Amon of Judah

Amon (; ; ) was the king of Judah who succeeded his father Manasseh of Judah on the throne according to the Bible. His mother was Meshullemeth, daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. He was married to Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath.
Amon began his reign at the age of 22, and reigned for two years. () William F. Albright has dated his reign to 642-640 BC, while E. R. Thiele offers the dates 643/642 – 641/640 BC.Edwin Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings, (1st ed.; New York: Macmillan, 1951; 2d ed.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965; 3rd ed.; Grand Rapids: Zondervan/Kregel, 1983). ISBN 082543825X, 9780825438257, 217.
Amon continued his father's practice of idolatry, and set up the images as his father had done. (also , and 11) describes his reign as marked by moral depravity.
He was assassinated (, ) by his servants, who conspired against him, and was succeeded by his son Josiah, who was eight years old. ()
At the end of Amon's reign, the international situation was in flux: to the east, the Assyrian Empire was beginning to disintegrate, the Babylonian Empire had not yet risen to replace it, and Egypt to the west was still recovering from Assyrian rule. In this power vacuum, Jerusalem was able to govern itself without foreign intervention.
He is also one of the kings mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew.
==Chronological notes==
Thiele's dates for Amon are tied to the dates for his son Josiah, who reigned 31 years (2 Kings 22:1). Josiah's death at the hands of Pharaoh Necho II occurred in the summer of 609 BC.D. J. Wiseman, Chronicles of Chaldean Kings (London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1956) 94-95. By Judean reckoning that began regnal years in the fall month of Tishri, this would be in the year 610/609 BC. Amon's last year, 31 years earlier, then calculates as 641/640 BC and his first year as 643/642 BC.
==References==
Category:Kings of ancient Judah