King Amon was the son of Manasseh who was considered one of the wickedest kings in the history of Judah. He ruled in the 7th century BC which is where he appears on the Old Testament Timeline. Since the time, God established Israel he always wanted his people to worship and obey him. Even though each person in the Kingdom of Judah was responsible for their own belief in God; the kings who ruled them had considerable influence on how they would carry out their faith.
Manasseh reinstituted pagan worship back in the land of Judah. Manasseh’s father was the popular King Hezekiah who made sweeping reforms in the kingdom in favor of the Lord. Even though Manasseh knew how well his father governed the land of Judah for the Lord it didn’t influence him to do the right thing towards God. Throughout his reign, he conducted pagan practices that would influence his son Amon for the rest of his life.
King Amon came to the throne in 643 B.C. and he ruled the land for only two years. The Talmud states that the reason why he continued to honor pagan gods is because of his father. Amon believed that he could continue the pagan practices in his youth and when he became an old man he could then worship the Lord. Keep in mind that Manasseh repented toward the end of his life after he was taken into captivity by the Assyrians. God heard his cry for help when he was being marched back to Babylon. He released Manasseh from his captors and allowed him to make godly reforms in Judah. Amon thought he could do the same thing.
Quickly See 6000 Years of Bible and World History Together
![bible timeline](https://i0.wp.com/amazingbibletimeline.com/images/bibletimeline.small.jpg?w=980&ssl=1)
Unique Circular Format – see more in less space.
Learn facts that you can’t learn just from reading the bible
Attractive design ideal for your home, office, church …
![King Amon](https://i0.wp.com/amazingbibletimeline.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/AmonKing_of_Judah_revised.jpg?resize=300%2C298&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/assets.pinterest.com/images/pidgets/pinit_fg_en_rect_gray_20.png?w=980)
The problem with Amon is that God didn’t see Amon in the same way that he saw his father. The Lord viewed him as an evil king. Since no one knows when their life will come to an end, King Amon just assumed that he was going to live a long life. This wasn’t the case. King Amon was expected to repent and keep himself from evil like Manasseh did in the last part of his life, but the young king just didn’t learn that lesson.
The problem with his idolatrous policies was that they were undermining the people’s confidence in God. The Lord wanted the people of Judah to be set apart and used for his purposes. This meant that they could not become like the other kingdoms and empires of the world and believe in pagan deities. So when idols were allowed to be set up in the kingdom this persuaded the people to not honor God. The people of Judah carried on this behavior for many years and God eventually became tired of them. He then decided to send them into captivity. King Amon’s evil rule helped to set the stage for the Babylonian captivity that was going to come on Judah.
Some of Amon’s officials had enough sense to realize that the young king was leading the nation of Judah into some serious trouble. They decided to assassinate the king to end his reign. King Amon was twenty-two years old when he took over Judah and he died before reaching the age of twenty-five. The officials that assassinated King Amon were killed by the people of Judah and his son Josiah became the next king. King Amon was named after the Egyptian deity Amon-Ra.
References:
- 2 Kings 22: 19 Background information about Amon.
- 2 Kings 22: 20 – 22 King Amon followed the ways of his father and he did not worship God.
- 2 Kings 22: King Amon is assassinated by some of his officials and the people then killed Amon’s assassinators. His son Josiah is then made the king.
- 2 Kings 22: 25, 26 King Amon dies and is then buried in the Garden of Uzza.
- 2 Chronicles 33: 21 – 23 King Amon was evil like his father, but he never chose to repent like Manasseh.
References:
http://www.biblegateway.com/
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1420-amon-king-of-judah
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amon_of_Judah