Moore
in
Encyc.
Bibl.
iil.
3188
tl.).
The
Ammonites
appear
to
have
been
a
ruthless,
semi-sayage
people.
Such
a
rite
may
have
been
practised
by
them
too;
it
so,
it
is
all
that
we
know
o£
their
civilization.
George
A.
Barton.
AMNON.
—
1.
Eldest
son
of
David
by
Ahinoam
the
Jezreelitess.
He
dishonoured
his
half-sister
Tamar,
and
was,
on
that
account,
slain
by
her
brother
Absalom
(2
S
32
13").
2.
Son
of
Shimon
(1
Ch
4").
AJffiOK.
—
A
priestly
family
in
the
time
of
Zerubbabel
and
of
Joiakim
(Neh
12'-
'»).
AMOMUM.—
Rev
18"
RVm.
See
Spict.
ASIOS.
—
1.
Son
and
successor
of
Manasseh
king
of
Judah.
He
reigned
two
years
or
parts
of
years.
Our
Biblical
books
know
only
that
he
carried
on
the
religious
practices
of
his
father.
He
was
put
to
death
by
a
palace
conspiracy,
but
the
assassins
were
punished
by
the
populace,
who
placed
Josiah
on
the
throne
(2
K
21"").
It
has
been
suggested
that
his
name
is
that
of
the
Egyptian
sun-god
(see
next
art.).
2.
A
governor
of
Samaria
(1
K
2228).
3,
gee
Ami.
H.
P.
Smith.
AMON
(Gr.
Axrimon,
Egyp.
AmUn).
—
An
Egyptian
divinity,
who,
primarily
worshipped
as
the
god
of
fertility,
and
later
as
Amen-ra-setn-nteru
('Amon,
the
sun-god,
the
king
of
the
gods'),
was
the
local
deity
of
Thebes.
With
the
subjugation
of
the
petty
princes
of
lower
Egypt
by
Aahmes
i.
of
Thebes
(c.
b.c.
1700),
he
became
the
Egyptian
national
god.
His
supremacy,
recognized
for
1100
years
by
all
Egyptian
rulers
with
the
exception
of
Amenophis
iv.
(c.
B.C.
1450),
came
to
an
end
with
Esarhaddon's
invasion
of
Egypt
(b.c.
670
;
cf.
Jer
462*')
and
the
destruction
of
Thebes
by
Ashur-banipal
(c.
b.c.
662;
cf.
Nah
3').
After
these
events
he
was
relegated
to
the
ranks
of
the
local
gods.
See
No,
NO-AMON.
N.
KOENIG.
AMOBITES.
—
An
ancient
people
whose
presence
can
be
traced
in
Palestine
and
Syria
and
also
in
Babylonia.
From
Dt
3'
it
appears
that
their
language
differed
only
dialectically
from
Canaanite,
which
was
Hebrew.
This
view
is
confirmed
by
many
proper
names
from
the
monuments.
They
were
accordingly
of
the
same
race
as
the
Ganaanites.
Contract
tablets
of
the
time
of
Hammurabi
(b.c.
2250)
show
that
Amorites
were
in
Babylonia
at
that
time
(cf
.
Meissner,
Altbab.
Privairechi,
No.
42).
At
this
period
their
country
was
designated
by
the
ideogram
MAR-TU.
It
has
long
been
known
that
this
ideogram
stood
for
Palestine
and
Syria.
At
that
time,
then,
the
Amorites
were
already
in
the
West.
Becauseoftheidentityoftheirpropernamea,
it
is
believed
that
the
Amorites
were
identical
in
race
with
that
Semitic
wave
of
immigration
into
Babylonia
which
produced
the
first
dynasty
of
Babylon,
the
dynasty
of
Hammurabi
(cf
.
Paton,
Syria
and
Palestine,
25-29).
Paton
holds
that
an
Amoritic
wave
of
migration
overran
Babylonia
and
the
Mediterranean
coast
about
B.C.
2500,
but
Johns
(Expos.,
April,
1906,
p.
341)
holds
it
probable,
also
on
the
basis
of
proper
names,
that
the
Amorites
were
in
both
Babylonia
and
the
West
before
the
time
of
Sargon,
b.c.
3800.
About
B.C.
1400
we
learn
from
the
el-Amarna
tablets
that
the
great
valley
between
the
Lebanon
and
Anti-Lebanon
ranges,
which
was
afterwards
called
Coele-Syria,
was
inhabited
by
Amorites,
whose
prince
was
Aziru
(cf.
KIB,
v.
Nos.
42,
44,
and
SO).
At
some
time
they
seem
to
have
overrun
Palestine
also,
for
in
the
E
document
they
are
regarded
as
the
pre-Israelitish
inhabitants
of
the
mountain-land
of
Palestine,
whom
the
Hebrews
conquered
(cf.
Nu
13^9,
Jos
248-
").
This
was
also
the
view
of
the
prophet
Amos
(2'-
">),
and,
in
part,
of
Ezekiel
(16».
«).
The
J
document,
on
the
other
hand,
regards
the
Ganaanites
(wh.
see)
as
the
original
inhabitants
of
the
country.
