Read enough novels or watch enough movies and you will quickly see that most people—including Christians—long for a world where people get what they deserve in the end. But is this really a good thing? It certainly wouldn’t have been the best thing for the people of Judah during the reign of Amon.
Amon was the son of Manasseh, a notoriously wicked king who promoted idolatry throughout Judah. It comes as no surprise, then, that Amon, too, was a wicked king and worshipped idols just as his father had. He forsook the Lord and did not obey Him.
So when we read that Amon’s own officials conspired against him and assassinated him in his own palace, it seems like fitting, poetic justice. In fact, doesn’t Amon’s wickedness call for his descendants to be barred from ruling over Judah as well? After all, like father like son, right? But instead, the people of Judah rounded up all of Amon’s conspirators, executing them and installing Amon’s son Josiah in his place. Why would God allow the dynasty of such a wicked person to continue? The answer is simple: God is faithful to His promises. He had promised that David’s descendants would always rule over His people (2 Samuel 7), and Amon was one of David’s descendants.
Removing Amon’s descendants from the throne essentially meant nullifying God’s promise to David. The people of Judah must have recognized that God’s desires supersede our hunger to give people what we think they deserve.
As it turns out, Amon’s son Josiah was one of the godliest kings in the history of Judah (2 Kings 21–23). He fought idolatry and wickedness throughout the land and refurbished the temple. He even expanded Judah’s borders to include much of the land of Israel that had been lost to Assyria.