2 Kings 21:19-26--Amon Reigns in Judah

2 Kings 21:19-26
English Standard Version

Amon Reigns in Judah
19 Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. 20 And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as Manasseh his father had done. 21 He walked in all the way in which his father walked and served the idols that his father served and worshiped them. 22 He abandoned the LORD, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the LORD. 23 And the servants of Amon conspired against him and put the king to death in his house. 24 But the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place. 25 Now the rest of the acts of Amon that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 26 And he was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and Josiah his son reigned in his place.

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Amnon is the son of Manasseh, the bad king we've been talking about for the past couple articles.  His son was only 22 years old when taking the throne after his father's death, and he reigned for only 2 years.  He followed in the footsteps of his father and did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD.  He abandoned the LORD and did not walk in His ways, but instead chose to serve the idols that his father had served and worshiped (connecting this from the passage in 2 Chronicles where Manasseh repented, it means that Amnon must have rebuilt all the idols that his father Manasseh tore down at the end of his reign).

So evil was Amnon and those around him that his own servants killed him to try to take the throne for themselves (like what happened in the northern kingdom of Israel), but the people learned who was responsible and put them to death, and they made Amnon's son Josiah to be king in Amnon's place (remember that it was important that the Davidic covenant go from son to son--even if they were not good kings, they were still part of the covenant line that was leading to the Messiah.  The chain must be unbroken.)

The rest of the acts of King Amnon, as short as his reign was, are recorded for us in the book of Chronicles.  He was buried and laid in the garden tomb next to his father in the Garden of Uzza (not with the rest of the kings), and Josiah ruled in his place.  Josiah will be a good king--the last good king from what I can see--of Judah, and much of the rest of the book of 2 Kings is about the reign of Josiah and then we will quickly talk about the other kings leading up to the Exile