Ammon, Ammonites, Children of Ammon
Ammon, Ammonites, Children of Ammon
[Am’mon] [Ammon’ites]
Ben-ammi was the son of Lot by his youngest daughter. “The same is the father of the children of Ammon.” Gen 19:38. His descendants were neighbours 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, for ever. Deu 23:3; Neh 13:1. With Amalek they assisted the king of Moab against Israel, and Jericho fell into their hands. Jdg 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. 1Sa 11:1-11; 1Sa 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 judgement upon it. 2Sa 10:1-10; 2Sa 11:1; 2Sa 12:26-31.
On the other hand, Shobi, of Rabbah, brought provisions when David fled from Absalom, 2Sa 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. 1Ki 14:21; 1Ki 14:31. They molested Israel with varied success until the days of Jehoiakim: 2Ki 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. Psa 83:4-8. Tobiah, an Ammonite, was a troublesome adversary to the Jews on their return from captivity. Neh 2:10; Neh 2:19; Neh 4:3; Neh 4:7. Nevertheless the Jews intermarried with this nation, thus mixing ‘the holy seed’ with the people of the land. Ezr 9:1-2; Neh 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 11:41 ; they are reserved to be subdued by Israel, whom they seduced and persecuted in by-gone ages. Isa 11:14.
Milcom and Molech were the gods of the Ammonites: to the worship of which Solomon had been seduced by his strange wives. 1Ki 11:5; 1Ki 11:7.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Ammon, Ammonites, Children of Ammon
Ammon, Ammonites, Children of Ammon (m’mon,m’mon-tes), strong people, or, perhaps, the same as Ben-ammi, son of my kindred. A people descended from Ben-ammi, the son of Lot by his younger daughter, Gen 19:38; comp. Psa 83:7-8, as Moab was by the elder; and dating from the destruction of Sodom. The near relation between the two peoples indicated in the story of their origin continued throughout their existence. Comp. Jdg 10:6; 2Ch 20:1; Zep 2:8, etc. Indeed, so close’ was their union, and so near their identity, that each would appear to be occasionally spoken of under the name of the other. Unlike Moab, the precise position of the territory of the Ammonites is not ascertainable. In the earliest mention of them, Deu 2:20, they are said to have destroyed the Rephaim, whom they called the Zamzummim, and to have dwelt in their place, Jabbok being their border. Num 21:24; Deu 2:37; Deu 3:16. “Land,” or “country,” is, however, but rarely ascribed to them, nor is there any reference to those habits and circumstances of civilization, which so constantly recur in the allusions to Moab. Isa 15:1-9; Isa 16:1-14; Jer 48:1-47. On the contrary, we find everywhere traces of the fierce habits of marauders in their incursions. 1Sa 11:2; Amo 1:13. It appears that Moab was the settled and civilized half of the nation of Lot, and that Ammon formed its predatory and Bedouin section. On the west of Jordan they never obtained a footing. The hatred in which the Ammonites were held by Israel is stated to have arisen partly from their opposition, or, rather, their denial of assistance, Deu 23:4-5, to the Israelites on their approach to Canaan. But whatever its origin the animosity continued in force to the latest date. The tribe was governed by a king, Jdg 11:12, etc.; 1Sa 12:12; 2Sa 10:1; Jer 40:14; and by “princes,” 2Sa 10:3; 1Ch 19:3. It has been conjectured that Nahash, 1Sa 11:1; 2Sa 10:2, was the official title of the king as Pharaoh was of the Egyptian monarchs; but this is without any sure foundation. The divinity of the tribe was Molech, generally named in the Old Testament under the altered form of Milcom”the abomination of the children of Ammon;” and Malcham. Zep 1:5. In more than one passage under the word rendered “their king” in the A. V. an allusion is intended to this idol.