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AmonAid to Bible Understanding
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Priest to cloak with the divine sanction all that he wished to effect.”
However, a number of adversities came to Thebes and her god Amon. Two of these are mentioned in the Scriptures. In the seventh century B.C.E., the conquering Assyrians under the command of Ashurbanipal razed Thebes to the ground, stripping her of all her wealth. The prophet Nahum refers to this event, using it as an illustration of Nineveh’s coming destruction. (Nah. 3:8) Thebes recovered somewhat from the blow meted out to her by Assyria, regaining a measure of prosperity, but even this was to be short-lived. Jeremiah indicated that Jehovah’s judgment was against Egypt and her gods, including Thebes and her god Amon. Into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar Egypt would be given, bringing shame to her and to her gods, especially to Amon from No (Thebes).—Jer. 46:25, 26; see No, NO-AMON.
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AmoriteAid to Bible Understanding
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AMORITE
(Amʹo·rite) [perhaps, mountain dweller].
The “Amorite” appears among the list of the sons of Canaan, but elsewhere this term, always in the singular in the Hebrew text, is used collectively of the Canaanite tribe descended from the original Amorite. They were, therefore, a Hamitic race.—Gen. 10:6, 15, 16; 1 Chron. 1:13, 14.
In Abraham’s time a coalition of Mesopotamian kings raided to the S of Canaan and defeated some of the Amorites dwelling at Hazazon-tamar, thought to be located SW of the Dead Sea. Three Amorite men living near or in Hebron were then “confederates of Abram,” and as such aided him in pursuing and defeating the invading kings, thereby rescuing his nephew Lot. (Gen. chap. 14) Still, sometime thereafter God advised Abraham that, when the error of the Amorites had finally “come to completion,” Abraham’s descendants would return to Canaan from an alien land and would take possession of the Amorites’ land.—Gen. 15:13-21.
Shortly before Jacob’s death in Egypt, that patriarch promised Joseph: “I do give you one shoulder of land more than to your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorites by my sword and by my bow.” (Gen. 48:22) Since the word rendered “shoulder” in this text is Shechem in Hebrew, some have claimed that Jacob was here referring to the plot of ground he had purchased near that city. (Gen. 33:18, 19) The purchase was a peaceable transaction, however, and there is no record of any battle waged by Jacob in connection with the land. While Jacob’s sons later did make a savage attack on the people of Shechem, Jacob disavowed responsibility for the act at the time (Gen. 34:30); and, now on his deathbed, he cursed the anger of Simeon and Levi that had motivated the attack. (Gen. 49:5-7) Thus, it seems more reasonable to understand Jacob’s promise as a prophetic utterance in which he envisioned by faith the future conquest of Canaan as though it were already effected, with Jacob ‘taking the land of the Amorites’ vicariously through the sword and bow of his descendants.
A DOMINANT TRIBE IN CANAAN
Some commentators consider that the term “Amorites” is used at Genesis 15:16 and 48:22 as representing the peoples of Canaan as a whole. The Amorites do appear to have been the principal or dominant tribe in Canaan at the time of the Israelite exodus from Egypt. (Compare Deuteronomy 1:6-8, 19-21, 27; Joshua 24:15, 18; Judges 6:10.) If this is so, then it would be understandable that, at times, other subordinate and related tribes should be referred to under the name of the dominant tribe of the Amorites. Thus, at Numbers 14:44, 45 the account states that “Amalekites” and “Canaanites” handed the Israelites their first military defeat, whereas Moses’ recapitulation of the events of the exodus at Deuteronomy chapter 1 simply says “the Amorites” administered the defeat. (Deut. 1:44) Likewise, Jerusalem is called an Amorite kingdom at Joshua 10:5 (compare Ezekiel 16:3, 45), but is shown elsewhere to be inhabited by Jebusites. (Josh. 15:8, 63; Judg. 1:21; compare also the case of Gibeon at Joshua 9:7 and 2 Samuel 21:2.) In a similar manner, the name of one tribe of the nation of Israel, Judah, came to apply to all Israelites through the appellative “Jew.”
Nevertheless, the Amorites are also listed separately among the independent Canaanite tribes. (Ex. 3:8; 23:23, 24; 34:11-15) They composed one of the “seven nations more populous and mighty” than Israel, all devoted to destruction, with whom Israel was to make no covenant, form no marriage alliance, nor share in false worship.—Deut. 7:1-4.
The twelve spies Moses sent into Canaan found the mountainous region occupied by Amorites, Hittites and Jebusites, while the Amalekites resided in the Negeb, and the Canaanites dwelt by the sea and by the Jordan. (Num. 13:1, 2, 29) As previously in Abraham’s time, Amorites still resided at Hebron as well as other cities in the mountains W of the Jordan. (Josh. 10:5) However, by the time of Israel’s exodus they had invaded Moabite and Ammonite territory E of the Jordan, taking possession of the region from the torrent valley of Arnon in the S (thereafter the border of Moab), up to the torrent valley of Jabbok in the N (the border of Ammon). (Num. 21:13, 24, 26; Josh. 12:2; Judg. 11:22) This was the realm of Amorite King Sihon, described by Josephus the Jewish historian as ‘a land lying between three rivers [the Jordan, the Arnon and the Jabbok] after the manner of an island.’ (Antiquities of the Jews, Book IV, chap. V, par. 2) Additionally, to the N of Sihon’s realm, there was another Amorite kingdom centered in
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