The Multiplied Guilt of a Stiff Neck
Introduction: The Downward Spiral
We come now to a brief and tragic reign, a mere footnote in the history of Judah's kings. The story of Amon is short, but it is potent. It serves as a stark illustration of a principle we see woven throughout the fabric of Scripture: sin, unrepented of, always spirals downward. It is a relentless taskmaster, and it is never content with the ground it has already taken. It always wants more. We see in Amon the tragic inheritance of his father Manasseh's sin, but without the grace of his father's repentance. He is a case study in what happens when a man sees the consequences of rebellion, sees even the possibility of restoration, and yet deliberately chooses the path of destruction.
Manasseh, as we have seen, was a truly monstrous king. He filled Jerusalem with idols and innocent blood. He was the worst of the worst. Yet, in the chains of Babylon, God broke him. God humbled him, and Manasseh repented. It was a dramatic, eleventh-hour conversion. God, in His staggering mercy, heard his plea and restored him. You would think that such a story would be seared into the consciousness of his son. You would think Amon would have seen the misery of his father's rebellion and the mercy of his father's restoration and chosen the path of life. But he did not. Instead, he took the worst of his father's life as his model and rejected the best of it. He embraced the idolatry but refused the humility.
This is a sobering passage for us. We live in a culture that is much like Amon. We have inherited the blessings of a Christian heritage, a heritage forged through repentance, reformation, and revival. But we have decided we like the blessings without the Christ who provides them. We want the fruit, but we have chopped at the root. We see the historical record of what happens when nations turn from God, and yet we plunge headlong into the same idolatries. The story of Amon is therefore not just ancient history; it is a mirror. It shows us the anatomy of a hardened heart, the nature of covenantal apostasy, and the severe mercy of a God who will not be mocked forever.
The Text
Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, as Manasseh his father had done, and Amon sacrificed to all the graven images which his father Manasseh had made, and he served them. Moreover, he did not humble himself before Yahweh as his father Manasseh had humbled himself, but Amon multiplied guilt. Then his servants conspired against him and put him to death in his own house. Then 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.
(2 Chronicles 33:21-25 LSB)
The Corrupt Inheritance (v. 21-22)
We begin with the summary of Amon's character and reign.
"Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, as Manasseh his father had done, and Amon sacrificed to all the graven images which his father Manasseh had made, and he served them." (2 Chronicles 33:21-22)
Amon's reign is mercifully short, just two years. This is a common pattern in the chronicles of the kings. Wickedness often contains the seeds of its own destruction. A long reign is generally a sign of God's favor, and a short one, a sign of His judgment. Amon comes to the throne at twenty-two, a young man, but old enough to know better. He had a front-row seat to one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Israel's history.
The text tells us he did evil "as Manasseh his father had done." This is a crucial phrase. He is not just a generic sinner; he is a second-generation apostate. He deliberately models his life on the worst parts of his father's legacy. Notice the specificity: he "sacrificed to all the graven images which his father Manasseh had made." Manasseh, in his repentance, had torn down these altars and removed the idols. But apparently, they were not utterly destroyed. They were stored somewhere, perhaps, like spiritual poison left in the attic. Amon goes and dusts them off. He actively resurrects the very idolatry that brought his father and the nation to ruin.
This is a picture of covenantal backsliding. Sins have a generational quality to them. Fathers who struggle with drink often have sons who struggle with drink. A heritage of idolatry is a heavy burden to place on your children. But it is not an inescapable fate. The Scriptures are clear that every man is responsible for his own sin (Ezekiel 18). Amon cannot stand before God on the last day and say, "My father made me do it." No, he chose this path. He saw two roads his father had walked, the broad road of rebellion and the narrow path of repentance, and he chose the broad road. He loved the darkness because his deeds were evil.
Idolatry is spiritual adultery. It is giving the affection, loyalty, and service that belong to God alone to some created thing. For Amon, it was the grotesque carvings his father had commissioned. For us, it may be our career, our politics, our reputation, our sexual appetites, or our comfort. The principle is the same. We take a good thing, a created thing, and we elevate it to the place of God. Amon's sin was not just a personal preference; it was high treason against the covenant Lord of Israel.
The Refusal to Humble (v. 23)
Verse 23 is the heart of the matter. It reveals the core of Amon's rebellion.
"Moreover, he did not humble himself before Yahweh as his father Manasseh had humbled himself, but Amon multiplied guilt." (2 Chronicles 33:23)
Here is the great antithesis. The pivot point of Manasseh's life was humility. In chains, facing the consequences of his sin, he humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. Amon saw this. He knew the story. He knew that the path to restoration was the path of humility. And he explicitly rejected it. The text makes a direct comparison and finds him wanting. He saw the medicine that could cure him, and he dashed it to the ground.
