2 Kings 21:23

19-26 Amon profaned God's house with his idols; and God suffered his house to be polluted with his blood. How unrighteous soever they were that did it, God was righteous who suffered it to be done. Now was a happy change from one of the worst, to one of the best of the kings of Judah. Once more Judah was tried with a reformation. Whether the Lord bears long with presumptuous offenders, or speedily cuts them off in their sins, all must perish who persist in refusing to walk in his ways....

Verse 2 Kings 21:23. _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....

This conspiracy may have been due to the popular reaction against the extreme idolatry which the young king had established....

EXPOSITION 2 KINGS 21:1 THE REIGNS OF MANASSEH AND AMON. 2 KINGS 21:1 THE REIGN OF MANASSEH. Hezekiah's good and glorious reign was followed by one of exactly the opposite character. His son and successor, Manasseh, reversed Hezekiah's entire religious policy, and returned to the wicked practices of his grandfather Ahaz. In verses 3-9 and verse 16 his various abominations are enumerated, while in verses 10-15 God's sentence is pronounced upon them. The account of his reign terminates with a brief summary (verses 17, 18)....

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....

4. MANASSEH AND AMON CHAPTER 21 _ 1. Manasseh's reign of wickedness (2 Kings 21:1; 2 Chronicles 33:1)_ 2. The word of the LORD against it (2 Kings 21:10) 3. Manasseh's end (2 Kings 21:16; 2 Chronicles 33:18) 4. Reign and death of Amon (2 Kings 21:19; 2 Chronicles 33:20) Hezekiah had a w

REIGNS OF MANASSEH AND AMON. The fact that the reformation begun by Hezekiah was so thoroughly undone at his death, and that his son was able to reign undisturbed for fifty-five years, proves that his reforms were only superficial and could not have been popular. The thoroughly Deuteronomic tone of this chapter is very noticeable. The idolatry of Manasseh is specially condemned in Deuteronomy 4:19; Deuteronomy 17:13; Deuteronomy 18:10 f. He is the only king of Judah who is compared to Ahab (2 Kings 21:3 and 2 Kings 21:13). Accord

_the servants of Amon conspired against him_ The servants must be the court officers who were close about the king. The place where he was killed, -his own house", shews this, and the present destruction of Amon's murderers by -the people of the land" proves that it was no popular movement against the king, but only some private intrigue. The people also shewed their attachment to the house of David by immediately placing Amon's son, Josiah, on the throne. _and slew the king_ R.V. PUT THE KING TO DEATH. The change is made to shew that the word is not the same as that translated -slew" in the next verse....

II. THE ACCESSION AND ASSASSINATION OF AMON 21:19-26 TRANSLATION (19) Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and two years he reigned in Jerusalem; and the name of his mother was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. (20) And he did evil in the eyes of the LORD as Manasseh his father had done. (21) And he walked in all the ways in which his father had walked, and he served the idols which his father had served, and he worshiped them. (22) And he forsook 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 they slew the king in his house. (24) And the people of the land slew all who had conspired against Amon, and they made Josiah his son king in his place. (25) And the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? (26) An...

THE REIGNS OF MANASSEH AND AMON 3. The high places, etc.] Manasseh not only restored the country sanctuaries which had been destroyed by Hezekiah as seats of corruption (see 2 Kings 18:4; 2 Kings 18:22), and renewed the Baal worship practised by the house of Ahab (see 2 Kings 11:18, and cp. 1 Kings 16:31), but also introduced star worship, a form of religion previously unknown in Judah. THE HOST OF HEAVEN] The worship of the stars, which was probably introduced from Assyria, was conducted on the flat roofs of the houses: see Jeremiah