2 Kings 21:19

Amon was twenty and 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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

THE REIGN OF AMON (2Kings 21:19-26).

(19) Amon.—The Vatican LXX. reads Αμώς, Amos (So Josephus Άμωσός). The name is perhaps that of the Egyptian sun-god Amen (Greek Αμμών), as Anion’s father was an idolater.

Meshullemeth.—Feminine form of Meshullam, “friend” i.e. of God; Isaiah 42:19. Ewald compares the Latin Pius, Pia, as a proper name.

Jotbah.—Thenius imitates the name with Gutstadi. St. Jerome says it was in Judah. A similar name occurs in Numbers 33:33; Deuteronomy 10:7

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

21:19-26 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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Was buried - The catacomb of David was probably full, and the later kings, from Ahaz downward, had to find sepulture elsewhere. Ahaz was buried in Jerusalem, but not in the sepulchres of the kings 2 Chronicles 28:27. Hezekiah found a resting place on the way that led up to David's catacomb 2 Chronicles 32:33. Manasseh and Amon were interred in "the garden of Uzza," a portion (apparently) of the royal palace-garden; perhaps so called after the name of the previous owner. Josiah was buried in "his own sepulchre" 2 Kings 23:30.

Amon his son - This name, which occurs only at this time and in the reign of the idolatrous Ahab 1 Kings 22:26, is identical in form with the Hebrew representative of the great Egyptian god, Amen or Amun (Nahum 3:8 margin); and it is therefore probable that Manasseh selected it and gave it to his son in compliment to the Egyptians.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2Ki 21:19-26. Amon's Wicked Reign.

19-24. Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign—This prince continued the idolatrous policy of his father; and, after an inglorious reign of two years, he was massacred by some of his own domestics. The people slew the regicide conspirators and placed his son Josiah on the throne.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Amon was twenty two years old when he began to reign,.... Being born in the forty fifth of his father's life, and in the thirty third of his reign:

and he reigned two years in Jerusalem; which, as Abarbinel observes, was the usual time the sons of wicked kings reigned, and instances in the son of Jeroboam, Baasha, and Ahab, 1 Kings 15:25. An Arabic writer (k) says, he reigned twelve years, but according to the Jews only two:

and his mother's name was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah; there was a place called Jotbath, which was one of the stations of the children of Israel in the wilderness, Numbers 33:33 but it can scarcely be thought to be the same place.

(k) Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. Dyn. 3. p. 67.

Geneva Study Bible

Amon was twenty and 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.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

19–26. Amon king of Judah. His wicked reign and death (2 Chronicles 33:21-25)

19. Jotbah] This place is not mentioned elsewhere in the Bible. It is generally thought to be the same as Jotbath or Jotbathah, mentioned (Numbers 33:33; Deuteronomy 10:7) as a station of the Israelites in their wanderings. It is called ‘a land of torrents of water’, so that it would be most likely a sort of oasis in the desert.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 19-26. - REIGN OF AMON. The short reign of Amen, the son and successor of Manasseh, was distinguished by only two events:

(1) his restoration of all the idolatrous and wicked practices which his father had upheld during the earlier portion of his reign; and

(2) his untimely death, in consequence of a conspiracy which was formed against him among the officers of his court. The writer of Kings is therefore able to dispatch his history in eight verses. Verse 19. - Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign. So Josephus ('Ant. Jud.,' 10:4. § 1), and the author of Chronicles (2 Chronicles 33:21). He must have been born in B.C. 664, early in the reign of Asshur-bani-pal, probably in the year of that monarch's expedition against Tyro. And he reigned two years in Jerusalem. The "twelve years" assigned to Amen By the Duke of Manchester ('Times of Daniel') are wholly devoid of foundation, and would throw the entire chronology into confusion. As it is, there is a very exact accordance in this part of the history between the profane and the scriptural dates. And his mother's name was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. Jotbah is probably the same city as the "Jotbath" of Deuteronomy 10:7, and the "Jotbathah" of Numbers 33:33, which was in the neighborhood of Ezion-geber, and therefore probably in the Arabah. Josephus, however, says that Jot-bah was "a city of Judah." 2 Kings 21:19

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Reign of Amon (cf. 2 Chronicles 33:21-25). - Amon reigned only two years, and that in the spirit of his father, that is to say, worshipping all his idols. The city of Jotbah, from which his mother sprang, was, according to Jerome (in the Onom. s. v. Jethaba), urbs antiqua Judaeae; but it is not further known.