Map of the Ammonites Territory

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Map of the Territory of the Ancient Ammonites

The Ammonites (sons of Ammon) according to the Bible originated because of an incestuous relationship between Lot (Abraham's nephew) and his younger daughter (Gen 19:38). Archaeology reveals that the Ammonites dwelt east of the Jordan River and settled there at the beginning of the 13th century B.C.

Ezra 9:1 - Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.

The Ammonites in the Smith's Bible Dictionary

Ammon
        (sons of renown, mountaineers), Am'monites, Children of Ammon, A people descended from Ben-ammi, the son of Lot by his younger daughter. Ge 19:38 comp Psal 83:7,8
        The Ammonites are frequently mentioned with the Moabites (descendants of Ben-ammi's half-brother), and sometimes under the same name. Comp. Jud 10:6; 2Ch 20:1; Zep 2:8 etc. The precise position of the territory of the Ammonites is not ascertainable. In the earliest mention of them, De 2:20 they are said to have dwelt in their place, Jabbok being their border. Nu 21:24; De 2:37; 3:16 (i.e. 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.) 1Sa 11:2; Am 1:13 and a very high degree of crafty cruelty to their toes. Jer 41:6,7; Jud 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, De 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, Jud 11:12 etc.; 1Sa 12:12; 2Sa 10:1; Jer 40:14 and by "princes." 2Sa 10:3; 1Ch 19:3 The divinity of the tribe was Molech [MOLECH], and they were gross idolaters.  Full Article

The Ammonites in the Bible Encyclopedia - ISBE

AMMON; AMMONITES
am'-on, am'-on-its (`ammon; `ammonim): The Hebrew tradition makes this tribe descendants of Lot and hence related to the Israelites (Gen 19:38). This is reflected in the name usually employed in Old Testament to designate them, Ben `Ammi, Bene `Ammon, "son of my people," "children of my people," i.e. relatives. Hence we find that the Israelites are commanded to avoid conflict with them on their march to the Promised Land (Dt 2:19). Their dwelling-place was on the east of the Dead Sea and the Jordan, between the Arnon and the Jabbok, but, before the advance of the Hebrews, they had been dispossessed of a portion of their land by the Amorites, who founded, along the east side of the Jordan and the Dead Sea, the kingdom of Sihon (Nu 21:21-31). We know from the records of Egypt, especially Tell el-Amarna Letters, the approximate date of the Amorite invasion (14th and 13th centuries, BC). They were pressed on the north by the Hittites who forced them upon the tribes of the south, and some of them settled east of the Jordan. Thus, Israel helped Ammonites by destroying their old enemies, and this makes their conduct at a later period the more reprehensible. In the days of Jephthah they oppressed the Israelites east of the Jordan, claiming that the latter had deprived them of their territory when they came from Egypt, whereas it was the possessions of the Amorites they took (Jdg 11:1-28). They were defeated, but their hostility did not cease, and their conduct toward the Israelites was particularly shameful, as in the days of Saul (1 Sam 11) and of David (2 Sam 10). This may account for the cruel treatment meted out to them in the war that followed (2 Sam 12:26-31). They seem to have been completely subdued by David and their capital was taken, and we find a better spirit manifested afterward, for Nahash of Rabbah showed kindness to him when a fugitive (2 Sam 17:27-29). Their country came into the possession of Jeroboam, on the division of the kingdom, and when the Syrians of Damascus deprived the kingdom of Israel of their possessions east of the Jordan, the Ammonites became subjects of Benhadad, and we find a contingent of 1,000 of them serving as allies of that king in the great battle of the Syrians with the Assyrians at Qarqar (854 BC) in the reign of Shalmaneser II. They may have regained their old territory when Tiglath-pileser carried off the Israelites East of the Jordan into captivity (2 Ki 15:29; 1 Ch 5:26). Their hostility to both kingdoms, Judah and Israel, was often manifested. In the days of Jehoshaphat they joined with the Moabites in an attack upon him, but met with disaster (2 Ch 20). They paid tribute to Jotham (2 Ch 27:5). After submitting to Tiglath-pileser they were generally tributary to Assyria, but we have mention of their joining In the general uprising that took place under Sennacherib; but they submitted and we find them tributary in the reign of Esarhaddon. Their hostility to Judah is shown in their joining the Chaldeans to destroy it (2 Ki 24:2). Their cruelty is denounced by the prophet Amos (1:13), and their destruction by Jer (49:1-6), Ezek (21:28-32), Zeph (2:8,9). Their murder of Gedaliah (2 Ki 25:22-26; Jer 40:14) was a dastardly act. Tobiah the Ammonites united with Sanballat to oppose Neh (Neh 4), and their opposition to the Jews did not cease with the establishment of the latter in Judea.
They joined the Syrians in their wars with the Maccabees and were defeated by Judas (1 Mac 5:6).
Their religion was a degrading and cruel superstition. Their chief god was Molech, or Moloch, to whom they offered human sacrifices (1 Ki 11:7) against which Israel was especially warned (Lev 20:2-5). This worship was common to other tribes for we find it mentioned among the Phoenicians.  Full Article

