and therefore they were prohibited from “entering the congregation of the
Lord to the tenth generation” (Deuteronomy 23:3). They afterwards
became hostile to Israel (Judges 3:13). Jephthah waged war against them,
and “took twenty cities with a very great slaughter” (Judges 11:33). They
were again signally defeated by Saul (1 Samuel 11:11). David also defeated
them and their allies the Syrians (2 Samuel 10:6-14), and took their chief
city, Rabbah, with much spoil (2 Samuel 10:14; 12:26-31). The subsequent
events of their history are noted in 2 Chronicles 20:25; 26:8; Jeremiah
49:1; Ezekiel 25:3, 6. One of Solomon’s wives was Naamah, an Ammonite.
She was the mother of Rehoboam (1 Kings 14:31; 2 Chronicles 12:13).
The prophets predicted fearful judgments against the Ammonites because
of their hostility to Israel (Zephaniah 2:8; Jeremiah 49:1-6; Ezekiel 25:1-5,
10; Amos 1:13-15).
The national idol worshipped by this people was Molech or Milcom, at
whose altar they offered human sacrifices (1 Kings 11:5, 7). The high
places built for this idol by Solomon, at the instigation of his Ammonitish
wives, were not destroyed till the time of Josiah (2 Kings 23:13).
- AMNON faithful. (1.) One of the sons of Shammai, of the children of
Ezra (1 Chronicles 4:20; comp. 17).
(2.) The eldest son of David, by Ahinoam of Jezreel (1 Chronicles 3:1; 2
Samuel 3:2). Absalom caused him to be put to death for his great crime in
the matter of Tamar (2 Samuel 13:28, 29).
- AMON builder. (1.) The governor of Samaria in the time of Ahab. The
prophet Micaiah was committed to his custody (1 Kings 22:26; 2
Chronicles 18:25).
(2.) The son of Manasseh, and fourteenth king of Judah. He restored
idolatry, and set up the images which his father had cast down. Zephaniah
(1:4; 3:4, 11) refers to the moral depravity prevailing in this king’s reign.
He was assassinated (2 Kings 21:18-26: 2 Chronicles 33:20-25) by his
own servants, who conspired against him.
(3.) An Egyptian God, usually depicted with a human body and the head
of a ram, referred to in Jeremiah 46:25, where the word “multitudes” in the
Authorized Version is more appropriately rendered “Amon” in the
Revised Version. In Nah. 3:8 the expression “populous No” of the