2 Kings 21:19

2 Kings 21:19 says, 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. Amon, Manasseh's son, was twenty-two years old when he began to reign after Manasseh died, but he only reigned two years.  His was a very short reign.  Sometimes, even Christians who are in positions of leadership only serve or a very short time, for instance the pastor of a church who is only there as a pastor for a very short time, and Amon was the leader of God's chosen people then as a pastor is now.  Verse twenty adds, And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh did.  Amon, like Manasseh his father, did evil in the sight of the Lord.   People often learn their values from their parents, and as followers of Christ, we should try to make sure that our values are consistent with God's commandments, and if they aren't, we need to repent and ask His forgiveness.  If we are in a position of leadership in the church, we certainly need to make sure that we are following the leadership of the Holy Spirit in all that we do.  Verse twenty-one continues, And he walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them:  Like his father, Amon worshipped idols instead of worshipping God.  An idol, which I have said before is anything that is more important to us than God, has no place in the life of a Christian or in a group of believers who worship together, which is what a local church should be.  Verse twenty-two states, And he forsook the LORD God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the LORD.  We are then told that Amon forsook the Lord God of his ancestors, God's chosen people, and did not walk in His ways.  The church today cannot afford to forsake the Lord our God and refuse to walk in the ways that our faithful ancestors did.  God's commandments are never going to change.  Verse twenty-three adds, And the servants of Amon conspired against him, and slew the king in his own house.  After two years, Amon's own servants killed him in his own house.  We aren't really told what led them to do this, but Matthew Henry says that even if they were unrighteous themselves, the righteous God allowed it.  Though some people believe that God is directly responsible for everything that happens, I believe that because of people's sins He often just allows bad things to happen to them.  Otherwise, people would be sinners because God caused them to be, and then how could He hold them accountable for doing something that they had no control over.  Verse twenty-four continues, And the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead.  The rest of the people killed those who had conspired against Amon and made Josiah, Amon's son, king.  Whatever their motive behind killing Amon, his servants were held accountable for their actions.  Though we as followers of Christ are forever saved, I believe that we will one day be held accountable for our actions after we are saved.  Salvation is not a free pass to sin.  Verse twenty-five says, Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?  As usual, we are told that the rest of the actions of Amon were recorded in the chronicles of the kings, though there likely weren't many since only he reigned for a short time.  Verse twenty-six adds, And he was buried in his sepulchre in the garden of Uzza: and Josiah his son reigned in his stead.  Like Amon his father, he was buried in his garden.  Where we are buried, or even if we are buried, is never really going to matter, because our spirit will live on, either with God or forever separated from Him.