The origin of the Ammonite people is attributed in Scripture to Lot’s incestuous relationship with his youngest daughter (Gen. 19:36-38). The Ammonites inhabited the area north and east of Moab in the region between the Ammon and the Jabbok. Its capital city became known as Rabbah or Rabat-Amun, the modern Amman.
Ammon was frequently hostile toward Israel (see Deut. 23:3, 4; Judg. 8:13; 2 Sam. 10:1–19; Neh. 4:3). The Assyrian king Sennacherib conquered Ammon during his campaign in western Asia (705 BC) and Pudiel of Amun paid tribute to Esarhaddon (690 BC). An Ammonite, Tobiah, hindered the rebuilding of Jerusalem by the Jews who had returned from exile (Neh. 2:10, 19; 4:3, 7). The Ammonites were incorporated into the Roman Empire and survive today as one of many lineages that form the ancestors of the Palestinian Arabs.
Source: Archaeological Biblical Dictionary
Amun (Heb. ammôn) were called the descendants of Ben-ammi, the youngest son of Lot, who had his daughter, born in a cave near Zoar (Gn. 19.38). They were considered relatives of the Israelites, who were ordered to treat them with kindness (Dt. 2.19).
In primitive times the Ammonites occupied the territory of the Zomzomeos, between the Arnon and Jabbok rivers (Dt. 2.20-21, 37; 3.11). Later the Amorites took over part of that territory, and the Ammonites were reduced to an area E of the Jabboc River (Nm. 21.24; Dt. 2.37; Jos. 12.2; 13.10, 25; Jue. 11.13, 22). Archeology shows that the Ammonites, like others, surrounded their territories with small fortresses (Num. 21.24).
Israel did not conquer Ammon at the time of the exodus (Dt. 2.19, 37; Judges 11.15). However, the Ammonites were condemned for having joined the Moabites in hiring Balaam, and they were forbidden to enter the congregation of Israel until 10th generation (Dt. 23.3–6).
Its main city was Rabá, the mod. Amman (* Rabbah), where was the iron ore sarcophagus (“iron bed”) belonging to Og, the king of Basaán (Dt. 3.11).
In the time of the judges, the Ammonites helped Eglon of Moab capture Israelite territory (Judges 3:13). Also, in the period of Jephthah, they invaded Israelite lands E of the Jordan (Judges 11) but were expelled. His religion influenced some Israelites (Judg. 10.6), which caused the Ammonite oppression in Gilead, resulting in Jephthah’s campaign (Judg. 10). Later Nahas, king of the Ammonites, surrounded Jabez-gilead shortly before the coronation of Saul, who gathered Israel and defeated him (1 Sam. 11.1–11; 12.12; 14.47). Some years later Nahash befriended David (2 Samuel 10:1–2), but his son Hanun refused a friendly visit from David’s ambassadors and insulted them. He hired mercenaries sir. and went to war, but Joab and Abishai, David’s generals, defeated them (2 Sam. 10; 1 Chron. 19). A year later the Israelites captured Rabbah, the Ammonite capital (2 Sam. 12:26–31; 1 Chron. 20:1–3) and put the people to work. Some Ammonites befriended David, however, e.g. eg Sobi son of Nahas, who worried about him when he fled from Absalom (2 Sam. 17.27, 29), and Selec, who was one of his 30 mighty men (2 Sam. 23.37; 1 Chr. 11.39).
Solomon included Ammonite women in his harem, and worshiped *Milcom (*Milcom), his god (1 Kings 11.1, 5, 7, 33). An Ammonite, Naama, was Rehoboam’s mother (1 Kings 14.21, 31; 2 Chron. 12.13).
In the days of Jehoshaphat the Ammonites joined the Moabites and Edomites in a raid against Judah (2 Chr. 20:1–30). Around the year 800 BC Zabad and Jozabad, sons of an Ammonite woman, conspired to assassinate Joash king of Judah (2 Chr. 24.26). Later Uzziah and Jotham of Judah received tribute from the Ammonites (2 Chr. 26.8; 27.5). Josías profaned the high place that Salomón had erected (2 R. 23.13). The Ammonites joined others in harassing Jehoiakim (2 Kings 24.2), and after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC, their king Baalis caused more trouble (2 Kings 25.25; Jer. 40.11–14). They were violently attacked by the prophets as inveterate enemies of Israel (Jer. 49.1–6; Ez. 21.20; 25.1–7; Am. 1.13–15; Sof. 2.8–11).
After Tobias, governor of Ammon, returned from exile, he hindered the construction of the walls directed by Nehemiah (Neh. 2.10, 19; 4.3, 7). Ezra and Nehemiah censured marriage between Jews and Ammonites (Ezra 9:1–2; Neh. 13:1, 23–31). The ammonites survived until the ss. II BC at least, since Judas Maccabee fought against them (1 Mc. 5.6).
Sedentary occupation of the area took place again at the beginning of the s. XIII BC, after an almost complete interruption for several centuries. Some tombs from the middle bronze age of the s. 17th to 16th century BC, a sanctuary near Amman, and occupation levels in the city from the late Bronze Age suggest limited occupation before the 15th century. XIII. There was a great resurgence of urban life at the beginning of the Iron Age, evidenced by a set of small circular tower-fortresses built with large stones. Other structures of the period were square or rectangular. Various settlements have been investigated, each consisting of several flint block houses together with one or more towers, e.g. eg Khirbet Morbat Bedran. Ammonite occupation was evidently intense during the Iron II period (840–580 BC). During the s. VII.C. Amun flourished under AS control, as numerous references in Assyrian documents show. Amun paid tribute to Assyria in considerable measure. The tombs found in the Amman region evidence a high material culture, judging by the pottery, ape coffins, seals, statues, figurines, etc. A recent volume of written material, including seals (7th century BC), an inscribed copper bottle from Siran (ca. 600 BC), and a fragmentary eight-line inscription from the citadel of Amman (9th century BC) , show a language similar to Heb., but with an Arm-influenced script. The copper bottle contained einkorn wheat seeds, bread wheat, six-row hulled barley, and three types of cultivated herbs used by the Ammonites in the 15th century. VI BC At least eleven Ammonite kings can now be cited on the basis of data supplied by various sources.
The archaeological works suggest that the sedentary occupation was interrupted by the Babylonian campaigns of the s. VI BC, and that did not occur again until the III century. Bedouin groups occupied the area until the arrival of the Tobiads (4th to 2nd centuries BC), the Nabateans (1st century BC), and the Romans (1st century BC – 3rd century AD).
Bibliography.°AHWB; M. Chávez, Archaeological Approach to the World of the Bible, 1976; °DBA; °EBDM, t
WF Albright, Miscellanea Biblica B. Ubach, 1953, pp. 131ff.; P. Bordreuil, Syria 50, 1973, p. 181–195 (stamps); G. Garbini, Ann. of I’Inst. Or. Naples 20, 1970, p. 249–257; id., JSS 19, 1974, p. 159–168; N. Glueck, The Other Side of Jordan, 1949; id., AASOR 18, 19, 25–28; PC Hammond, BASOR 160, 1960, p. 38–41; SH Horn, BASOR 193, 1967, p. 2–13; GM Landes, BA 24.3, 1961, p. 66–68; HO Thompson, AJBA 2.2, 1973, p. 23–28; id and F. Zayadine, BASOR 212, 1973, p. 5–11.
JAT
Douglas, J. (2000). New Biblical Dictionary: First Edition. Miami: United Bible Societies.
Source: New Bible Dictionary