Ammon; Ammonites; Children of Ammon
Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:
Land of the Ammonites was east of the Dead Sea between the Arnon on the south to the Jabbok on the north (Num. 21:2424And Israel smote him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from Arnon unto Jabbok, even unto the children of Ammon: for the border of the children of Ammon was strong. (Numbers 21:24); Deut. 2:19-2019And when thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, distress them not, nor meddle with them: for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon any possession; because I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession. 20(That also was accounted a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in old time; and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims; (Deuteronomy 2:19‑20)). People called Ammonites from their ancestor Ben-Ammi (Gen. 19:3838And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Ben-ammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day. (Genesis 19:38)). Nomadic, idolatrous, incursive and cruel (1 Sam. 11:1-31Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabesh-gilead: and all the men of Jabesh said unto Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee. 2And Nahash the Ammonite answered them, On this condition will I make a covenant with you, that I may thrust out all your right eyes, and lay it for a reproach upon all Israel. 3And the elders of Jabesh said unto him, Give us seven days' respite, that we may send messengers unto all the coasts of Israel: and then, if there be no man to save us, we will come out to thee. (1 Samuel 11:1‑3); Amos 1:1313Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead, that they might enlarge their border: (Amos 1:13); Judg. 10:66And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the Lord, and served not him. (Judges 10:6)). Reduced to servitude by David (2 Sam. 12:26-3126And Joab fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and took the royal city. 27And Joab sent messengers to David, and said, I have fought against Rabbah, and have taken the city of waters. 28Now therefore gather the rest of the people together, and encamp against the city, and take it: lest I take the city, and it be called after my name. 29And David gathered all the people together, and went to Rabbah, and fought against it, and took it. 30And he took their king's crown from off his head, the weight whereof was a talent of gold with the precious stones: and it was set on David's head. And he brought forth the spoil of the city in great abundance. 31And he brought forth the people that were therein, and put them under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brickkiln: and thus did he unto all the cities of the children of Ammon. So David and all the people returned unto Jerusalem. (2 Samuel 12:26‑31)). Denounced by Jeremiah and Ezekiel (Jer. 49:1-61Concerning the Ammonites, thus saith the Lord; Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why then doth their king inherit Gad, and his people dwell in his cities? 2Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites; and it shall be a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel be heir unto them that were his heirs, saith the Lord. 3Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled: cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, gird you with sackcloth; lament, and run to and fro by the hedges; for their king shall go into captivity, and his priests and his princes together. 4Wherefore gloriest thou in the valleys, thy flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? that trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come unto me? 5Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord God of hosts, from all those that be about thee; and ye shall be driven out every man right forth; and none shall gather up him that wandereth. 6And afterward I will bring again the captivity of the children of Ammon, saith the Lord. (Jeremiah 49:1‑6); Ezek. 25:2-102Son of man, set thy face against the Ammonites, and prophesy against them; 3And say unto the Ammonites, Hear the word of the Lord God; Thus saith the Lord God; Because thou saidst, Aha, against my sanctuary, when it was profaned; and against the land of Israel, when it was desolate; and against the house of Judah, when they went into captivity; 4Behold, therefore I will deliver thee to the men of the east for a possession, and they shall set their palaces in thee, and make their dwellings in thee: they shall eat thy fruit, and they shall drink thy milk. 5And I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the Ammonites a couchingplace for flocks: and ye shall know that I am the Lord. 6For thus saith the Lord God; Because thou hast clapped thine hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced in heart with all thy despite against the land of Israel; 7Behold, therefore I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and will deliver thee for a spoil to the heathen; and I will cut thee off from the people, and I will cause thee to perish out of the countries: I will destroy thee; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. 8Thus saith the Lord God; Because that Moab and Seir do say, Behold, the house of Judah is like unto all the heathen; 9Therefore, behold, I will open the side of Moab from the cities, from his cities which are on his frontiers, the glory of the country, Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon, and Kiriathaim, 10Unto the men of the east with the Ammonites, and will give them in possession, that the Ammonites may not be remembered among the nations. (Ezekiel 25:2‑10)).
