Amon

Amon, 1

Fig. 34—Amon, an Egyptian god

A´mon (Jer 46:25) is the name of an Egyptian god, in whom the classical writers unanimously recognize their own Zeus and Jupiter. His chief temple and oracle in Egypt were at Thebes, a city peculiarly consecrated to him, and which is probably meant by the No and No Amon of the prophets. He is generally represented on Egyptian monuments by the seated figure of a man with a ram’s head, or by that of an entire ram, and of a blue color. In honor of him, the inhabitants of the Thebaid abstained from the flesh of sheep, but they annually sacrificed a ram to him and dressed his image in the hide.

As for the power which was worshipped under the form of Amon, it has been asserted that the Libyans adored the setting sun under that of their Ammon; others have endeavoured to prove that Amon represented the sun at the vernal equinox. But nothing very definite is known upon the subject, though the fact seems placed beyond a doubt that Amon bears some relation to the sun.

Amon, 2

Amon (artificer), son of Manasseh, and fourteenth king of Judah, who began to reign B.C. 641, and reigned two years. He appears to have derived little benefit from the instructive example which the sin, punishment, and repentance of his father offered; for he restored idolatry, and again set up the images which Manasseh had cast down. He was assassinated in a court conspiracy: but the people put the regicides to death, and raised to the throne his son Josiah, then but eight years old (2Ki 21:19-26; 2Ch 33:21-25).

The fourteenth king of Judah, son of Manasseh, began to reign B. C. 639, at the age of twenty-two, and reigned only two years at Jerusalem. He did evil in the sight of the Lord, as his father Manasseh had done, by forsaking Jehovah and worshipping idols. His servants conspired against him, and slew him in his own house; but the people killed all the conspirators, and established his son Josiah on the throne. He was buried in the garden of Uzzah, 2Ki 21:18-26 2Ch 33:21-25 .\par

A’mon. (the mysterious).

1. An Egyptian divinity, whose name occurs in that of No-amon. Nah 3:8. Amen was one of the eight gods of the first order and chief of the triad of Thebes. He was worshipped at that city as Amen-Ra, or "Amen the Sun".

(builder).

2. One of Ahab’s governors. 1Ki 22:26; 2Ch 18:25.

3. King of Judah, son and successor of Manasseh, reigned two years, from B.C. 642 to 640. Amon devoted himself wholly to the service of false gods, but was killed in a conspiracy, and was succeeded by his son Josiah.

(Nah 3:8). No-Amon, i.e. Thebes, or No, the city of Amon, an Egyptian god (Jer 46:25), "the multitude of No," else "Amon of No" ("the nourisher", Hebrew). The Egyptian name is Amen, "the hidden," or "mysterious"; one of the eight gods of the first order; thief of the Theban triad, worshipped as Amen-ra (i.e. the sun), represented as a man wearing a cap with two plumes, both male and female; accompanied with sacred trees, like the "groves" connected with Baal’s worship. In the great Oasis he was worshipped as the ram-headed god Num, and in Meroe as Kneph. The Greeks called him Jupiter Ammon.

(Heb., Amon’, אָמוֹן, builder [the deriv. of No. 3 is prob. different]), the name of three men and a deity.

1. (Sept. Α᾿μμών, and Ε᾿μήρ v. r. Σεμήρ.) The governor of the city of Samaria in the time of Ahab, to whose custody the prophet Micaiah was delivered (1Ki 22:26; 2Ch 18:25), B.C. 895.

2. (Sept. Α᾿μών v. r. Α᾿μώς.) The son of Manasseh (by Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah), and fifteenth separate king of Judah, B.C. 642-640. He appears to have derived little benefit from the instructive example which the sin, punishment, and repentance of his father offered; for he restored idolatry, and again set up the images which Manasseh had cast down. To Amon’s reign we must refer the terrible picture which the prophet Zephaniah gives of the moral and religious state of Jerusalem; idolatry supported by priests and prophets (1, 4; 3, 4), the poor ruthlessly oppressed (3, 3), and shameless indifference to evil (3, 11). He was assassinated in a courit conspiracy; but the people put the regicides to death, and raised to the throne his son Josiah, then but eight years old (2Ki 21:18-26; 2Ch 33:20-25). He is mentioned among the ancestors of Christ (Α᾿μών, Mat 1:10; comp. 1Ch 3:14; Jer 1:2; Jer 25:3; Zep 1:1). SEE JUDAH, KINGDOM OF.

