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Introduction
It is easy to confuse the Ammonites with the Amorites, who are two different peoples, but both of whom lived in the same area east of the River Jordan.
Origin of the Ammonites
The Ammonites were the descendants of Ben-ammi, the son born from Lot’s incestual relationship with his younger daughter (Gen 19:38). Because they were relatives of the Israelites, God commanded them to treat the Ammonites kindly, and not engage them in war (Deut 2:19).
The land of Ammon
They occupied the land of the Zamzummim, between the River Arnon to the south and the River Jabbok to the north, and the River Jordan to the west (Deut 2:20-21, 37). By the time of the Exodus, the Amorites had taken the western part of their land (Josh 12:2, 13:10). King Og of the Amorites was defeated by the Israelites, who allocated that land to the tribes of Reuben and Gad.
This is what the king of the Ammonites said to Jephthah, “Because Israel, on coming from Egypt, took away my land from the Arnon to the Jabbok and to the Jordan; now therefore restore it peacefully” (Judges 11:13).
The Ammonites built a strong boundary (Num 21:24). Small fortresses along their border have been excavated. The main city was Ammon, also known as Rabbah, which is the modern Jordanian capital city of Amman. It was here that the huge iron bed belonging to Og, the king of the Bashan, could be seen (Deut 3:11). This was probably an ironstone sarcophagus.
After the Exodus
As the Israelites approached the Promised Land, obediently did not conquer Ammon (Deut 2:19, Judges 11:15). The Ammonites were condemned for joining the Moabites when they hired Balaam to curse Israel. Because of this they were forbidden to enter the congregation for ten generations (Deut 23:3-6).
Judges
During the time of the judges, Ammon joined King Eglon of Moab in attacking Israel and taking Jericho, the city of palms. Israel had to serve Eglon for 18 years (Judges 3:12-14), before they were delivered by the left-handed Ehud, who tricked and killed Eglon while he was relieving himself.
Later, the Ammonites took land from Israel, so the elders sent for Jephthah, calling him to be their commander (Judges 11:4-6). God was disciplining them because the Israelites were worshipping the gods of the Ammonites and other nations (Judges 10:6). Jephthah was able to subdue the Ammonites (Judges 11:33), but rashly made an oath to sacrifice the first person who came out of his house - which turned out to be his own daughter.
Saul
Nahash, king of the Ammonites who had been oppressing the trans-jordan tribes of Gad and Reuben. He gouged out the right eye of Israelite men, so 7000 fled to Jabesh-gilead. After Samuel anointed Saul as king, some worthless fellows questioned whether this man could save Israel (1 Sam 10:27). A month later, Nahash besieged Jabesh-gilead, and challenged them to surrender and make a treaty. Saul dramatically summoned thousands of Israelites were able to cut down the Ammonites, and drive any survivors away (1 Sam 1:1-11). As a result, the Israelites welcomed Saul to be their king (1 Sam 12:12).
David
Nahash later became a friend of David, but was succeeded by his son Hanun, who rejected a visit from David’s ambassadors and humiliated them by shaving off half their beards and cutting off their garments at the hips (2 Sam 10:1-2). They hired soldiers from Syria in an attempt to attack David’s kingdom. However Joab and his brother Abishai defeated them, so they fled (2 Sam 10:6-14, 1 Chr 19). A year later Joab and the Israelite army captured the Ammonite capital of Rabbah, giving the crown of the Ammonite kings to David (2 Sam 12:26-31, 1 Chr 30:1-3). The inhabitants of Ammon were set them to work in manual labour.
Some individual Ammonites became faithful to David, including Shobi, son of Nahash, who brought food and cared for David after he had fled from Absalom (2 Sam 17:27-29). Another Ammonite, Zelek, became one of David’s thirty mighty men (2 Sam 23:37, 1 Chr 11:39).
Solomon
Solomon married women from other nations including the Ammonites (1 Kg 11:1) which led him to worship and build a high place on the mountain east of Jerusalem for Milcom / Molech, the abomination of the Ammonites (1 Kg 11:5,7). This idolatry led to the division of the kingdom (1 Kg 11:33). Solomon had probably married these woman as part of making peace treaties with the nations. The child of one of the Ammonite women became the mother of Rehoboam, who succeeded Solomon as the first king of the southern kingdom of Judah (1 Kg 14:21, 2 Chr 12:13).
