| Easton's Bible Dictionary Builder. (1.) The governor of Samaria in the time of Ahab. The prophet Micaiah was committed to his custody (1 Kings 22:26; 2 Chronicles 18:25). (2.) The son of Manasseh, and fourteenth king of Judah. He restored idolatry, and set up the images which his father had cast down. Zephaniah (1:4; 3:4, 11) refers to the moral depravity prevailing in this king's reign. He was assassinated (2 Kings 21:18-26: 2 Chronicles 33:20-25) by his own servants, who conspired against him. (3.) An Egyptian god, usually depicted with a human body and the head of a ram, referred to in Jeremiah 46:25, where the word "multitudes" in the Authorized Version is more appropriately rendered "Amon" in the Revised Version. In Nahum 3:8 the expression "populous No" of the Authorized version is rendered in the Revised Version "No-amon." Amon is identified with Ra, the sun-god of Heliopolis. (4.) Nehemiah 7:59. Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia AMON a'-mon ('amon): A name identical with that of the Egyptian local deity of Thebes (No); compare Jeremiah 46:25. The foreign name given to a Hebrew prince is remarkable, as is also the fact that it is one of the two or three royal names of Judah not compounded with the name of Yahweh. See MANASSEH. It seems to reflect the sentiment which his fanatical father sought to make prevail that Yahweh had no longer any more claim to identification with the realm than had other deities.
(1) A king of Judah, son and successor of Manasseh; reigned two years and was assassinated in his own palace by the officials of his household. The story of his reign is told briefly in 2 Kings 21:19-26, and still more briefly, though in identical terms, so far as they go, in 2 Chronicles 33:21-25. His short reign was merely incidental in the history of Judah; just long enough to reveal the traits and tendencies which directly or indirectly led to his death. It was merely a weaker continuation of the regime of his idolatrous father, though without the fanaticism which gave the father positive character, and without the touch of piety which, if the Chronicler's account is correct, tempered the father's later years.
If the assassination was the initial act of a revolution the latter was immediately suppressed by "the people of the land," who put to death the conspirators and placed Amon's eight-year-old son Josiah on the throne. In the view of the present writer the motive of the affair was probably connected with the perpetuity of the Davidic dynasty, which, having survived so long according to prophetic prediction (compare 2 Samuel 7:16 Psalm 89:36, 37), was an essential guarantee of Yahweh's favor. Manasseh's foreign sympathies, however, had loosened the hold of Yahweh on the officials of his court; so that, instead of being the loyal center of devotion to Israel's religious and national idea, the royal household was but a hotbed of worldly ambitions, and all the more for Manasseh's prosperous reign, so long immune from any stroke of Divine judgment.
It is natural that, seeing the insignificance of Amon's administration, some ambitious clique, imitating the policy that had frequently succeeded in the Northern Kingdom, should strike for the throne. They had reckoned, however, without estimating the inbred Davidic loyalty of the body of the people. It was a blow at one of their most cherished tenets, committing the nation both politically and religiously to utter uncertainty. That this impulsive act of the people was in the line of the purer religious movement which was ripening in Israel does not prove that the spiritually-minded "remnant" was minded to violence and conspiracy, it merely shows what a stern and sterling fiber of loyalty still existed, seasoned and confirmed by trial below the corrupting cults and fashions of the ruling classes. In the tragedy of Amon's reign, in short, we get a glimpse of the basis of sound principle that lay at the common heart of Israel.
(2) A governor of Samaria (1 Kings 22:26); the one to whom the prophet Micaiah was committed as a prisoner by King Ahab, after the prophet had disputed the predictions of the court prophets and foretold the king's death in battle.
(3) The head of the "children of Solomon's servants" (Nehemiah 7:59) who returned from captivity; reckoned along with the Nethinim, or temple slaves. Called also Ami (Ezra 2:57).
John Franklin Genung |  | Multi-Version Concordance Amon (20 Occurrences) Matthew 1:10 Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh. Manasseh became the father of Amon. Amon became the father of Josiah. (WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV) Numbers 21:14 As it says in the book of the Wars of the Lord, Vaheb in Suphah, and the valley of the Amon; (BBE) 1 Kings 22:26 The king of Israel said, "Take Micaiah, and carry him back to Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king's son. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) 2 Kings 21:18 Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza: and Amon his son reigned in his place. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) 2 Kings 21:19 Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned two years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) 2 Kings 21:23 The servants of Amon conspired against him, and put the king to death in his own house. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) 2 Kings 21:24 But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place. (WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) 2 Kings 21:25 Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) 1 Chronicles 3:14 Amon his son, Josiah his son. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) 2 Chronicles 18:25 The king of Israel said, Take Micaiah, and carry him back to Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king's son; (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) 2 Chronicles 33:20 So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house: and Amon his son reigned in his place. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) 2 Chronicles 33:21 Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) 2 Chronicles 33:22 He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, as did Manasseh his father; and Amon sacrificed to all the engraved images which Manasseh his father had made, and served them. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) 2 Chronicles 33:23 He didn't humble himself before Yahweh, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but this same Amon trespassed more and more. (WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) 2 Chronicles 33:25 But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Nehemiah 7:59 the children of Shephatiah, the children of Hattil, the children of Pochereth Hazzebaim, the children of Amon. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Jeremiah 1:2 to whom the word of Yahweh came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Jeremiah 25:3 From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, these twenty-three years, the word of Yahweh has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking; but you have not listened. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Jeremiah 46:25 Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Behold, I will punish Amon of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with her gods, and her kings; even Pharaoh, and those who trust in him: (WEB JPS ASV BBE DBY YLT NAS RSV NIV) Zephaniah 1:1 The word of Yahweh which came to Zephaniah, the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS NAS RSV NIV) |