Concise Bible Dictionary:
Ben-ammi was the son of Lot by his youngest daughter. “The same is the father of the children of Ammon” (Gen. 19:3838And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Ben-ammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day. (Genesis 19:38)). His descendants were neighbors to Israel between the Arnon and the Jabbok on the east, and had much to do with Israel. God had bidden Moses not to touch the Ammonites, nor was their land to be possessed by Israel: it had been given to the children of Lot. Their city was Rabbath-ammon, perhaps their only city, as they were a nomadic people. None of the nation were to be allowed to enter the congregation of Israel to the tenth generation, that is, forever (Deut. 23:33An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the Lord for ever: (Deuteronomy 23:3); Neh. 13:11On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people; and therein was found written, that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God for ever; (Nehemiah 13:1)). With Amalek they assisted the king of Moab against Israel, and Jericho fell into their hands (Judg. 3:1313And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and possessed the city of palm trees. (Judges 3:13)). Israel served their gods, and God gave them up on both sides of the Jordan to serve the Ammonites. On Israel crying to Jehovah the children of Ammon were defeated under Jephthah. In the early days of Saul’s reign they besieged Jabesh-gilead, and would only make peace on the condition that the right eyes of the inhabitants should be thrust out, in order that it might be a reproach on Israel; but Saul hastened to their aid, and routed the Ammonites (1 Sam. 11:1-111Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabesh-gilead: and all the men of Jabesh said unto Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee. 2And Nahash the Ammonite answered them, On this condition will I make a covenant with you, that I may thrust out all your right eyes, and lay it for a reproach upon all Israel. 3And the elders of Jabesh said unto him, Give us seven days' respite, that we may send messengers unto all the coasts of Israel: and then, if there be no man to save us, we will come out to thee. 4Then came the messengers to Gibeah of Saul, and told the tidings in the ears of the people: and all the people lifted up their voices, and wept. 5And, behold, Saul came after the herd out of the field; and Saul said, What aileth the people that they weep? And they told him the tidings of the men of Jabesh. 6And the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard those tidings, and his anger was kindled greatly. 7And he took a yoke of oxen, and hewed them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the coasts of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying, Whosoever cometh not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done unto his oxen. And the fear of the Lord fell on the people, and they came out with one consent. 8And when he numbered them in Bezek, the children of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand. 9And they said unto the messengers that came, Thus shall ye say unto the men of Jabesh-gilead, To morrow, by that time the sun be hot, ye shall have help. And the messengers came and showed it to the men of Jabesh; and they were glad. 10Therefore the men of Jabesh said, To morrow we will come out unto you, and ye shall do with us all that seemeth good unto you. 11And it was so on the morrow, that Saul put the people in three companies; and they came into the midst of the host in the morning watch, and slew the Ammonites until the heat of the day: and it came to pass, that they which remained were scattered, so that two of them were not left together. (1 Samuel 11:1‑11); 1 Sam. 12:1212And when ye saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, ye said unto me, Nay; but a king shall reign over us: when the Lord your God was your king. (1 Samuel 12:12)). Their gold and silver taken in battle were dedicated by David to Jehovah. Their king insulted David’s servants sent to show kindness to him, as the world refuses the kindness of God’s king, and brings judgment upon it (2 Sam. 10:1-101And it came to pass after this, that the king of the children of Ammon died, and Hanun his son reigned in his stead. 2Then said David, I will show kindness unto Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father showed kindness unto me. And David sent to comfort him by the hand of his servants for his father. And David's servants came into the land of the children of Ammon. 3And the princes of the children of Ammon said unto Hanun their lord, Thinkest thou that David doth honor thy father, that he hath sent comforters unto thee? hath not David rather sent his servants unto thee, to search the city, and to spy it out, and to overthrow it? 4Wherefore Hanun took David's servants, and shaved off the one half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent them away. 5When they told it unto David, he sent to meet them, because the men were greatly ashamed: and the king said, Tarry at Jericho until your beards be grown, and then return. 