Ammon

Biblical narrative

The first mention of the Ammonites in the Bible is in Genesis 19:37-38. It is stated there that they descended from Ben-Ammi, a son of Lot through incest with his younger daughter. Bén'ámmî, literally means "son of my people". After the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the daughters of Lot had sexual relations with their father, resulting in Ammon and his half brother, Moab, being conceived and born. This narrative has traditionally been considered literal fact, but is now generally interpreted as recording a gross popular irony by which the Israelites expressed their loathing of the Moabites and Ammonites, although it is doubtful that the Israelites would have directed such irony to Lot himself.

The Ammonites settled to the east of the Jordan, invading the Rephaim lands east of Jordan, between the Jabbok and Arnon, dispossessing them and dwelling in their place. Their territory originally comprising all from the Jordan to the wilderness, and from the River Jabbok south to the River Arnon. It was accounted a land of giants; and that giants formerly dwelt in it, whom the Ammonites called "Zomzommims".

Shortly before the Israelite Exodus, the Amorites west of Jordan, under King Sihon, invaded and occupied a large portion of the territory of Moab and Ammon. The Ammonites were driven from the rich lands near the Jordan and retreated to the mountains and valleys to the east. The invasion of the Amorites created a wedge and separated the two kingdoms of Ammon and Moab.

Throughout the Bible, the Ammonites and Israelites are portrayed as mutual antagonists. During the Exodus, the Israelites were prohibited by the Ammonites from passing through their lands. The Ammonites soon allied themselves with Eglon of Moab in attacking Israel.

The Ammonites maintained their claim to part of Transjordan, after it was occupied by the Israelites who obtained it from Sihon. During the days of Jephthah, the Ammonites occupied the lands east of the River Jordan and started to invade Israelite lands west of the river. Jephthah became the leader in resisting these incursions.

The constant harassment of the Israelite communities east of the Jordan by the Ammonites was the impetus behind the unification of the tribes under Saul. King Nahash of Ammon (c.1010-990 BC) lay siege to Jabesh-Gilead. Eventually this led to an alliance with Saul and The Israelites, led by Saul relieved the siege and defeated the Ammonite king, eventually resulting in the formation of the Israelite Kingdom.

During the reign of King David, the Ammonites humiliated David's messengers, and hired the Aramean armies to attack Israel. This eventually ended in a war and a year-long siege of Rabbah, the capital of Ammon. The war ended with all the Ammonite cities being conquered and plundered, and the inhabitants being killed or put to forced labor at David's command.

When the Arameans of Damascus city-state deprived the Kingdom of Israel of their possessions east of the Jordan, the Ammonites became allies of Ben-hadad, and a contingent of 1,000 of them served as allies of Syria in the great battle of the Arameans and Assyrians at Qarqar in 854 BC in the reign of Shalmaneser III.

The Ammonites, Moabites and Meunim formed a coalition against Jehoshaphat of Judah. The coalition later was thrown to confusion, with the armies slaughtering one another. They were subdued and paid tribute to Jotham.

After submitting to Tiglath-pileser they were generally tributary to Assyria, but have joined in the general uprising that took place under Sennacherib; but they submitted and they became tributary in the reign of Esar-haddon. Their hostility to Judah is shown in their joining the Chaldeans to destroy it (2 Kings 24:2). Their cruelty is denounced by the prophet Amos (Amos 1:13), and their destruction (with their return in the future) by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 49:1–6); Ezekiel (Ezekiel 21:28–32); and Zechariah (Zechariah 2:8, 9). Their murder of Gedaliah (2 Kings 25:22–26; Jeremiah 40:14) was a dastardly act. They may have regained their old territory when Tiglath-pileser carried off the Israelites East of the Jordan into captivity (2 Kings 15:29; 1 Chronicles 5:26).

Tobiah the Ammonite united with Sanballat to oppose Nehemiah (Nehemiah 4), and their opposition to the Jews did not cease with the establishment of the latter in Judea.

They also joined the Syrians in their wars with the Maccabees and were defeated by Judas.

