The Ammonites​—A People That Repaid Kindness With Hostility

THE modern city named Amman, capital of the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan, preserves the memory of a people who have vanished from the earthly scene. They were called the Ammonites. Who were they, and what lessons can we learn from their downfall?

The Ammonites were descendants of the righteous man Lot. (Genesis 19:35-38) Since Lot was a nephew of Abraham, you might say that the Ammonites were cousins to the Israelites. Lot’s offspring, however, turned to the worship of false gods. Still, Jehovah God maintained an interest in them. As the nation of Israel approached the Promised Land, God warned them: “Do not molest [the Ammonites] or engage in strife with them, because I shall not give you any of the land of the sons of Ammon as a holding, for it is to the sons of Lot that I have given it as a holding.”​—Deuteronomy 2:19.

Did the Ammonites appreciate such kindness? On the contrary, they refused to acknowledge that Jehovah had given them anything. They repaid God’s kindly interest in them with relentless hostility toward God’s people, the Israelites. Though the Israelites honored Jehovah’s command and made no aggressive moves against them, the Ammonites and their Moabite brothers felt threatened. True, the Ammonites made no military attack, but they did hire a prophet named Balaam and asked that he curse Israel!​—Numbers 22:1-6; Deuteronomy 23:3-6.

Something strange then happened. The Bible reports that Balaam was unable to utter his curse. He could pronounce only blessings upon them, saying: “Those blessing you are the ones blessed, and those cursing you are the ones cursed.” (Numbers 24:9) Those involved, including the Ammonites, should have learned a powerful lesson from this: When God’s people were involved, he was well prepared to intervene in their behalf!

The Ammonites, though, continued looking for ways to oppose Israel. During the era of the Judges, Ammon teamed up with Moab and Amalek and invaded the Promised Land, advancing as far as Jericho. Victory was short-lived, however, as Israelite Judge Ehud drove the invaders back. (Judges 3:12-15, 27-30) An uneasy truce lasted until the days of Judge Jephthah. By then the nation of Israel had fallen into idolatry, so Jehovah withdrew his protection. For some 18 years, God had thus “sold them . . . into the hand of the sons of Ammon.” (Judges 10:6-9) Again the Ammonites suffered a bitter defeat as the Israelites renounced idolatry and rallied under the leadership of Jephthah.​—Judges 10:16–11:33.

Israel’s era of rule by judges ended with the coronation of its first king, Saul. No sooner had Saul begun to rule than Ammon’s hostility again erupted. King Nahash made a surprise attack on the Israelite city of Jabesh-gilead. When the men of that city sued for peace, Nahash the Ammonite made this outrageous demand: “On this condition I shall conclude it with you, on the condition of boring out every right eye of yours.” Historian Flavius Josephus claims that this was done partially as a defensive measure, so that “when their left eyes were covered by their shields, they might be wholly useless in war.” Yet, the real purpose of this heartless ultimatum was to make a humiliating example of these Israelites.​—1 Samuel 11:1, 2.

Again the Ammonites had repaid Jehovah’s kindness with hostility. Jehovah did not ignore this vicious threat. “The spirit of God became operative upon Saul on his hearing these words [of Nahash], and his anger got very hot.” Under the direction of God’s spirit, Saul mustered a force of 330,000 fighting men that so thoroughly routed the Ammonites that “there were not left over among them two together.”​—1 Samuel 11:6, 11.

The Ammonites’ selfish preoccupation with their own interests, their ruthlessness, and their greediness eventually led to their complete ruin. As Jehovah’s prophet Zephaniah had foretold, they became “like Gomorrah . . . a desolate waste, even to time indefinite . . . because they reproached and kept putting on great airs against the people of Jehovah of armies.”​—Zephaniah 2:9, 10.

World leaders today should take notice of what happened to Ammon. God has similarly shown the nations a measure of kindness in allowing them to live on his footstool, the earth. But instead of caring for the earth, selfish nations are ruining it, even having threatened the planet with nuclear destruction. Rather than show kindness to worshipers of Jehovah on earth, often the nations show hostility, subjecting them to harsh persecution. The lesson of the Ammonites therefore is that Jehovah does not take lightly repaying his kindness with hostility. And in his due time, he will take action, just as he did in ancient times.​—Compare Psalm 2:6-12.

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Roman ruins in Amman, the site of Rabbah, the Ammonites’ capital

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Pictorial Archive (Near Eastern History) Est.

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The Ammonites lived in this area

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Pictorial Archive (Near Eastern History) Est.

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Pictorial Archive (Near Eastern History) Est.