AMMONITES
Name of the descendants of “Ben-ammi”, the youngest son of Lot with his youngest daughter, born in a cave on a mountain near Zoar, now called “Zi’ara”, a few kilometers north of Heshbon.
His descendants were neighbors of Israel to the east, between the Arnon and the Jabbok, and had a lot to do with the history of Israel. God had commanded Moses not to touch the Ammonites; their land could not be possessed by Israel (Deut. 2:19, 37).
God had given it to the children of Ammon. Their capital was Rabat-amun, which was perhaps their only city, since they were a nomadic nation.
None of this nation was to be allowed entry into the congregation of Israel until the tenth generation, that is, never (Deut. 23:3; Neh. 13:1). Together with Amelech, they helped the king of Moab against Israel, and Jericho fell into their power (Judges 3:13).
Israel served their gods, and God gave the tribes on both banks of the Jordan to serve the Ammonites. As the Israelites cried out to Jehovah, the children of Ammon were defeated by Jephthah.
In the early days of King Saul they besieged Jabesh-gilead, and were only willing to make peace on the condition that the right eyes of its inhabitants would be gouged out, in order to cast dishonor on Israel.
Saul rushed to their aid, and sent the Ammonites into disarray (1 Sam. 11:1-11; 12:12). The gold and silver taken from them in battle were dedicated to Jehovah by David.
Their king insulted David’s servants when he sent messengers to comfort him over the death of his father, just as the world refuses the king’s kindness from God, and this brings judgment upon him (2 Sam. 10:1). -10; 11:1; 12:26-31).
On the other hand, Sobi of Rabbah brought provisions when David fled from Absalom (2 Sam. 17:27), and Selech, an Ammonite, is counted among David’s thirty mighty men (2 Sam. 23:37).
Solomon loved some of his wives, and the mother of Rehoboam, his successor, was Naamah, an Ammonite (1 Kings 14:21, 31). They harassed Israel with varying fortunes until the days of Jehoiakim (2 Kings 24:2).
Since Lot was the father of Moab and Ammon, it is not surprising that both nations frequently joined forces in their attacks against Israel.
The hatred of God’s people united them in a common desire to blot out the name of Israel as a nation (Ps. 83:4-8).
Tobiah, an Ammonite, was a disruptive adversary of the Jews upon their return from Babylonian captivity (Neh. 2:10, 19; 4:3, 7). However, the Jews “mixed the holy race” with this nation (Ezra 9:1, 2; Neh. 13:23-25).
All history gives us instruction regarding the imperative need to keep separate from the pollutions of the world in order to walk with God, and receive blessing from Him.
When the king of the north, at a future day, enters “the glorious land,” Edom, Moab, and Ammon will escape from his hand (Dan. 11:41); They are reserved to be subdued by Israel, whom they had seduced and persecuted in the past (Is. 9:14).
Milcom and Molech were the gods of the Ammonites; Solomon was seduced into worship by his foreign wives (1 Kings 11:5, 7).