upbringing. The phrase "he forsook 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 being born after her husband was reconciled to the Lord, or after his safe return from captivity in Babylon. Her father's name, Haruz (earnest), of Jotbah (pleasantness), suggests that Amon's mother, like his grandmother, must have been a good woman. Such advantages would increase Amon's responsibility, and so make his guilt greater.
Commentators differ about her. Another writer takes her hometown as placing her outside Israel:
His mother was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. She must have been an Edomite, if Jotbah is the same place as the Jotbathah of Israel's journeys. As we have often said, there is a reason our book quietly notes where the mothers of the kings came from, all the way through.
Amon had something Manasseh never had — the sight of a father broken and restored. It changed nothing.
The utter corruption of human nature is seen in the case of his son Amon. With the awful experience of his father in front of him, and no doubt urged by Manasseh to serve the LORD and be true to Him, he deliberately followed the bad example of his father's idolatry. He sinned more and more and did not repent as his father Manasseh did, but died in his sins. Under his reign the wickedness reached a higher mark than under any previous king.
Manasseh had cleared the idols out. Amon fetched them back — and that particular act is singled out as the deepest offence.
Whatever the case may be, to raise up again idols that have been destroyed is even worse in Jehovah's eyes than to set up new ones. It shows insolent contempt for God. He has revealed Himself to us through His ways and His Word, so that we would give up what dishonours Him. To go back to such things is to act as though God did not exist and had not spoken. This is also what makes Christendom so guilty.
Two years is a short reign. One writer sees God's own measuring in that number.
Amon was 22 years old when he took the throne of Judah. He reigned only two years, in sharp contrast to the 55 years of his father's reign. He followed his father's example of wickedness, but he never repented as his father did. He did know about his father's repentance, and that was an advantage, but it had no effect on him. The Lord clearly knew that two years was enough time for Amon to repent.
One writer sums up the whole reign, and finds even the people had had enough of him.
There is not one bright spot in this king's character to relieve the darkness of his short record. It says he "did not humble himself before the Lord, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but Amon sinned more and more." He made himself so hateful, even to a people who had already turned away from God, that they rid themselves of him by the hand of assassins. His subjects must have been driven to desperate straits to break God's clear command in this way — "Touch not Mine anointed."
Amon's two years fall inside a longer story, and one writer traces where that story was already heading.
God had already announced the judgment on Judah because of Manasseh's terrible sins. Josiah's godliness could not change God's just judgment. Judah still had some quiet years left. But their repentance under Josiah was only outward, and evil took the upper hand again as soon as Josiah died. Amon did nothing but follow the evil ways of his father Manasseh.
- Advantage — Amon was probably born after his father came home from Babylon, so he grew up with godly teaching. That kind of privilege never excuses sin; it makes the guilt greater.
- Imitation — he copied his father's wickedness, but not his father's repentance, and went back to idols that had already been thrown down.
- Insolence — putting back idols that were already destroyed treats God as though He had never spoken. The same charge falls on Christendom.
- Allowance — two years was time enough to repent. The short reign marks out space God gave, not a chance He withheld.
- Outcome — not one bright spot, death at the hands of assassins, and a judgment on Judah that even Josiah's godliness could only delay.
And he did evil in the sight of Jehovah, as Manasseh his father had done;
Manasseh reigned fifty-five years and ended in real repentance, yet his son copied only the first half of that story. This verse measures Amon by his father's sin, not by his father's return to God — so why does watching a man repent leave some hearts unmoved?
Amon knew how his father's idolatry had ended, and he still chose it. One writer weighs how short his trial was:
He followed his father's wicked example, but he never repented as his father did. He did have the advantage of knowing about 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 a cold refusal of the ways of God, choosing idols instead… How sad an end for a man who had a godly grandfather!
Manasseh had cleared the idols away after God humbled him. Amon put them back — and that particular act carries its own weight:
To raise up idols that have been destroyed is even worse in God's eyes than to set up new ones. It shows insolent contempt for God. He has revealed Himself through His ways and His Word so that we would give up what dishonours Him. To return to such things is to act as though God did not exist and had not spoken. This is also what makes the Christian world so guilty today. God had separated it from idolatry and its immoral principles, and it has gone back to those principles.
Verse 22 says Amon abandoned the LORD; older translations read "he forsook the LORD." You can only leave what you once claimed. So the word points back to how he was raised:
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. He had such advantages, so his responsibility was greater — and his guilt greater with it.
