God’s Word for You
2 Chronicles 33:21-24 Honor the king
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Wednesday, June 11, 2025
21 Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. 22 He did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD, as Manasseh his father had done. Amon sacrificed to all the images that Manasseh his father had made, and he served them. 23 He did not humble himself before the LORD, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself. Instead, Amon became more and more guilty. 24 His servants conspired against him and killed him in his own house. 25 But the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon. The people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place.
When Amon was quite young, just 16, he and his young wife had a baby that they named Josiah. Amon’s wife Jedidah came from the city of Bozkath in western Judah. Her name, Jedidah, is the feminine of Jedidiah, “Beloved,” which was one of Solomon’s additional names, given by the Lord himself through the prophet Samuel (2 Samuel 12:25). But Jedidah’s husband Amon was a rotten apple if ever there was one.
Amon embraced all of the things his father Manasseh had given up after his repentance. Perhaps Amon thought that his father’s repentance was a sign of weakness, or perhaps something in his personality just ran against the grain. There are two phrases here in Chronicles that do not appear in Amon’s brief biography in Kings: “He did not humble himself before the Lord,” and “He became more and more guilty.”
The two years of Amon’s reign were quiet as far as we know from world history. 642-640 BC saw the death of an early king of Rome (Tullus Hostillius), but more importantly to us, the births or early childhoods of several men who would become prophets in the final years of Judah and in the exile, including Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah.
Amon’s wicked religious practices may have been mirrored by wicked or intolerable behavior at home. Whatever caused the conspiracy, servants of the king plotted together and killed him while he was at home. In the Book of 2 Kings, we are told that both Manasseh and Amon were buried in the palace garden known as the Garden of Uzza, probably connected to the palace on the north side of Jerusalem, and not down on the hillside in the southern end where David and most of the other kings were buried.
The assassins were caught and put to death; the death of a king is a serious matter, in some ways just as serious as any murder, but also a larger problem, because it violates the Fourth Commandment as well as the Fifth. Under the Fourth Commandment we are commanded to love and honor our parents and others in authority over us, which obviously and most clearly includes the king. But when a parent or a king became a burden to those under them, either by abuse, or neglect, or by a king becoming a tyrant seeking revenge on anyone who disagrees with the policies of his madness or foolishness, this is a cross for Christians to bear. A Christian will not rise up against such a wicked father or king, but that wicked father or king should beware, for some other member of his household—such as Amon’s servants—may approach him while he is in the bath, in his cups, or taking a nap and end his cruelty forever with blade, club, or poison. Therefore someone in authority must judge: Am I guilty of sparing the rod, or of using the rod with too much enthusiasm? Both are sins, since we must discipline our children but we must avoid provoking their anger (Ephesians 6:4). As one Latin poet said, “I believe it is better to keep hold of one’s children with decency and generosity than with fear.”
Sometimes a question is raised in democracies, “Do I owe any debt of obedience or honor to a president I did not vote for?” This is related to a classic Lutheran catechism question: “Are illegitimate children obligated to obey their parents? It is clear that those who voted for the loser of a political race suffer after the loss of their candidate just as illegitimate children suffer disgrace because of their parents’ sin. Under ancient Roman law, parents of illegitimate children were considered undeserving of their children’s love. However, because the bond of nature and the tie of blood remains, it is right for children to overlook the injustice of their parents’ sins and for children to do those things that are required of their office as children: to honor them (Exodus 20:12), obey them (Colossians 3:20), and love them as you love anyone (Matthew 19:19). And in the same way, when a tyrant was on the throne, Paul still wrote to the Christians in Rome to submit, obey and fear him (Romans 13:1-5), even though that government took Paul’s life on account of his faith in Christ (2 Timothy 4:6).
Therefore, whether we carry the cross of unloving parents, a difficult employer, or an insane madman like George III on the throne, we heft those crosses in the name of Jesus Christ our true King, and give our obedience to God. As Peter said: “Show proper respect to everyone. Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king” (1 Peter 2:17).
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.