Amon

Biblical Account

Amon appears in 2 Kings 21:18-26 and 2 Chronicles 33:20-25. After the death of his father, Manasseh, he became king at the age of twenty-two and reigned in Jerusalem for two years. Second Kings 21:19 records that his mother was "Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah."

Both books state that Amon did evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh had done, and that he served the idols his father had served. Second Chronicles 33:23 adds that he "humbled not himself before the LORD, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but Amon trespassed more and more." Eventually his servants conspired against him and killed him in his palace. The people of the land then put the conspirators to death and made Amon's son Josiah king: "the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead" (2 Kings 21:23-24). According to 2 Kings 21:26, Amon was buried "in his sepulchre in the garden of Uzza."

Significance in Scripture

Amon's brief reign falls between the long reign of Manasseh and the reforms of Josiah. He is therefore read as a figure marking the transition from continued idolatry to reform. Jeremiah 1:2 and Zephaniah 1:1 introduce Josiah as "the son of Amon."

In the New Testament, Amon appears once, in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1:10: "And Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias." In some Greek manuscripts, the name in this verse appears in a form corresponding to "Amos." The New Korean Revised Version renders it "Amon."

Interpretation and Debates

• Repentance: Second Chronicles records that Manasseh humbled himself late in life (2 Chronicles 33:12-13) and contrasts him with Amon, who did not. Many interpreters see this contrast as reflecting the Chronicler's theology of repentance. Second Kings contains no account of Manasseh's repentance.
• Motive for the assassination: The text does not explain why Amon's servants conspired against him. Some scholars conjecture that the cause was a power struggle at court over relations with Assyria and Egypt, but this is an inference drawn from outside the text.
• Others with the same name: Scripture mentions other men named Amon: Amon the governor of the city in the time of Ahab (1 Kings 22:26), and an Amon among the descendants of Solomon's servants (Nehemiah 7:59). In addition, the "Amon" in "No-Amon" (Nahum 3:8) is the name of a god of Egypt. The name is also distinct from that of the people of Ammon.

In the Korean Church

Sermons devoted solely to Amon are rare. He is usually mentioned briefly as a contrasting figure in sermons on Josiah's reforms or Manasseh's repentance. His name also comes up when Korean Christians read through the accounts of the kings in Kings and Chronicles in sequence as part of systematic Bible reading programs, or when they study the genealogy in Matthew.