Monday, May 29, 2023

The Kings Of Israel And Judah. Day 113, Amon King Of Judah

Today we will study the short reign of Amon, son of King Manasseh of Judah.

We learned in our last two study sessions that Manasseh repented of his idolatry after the Lord allowed him to be taken prisoner to Babylon by the commanders of the king of Assyria. Manasseh humbled himself greatly and called upon the Lord in his distress. The Lord answered him, returning him to Jerusalem, and thereafter Manasseh began carrying out religious reforms by removing all the idols and pagan altars he had erected throughout the land. But his conversion was too late to help turn the heart of his son, Amon, toward the Lord.

The Bible does not tell us in which reignal year Manasseh repented of his sins but the majority of scholars appear to think this occurred somewhere within his last ten to twelve years as king. This means he was an ungodly influence on Amon for about half of Amon's life, for we find Amon ascending to the throne at the age of twenty-two.

"Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem two years. His mother's name was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz; she was from Jotbah." (2 Kings 21:19) Although I do believe Manasseh's conversion was genuine, I also don't think his son was impressed by it. I'm reminded of one of my childhood friends and the complicated relationship she had with her father. Her father was an angry alcoholic who controlled everything and everyone in his household until my friend and I were around twelve years old. He suddenly had a religious conversion, stopped drinking, and began studying to be a preacher. My friend was not impressed by or influenced by his newfound love for the Lord. One reason for that is her father was just as controlling as he ever was, only now with a religious fervor instead of with fumes of alcohol pouring off of him. It may be that although Manasseh's repentance was sincere, he was just as stern and controlling. Before his conversion he no doubt commanded everyone's allegiance to his many pagan gods, even going so far as to set up an idolatrous image in the temple, and he likely forced his own family to be the most zealous of all in these worship activities in order to set the example he wanted the citizens to follow. 

And let us not forget, while Manasseh still lived in sin he sacrificed some of his children in the Valley of Bin Hinnom to that detestable false deity Molek. Since Amon was born to Manasseh when his father was about forty-five years old, I doubt Amon was the firstborn son. Middle age was quite old for a man of Manasseh's era to begin fathering children and it is believed that the "son" the author of 2 Kings said he sacrificed was his firstborn. The author of 2 Chronicles stated he sacrificed "children" (plural) and this has led scholars to think he either sacrificed his firstborn son and several other sons or that he sacrificed his firstborn son and several daughters. Either way, Amon must have known about or even have witnessed the sacrificing of his siblings. Imagine being the child of a man who could do such things! Amon probably grew up both fearing him and hating him. He also may not have believed Manasseh's conversion was genuine. Even if he did believe it, he didn't necessarily respect it, and to him one god may have seemed the same as any other. When he saw his father throwing himself zealously into the worship of the God of Israel it may not have appeared to him any different than when his father threw himself zealously into worshiping the all the various gods of Canaan. If, as I suspect, Amon bore a great deal of animosity toward his father, rejecting God may have been an extension of him rejecting his father. As soon as Manasseh was buried, Amon undid all the religious reforms of Manasseh's later years.  

"He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as his father Manasseh had done. He followed completely the ways of his father, worshiping the idols his father had worshiped, and bowing down to them. He forsook the Lord, the God of his ancestors, and did not walk in obedience to them." (2 Kings 21:20-22) Did Amon himself sacrifice any of his own children? The Bible says he worshiped and offered sacrifices to idols but it does not say that he made human sacrifices, so I tend to think he didn't go that far. There are several kings in the Bible who sacrificed their children but the Bible has been very careful to specifically point that abominable sin out to us in those cases. The fact that the authors of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles don't accuse Amon of this specific crime against humanity makes me think he refrained from committing it. Also we will learn in our next chapter that his son and successor, Josiah, is just eight years old when he ascends to the throne, meaning Amon was only sixteen at his birth and likely only fifteen when he fathered Josiah. I think Amon's young age at which he fathered Josiah makes it unlikely that he fathered anyone before Josiah whom he could have offered to Molek. Also Amon's own father, Manasseh, would have still been alive and presumably already converted by the time Amon was old enough to father any children. The converted Manasseh would not have allowed his son Amon to perform human sacrifice. If Amon had been old enough to father any children before Manasseh's conversion, then we don't know what Amon might have done, but because Manasseh repented of his idolatry we find Amon's son Josiah alive and well at the time of his father's death, which is a blessing to everyone because Josiah will be one of the most godly kings of Judah.

Josiah's ascension to the throne comes about due to a conspiracy that formed against his father. "Amon's officials conspired against him and assassinated the king in his palace. Then the people of the land killed all who had plotted against King Amon, and they made Josiah his son king in his place." (2 Kings 21:23-24, 2 Chronicles 33:24-25) We don't know why Amon's officials conspired against him. Some Bible scholars propose that it was due to some of the people of the kingdom wanting to serve Assyria and due to some of the people wanting to ally with Egypt to rebel against Assyria. Amon's officials may have killed him due to political differences. They may have killed him due to religious differences. They may have killed him because they preferred a different candidate for king and were attempting a coup in which they would place a man of their own choosing on the throne. I lean toward that third theory because the citizens of Judah avenged the death of Amon and declared his very young son as king. This makes me think the conspirators had someone else in mind other than a son of the king to take the king's place.

Amon never repented of his sins like his father did. "But unlike his father Manasseh, he did not humble himself before the Lord; Amon increased his guilt." (2 Chronicles 33:23) Amon grew more and more wicked during his two years as king and died violently at the young age of twenty-four. This is a grim reminder to the human race that we are not assured of a long life in which to consider our wicked ways and repent. We cannot expect to be able to "sow our wild oats", as the saying goes, and give no thought to the eternal destiny of our souls until we are past middle age or are in our senior years. We aren't promised tomorrow. The day of salvation is now. "So, as the Holy Spirit says: Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts." (Hebrews 3:8a) Amon hardened his heart against the word of the Lord, to his own destruction. I do think his father's wicked ways had a great deal of bad influence on him in his childhood but I also think that since Amon was a grown man when he became king he was responsible for the sins he chose to commit as a grown man. He heard and saw many idolatrous things as a child but he heard and saw many things about the Lord as a teen and as a grown man. He had the opportunity to make the right choice and he did not make it. 

"As for the other events of Amon's reign, and what he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza. And Josiah his son succeeded him as king." (2 Kings 21:25-26) Amon is buried in the palace garden of Uzza just as his father was, but although their earthly remains ended up in the same place, the Scriptures indicate that their souls ended up in different locations. Manasseh lived a wicked life for many years but repented and was saved. There is no evidence in the Bible that Amon repented; it suggests the opposite. 




No comments:

Post a Comment