A father's sin should warn the son who watches it. This son took it as license instead:
But there is a son in the family who will not take his father's wickedness as a warning. Instead he uses it as license to indulge in the same sin. The blow comes on him, not on the wretched parent. The son is doubly guilty, because he saw his father's shame and felt it enough to cover. But he ought to have stood against it. I do not mean in vengeance, for that belongs to the Lord. He should have hated the sin itself, while still feeling the deepest compassion for his parent.
Two years produced nothing worth recording, and even a drifting nation had had enough:
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 already drifted from God. They rid themselves 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 desperate. Only that explains breaking God's clear command — "Touch not My anointed."
Amon's own son broke the pattern. The next king proves that a family line of evil can end, and end early:
But after him comes a truly godly prince — Josiah — younger, too, than either. He was not too young to serve the Lord.
- Followed halfway. Amon copied his father's idolatry but not his father's repentance. The one part of his father's life worth copying was the part he skipped.
- Followed backwards. He restored idols his father had thrown out. God counts putting back what He made a man remove as worse than inventing new idols.
- Followed knowingly. Leaving the LORD points back to an earlier profession and a godly upbringing. Amon ignored those advantages, and that raised both his responsibility and his guilt.
- Followed to judgment. A son who takes his father's sin as license is doubly guilty. Two years gave Amon time to repent. Instead he died in his own house at his servants' hands.
- Followed by grace. Josiah follows at once after the darkest record in the book. No family line has to stay dark, and no one is too young to serve the Lord.
and he walked in all the way that his father had walked in, and served the idols that his father had served, and worshipped them;
Amon became king of Judah with every reason to know better. His father, Manasseh, had spent years worshipping idols, then came back from Babylon a changed man and pulled down the idols he had made. This verse tells us which example Amon followed.
Amon had more than one family example in front of him. One writer notes which one he took:
After Manasseh, Amon reigned; and Amon follows in the steps of his wicked father, not of his pious grandfather.
The sharpest point in Amon's record is what he left out. His father's story had two halves, and Amon imitated only the first:
His son Amon shows the utter corruption of human nature. He had watched the terrible experience his father went through. Manasseh had no doubt urged him to serve the LORD and be true to Him. Even so, he chose to follow his father's bad example of idolatry. He sinned more and more and 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 was a grown man when his father died. Another writer draws a lesson for parents from that:
It is sad indeed to see that Manasseh's own son Amon was only twenty-two when his father died. Even so, his father's repentance had no influence on him at all. He only followed the sins of Manasseh's earlier years: he "did not humble himself before the LORD, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself, but this Amon incurred guilt more and more." What a solemn and urgent message this is to our hearts! We must make sure we lead our children in the right way, even from their infancy. And let us remember, they follow where we lead.
Manasseh had cleared his idols away. So serving "the idols that his father served" meant bringing back what had already been thrown down:
Whatever the case may be, to raise up idols that have been destroyed is even worse in the eyes of the LORD than to set up new ones. It shows 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 return to such things is to act as though God did not exist and had not spoken.
Amon's record says he abandoned the LORD. One commentator looks at the home he grew up in:
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. His mother's name, Meshullemeth, means reconciliation, or being kept safe. It may point to his birth coming after her husband was reconciled 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.
One writer puts the principle as a question:
But suppose the son treats it lightly, and uses it as an encouragement to walk in the same path. Is it not just that a still heavier punishment should fall on that son? He had the conscience that all people share. On top of that, he had a special witness in his own family. A child's heart should have felt that witness and thought about it deeply, so as never to repeat its evil.
The record of Amon's reign ends quickly:
Amon's short reign of two years is marked by the same ungodliness as his father's... Amon "abandoned the LORD, the God of his fathers"; that is his sentence. For him there was no place left for repentance. He died a violent death, just like the last kings of Israel.
- Walked — Two family paths lay before Amon: his wicked father's and his godly grandfather's. He chose his father's.
- Served — He copied Manasseh's idolatry but not Manasseh's repentance. He sinned more and more and died in his sins.
- Restored — Bringing back idols his father had thrown down treated God as though He had never spoken. Commentators call that worse than setting up new ones.
- Abandoned — The word assumes he once professed to worship God. A godly upbringing raised his responsibility; it did not lower it.