The Bible Mentions the "Ammonites" in many places:

Jeremiah 41:10 - Then Ishmael carried away captive all the residue of the people that [were] in Mizpah, [even] the king's daughters, and all the people that remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam: and Ishmael the son of Nethaniah carried them away captive, and departed to go over to the Ammonites.

2 Chronicles 27:5 - He fought also with the king of the Ammonites, and prevailed against them. And the children of Ammon gave him the same year an hundred talents of silver, and ten thousand measures of wheat, and ten thousand of barley. So much did the children of Ammon pay unto him, both the second year, and the third.

Jeremiah 27:3 - And send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyrus, and to the king of Zidon, by the hand of the messengers which come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah;

Jeremiah 49:2 - Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites; and it shall be a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel be heir unto them that were his heirs, saith the LORD.

Ezekiel 21:28 - And thou, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning the Ammonites, and concerning their reproach; even say thou, The sword, the sword [is] drawn: for the slaughter [it is] furbished, to consume because of the glittering:

Ezra 9:1 - Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, [doing] according to their abominations, [even] of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.

Ezekiel 25:3 - And say unto the Ammonites, Hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou saidst, Aha, against my sanctuary, when it was profaned; and against the land of Israel, when it was desolate; and against the house of Judah, when they went into captivity;

Jeremiah 49:1 - Concerning the Ammonites, thus saith the LORD; Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why [then] doth their king inherit Gad, and his people dwell in his cities?

1 Kings 11:1 - But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, [and] Hittites;

2 Chronicles 20:1 - It came to pass after this also, [that] the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them [other] beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle.

Deuteronomy 2:20 - (That also was accounted a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in old time; and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims;

1 Samuel 11:11 - And it was [so] on the morrow, that Saul put the people in three companies; and they came into the midst of the host in the morning watch, and slew the Ammonites until the heat of the day: and it came to pass, that they which remained were scattered, so that two of them were not left together.

Jeremiah 40:11 - Likewise when all the Jews that [were] in Moab, and among the Ammonites, and in Edom, and that [were] in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan;

Nehemiah 4:7 - But it came to pass, [that] when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up, [and] that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth,

Jeremiah 40:14 - And said unto him, Dost thou certainly know that Baalis the king of the Ammonites hath sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to slay thee? But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam believed them not.

2 Chronicles 26:8 - And the Ammonites gave gifts to Uzziah: and his name spread abroad [even] to the entering in of Egypt; for he strengthened [himself] exceedingly.

Ezekiel 25:5 - And I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the Ammonites a couchingplace for flocks: and ye shall know that I [am] the LORD.

1 Kings 11:5 - For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

Ezekiel 21:20 - Appoint a way, that the sword may come to Rabbath of the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the defenced.

Jeremiah 41:15 - But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to the Ammonites.

Ezekiel 25:2 - Son of man, set thy face against the Ammonites, and prophesy against them;

Ezekiel 25:10 - Unto the men of the east with the Ammonites, and will give them in possession, that the Ammonites may not be remembered among the nations.