As
the
J
document
originated
in
the
southern
kingdom
and
the
E
docu-ment
in
the
northern,
some
have
inferred
that
the
Amorites
were
especially
strong
in
Northern
Palestine;
but
even
the
J
document
(Jg
l^*-
")
recognizes
that
the
Amorites
were
strong
in
the
Valley
of
Aijalon.
In
Jg
1»
'Amorites'
is
probably
a
corruption
of
'Edom-ites.'
(So
G.
F.
Moore
in
SBOT.)
Both
J
(Nu
323»)
and
E
(Nu
21")
represent
the
trans-Jordanic
kingdom
of
king
Sihon,
the
capital
of
which
was
at
Heshbon,
and
wliich
extended
from
the
Amon
to
the
Jabbok,
as
Amoritic,
and
several
later
Biblical
writers
reflect
this
view.
This
kingdom
was
overcome
by
the
IsraeUtes
when
they
invaded
Canaan.
After
the
Israelitish
con-quest
the
Amorites
disappear
from
our
view.
George
A.
Barton.
AMOS.—
1.
Theman.—
Araos,theearliestoftheproph-ets
whose
writings
have
come
down
to
us,
and
the
initiator
of
one
of
the
greatest
movements
in
spiritual
history,
was
a
herdsman,
or
small
sheep-farmer,
in
Tekoa,
a
small
town
lying
on
the
uplands
some
six
miles
south
of
Bethlehem.
He
combined
two
occupa-tions.
The
sheep
he
reared
produced
a
particularly
fine
kind
of
wool,
the
sale
of
which
doubtless
took
him
from
one
market
to
another.
But
he
was
also
a
'
pincher
of
sycomores.'
The
fruit
of
this
tree
was
hastened
in
its
ripening
process
by
being
bruised
or
pinched:
and
as
the
sycomore
does
not
grow
at
so
great
a
height
as
Tekoa,
this
subsidiary
occupation
would
bring
Amos
into
touch
with
other
political
and
religious
circles.
The
simple
life
of
the
uplands,
the
isolation
from
the
dissipation
of
a
wealthier
civilization,
the
aloofness
from
all
priestly
or
prophetic
guilds,
had
doubtless
much
to
do
with
the
directness
of
his
vision
and
speech,
and
with
the
spiritual
independence
which
found
in
him
so
noble
an
utterance.
While
he
was
thus
a
native
of
the
kingdom
of
Judah,
his
prophetic
activity
awoke
in
the
kingdom
of
Israel.
Of
this
awakening
he
gives
a
most
vivid
picture
in
the
account
of
his
interview
with
Amaziah,
the
priest
of
Bethel
{7'°-").
He
had
gone
to
Bethel
to
some
great
religious
feast,
which
was
also
a
business
market.
The
direct
call
from
God
to
testify
against
the
unrighteousness
of.,
both
kingdoms
had
probably
come
to
him
not
long
before;
and
amidst
the
throng
at
Bethel
he
proclaimed
his
vision
of
Jehovah
standing
with
a
plumb-line
to
measure
the
deflection
of
Israel,
and
prepared
to
punish
the
iniquity
of
the
house
of
Jeroboam
11.
The
northern
kingdom
had
no
pleasant
memories
of
another
prophet
who
had
de-clared
the
judgment
of
God
upon
sin
(2
K
Q^"-);
and
Amaziah,
the
priest,
thinking
that
Amos
was
one
of
a
prophetic
and
ofScial
guild,
contemptuously
bade
him
begone
to
Judah,
where
he
could
prophesy
for
hire.
(7").
The
answer
came
flashing
back.
Amos
disclaimed
all
connexion
with
the
hireling
prophets
whose
'
word
'
was
dictated
by
the
immediate
political
and
personal
interest.
He
was
something
better
and
more
honest
—
no
prophet,
neither
a
prophet's
son,
but
a
herdsman
and
a
dresser
of
sycomores,
called
by
God
to
prophesy
to
Israel.
Herein
Ues
much
of
his
distinctiveness.
The
earher
prophetic
impulse
which
had
been
embodied
in
the
prophetic
guilds
had
become
/
professional
and
insincere.
Amos
brought
prophecy
/
back
again
into
the
line
of
direct
inspiration.
2.
The
time
in
which
he
lived.
—
Am
l'
may
not
be
part
of
the
original
prophecy,
but
there
is
no
reason
to
doubt
its
essential
accuracy.
Amos
was
prophesying
in
those
years
in
which
Uzziah
and
Jeroboam
11.
were
reigning
contemporaneously,
b.c.
775-750.
This
date
-
is
of
great
importance,
because
few
prophetic
writings
are
so
interpenetrated
by
the
historical
situation
as
those
of
Amos.
For
nearly
100
years
prior
to
his
time
Israel
had
suffered
severely
from
the
attacks
of
Syria.
She
had
lost
the
whole
of
her
territory
east
of
Jordan
(2
K
10'2');
she
had
been
made
hke
'dust
in
threshing'
(13').
But
now
Syria
had
more
than
enough
to
do
to
defend
herself
from
the
southward
pressure
of
Assyria;
and
the
result
was
that
Israel
once
more
began
to
be
prosperous
and
to
regain
her
lost
territories.
Under
Jeroboam
11.
this
prosperity
reached
its
climax.
The
people
revelled
in
it,
giving
no
thought
to
any
further
danger.
Even
Assyria
was
not
feared,
because
she
