Amon(ami)
“Builder or master workman”
Summary
A name borne by three men in Scripture, including an idolatrous king of Judah who reigned for two years before being assassinated, and also the name of the chief Egyptian deity of Thebes.
☩Amon King of Judah
Amon was the son of Manasseh by Meshullemeth, daughter of Haruz of Jotbah, and the fifteenth separate king of Judah, reigning from approximately 642-640 BC. Unlike his father, who repented late in life, Amon derived no benefit from Manasseh's example of sin, punishment, and repentance. He restored idolatry and set up again the images his father had cast down. The prophet Zephaniah's terrible picture of Jerusalem's moral and religious state—with idolatry supported by priests and prophets, the poor ruthlessly oppressed, and shameless indifference to evil—reflects Amon's reign. After only two years, he was assassinated in a court conspiracy, but the people put the regicides to death and raised his eight-year-old son Josiah to the throne.
☩Other Men Named Amon
Two other individuals bear this name in Scripture. The first was the governor of Samaria in the time of Ahab, to whose custody the prophet Micaiah was delivered after disputing the predictions of the court prophets and foretelling the king's death in battle. The second was the head or ancestor of one of the families of Solomon's servants who returned from Babylon, also called Ami in Ezra.
☩Amon the Egyptian God
Amon was the local deity of Thebes in Upper Egypt, and his name was later explained as meaning 'the concealed' or 'hidden.' Originally a harvest god, he was thought of as sun-god by the Middle Kingdom period and was called Amon-Ra, 'King of the Gods.' His chief temple at Karnak became the most imposing of Egyptian temples, and under the New Kingdom he was preeminently the national god of Egypt. The prophets Jeremiah and Nahum refer to this deity in connection with Thebes, called No-Amon or 'the city of Amon.'
Related Verses19 mentions
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Amon," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. I (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.James Orr (ed.), "Amon," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. I (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 3.Philip Schaff and Johann Herzog (ed.), "Amon, Egyptian Deity," in The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, vol. I (Funk and Wagnalls, 1908–1914).
- 4.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Amon (1)," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).