This is not ignorance; this is defiance. True humility is not a feeling of worthlessness. It is not groveling or false self-deprecation. True humility is simply seeing reality for what it is. It is acknowledging the infinite Creator/creature distinction. It is agreeing with God about the state of your own heart. Manasseh was brought to a place where he had no choice but to see reality. Amon lived in a self-constructed fantasy world where he was king, he was the standard, and he would not bow.
And what is the result of this refusal to be humble? He "multiplied guilt." The Hebrew here is potent. It's not just that he sinned more, but that he increased his liability, his debt, his trespass. Guilt is an objective reality. It is a legal standing before a holy God. When we sin, we accrue guilt. When we repent and believe in Christ, that guilt is removed, paid for by His blood. But when we refuse to repent, when we stiffen our necks, the guilt compounds. It's like a debt accruing interest at an astronomical rate. Amon was not just repeating his father's sins; he was doing so in the full light of his father's repentance, which made his sin all the more heinous. He was sinning against greater light, and so he was multiplying his guilt.
The Inevitable Judgment (v. 24)
Wickedness has a short shelf life. Judgment, though it may seem to tarry, is always on its way.
"Then his servants conspired against him and put him to death in his own house." (2 Chronicles 33:24)
The wages of sin is death. Sometimes that payment comes due swiftly. Amon, who refused to bow to the King of Heaven, is brought down by his own household servants. There is a profound irony here. The man who grasps for ultimate authority finds he cannot even control his own staff. He who worships idols made by hands is undone by the hands of his own men. God's providence is shot through with this kind of poetry.
We are not told the political motivations for this coup. Perhaps it was a power grab, or perhaps some faction was weary of his flagrant idolatry. The secondary causes are, in one sense, irrelevant. The ultimate cause is the judgment of God. God is sovereign over all things, including the wicked machinations of conspirators. He uses the treachery of Amon's servants to execute His righteous sentence upon a faithless king. God is the author of the story, and He can write straight with crooked lines. He is never the author of sin, but He is always the sovereign over it, directing it to His own good and just ends.
God's Surprising Providence (v. 25)
The chapter ends not with the conspirators succeeding, but with another layer of God's sovereign plan unfolding.
"Then 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." (2 Chronicles 33:25)
This is a fascinating turn of events. The assassins are themselves assassinated. The "people of the land" rise up and execute justice on the king-killers. Why? They were not necessarily defending Amon's wicked policies. Rather, they were defending the institution of the monarchy, the Davidic line that God Himself had established. They understood that even a bad king was God's anointed, and that vigilante justice and political coups were not the prescribed way to deal with him. Vengeance belongs to the Lord. They rightly put the conspirators to death for their treason.
But their action does more than just punish wrongdoing. It paves the way for one of Judah's greatest kings. Out of the ashes of Amon's wicked reign, God raises up Josiah. "The people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place." Here we see the mysterious and beautiful providence of God. The line of David, which seemed to be hanging by a thread, is preserved. The wicked father is cut off, but the righteous son is raised up. This is a picture of the gospel.
God's covenant promises do not depend on the faithfulness of men, but on the faithfulness of God. Even when men are faithless, God remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. The story looks bleak. Manasseh is a disaster. Amon is a disaster squared. It would be easy to despair and conclude that God's plan has failed. But God's plan never fails. He works through the sin, the repentance, the rebellion, the judgment, and the justice to bring about His ultimate purposes. He cuts off the wicked branch of Amon to make way for the fruitful branch of Josiah, all of which is preparing the way for the ultimate Son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Conclusion: The Unhumbled Heart
The story of Amon is a warning to all who would trifle with the grace of God. He is a monument to the danger of a hard heart. He saw what sin does, and he saw what repentance does, and he chose sin. He knew the way of humility, and he chose the way of pride. And so his guilt multiplied, and his life was cut short.
We must examine our own hearts. Are there areas where we are refusing to humble ourselves? We have seen the grace of God in Jesus Christ. We have seen His death for our sin and His resurrection for our justification. We know the path of life is the path of repentance and faith. To know this and to refuse it, to continue in our own pet idolatries, is to be an Amon. It is to multiply our guilt.
But the story also ends with a note of tremendous hope. God is not finished. Even in the darkest times, when it seems that apostasy has won the day, God is at work, preserving His people and preparing the way for reformation. He cut off Amon and raised up Josiah. And He sent His own Son to be cut off for our multiplied guilt, so that in Him, we might be raised up to new life. The choice before us is the same choice that was before Amon: humility or multiplied guilt. May God grant us the grace to humble ourselves under His mighty hand, so that at the proper time He may exalt us.