Amon of Judah
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Amon of JudahTemplate:Efn 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 Template:Circa.
Life
Amon was the son of King Manasseh of Judah and Meshullemeth, a daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.<ref name="Flavius Josephus" /> Although the date is unknown, the Hebrew Bible records that he married Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath.<ref name=2k221>Template:Bibleverse</ref> Following Manasseh's death, Amon began his reign of Judah at the age of 22, and reigned for two years.<ref name="2 Kings">Template:Bibleverse</ref> Unlike many of his predecessors, who appear to have been made a co-regent at the age of 12, his reign does not allow for a period of co-regency, even though his father was at a very high age. This and the age of Manasseh at his birth (44) does suggest he may have been a younger son. The Jerusalem Bible describes Manasseh and Amon as "two wicked kings".<ref>Jerusalem Bible (1966), sub-heading at 2 Kings 21:1</ref> Biblical scholar and archeologist William F. Albright has dated his reign to 642–640, while professor E. R. Thiele offers the dates 643/642 – 641/640.<ref name="Thiele">Template:Cite book</ref> 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,<ref>Template:Cite bookTemplate:Dead link</ref> places the end of Amon's reign, 31 years earlier, in 641 or 640 and the beginning of his rule in 643 or 642.<ref name="Thiele" />
The Hebrew Bible records that Amon continued his father Manasseh's practice of idolatry and set up pagan images as his father had done.<ref name="Jewish Encyclopedia">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> II Kings states that Amon "did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, as did Manasseh his father. And he walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them."<ref name="2 Kings" /> Similarly, II Chronicles records that "…he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, as did Manasseh his father; and Amon sacrificed unto all the graven images which Manasseh his father had made, and served them."<ref>Template:Bibleverse</ref> The Talmudic tradition recounts that "Amon burnt the Torah, and allowed spider webs to cover the altar [through complete disuse] ... Amon sinned very much."<ref>Tractate Sanhedrin, Folio 103a. 1902 Translation by Rabbi Isisdore Epstein.</ref><ref>Jewish Encyclopedia Amon King of Judah</ref> Like other textual sources, Flavius Josephus too criticizes the reign of Amon, describing his reign in similar terms to the biblical accounts.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Conversely, rather than as lapses from a previous strict Mosaic monotheism, accounting for contemporary domestic and foreign counterparts, Arnold J. Toynbee thinks as nearer to historical truth of Amon as well as Manasseh as pious conservatives, defending the faith of their ancestors.<ref name="Toynbee1961">Template:Cite book</ref>
After reigning two years, Amon was assassinated by his servants or officials,<ref>"Servants" in Template:Bibleverse (NKJV); "officials" in the NIV and NABRE</ref> who conspired against him, and he was succeeded by his son Josiah, who at the time was eight years old.<ref name=2k221 /> After Amon's assassination, his murderers became unpopular with the "people of the land," and they were ultimately killed.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It was the people of the land who proclaimed Josiah as his successor;<ref>Template:Bibleverse</ref> it is not clear what succession would have been anticipated by the officials who assassinated Amon. Some scholars, such as Abraham Malamat, assert that Amon was assassinated because people disliked the heavy influence that the Neo-Assyrian Empire, an age-old enemy of Judah responsible for the Assyrian destruction of the Kingdom of Israel, had upon him.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Era
Amon's reign was in the midst of a transitional time for the Levant and the entire Mesopotamian region. To the east of the Kingdom of Judah, the Neo-Assyrian Empire was beginning to disintegrate while the Neo-Babylonian Empire had not yet risen to replace it. To the west, the Saïte Egypt was still recovering under pharaoh Psamtik I from the Assyrian occupation of 673-63,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> transforming from a vassal state to an autonomous ally.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In this power vacuum, many smaller states such as Judah were able to govern themselves without foreign intervention from larger empires.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
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 in tractate Sanhedrin 103b) as follows: Ahaz suspended the sacrificial worship and sealed the Torah scrolls, Manasseh burned the names of the Lord and tore down the altar, Amon made it a place of desolation [covered it with cobwebs] and burned the Torah scrolls. This is derived from the story of the finding of the Book of the Law, II Kings, xxii. 8]; Ahaz permitted incest, Manasseh committed it with his sister, Amon committed it with his mother, saying to her, I only did this to anger the Creator. 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. The sages also explain proverbs 24:30 as follows: I passed by the field of a lazy man, This is Ahaz. And the vineyard of a senseless man, this is Manashe. And behold, it was all overgrown with thorns, this is Amon. And its surface was covered with Nettle, this is Jehoiakim. And its stone wall was broken down, this is a reference to Zedekiah, in whose days the temple was destroyed. A midrashic fragment preserved in the Apostolic Constitutions, ii. 23, which appears to follow an account of the repentance of Manasseh according to a lost Jewish apocryphal writing, reads:<ref>{{#if:||{{#if:|File:Wikisource-logo.svg|File:PD-icon.svg}} }}{{#if:||{{#if:|One or more of the preceding sentences|This article}} incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: }}{{#invoke:template wrapper|{{#if:|list|wrap}}|_template=cite Jewish Encyclopedia
|_exclude=inline, noicon, no-icon, no-prescript, _debug |noicon=1
}}{{#ifeq: | |}}</ref> Template:Quote<ref>[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</ref>
In Christianity
In the Gospel of Matthew, Amon appears in the genealogy of Jesus.
See also
Notes
References
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