- Ended — A son who watches his father's punishment and pardon, then copies the sin, is guilty twice over. Amon's two years closed with no repentance and a violent death.
and he forsook Jehovah the God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of Jehovah.
One sentence of judgment sums up Amon's reign: he left the God his fathers had known, and he would not walk in His way. That raises the sharpest question in the story of Judah's kings. How does a man raised under a repentant father and a godly grandfather end up worse than the generation before him?
Amon had two family patterns in front of him, and he picked the wrong one.
Manasseh not only did evil, but "led them astray to do more evil than the nations whom the LORD destroyed." How was it possible then for Judah to remain in the land of the LORD? It became a moral impossibility. After Manasseh, Amon reigned; and Amon follows in the steps of his wicked father, not of his pious grandfather.
Older translations use the word "forsook" here instead of "abandoned." You cannot forsake what you never held.
He was probably born after his father's return from Babylon, so he must have had a godly upbringing. The words "he forsook the Lord" 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 turned back to the Lord, or after his safe return from captivity in Babylon. He had such advantages, and that increased his responsibility. So it made his guilt greater.
Amon had watched what happened to his father. Putting a torn-down idol back up is not the same as inventing a new one.
Amon's short reign of two years is marked by the same ungodliness as his father's — even more serious, if that is possible. He had seen the judgment that fell on Manasseh, and had seen his repentance and his giving up of his idols. He should have taken the lesson for himself... To set up again idols that have been torn down is even worse in the eyes of the LORD than to set up new ones. It is an insolent despising of God. He has revealed Himself to us through His ways and His Word, so that He might make us forsake what dishonours Him. To return to such things is to act as though God did not exist and had not spoken... Amon "forsook the LORD, the God of his fathers"; such is his sentence. For him there was no place left for repentance. He died a violent death just like the last kings of Israel.
Manasseh humbled himself before God in the end. His son never did.
After his father's death Amon ruled as king and followed all the wickedness of his father Manasseh. The record of this lost soul is terrible. "He did not humble himself before the LORD, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself, but this Amon incurred guilt more and more" (2 Chronicles 33:23). He was murdered by his servants.
A godly family line saved Amon from nothing. People still lean on such things today.
There are those who boast of a godly ancestry. Others boast of links with religious bodies of good reputation and long standing, or with Christians whose teaching is scriptural. But none of these things will put us right or keep us right. There must be living, saving faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and constant, personal devotion to Him.
Amon's two years were short, but their direction outlasted him. Even Josiah's later reform could not reverse the sentence already passed.
God had already announced this judgment because of Manasseh's dreadful sins, and Josiah's piety could not change His just judgment. Judah still had a stretch of quiet. But their repentance under Josiah was only outward, and evil took the upper hand again as soon as he died. Amon only followed the evil ways of his father Manasseh.
- Forsaking — The word itself accuses him: you can only abandon what you once held. Amon once professed to worship Him, then walked away.
- Advantage — A father's repentance and a godly upbringing raised his responsibility, and so deepened his guilt.
- Rebuilding — Putting torn-down idols back up is worse than inventing new ones. It treats God as though He had never spoken.
- Hardening — Sinning against known light left him no place for repentance. He incurred guilt more and more, and died a violent death.
- Personal — Inherited religion keeps no one right. Only living faith in Christ and personal devotion to Him will.
And the servants of Amon conspired against him, and slew the king in his own house.
Amon's two-year reign ends with murder inside the palace. The killers were his own servants. How did a king of David's line come to be so hated by the men closest to him?
Amon began with every advantage a son could have, and wasted all of it.
Amon was 22 years old when he took the throne of Judah. He reigned only two years. His father had reigned 55 years. He followed his father's example of wickedness, but he never repented as his father did (vv.20-21). He did have the advantage of knowing of his father's repentance, but this had no effect on him. The Lord clearly knew that two years was enough time for Amon to repent. But the record says nothing good about him. He coldly refused the ways of God and chose idols instead, and his own servants conspired against him and killed him in his own house (vv.22-23). How sad an end for one who had a godly grandfather!
Manasseh had ended his life a changed man, clearing out the idols he himself had set up. Amon's first act was to undo that.