6And when the children of Ammon saw that they stank before David, the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Beth-rehob, and the Syrians of Zoba, twenty thousand footmen, and of king Maacah a thousand men, and of Ish-tob twelve thousand men. 7And when David heard of it, he sent Joab, and all the host of the mighty men. 8And the children of Ammon came out, and put the battle in array at the entering in of the gate: and the Syrians of Zoba, and of Rehob, and Ish-tob, and Maacah, were by themselves in the field. 9When Joab saw that the front of the battle was against him before and behind, he chose of all the choice men of Israel, and put them in array against the Syrians: 10And the rest of the people he delivered into the hand of Abishai his brother, that he might put them in array against the children of Ammon. (2 Samuel 10:1‑10); 2 Sam. 11:11And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem. (2 Samuel 11:1); 2 Sam. 12:26-3126And Joab fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and took the royal city. 27And Joab sent messengers to David, and said, I have fought against Rabbah, and have taken the city of waters. 28Now therefore gather the rest of the people together, and encamp against the city, and take it: lest I take the city, and it be called after my name. 29And David gathered all the people together, and went to Rabbah, and fought against it, and took it. 30And he took their king's crown from off his head, the weight whereof was a talent of gold with the precious stones: and it was set on David's head. And he brought forth the spoil of the city in great abundance. 31And he brought forth the people that were therein, and put them under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brickkiln: and thus did he unto all the cities of the children of Ammon. So David and all the people returned unto Jerusalem. (2 Samuel 12:26‑31)).
On the other hand, Shobi, of Rabbah, brought provisions when David fled from Absalom (2 Sam. 17:2727And it came to pass, when David was come to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim, (2 Samuel 17:27)), and Zelek, an Ammonite, was one of David’s thirty valiant men. Solomon loved some of their women, and the mother of his son Rehoboam was Naamah an Ammonitess (1 Kings 14:21, 3121And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. And his mother's name was Naamah an Ammonitess. (1 Kings 14:21)
31And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And his mother's name was Naamah an Ammonitess. And Abijam his son reigned in his stead. (1 Kings 14:31)). They molested Israel with varied success until the days of Jehoiakim (2 Kings 24:22And the Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by his servants the prophets. (2 Kings 24:2)). Lot being the father of both Moab and Ammon, it is not surprising that the Moabites were often linked with the Ammonites in their attacks upon Israel. Hatred of God’s people united them in one common desire to cut them off from being a nation (Psalm 83:4-84They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. 5For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee: 6The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes; 7Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre; 8Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah. (Psalm 83:4‑8)). Tobiah, an Ammonite, was a troublesome adversary to the Jews on their return from captivity. (Neh. 2:10,1910When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel. (Nehemiah 2:10)
19But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king? (Nehemiah 2:19); Neh. 4:3,73Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall. (Nehemiah 4:3)
7But it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth, (Nehemiah 4:7)). Nevertheless the Jews intermarried with this nation, thus mixing “the holy seed” with the people of the land. (Ezra 9:1-21Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. 2For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass. (Ezra 9:1‑2); Neh. 13:23-2523In those days also saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab: 24And their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people. 25And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves. (Nehemiah 13:23‑25)).
The whole history supplies us with instruction as to the imperative necessity of keeping separate from the contaminations of the world in order to walk with God, and be blessed by Him.
When the king of the north, in a future day, shall enter into “the glorious land,” Edom, Moab, and Ammon shall escape his hand (Dan. 11:4141He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. (Daniel 11:41)); they are reserved to be subdued by Israel, whom they seduced and persecuted in by-gone ages (Isa. 11:1414But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them. (Isaiah 11:14)).
Jackson’s Dictionary of Scripture Proper Names:
tribal (peoplish)
“557. The God Ammon” From Manners and Customs of the Bible:
Jeremiah 46:2525The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saith; Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings; even Pharaoh, and all them that trust in him: (Jeremiah 46:25). Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, rand Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings.