Jehoshaphat
During the reign of Jehoshaphat, the Ammonites joined together with the Moabites and Edomites to raid Judah. In response, Jehoshaphat called on God to deliver them. The army defeated this coalition as they sang and praised the LORD (2 Chr 20:1-30).
Joash
Joash had killed the prophet Zechariah (Matt 23:35), the son of godly Jehoiada, who had raised Joash as a child during the evil days of the rule of Athaliah. God brought the army of Syria against Joash as a judgement. Joash was wounded, after which his servants conspired against him and killed him. One of those servants was Zabad, the son of Shimeath the Ammorite (2 Chr 24:15-26).
Uzziah and Jotham
Both Uzziah and Jotham received tribute from the Ammonites (2 Chr 26:8, 27:5).
Exile of trans-jordan
The Ammonites occupied the land of Gad after the transjordan tribes were exiled by Tiglath-pileser III in 734 BC (2 Kg 15:29).
Josiah
During his reforms, Josiah defiled the high places. One of these was the high place Solomon had built for Milcom / Molech, the abomination of the Ammonites. He broke the pillars, cut down sacred poles, and covered the sites with human bones (2 Kg 23:13-14).
Jehoiakim and the fall of Jerusalem
Right to the end of the history of Judah, the Ammonites were causing trouble. When Jehoiakim turned against the Babylonians, God sent bands of nations including the Ammonites (2 Kg 24:1-2). After Gedaliah was appointed governor by the Babylonians, king Baalis of the Ammonites and others plotted to kill Gedaliah (Jer 40:11-14). Ammon was probably invaded by Nebuchadnezzar in 582 BC.
Oracles from the prophets
The Ammonites were condemned by several of the prophets for their perpetual hostility to Israel. Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel include the Ammonites in their oracles against the nations.
Jeremiah
The Ammonites trusted in their treasures, and were complacent, thinking that no one would attack them (v4). The judgement is described as invasion and destruction by fire (v3). The promise of restoration (v6) could refer to when the region of Ammon became the Decapolis, a prosperous area during and after the Greek period (Jer 49:1-6).
Ezekiel
God called Ezekiel to mark out two roads with a sword with a signpost at a fork in the road, one road pointing to Rabbah of the Ammonites, the other to Jerusalem. The king of Babylon will use divination to choose Jerusalem (Ezek 21:18-23).
Ezekiel also gave longer oracle against the Ammonites after they rejoiced at the sanctuary in Jerusalem being profaned. He predicted people from the East, probably the Babylonians, taking their land and Rabbah becoming a pasture for camels and sheep (Ezek 25:1-7).
Amos
Amos condemned the Ammonites for ripping open the pregnant women in Gilead (Amos 1:13-15). This atrocity probably took place when the Ammonites took the land after the Transjordan tribes were exiled by Tiglath-pileser III in 734 BC (2 Kg 15:29). Amos predicted fire, storm and exile as a punishment.
Zephaniah
Zephaniah condemned the Ammonites, together with the Moabites for their taunts and boasting against the Israelites. Zephaniah predicted that the two nations will become like Sodom and Gomorrah (Zeph 2:8-11).
After the exile
Tobiah the Ammonite was one of the three (plus Sanballat the Horonite and Geshem the Arab) opposed to Nehemiah rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem (Neh 2:9,19), mocking the builders of the walls (Neh 4:3,7).
Both Ezra and Nehemiah spoke out against the Jews who had married Ammonite women (Ezra 9:1-2, Neh 13:1,23-31).
In the second century BC, Judas Maccabaeus attacked the Gentile nations who had opposed the rebuilding of the altar and rededication of the temple in Jerusalem. This included him attacking the Ammonites, fighting many battles before crushing them and taking Jazer and its villages (1 Macc 5:1-8).
Later Arab invasions destroyed Moab, Edom and Ammon. The area of Ammon was occupied by the Romans from the first century BC to the third century AD.
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