Manasseh had thrown the idols and idol altars he had made out of the city. Amon clearly brought them back. He sacrificed to all the images his father had made, making himself a slave to these detestable things. He must have known that his father had repented and completely changed his ways. Yet this had no proper effect on Amon. He did not humble himself at all, but sinned more and more… How sad that he learned nothing from his father's folly, and nothing from his father's repentance!
The killers were not foreign invaders. They were the men who served him daily — and the nation they served was already far from God.
There is not one bright spot in this king's character to lighten the darkness of his short record… He made himself so hateful, even to a people who had already turned away from God, that they got rid of him by the hand of assassins. "And the servants of Amon conspired against him and put the king to death in his house." His subjects must have been desperate to break God's clear command — "Do not touch My anointed." Jeremiah and Zephaniah must have been young men around this time. It is easy to see why Jeremiah held back from the prophet's work God called him to, once you know the true state of Judah then.
Note the double wrong. Amon deserved nothing better. Yet killing the king still broke God's own command.
One rule runs through these deaths, whether a reign lasts fifty years or two.
Yet, whether the time is short or long, those who sow the wind will reap the whirlwind. This history of the kings declares that God is not mocked. Whatever one sows he will also reap (Gal. 6:7).
God judged Amon through his servants. Then He judged the servants through the people.
However, the people of the land still had some sense that it was wrong for servants to kill their master. They executed the men who had done it. So in both cases God shows that He has ways of bringing judgment on the guilty. Then the people made Josiah, Amon's son, king over Judah.
The people's action did more than restore order. The killers wanted the government, and they did not get it:
However, Amon's servants were not able to take control of the government… This looks like faith at work, because the people made sure that someone from the true line of David took the throne (v.24), even though Josiah was only eight years old.
Josiah would grow up to bring reform. But God had already decided Judah's future.
God had already announced this judgment because of Manasseh's terrible sins, and Josiah's godliness could not change God's just verdict. Judah still had a stretch of peace ahead. But their repentance under Josiah was only outward, and evil took control again as soon as Josiah died. Amon did nothing but follow the evil ways of his father Manasseh.
- Sown. Amon copied his father's sin and skipped his father's repentance. Two years was enough time to turn back.
- Reaped. The history of the kings declares that God is not mocked. Short reign or long, a man reaps what he sows.
- Sown again. The servants broke God's command not to touch His anointed. So they sowed their own destruction.
- Reaped again. The people executed them. God has ways of judging the guilty on both sides.
- Spared. The throne stayed with David's line. Eight-year-old Josiah took it.
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 own servants had just murdered him, and this verse tells what happened next. Two questions sit inside it: who were these "people of the land," and why does God's word note that a boy of eight inherited the crown of David?
Commentators read the phrase as the country people, in contrast to the citizens of Jerusalem.
"The people of the land," or country, may stand in contrast to the "inhabitants of Jerusalem." The centre of light and privilege is not always the seat of righteousness and "godly sincerity." Often it is the opposite, and that appears to be the case here. The country person is often more loyal and upright than the overbearing citizen of the capital.
Amon was a wicked king, but killing him was still a crime.
However, 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.
The conspirators killed a king, but they could not take the kingdom. Commentators see faith in the choice they made next.
However, Amon's servants were not able to take control of the government. The people of the land intervened. This appears to be the energy of faith, for they made sure that one of the true line of David took the throne (v.24), even though he (Josiah) was only eight years old.
The boy crowned here had been named long before his birth.
More than three hundred years earlier, a man of God from Judah had cried out by the word of the Lord against the altar at Bethel. He declared that a child would be born to the house of David, Josiah by name. That child would do the very things Josiah did when he broke that altar down, and that word has been brought to pass.
A boy of eight on the throne was no sign of a healthy nation. Yet his weakness opened the way for God to act.
"Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign." (2 Chr. 34:1) This tells a tale as to the condition and ways of God's people. Josiah's father was murdered by his own servants after a short and evil reign of two years, when he was twenty-four. Such things ought not to have been. They were the sad fruit of sin and folly — the humbling proofs of Judah's departure from Jehovah. But God was above all. We would never have expected to find a child of eight on the throne of David. Yet that child could find his sure resource in the God of his fathers. So in this case, as in all others, "where sin increased, grace abounded all the more." Josiah's youth and inexperience only gave God an occasion to display His grace, and to show the value and the power of the Word of God.
Judah was deep in idol worship when this boy came to the throne. God had not left Himself without faithful people.
