The wretched reign ended wretchedly. Amon met the fate of Amaziah and of Joash. He was murdered by conspirators--by some of his own courtiers--in his own palace. He was not the victim of any general rebellion. The people of the land were apparently content with the existent idolatry, which left them free for lives of lust and luxury, of greed and gain. They resented the disorder introduced by an intrigue of eunuchs or court officials. They rose and slew the whole band of conspirators. Amon was buried with his father in the new burial-place of the Kings in the garden of Uzza, and the people placed his son Josiah--a child of eight years old--upon the throne. FOOTNOTES: [657] The name Amon is unusual. Some identify it with the name of the Egyptian sun-god (Nah. iii. 8). If so, we see yet another element of Manasseh's syncretism, and (as some fancy) an attempt to open relations with Psammetichus of Egypt. But perhaps the name may be Hebrew for "Architect" (1 Kings xxii. 26; Neh. vii. 59). [658] 2 Kings xxi. 19. The LXX. reads "twelve years," but not so Josephus (_Antt._, X. iv. 1), or 2 Chron. xxxiii. 21. [659] Zeph. iii. 1-11. Comp. i. 4. [660] _Chemarim_, 2 Kings xxiii. 5; Hos. x. 5. The root in Syriac means "to be sad," but Kimchi derives it from a root "to be black." The Vulgate renders it _æditui_ and _aruspices_. [661] We are told in the titles of their books that both these prophets prophesied in the days of Josiah; but such pictures can only apply to the earliest years of his reign. [662] See Jer. v., vi., vii., _passim_. [663] Jer. vi. 13-15. [664] Jer. v. 30, 31. CHAPTER XXX _JOSIAH_ B.C. 639-608[665] 2 KINGS xii., xxiii "Τὴν δὲ φύσιν αὐτὸς ἄριστος ὑπῆρχε καὶ πρὸς ἀρετὴν εὗ γεγονώς."--Jos., _Antt._, iv. 1. "In outline dim and vast Their fearful shadows cast The giant forms of Empires, on their way To ruin: one by one They tower, and they are gone." KEBLE. If we are to understand the reign of Josiah as a whole, we must preface it by some allusion to the great epoch-marking circumstances of his age, which explain the references of contemporary prophets, and which, in great measure, determined the foreign policy of the pious king. The three memorable events of this brief epoch were, (I.) the movement of the Scythians, (II.) the rise of Babylon, and (III.) the humiliation of Nineveh, followed by her total destruction. I. Many of Jeremiah's earlier prophecies belong to this period, and we see that both he and Zephaniah--who was probably a great-great-grandson of King Hezekiah himself,[666] and prophesied in this reign[667]--are greatly occupied with a danger from the North which seems to threaten universal ruin.