Amon of Judah

According to the Bible, Amon was the king of Judah who succeeded his father Manasseh of Judah on the throne. His mother was Meshullemeth, daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. He was married to Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath.

Amon began his reign at the age of 22, and reigned for two years. (2 Kings 21:18-19) William F. Albright has dated his reign to 642-640 BC, while E. R. Thiele offers the dates 643/642 – 641/640 BC. ^[1]

Amon continued his father's practice of idolatry, and set up the images as his father had done.Zephaniah 1:4 (also 3:4, and 11) describes his reign as marked by moral depravity.

He was assassinated (2 Kings 21:18-26, 2 Chronicles 33:20-25) by his servants, who conspired against him, and was succeeded by his son Josiah, who was eight years old. (2 Kings 22:1)

At the end of Amon's reign, the international situation was in flux: to the east, the Assyrian Empire was beginning to disintegrate, the Babylonian Empire had not yet risen to replace it, and Egypt to the west was still recovering from Assyrian rule. In this power vacuum, Jerusalem was able to govern itself without foreign intervention.

Chronological notes

Thiele's dates for Amon are tied to the dates for his son Josiah, who reigned 31 years (2 Kings 22:1). Josiah's death at the hands of Pharaoh Necho II occurred in the summer of 609 BC.^[2] By Judean reckoning that began regnal years in the fall month of Tishri, this would be in the year 610/609 BC. Amon's last year, 31 years earlier, then calculates as 641/640 BC and his first year as 643/642 BC.

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Easton's Bible Dictionary, originally published in 1897.

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