- 136-
** The reference in 2 Chronicles 33:19 to "the history of Hozai," may be to a prophetic
book, now lost, or else a clerical error for (...) , "the seers." The latter seems to have been
the view of the LXX.
*** The locality is unknown. It has lately been identified with the burying-place of
Alexander the Maccabee, on the eastern side of the Haram.
That the reformation made by Manasseh could only have been superficial, appears also
from the record of the brief reign of his son and successor Amon. Indeed, some writers
have seen a picture of that period in certain of the utterances of Zephaniah,* although he
prophesied during the reign of Josiah.
- For ex. 1. 4-6, 12, 13; 3. 1-4, 11. But most critics refer all such utterances of the prophet
to the insufficiency of the reformation in Josiah's time.
Amon was twenty-four years old at his accession, and his rule only lasted two years. It
was marked by the resumption of the idolatry of Manasseh - apparently in an even
aggravated form (2 Chronicles 33:23). A palace-conspiracy put an end to his life. As on a
former occasion (2 Kings 14:20, 21), "the people of the land" secured the Davidic
succession by proclaiming Josiah, the youthful son of Amen, heir to his throne.
(^)