The kings of Israel and Judah

King Amon

The kingdom of Judah (the south) · Reigned two years (2 Kings 21:19) · Evil before God · 2 Kings 21:19 to 26; 2 Chronicles 33:21 to 25

Amon, the son of Manasseh, reigned only two years and did evil in the sight of the LORD, sacrificing to all the idols his father had made. But unlike Manasseh, who humbled himself at the end, Amon did not humble himself before the LORD, and trespassed more and more. He was assassinated by his own servants in his palace, and the people of the land then killed the conspirators and made his young son Josiah king in his place.

And humbled not himself before the LORD, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but Amon trespassed more and more.2 Chronicles 33:23 (KJV)

A short and wicked reign

Amon was twenty-two when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. He did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as did Manasseh his father, and walked in all the way that his father walked in, sacrificing to the carved images which Manasseh had made, and serving them. He inherited his father's early idolatry but not his father's repentance.

Chronicles draws the contrast sharply: he humbled not himself before the LORD, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but Amon trespassed more and more. He had before him the living example of a father who had turned back to God, and he chose the sin and refused the repentance.

A palace assassination

Amon's reign ended abruptly. His own servants conspired against him and killed him in his own house. But the people of the land rose up, put to death all those who had conspired against the king, and made Josiah his son king in his place. So the throne passed, through violence, to a child who would become one of the greatest kings Judah ever knew.

Scripture records nothing good of Amon, and little at all beyond his idolatry and his death. His is one of the briefest and darkest of the reigns.

The biblical verdict and where it points

The verdict is plainly evil, and the tragedy of Amon is captured in that one comparison with his father. Manasseh had done far worse and been forgiven because he humbled himself; Amon did less and was not, because he would not humble himself at all. It is not the size of the sin but the refusal to repent that seals the darkest verdict.

Amon stands as a warning that a heart can witness genuine repentance in another, even in a parent, and still harden itself. Against his hardness the gospel calls out that the door is open to all who will humble themselves. The very next king, his own son Josiah, would show what a humble and seeking heart looks like, and beyond Josiah stands the King who calls the proud and the hardened to turn, and live.

A note on the record: everything here is drawn from the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. Kings and Chronicles sometimes tell a reign differently, Chronicles often adding a king's repentance or building works, and where they differ this is said plainly rather than smoothed over. The exact lengths and overlaps of the reigns are genuinely complex, because kings often shared the throne with a son for a time, so the totals in Scripture do not always add up in a simple line. The verdict good or evil is the Bible's own assessment, whether a king did right or evil in the sight of the LORD.

Related: Manasseh · Josiah · All the kings of Israel and Judah