And the servants of Amon conspired against him ,.... Some of his domestic servants, and perhaps his courtiers, not on account of his idolatry, but for some ill usage of them: and slew the king in his own house : which they had an opportunity to do, being his servants. read more
The servants of Amon conspired - What their reason was for slaying their king we cannot tell. It does not seem to have been a popular act, for the people of the land rose up and slew the regicides. We hear enough of this man when we hear that he was as bad as his father was in the beginning of his reign, but did not copy his father's repentance. read more
THE REIGNS OF MANASSEH AND AMON . read more
Amon's wicked reign. We have here more than one instructive lesson. I. THE POWER OF EVIL OFTEN COUNTERACTS THE GOOD . Manasseh had humbled himself before God. He obtained pardon. But he could not undo the guilty past. He could not undo the effects of his evil example and influence. We see how his sins were imitated and continued by his son Amen. How careful we should be what influence we exercise, what an example we leave behind us! Many a penitent sinner would give... read more
REIGN OF AMON . The short reign of Amen, the son and successor of Manasseh, was distinguished by only two events: read more
Amon. "Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem." This is a short account of the brief and wicked reign of Amon the son of Manasseh. I. HIS REIGN WAS VERY SHORT . "He reigned two years," etc. The wonder is that such a man should have been permitted to breathe the breath of life. The sooner a bad king dies the better. 1. The better for his own sake . It restrains his own responsibilities and the aggravation of his... read more
The reign of Amen. In this king we have— I. A PALER COPY OF HIS FATHER . The only noteworthy facts about Amen, during his brief two years' reign, are: 1. His imitation of Manasseh ' s wickedness . His father, during the greater part of his reign, had set an evil example, but towards its close he had repented. Amen did not imitate the repentance, but imitated the sin. He walked in all the ways his father had walked in, apparently setting up again the idols which his... read more
And the servants of Amon — i.e. his attendants, the officers of his court— conspired against him, and slew the king in his own house. Conspiracies in the palace, frequent in Israel (see 1 Kings 16:9 ; 2 Kings 9:32-37 ; 2 Kings 11:10 , 25, 30), were not unknown in Judah (see 2 Kings 12:21 ). They naturally arose from various causes, as insults, injuries, hopes of advantage, ambition, etc. Where, as in the present case, no clue is given, it is idle to conjecture the motives by... read more
This conspiracy may have been due to the popular reaction against the extreme idolatry which the young king had established. read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 2 Kings 21:19-26
Here is a short account of the short and inglorious reign of Amon, the son of Manasseh. Whether Manasseh, in his blind and brutish zeal for his idols, had sacrificed his other sons?or whether, having been dedicated to his idols, they were refused by the people?so it was that his successor was a son not born till he was forty-five years old. And of him we are here told, 1. That his reign was very wicked: He forsook the God of his fathers (2 Kgs. 21:22), disobeyed the commands given to his... read more