The most of commentators now agree that amon, here rendered “multitude,” should be taken as a proper name, and left untranslated. The original is amon minno, “Amon of No.” By No is undoubtedly meant the celebrated Egyptian city of Thebes, which was situated on both sides of the Nile, and was noted for its hundred gates of brass, its numerous and splendid temples, obelisks, and statues. Amon was the name of an Egyptian deity, and probably of a Libyan and Ethiopian god, whose worship had its seat in Thebes, where was an oracle of the deity; for which reason the name of the city was joined to that of the god. This is to be noticed not only in this text, but also in Nahum 3:88Art thou better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea? (Nahum 3:8), where for the “populous No” of our version the original has No Anion. The Greeks likened this god to Zeus, and the Romans called him Jupiter Ammon or Hammon. He appears to have been a personification of the sun, and is thought to have corresponded to Baal of the Phenicians. The ancient Egyptian name is said to have been Amen. On the monuments it is written Amn or Amn-Re, Amon the Sun.
It was formerly supposed, and is still commonly asserted, that this god was represented under the figure of a human form with a ram’s head. This, however, has of late been denied. Fairbairn says: “It was the god Neph, sometimes written Kneph, and by the Greeks Chnoubis, who was so represented, and the proper seat of whose worship was not Thebes, but Meroë, who also had a famous oracle in the Lybian desert. The Amon of Thebes, ‘king of gods’ as he was called, always had the form simply of a man assigned him, and in one of the characters under which he was worshiped appears to have been virtually identified with the sun, and in another with the Egyptian Pan” (Imperial Bible Dictionary).
Wilkinson says, “The figure of Amun was that of a man, with a head-dress surmounted by two long feathers; the color of his body was light blue, like the Indian Vishnoo, as if to indicate his peculiarly exalted and heavenly nature; but he was not figured with the head or under the form of a ram, as the Greeks and Romans supposed” (Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, vol. 4, p. 246).
“557. The God Ammon” From Manners and Customs of the Bible:
Jeremiah 46:2525The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saith; Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings; even Pharaoh, and all them that trust in him: (Jeremiah 46:25). Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, rand Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings.
The most of commentators now agree that amon, here rendered “multitude,” should be taken as a proper name, and left untranslated. The original is amon minno, “Amon of No.” By No is undoubtedly meant the celebrated Egyptian city of Thebes, which was situated on both sides of the Nile, and was noted for its hundred gates of brass, its numerous and splendid temples, obelisks, and statues. Amon was the name of an Egyptian deity, and probably of a Libyan and Ethiopian god, whose worship had its seat in Thebes, where was an oracle of the deity; for which reason the name of the city was joined to that of the god. This is to be noticed not only in this text, but also in Nahum 3:88Art thou better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea? (Nahum 3:8), where for the “populous No” of our version the original has No Anion. The Greeks likened this god to Zeus, and the Romans called him Jupiter Ammon or Hammon. He appears to have been a personification of the sun, and is thought to have corresponded to Baal of the Phenicians. The ancient Egyptian name is said to have been Amen. On the monuments it is written Amn or Amn-Re, Amon the Sun.
It was formerly supposed, and is still commonly asserted, that this god was represented under the figure of a human form with a ram’s head. This, however, has of late been denied. Fairbairn says: “It was the god Neph, sometimes written Kneph, and by the Greeks Chnoubis, who was so represented, and the proper seat of whose worship was not Thebes, but Meroë, who also had a famous oracle in the Lybian desert. The Amon of Thebes, ‘king of gods’ as he was called, always had the form simply of a man assigned him, and in one of the characters under which he was worshiped appears to have been virtually identified with the sun, and in another with the Egyptian Pan” (Imperial Bible Dictionary).
Wilkinson says, “The figure of Amun was that of a man, with a head-dress surmounted by two long feathers; the color of his body was light blue, like the Indian Vishnoo, as if to indicate his peculiarly exalted and heavenly nature; but he was not figured with the head or under the form of a ram, as the Greeks and Romans supposed” (Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, vol. 4, p. 246).
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