3. (Sept. Α᾿μμών.) AMMON SEE AMMON , an Egyptian and Libyan god, in whom the classical writers unanimously recognize their own Zeus and Jupiter (Α᾿μοῦν, Herod. 2, 42; ῎Αμμων, Diod. Sic. 1, 13). The primitive seat of his worship appears to have been at Meroe, from which it descended to Thebes, and thence, according to Herodotus (2, 54), was transmitted to the oasis of Siwah and to Dodona; in all which places there were celebrated oracles of this god (Plut. Isid. c. 9; Alex. c. 72; Arnotius, 6, 12; Justin, 11, 11; Strabo, 1, 49 sq.; 17, 814). His chief temple and oraclein Egypt, however, were at Thebes, a city peculiarly conseerated to him, and which is probably meant by the No and No-Amon of the prophets, the Diospolis of the Greeks. He is generally represented on, Egyptian monuments by the seated figure of a man with a ram’s head, or by that of an entire ram, and of a blue color (Wilkinson, 2 ser. 1, 243 sq.). In honor of him, the inhabitants of the Thebaid abstained from the flesh of sheep, but they annually sacrificed a ram to him and dressed his image in the hide. A religious reason for that ceremony is assigned by Herodotus (2, 42); but Diodorus (3, 72) ascribes his wearing horns to a more trivial cause, There appears to be no account of the manner in which his oracular responses were given; but as a sculpture at Karnak, which Creuzer (Symbol. 1, 507) has copied from the Description de l’Egypte, represents his portable tabernacle mounted on a boat and borne on the shoulders of forty priests, it may be conjectured, from the resemblance between several features of that representation, and the description of the oracle of Jupiter Ammon in Diodorus, 17:50, that his responses were communicated by some indication during the solemn transportation of his tabernacle. (See Smith’s Dict. of Class. Biog. s.v. Ammon.) That the name of this god really occurs in the passage “Behold, I will punish the multitude (literally, Amon) of No” (Jer 46:25), is a view favored by the context and all internal grounds; but in the parallel passage; Eze 30:15, the equivalent hamon, הָמוֹן, is employed. Comp. also Eze 30:4; Eze 30:10, for the use of the latter word with reference to Egypt. These cases, or at least the former two, seem therefore to be instances of paronomasia (comp. Isa 30:7; Isa 65:11-12). It is also undoubtedly referred to in the name NO-AMMON, SEE NO, given to Thebes (Nah 3:8, where the English text translates “populous No”). The etymology of the name is obscure. Eustathius (ad Dionys. Perieg. p. 125, ed. Bernhardy) says that, according to some, the word means shepherd. Jablonski (Panth. AEgypt. 1, 181) proposed an etymology by which it would signify producing light; and Champollion originally regarded it as meaning glory (Egypte sous les Pharaons, 1, 247), but, in his latest interpretation (after Manetho in Plut.), assigned it the sense of hidden. The name accompanying the above figure on the monuments is written Amn, more fully Amn-Re, i.e. “Amon-Sun” (Gesenius, Thes. Heb. p. 115). Macrobius asserts (Saturnal. 1, 21) that the Libyans adored the sun under the form of Ammon; and he points to the ram’s horns as evidence of a connection with the zodiacal sign Aries (Muller, Archaol. p. 276; Pauly, Real-Encycl. 1, 407 sq.); but this has been disputed (Jomard, Descr. de l’Egypte; Bahr, Synbolik d. Mos. Cultus, 2, 296, 641), although it would seem unsuccessfully (Creuzer, Symbolik, 2, 205; Schmidt, De Zodiaci origine AEq. p. 33, in his Opusc. quibus res AEg. illustrantur, Carolsr. 1765). SEE EGYPT; SEE HIEROGLYPHICS.

4. (Sept. ᾿Ημειμ v. r. ᾿Ημίμ.) The head or ancestor of one of the families of the “Solomon’s servants” that returned from Babylon (Neh 7:59); called AMI in Ezr 2:57. B.C. ante 536.

Amon (â’mon), an Egyptian divinity, whose name occurs in mat of No-amon, Nah 3:8 R. "V., but in A. V. "populous No," or Thebes, also called No. The Greeks called this divinity Ammon. The ancient Egyptian name is Amen. Amen was one of the eight gods of the first order, and chief of the triad of Thebes. He was worshiped at that city as Amen-ra, or "Amen the sun."

Amon (â’mon), builder. King of Judah, son and successor of Manasseh, reigned two years from b.c. 642 to 640. Following his father’s example, Amon devoted himself wholly to the service of false gods, but was killed in a conspiracy. The people avenged him by putting all the conspirators to death, and secured the succession to his son Josiah. To Amon’s reign we must refer the terrible picture which the prophet Zephaniah gives of the moral and religious state of Jerusalem. 2. A governor of Samaria. 1Ki 22:26. 3. A person also called Ami.

[A’mon]

1. The governor of Samaria in the time of Ahab. 1Ki 22:26; 2Ch 18:25.

2. Son and successor of Manasseh, king of Judah. He reigned but 2 years, B.C. 643-2. He did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the idols which his father had set up. His servants conspired against him, and slew him in his own house. 2Ki 21:18-25; 1Ch 3:14; 2Ch 33:20-25; Jer 1:2; Jer 25:3; Zep 1:1; Mat 1:10.

