Amon was two and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned two years in Jerusalem.
Amon son of Manasseh succeeded his father as king of Judah, beginning to reign at twenty-two years old and reigning two years in Jerusalem, standing between Manasseh and Josiah in the succession of Judah's kings. His brief rule followed Manasseh's and preceded Josiah's, placing him among the kings whose reigns belong to that interval. The record fixes both his age at accession and the length and place of his rule as two years in Jerusalem.
His reign was wicked and foolish, for he returned to his father's former wicked course instead of following his father's later repentance. He did not humble himself before God, and that refusal marked his whole short course. His wickedness was therefore not mere youth or brevity but deliberate persistence in evil without humbling.
He was assassinated by his own servants, cut off in the midst of that unhumbled wickedness. He was followed by Josiah, one of the best and most devoted kings. Under Josiah came a great reformation, so that Amon's dark two years stand immediately before a bright revival.
His reign belongs to the rapid decline of the kingdom of Judah toward the Babylonian captivity. It is part of the account of the circumstances that led to that captivity, when the transgressions of God's people brought Babylon's victory over Jerusalem. That decline ended in the laying waste of Jerusalem and the burning of the holy house.
His fate shows that judgment visits refusal to humble oneself before God. It proves that God meets humility with mercy but meets refusal to humble with judgment, for He is as merciful as just. He wills not that any should perish, yet life comes to those who will come to Him.
Amon son of Manasseh succeeded his father as king of Judah, beginning to reign at twenty-two years old and reigning two years in Jerusalem, standing between Manasseh and Josiah in the succession of Judah's kings. His brief rule followed Manasseh's and preceded Josiah's, placing him among the kings whose reigns belong to that interval. The record fixes both his age at accession and the length and place of his rule as two years in Jerusalem.
His reign was wicked and foolish, for he returned to his father's former wicked course instead of following his father's later repentance. He did not humble himself before God, and that refusal marked his whole short course. His wickedness was therefore not mere youth or brevity but deliberate persistence in evil without humbling.
He was assassinated by his own servants, cut off in the midst of that unhumbled wickedness. He was followed by Josiah, one of the best and most devoted kings. Under Josiah came a great reformation, so that Amon's dark two years stand immediately before a bright revival.
His reign belongs to the rapid decline of the kingdom of Judah toward the Babylonian captivity. It is part of the account of the circumstances that led to that captivity, when the transgressions of God's people brought Babylon's victory over Jerusalem. That decline ended in the laying waste of Jerusalem and the burning of the holy house.
His fate shows that judgment visits refusal to humble oneself before God. It proves that God meets humility with mercy but meets refusal to humble with judgment, for He is as merciful as just. He wills not that any should perish, yet life comes to those who will come to Him.