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Bible Dictionaries
Ammonites The
Smith's Bible Dictionary
or Am'monites, The. (children of Ammon). A people descended from Ben-ammi, the son of Lot, by his younger daughter. Genesis 19:38. Compare Psalms 83:7-8. The Ammonites are frequently mentioned with the Moabites (descendants of Ben-ammi's half-brother), and sometimes under the same name. Compare Judges 10:6; 2 Chronicles 20:1; Zephaniah 2:8 etc.
The precise position of the territory of the Ammonites is not ascertainable. In the earliest mention of them, Deuteronomy 2:20, they are said to have dwelt in their place, Jabbok being their border, Numbers 21:24; Numbers 2:37; Numbers 3:16,
(That is, Land or country is, however, but rarely ascribed to them. Their capital city was Rabbath, called also Rabbath Ammon on the Jabbok. We find everywhere traces of the fierce habits of maranders in their incursions). 1 Samuel 11:2; Amos 1:13 and a very high degree of crafty cruelty to their toes. Jeremiah 41:6-7; Judges 17:11-12.
Moab was the settled and civilized half of the nation of Lot, and 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 denial of assistance, Deuteronomy 23:4, 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, Judges 11:12 etc.; 1 Samuel 12:12; 2 Samuel 10:1; Jeremiah 40:14 and by "princes." 2 Samuel 10:3; 1 Chronicles 19:3. The divinity of the tribe was Molech, See Molech, and they were gross idolaters.
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Smith, William, Dr. Entry for 'Ammonites The'. Smith's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/sbd/a/ammonites-the.html. 1901.