At this point, in an hour of almost complete turning away from God, the son of Amon comes to the throne — a child of eight. But how wonderful are the ways of God! While all this evil was going on, He has kept a remnant for Himself. Like Simeon and Anna of later days, they sigh and cry before Him. And the boy king, fed from infancy on idol worship, finds grace in His eyes.
What could a boy of eight do for a nation in that condition? His name hints at the answer.
What could a child of eight do with a turbulent people far gone in sin, and dangerously near to overwhelming judgment? What follows will show that Jehovah had mercy on the child, and on the nation too. Josiah shines on the page of inspiration as one of its brightest lights. His name means "Given of Jehovah." This is suggestive. Such a devout and conscientious king was a priceless gift to the people of Judah at a critical moment. Through him Jehovah made a last tender appeal to His erring people before expelling them from the land.
- Sin increased — a king murdered in his own house, and a child left on the throne: the plain fruit of Judah's turning away from God.
- Grace abounded all the more — the weakness that should have ruined the kingdom gave God His occasion to display grace and the power of His Word.
- Grace found the country — the faithful act came from "the people of the land," not the capital. The place of greatest privilege is often not the place of greatest uprightness.
- Grace judged the guilty — the people executed the conspirators. God has ways of bringing judgment on both a wicked king and his killers.
- Grace kept the promise — David's line held in a boy of eight, named in prophecy long before his birth. Through him God made one last tender appeal before the exile.
And the rest of the acts of Amon, what he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
Amon's two years as king end the way Kings ends every reign: with a pointer to another record. So what was in that other book? And why did God keep so little of Amon's story?
One writer explains what those chronicles were, and why losing them costs the reader nothing:
These books often point to the chronicles of the kings of Israel or to those of the kings of Judah. Writers drew these chronicles up during the reign of every ruler of those times, whether Jewish or Gentile. They have nothing to do with the Word of God. What the Lord has not been pleased to record or explain is recorded there. These chronicles are lost; maybe someone will one day find fragments of them. The believer needs none of them; he has God's Word. In God's account he finds everything he needs, and God's own evaluation of people, events, and things.
Kings asks the same question of other kings too. One writer answers it with a yes — and then points to a second set of books:
Yes, and they, with the wicked acts recorded here, are written in God's books above; not "of the chronicles of the kings of Israel" merely, but of the deeds and doings of every man's life, whether it be good or evil. Solemn facts for us all!
So what did God keep about Amon? Not one good thing:
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," it says, "as Manasseh his father had humbled himself," but Amon incurred guilt more and more. He made himself so hateful, even to a people who had already turned away from God, that they got rid of him by assassination.
The same writer says the short record is exactly right:
The record of Amon's reign is told very briefly — in only sixteen verses. And well it should be so. There is enough for our warning, after the lessons given in his father's history.
Amon did not lack opportunity. He knew his father Manasseh had turned back to God, and it changed nothing in him:
Amon was 22 years old when he took the throne of Judah, and he reigned only two years. His father had reigned 55. He followed his father's example of wickedness, but he did not repent as his father did. He had the advantage of knowing about his father's repentance, but it had no effect on him. The Lord clearly knew that two years was long enough for Amon to repent. But the record says nothing to his credit.
His upbringing made the guilt heavier still:
He was probably born after his father's return from Babylon, so he must have had a godly upbringing. The words "he forsook the LORD" seem to show that in his earlier days he professed to worship Him... Such advantages would increase Amon's responsibility, and so increase his guilt.
Amon's last verse is one step in a longer slide. His son Josiah brought a real reform, but it only delayed the end:
The revival of that day no doubt raised high hopes. But it is followed by the terrible wickedness of Manasseh (2 Kings 21), and his imitating son, Amon. The godly fear of Josiah (2 Kings 22, 23) only briefly held back the ruin that was coming... Out of Egypt Israel was called; into Babylon Judah must go.
- Record. The chronicles named here were court archives, now lost. God's Word keeps all the reader needs, including God's own verdict on the man.
- Reach. Every life is written down in God's books above, good or bad — not kings only.
- Rejection. Amon watched his father repent and refused to. Two years was chance enough.
- Result. Not one bright spot survives in his record. Its shortness is the verdict.
- Ruin. Josiah's reform slowed the judgment on Judah but could not cancel it. Babylon still lay ahead.