Who were the Ammonites?

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. Deut. 23:3; Neh. 13:1. With Amalek they assisted the king of Moab against Israel, and Jericho fell into their hands. Judges 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. 1 Sam. 11:1-11; 1 Sam. 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. 2 Sam. 10:1-10; 2 Sam. 11:1; 2 Sam. 12:26-31.

On the other hand, Shobi, of Rabbah, brought provisions when David fled from Absalom, 2 Sam. 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. 1 Kings 14:21, 31. They molested Israel with varied success until the days of Jehoiakim: 2 Kings 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. Ps. 83:4-8. Tobiah, an Ammonite, was a troublesome adversary to the Jews on their return from captivity. Neh. 2:10, 19; Neh. 4:3, 7. Nevertheless the Jews intermarried with this nation, thus mixing 'the holy seed' with the people of the land. Ezra 9:1-2; Neh. 13:23-25.

Name signifying 'son of my people,' given to the son of Lot's daughter: he was father of the Ammonites. Gen. 19:38.

Lot and his family were loathe to leave the city, but the angels hastened them out, and bade them flee to the mountains. Lot begged to be allowed to go to Zoar, and was permitted; but, fearing to stay there, he left with his two daughters and abode in a cave, where, alas, he became the father of Moab and Ben-ammi, the ancestors of the Moabites and the Ammonites, who are afterwards alluded to as the children of Lot.

The scheming of Lot's daughters to have children by their father is a sad comment on what they had learned in Sodom (vs.31-32). Also, Lot had so sunk down in unconcern about the honor of the Lord that he would allow himself to become so drunk as to not realize what he was doing. Nor was this only once, but a second time on the following night (vs.34-35). We may wonder even at the survival of the children, but the first became the father of the Moabite nation, the second the father of the Ammonites, both of them proving to be troublesome enemies of Israel.

Lot's faith was very feeble. Though Zoar had been spared for his sake, his fear was such that he forsook it for the mountain region that formerly he had dreaded. There he found a cave and in it, having lost all his substance, he dwelt with his two daughters. We take a sad farewell of him in the closing verses of our chapter. The two daughters were saved physically but were lost morally, for we are permitted to know that they had become infected with the immoral ways of Sodom. They brought dishonour on themselves and on their father, and brought into the world both Moab and Ammon, both of whom gave their names to peoples, who in after days became opponents of the people of God.

All seems to speak of that which is the natural result of the true church sinking into the world, — a profession which is but the world, alien and hostile to the true people of God, characterized largely by the principles of confederacy, mutual interest, etc., which the city, as it now exists, implies. In Moab, the "city" covers, as it were, the country. Thus we need not wonder that their God is not Jehovah. For Moab God is Chemosh, the "vanquisher," as the mere professor goes with what in fact is prevalent, what has gained the day. In Ammon he is Moloch, — i.e., "king," — in fact, whether or not in right. Nay, rather, fact is right: not God is King, — reigns because He is divine; but the king is God — is divine because he reigns. And this is no strange thing among men: the sect of Herodians has always been a large one. Hence again, (for this is a system connected in all its parts,) to both Chemosh and Moloch they sacrificed men: humanity is immolated at such shrines constantly.

Between Moab and Ammon it is harder to distinguish. "The near relation between the two peoples indicated in their origin," says Grove, "continued throughout their existence: from their earliest mention (Deut. 2) to their disappearance from biblical history, the brother-tribes are named together. (Comp. Judges 10:6; 2 Chron. 20:1; Zeph. 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 … They are both said to have hired Balaam to curse Israel (Deut. 23:4) … In the answer of Jephthah to the king of Ammon the allusions are continually to Moab (Judges 11:15, 18, 25), while Chemosh, the peculiar deity of Moab (Num. 21:29), is called 'thy god' (24.) The land from Arnon to Jabbok, which the king of Ammon calls 'my land' (13), is elsewhere distinctly stated to have once belonged to a 'king of Moab.' (Num. 21:26.)"

On the other hand he notices that but one city of Ammon (Rabbah) is spoken of, and that the allusions to the habits and circumstances of civilization, so common in connection with Moab, are absolutely wanting in regard to Ammon. The Ammonites have the fierce habits of marauders, cruelty to their enemies. (1 Sam. 11:2; Amos 1:13; Jer. 41:6-7; Judges 11:7, 12), "as well as a suspicious discourtesy to their allies, which on one occasion (2 Sam 10:1-5) brought all but extermination on the tribe. (12:31.)" "Taking the above into account," he says, "it is hard to avoid the conclusion that, while Moab was the settled and civilized half of the nation of Lot, the Bene-Ammon formed its predatory and Bedouin section. A remarkable confirmation of this opinion occurs in the fact that the special deity of the tribe was worshiped, not in a house, nor on a high place, but in a booth or tent designated by the very word which most keenly expressed to the Israelites the contrast between a nomadic and a settled life (Amos 5:26)."

Ammon was the younger brother of Moab, and, like the Moabites, the Ammonites were a wicked people, though they had no cities like Moab, but were restless wanderers; they were also the enemies of Israel. The predicted judgment has come. Where is Ammon today? In what tribe or nation is a remnant preserved? Only the Omniscient One knows. But their captivity, like that of Moab, will be brought back again in the days when Israel becomes the head of the nations.

If in this way we look back at the history of Ammon it will have continual significance for us. Their first father's name, Ben-ammi, "son of my people," is significant, if we think of it as in opposition to the people of God. The land also, as we find in the history of the Judges, he covets for himself, though he can take possession really of nothing, being only the nomad ravager which everything shows him to be. Thus, as others have remarked, we have no cities of the land of Ammon; nothing that indicates the proper occupation of the soil or the care of the agriculturist. Rabbah is his one city, "numerous," as we may read the word, the hold of a motley host, as it were, but the stronghold of a Bedouin race; and the judgment which falls upon it is completely in character with this. In the congruous ways of God, the land of Ammon is given up to similar raiders, "the sons of the East;" the word for east signifying what is opposite to you, but which may easily acquire the character of what we find in the east wind — what is in opposition, or adverse. "The sons of the East," such as the Ishmaelites, were men whose hand was against every one, and every one's hand against them. Rabbah, under them, becomes itself broken up, and is but a habitation for camels, "the burden bearers" of the desert.

Moab, as we know, was a blood relation of Israel. He was descended from Lot, who was a relative of Abraham. So that the Moabites were the natural kinsmen of the Israelites. But, as we have already seen, Lot's relation with Abraham was largely a carnal, fleshly one. In his descendants' case it was entirely a fleshly one. Israel had no more bitter and relentless foes than these Moabites and Ammonites, who were their kinsmen.

The two sister-nations, Moab and Ammon, are known as "the children of Lot" (Deut. 2:9), and are of incestuous origination (Gen. 19:37-38). They have always been inveterate and implacable enemies of God's elect nation, and they are included in the coming great confederacy of nations which will be formed under the revived Assyrian power to destroy the children of Israel and blot out their very name from the earth (see the prophecy in Psalm 83:4-8).