3. Neh 7:59. See AMI

AMON.—A king of Judah (circa (about) 640 b.c.) mentioned in our Lord’s genealogy, Mat 1:10 (Gr. Ἀμώς, (Revised Version margin) Amos).

By: Gerson B. Levi

1. Governor of Samaria during the reign of Ahab (I Kings, xxii. 26; II Chron. xviii. 25). To him Ahab handed over Micaiah, the prophet, on his prophesying unfavorably to the king. 2. The "children of Amon" are mentioned in the long list of those who returned from Babylon under Zerubbabel (Neh. vii. 59).

AMON.—1. Son and successor of Manasseh king of Judah. He reigned two years or parts of years. Our Biblical books know only that he carried on the religious practices of his father. He was put to death by a palace conspiracy, but the assassins were punished by the populace, who placed Josiah on the throne (2Ki 21:19 ff.). It has been suggested that his name is that of the Egyptian sun-god (see next art.). 2. A governor of Samaria (1Ki 22:26). 3. See Ami.

H. P. Smith.

AMON (Gr. Ammon, Egyp. Amûn).—An Egyptian divinity, who, primarily worshipped as the god of fertility, and later as Amen-ra-setn-nteru (‘Amon, the sun-god, the king of the gods’), was the local deity of Thebes. With the subjugation of the petty princes of lower Egypt by Aahmes I. of Thebes (c [Note: circa, about.] . b.c. 1700), he became the Egyptian national god. His supremacy, recognized for 1100 years by all Egyptian rulers with the exception of Amenophis IV. (c [Note: circa, about.] . b.c. 1450), came to an end with Esarhaddon’s invasion of Egypt (b.c. 670; cf. Jer 46:25 f.) and the destruction of Thebes by Ashurbanipal (c [Note: circa, about.] . b.c. 662; cf. Nah 3:8). After these events he was relegated to the ranks of the local gods. See No, No-Amon.

N. Koenig.

ā´mon (אמון, ’āmōn): A name identical with that of the Egyptian local deity of Thebes (No); compare Jer 46:25. The foreign name given to a Hebrew prince is remarkable, as is also the fact that it is one of the two or three royal names of Judah not compounded with the name of Yahweh. See MANASSEH. It seems to reflect the sentiment which his fanatical father sought to make prevail that Yahweh had no longer any more claim to identification with the realm than had other deities.

(1) A king of Judah, son and successor of Manasseh; reigned two years and was assassinated in his own palace by the officials of his household. The story of his reign is told briefly in 2Ki 21:19-26, and still more briefly, though in identical terms, so far as they go, in 2Ch 33:21-25. His short reign was merely incidental in the history of Judah; just long enough to reveal the traits and tendencies which directly or indirectly led to his death. It was merely a weaker continuation of the régime of his idolatrous father, though without the fanaticism which gave the father positive character, and without the touch of piety which, if the Chronicler’s account is correct, tempered the father’s later years.

If the assassination was the initial act of a revolution the latter was immediately suppressed by “the people of the land,” who put to death the conspirators and placed Amon’s eight-year-old son Josiah on the throne. In the view of the present writer the motive of the affair was probably connected with the perpetuity of the Davidic dynasty, which, having survived so long according to prophetic prediction (compare 2Sa 7:16; Psa 89:36, Psa 89:37), was an essential guarantee of Yahweh’s favor. Manasseh’s foreign sympathies, however, had loosened the hold of Yahweh on the officials of his court; so that, instead of being the loyal center of devotion to Israel’s religious and national idea, the royal household was but a hotbed of worldly ambitions, and all the more for Manasseh’s prosperous reign, so long immune from any stroke of Divine judgment. It is natural that, seeing the insignificance of Amon’s administration, some ambitious clique, imitating the policy that had frequently succeeded in the Northern Kingdom, should strike for the throne. They had reckoned, however, without estimating the inbred Davidic loyalty of the body of the people. It was a blow at one of their most cherished tenets, committing the nation both politically and religiously to utter uncertainty. That this impulsive act of the people was in the line of the purer religious movement which was ripening in Israel does not prove that the spiritually-minded “remnant” was minded to violence and conspiracy, it merely shows what a stern and sterling fiber of loyalty still existed, seasoned and confirmed by trial below the corrupting cults and fashions of the ruling classes. In the tragedy of Amon’s reign, in short, we get a glimpse of the basis of sound principle that lay at the common heart of Israel.

(2) A governor of Samaria (1Ki 22:26); the one to whom the prophet Micaiah was committed as a prisoner by King Ahab, after the prophet had disputed the predictions of the court prophets and foretold the king’s death in battle.

(3) The head of the “children of Solomon’s servants” (Neh 7:59) who returned from captivity; reckoned along with the Nethinim, or temple slaves. Called also Ami (Ezr 2:57).