According to both 1 Kings 14:21–31 and 2 Chronicles 12:13, Naamah was an Ammonite. She was the only wife of King Solomon to be mentioned by name in the Tanakh as having borne a child. She was the mother of Solomon's successor, Rehoboam.

The Ammonites presented a serious problem to the Pharisees because many marriages between Israelite men and Ammonite (and Moabite) women had taken place in the days of Nehemiah. The men had married women of the various nations without conversion, which made the children not Jewish. The legitimacy of David's claim to royalty was disputed on account of his descent from Ruth, the Moabite.

History

The Ammonites occupied the northern Central Trans-Jordanian Plateau from the latter part of the second millennium B.C. to the middle of the first millennium B.C.

Economy

The economy, for the most part, was based on agriculture and herding. Most people lived in small villages surrounded by farms and pastures. Like its sister-kingdom of Moab, Ammon was the source of numerous natural resources, including sandstone and limestone. It had a productive agricultural sector and occupied a vital place along the King's Highway, the ancient trade route connecting Egypt with Mesopotamia, Syria, and Asia Minor. As with the Edomites and Moabites, trade along this route gave them considerable revenue. Circa 950 BCE Ammon showed rising prosperity, due to agriculture and trade, and built a series of fortresses. Its capital was located in what is now the Citadel of Amman.

Known Kings

Hanun: C.990 BC

Relation to Assyria

Ammon maintained its independence from the Assyrian empire through tribute to the Assyrian king, at a time when nearby kingdoms were being raided or conquered. Inscriptions describe the Ammonite king Baasha ben Ruhubi's army fighting alongside Ahab of Israel and Syrian allies against Shalmaneser III at the Battle of Qarqar in 853 BC, possibly as vassals of Hadadezer, the Aramaean king of Damascus. In 734 BC the Ammonite king Sanipu was a vassal of Tiglath-Pileser III, and Sanipu's successor Pudu-ilu held the same position under Sennacherib and Esarhaddon. An Assyrian tribute-list exists from this period, showing that Ammon paid one-fifth of Judah's tribute.

Somewhat later, the Ammonite king Amminadab I was among the tributaries who suffered in the course of the great Arabian campaign of Assurbanipal. Other kings attested to in contemporary sources are Barakel (attested to in several contemporary seals) and Hissalel, the latter of whom reigned about 620 BCE. Hissalel is mentioned in an inscription on a bottle found at Tel Siran, Jordan along with his son, King Amminadab II, who reigned around 600 BCE.

In the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman eras

Little mention is made of the Ammonites through the Persian and early Hellenistic periods. The Hasmonean dynast Hyrcanus (awarded his Parthian patronymic in honor of military achievements against the Medes) founded Qasr Al Abd, and was a descendent of the Seleucid Tobiad dynasty of Tobiah mentioned by Nehemiah as an Ammonite (ii. 19) from the east-Jordanian district.

Their name appears, however, during the time of the Maccabees. The Ammonites, with some of the neighboring tribes, did their utmost to resist and check the revival of the Jewish power under Judas Maccabaeus.

The last notice of the Ammonites is in Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Trypho (§ 119), in the second century, where it is affirmed that they were still a numerous people.

Language

The few Ammonite names that have been preserved also include Nahash and Hanun, both from the Bible. The Ammonites' language is believed to be in the Canaanite family, closely related to Hebrew and Moabite. Ammonite may have incorporated certain Aramaic influences, including the use of ‘bd, instead of commoner Biblical Hebrew ‘śh, for "work". The only other notable difference with Biblical Hebrew is the sporadic retention of feminine singular -t (e.g., ’šħt "cistern", but ‘lyh "high (fem.)".)

Inscription

In 1972, during the excavations of a site called Tall Siran in north-west Amman, an inscription on a bronze bottle of about 10 cm tall was found. Scientific investigation has showed that the inscription dates back to 600 BC, and later concluded that it was a lyric poem written in Ammonite language. The poem talks about a drinking song, roughly translated to:

To the vineyard and the orchard!

Or shall I be left behind and destroyed?

He who says this rejoices and be happy

That life is long

And shall I inflame myself with it and be ruined?

No! It shall make me glad

And bring joy for many days and long years.