Amon of Judah

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Amon
Meshullemeth[5]
Manasseh, Amon and Josiah (16th century print)

Amon of Judah[a] was the fifteenth King of Judah who, according to the biblical account, succeeded his father Manasseh of Judah. Amon is most remembered for his idolatrous practices during his short two-year reign, which led to a revolt against him and eventually to his assassination in c. 641 BC.

Life

Amon was the son of

E. R. Thiele offers the dates 643/642 – 641/640.[1] Thiele's dates are tied to the reign of Amon's son Josiah, whose death at the hands of Pharaoh Necho II occurred in the summer of 609. The battle in which Josiah is said to have died, which is independently confirmed in Egyptian history,[9] places the end of Amon's reign, 31 years earlier, in 641 or 640 and the beginning of his rule in 643 or 642.[1]

The

Flavius Josephus too criticizes the reign of Amon, describing his reign in similar terms to the biblical accounts.[13]

After reigning two years, Amon was assassinated by his servants or officials,

destruction of the Kingdom of Israel, had upon him.[17]

Era

Amon's reign was in the midst of a transitional time for the

Egypt was still recovering under Psamtik I from its Assyrian occupation,[18] transforming from a vassal state to an autonomous ally.[19] In this power vacuum, many smaller states such as Judah were able to govern themselves without foreign intervention from larger empires.[20]

Rabbinic Literature

The opinion that Amon was the most sinful of all the wicked kings of Judah (II Chron. xxxiii. 23) is brought out in the Talmud (Sanh. 103b) as follows: (Sanh. 104a) Ahaz suspended the sacrificial worship, Manasseh tore down the altar, Amon made it a place of desolation [covered it with cobwebs]; Ahaz sealed up the scrolls of the Law (Isa. viii. 16), Manasseh cut out the sacred name, Amon burnt the scrolls altogether [compare Seder Olam, R. xxiv. This is derived from the story of the finding of the Book of the Law, II Kings, xxii. 8]; Ahab permitted incest, Manasseh committed it himself, Amon acted as Nero was said to have done toward his mother Agrippina. And yet, out of respect for his son Josiah, Amon's name was not placed on the list of the kings excluded from the world to come. A midrashic fragment preserved in the Apostolical Constitutions, ii. 23, which appears to follow an account of the repentance of Manasseh according to a lost Jewish apocryphal writing, reads: "No sin is more grievous than idolatry, for it is treason against God. Yet even this has been forgiven upon sincere repentance; but he that sins from a mere spirit of opposition, to see whether God will punish the wicked, shall find no pardon, although he say in his heart, 'I shall have peace in the end (by repenting), though I walk in the stubbornness of my evil heart'" (Deut. xxix. 19). Such a one was Amon, the son of Manasseh, for the (Apocryphal) Scripture says: "And Amon reasoned an evil reasoning of transgression and said: 'My father from his childhood was a great transgressor, and he repented in his old age. So will I now walk after the lust of my soul and afterward return to the Lord.' And he committed more evil in the sight of the Lord than all that were before him; but the Lord God speedily cut him off from this good land. And his servants conspired against him and slew him in his own house, and he reigned two years only." It is noteworthy that this very midrashic fragment casts light upon the emphatic teaching of the Mishnah (Yoma, viii. 9): "Whosoever says, 'I will sin and repent thereafter,' will not be granted the time for repentance."[21][22]

See also

Notes

  1. Latin
    : Amon

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-0-8254-3825-7
    .
  2. ^ Leslie McFall (1991). "A Translation Guide to the Chronological Data in Kings and Chronicles" (PDF). Bibliotheca Sacra. 148. Dallas Theological Seminary: 3–45. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 21, 2011.
  3. ^
    Jewish Encyclopedia
    . Vol. I (1st ed.). Funk & Wagnalls. pp. 526–527.
  4. ISBN 978-1-149-80041-6
    .
  5. ^
    Flavius Josephus (c. 93 CE). Antiquities of the Jews. Book X, Chapter 3, Section 2. Translated from the Latin by William Whiston
    from The Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
  6. ^ a b 2 Kings 22:1
  7. ^ a b 2 Kings 21:18–26
  8. ^ Jerusalem Bible (1966), sub-heading at 2 Kings 21:1
  9. ^ D.J. Wiseman (1956). Chronicles of Chaldean Kings. Trustees of the British Museum. pp. 94–95.[permanent dead link]
  10. ^ 2 Chronicles 33:22
  11. ^ Tractate Sanhedrin, Folio 103a. 1902 Translation by Rabbi Isisdore Epstein.
  12. ^ Jewish Encyclopedia Amon King of Judah
  13. ^ Christopher Begg (1996). "Jotham and Amon: Two Minor Kings of Judah According to Josephus" (PDF). Bulletin for Biblical Research. 6 (1). Institute for Biblical Research: 13. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-02-01. Retrieved 2011-12-24.
  14. NABRE
  15. ISBN 9781463781590
    .
  16. ^ 2 Chronicles 33:25
  17. S2CID 163071971
    .
  18. ISBN 978-0-85668-298-8
    .
  19. ^ James Allen and Marsha Hill (2004). "Egypt in the Late Period (ca. 712–332 B.C.)". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
  20. S2CID 194011769
    .
  21. ^  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Mendelsohn, Charles J.; Kohler, Kaufmann; Jastrow, Jr., Morris (1901). "Amon King of Judah". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. pp. 526–527.
  22. ^ [According to Louis Ginzburg's Legends of the Jews ".. For repentance he was given no time, for death cut him off in the fullness of his sinful ways...That the full measure of punishment was not meted out to Amon-his evil deeds were such that he should have forfeited his share in the World to come-was due to the circumstance of his having a pious and righteous son..". See Legends of the Jews p.281

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Amon, King of Judah". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.

Amon of Judah
Preceded by King of Judah
643–641 BC 		Succeeded by

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