by conquest got a great part of the country belonging to the Ammonites, and Moabites. This, Moses retook from the Amorites and divided between the tribes of Gad and Reuben. In the time of Jepthah the Ammonites declared war aagainst the Israelites, (Judg. xi,) under pretence that they detained a great part of the country, which had formerly been theirs, before the Amorites possessed it. Jepthah declared, that as this was an acquisition, which the Israelites had made in a just war, and what they had taken from the Amorites, who had long enjoyed it by right of conquest, he was under no obligations to restore it. The Ammonites were not satisfied with this mode of reasoning. Wherefore Jepthah gave them battle and defeated them.

The Ammonites and Moabites generally united, whenever there was any design set a foot for attacking the Israelites. After the death of Othniel, the Ammonites and Amalekites joined with Eglon, king of Moab, to oppress the Hebrews, whom they subdued, and gov. erned for the space of eighteen years, till they were delivered by Ehud, the son of Gera, who slew Eglon, king of

Moab.

Sometime after this, the Ammonites made war against Israel and greatly distressed them, but God delivered the Israelites at this time from the oppressions of the children of Ammon, by the hands of Jepthah, who having attacked them, made a very great slaughter among them, (chap, xi.) Naash, king of the Ammonites, having sat down before Jabesh-Gilead, reduced the inhabitants to the extremity of demanding a capitulation. Naash answered, that he would capitulate with them upon no other conditions, than their submitting to have the right eye of every one plucked out, so that they might be made a reproach to Israel: but Saul coming seasonably to the relief of Jabesh, delivered the city and people from the barbarity of the Ammonites.

David had been the king of Ammon's friend; and after the death of this prince, he sent ambassadors to make his com pliments of condolence, to Ha. nun, his son and successor, who imagining that David's ambassadors had come as spies to observe the strength and the condition of his kingdom, treated them in a very abusive manner, (2 Sam. x, 4,) for which David was avenged,

chap. xii, 3, he put them, as it may be read, to saws and har. rows, &c. ie. to servitude. David revenged this indignity, thrown upon his ambassadors, by subduing the Ammonites, the Moabites, and the Syrians, their allies. Ammon and Moab continued under the obedience of the kings, David and Solomon, and after the separation of the ten tribes, they were subject to the kings of Israel till the death of Ahab in the year of the world 3107. Two years after the death of Ahab, Jehoram, his son, and successor of Ahaziah, defeated the Moabites, (2 Kings iii,) but it does not appear that this victory was so complete as to reduce them to his obedience. At the same time the Ammonites, Moabites, and other people, made an irruption upon the lands belonging to Judah, but were forced back and routed by Jehoshaphat. 2 Chron. xx, 1, 2. After the tribes, Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, were carried into captivity, by Tiglathpileser in the year 3264, the Ammonites and Moabites, took possession of the cities, belong ing to these tribes. Jeremiah (xlix, 1) reproaches them for it. The ambassadors of the Ammonites were some of those

to whom this prophet, (chap. xxvii, 2-4) presented the cup of the Lord's fury, and directed them to make bonds and yokes for themselves, exhorted them to submit themselves to Nebuchadnezzar, and threatening them, if they did not, with captivity and slavery. Ezekiel (xxv, 4-10) denounces their entire destruction; and tells them that God would give them up to the people of the east, who should set their palaces in their country; so that there should be no more mention of the Ammonites among the nations; and all this as a punishment for their insulting the Israelites, upon the calamities they suffered, and the destruction of the temple, by the Chaldeans. It is believed that these misfortunes happened to the Ammonites, in the fifth year after the taking of Jerusalem, when Nebuchadnezzar made war against all the people, that dwelt upon the confines of Judea, in the year of the world 3420. It is also thought probable, that Cyrus, gave the Ammonites and Moabites the liberty of returning into their own country, from whence they had been removed by Nebuchadnezzar, for we see them in the place of their former settlement, exposed to those revo

lutions, which were common to the people of Syria and Palestine, subject sometimes to the kings of Egypt, and at other times to the kings of Syria. We are told by Polybius, that Antiochus the Great took Rabbath or Philadelphia, their capital, demolished the walls, and put a garrison in it, in 3806. During the persecutions of Antiochus Epiphanes, Josephus informs us, that the Ammonites shewed their hatred to the Jews, and exercised great cruelties against such of them, as lived about their country. Justin Martyr says, that in his time, there were still many Ammonites remaining; but Origen-assures us, that when he was living, they were known only under the general name of Arabians. Thus was the prediction of Ezek. (xxv, 10) accomplished, who said that the Ammonites should be destroyed in such a manner as not to be remembered among the nations. Zechariah also says, chap. ii, "Ammon-shall be as Gomorrah." Their very name is accordingly, now extinct. They are known only in the records of other times. I cannot omit taking notice here, observes the good Dr. Wells of the dispensations of Providence in assigning the first settlements of the descend

ants of Abraham and Lot. The land of Canaan was to be in due time in possession of the Israelites, the sons of Jacob. South of Canaan settled Ishmael in the wilderness of Paran, and west of mount Seir, which was to be the possession of Esau, the brother of Jacob. East of mount Seir, the Midianites seated themselves, with the other sons of Keturah. North of these were found the two sons of Lot, Moab and Benammi. It is worthy of notice that Providence made room for these settlements of Abram's children, Israel excepted, by the great slaughter of the original inhabitants by Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and his confederates. That we might understand this fact seems to be the design of Moses in giving an account of the conquests of Chedorlaomar over these countries, Gen. xiv, 5—7.

AMORITES, OR AMORRHITES, a people descended from Amorrhæus, according to the Septuagint and Vulgate; Emoræus according to other expositors; Hæmori, according to the Hebrew; or Emorite, according to our version of the Bible, who was the fourth son of Canaan, Gen. x, 16.

The Amorites, first of all, peopled the mountains lying to the west of the Dead sea; they

had likewise establishments to the east of the same sea, between the brooks of Jabbok and Arnon, whence they forced the Ammonites and Moabites. Numb. xviii, 30, 21, 29; Josh. v, 1; and Judg. xi, 19, 20. Moses made a conquest of this country from their kings, Sihon and Og, in the year of the world 2553.

The prophet Amos (ii, 9) speaking of the gigantic stature and valor of the Amorites, compares their height with that of cedars, and their strength with that of an oak. The name Amorites is often taken in scrip. ture for all Canaanites in general. The lands, which the Amorite possessed on this side Jordan, were given to the tribe of Judah; and those which they had enjoyed beyond this river were distributed between the tribes of Reuben and Gad. Indeed there seems to have been very different tribes of men called by this general name.

Amorrhites, inhabited a part of mount Lebanon, East of Phenicia.

Amorrhites, dwelt in mount Gilead, between the rivers Jabbok and Arnon.

Amorrhites, inhabited the mountain of Paran, between mount Sinai and Kadesh Barnea, Gen. xv. As their He

brew name signifies branching or spreading; it may, therefore, simply mean the people who live in the numerous and extensive branches of mount Paran, Gilead, and Lebanon, Wells, &c.

AMPHIPOLIS, a city lying between Macedon and Thrace, but depending on the kingdom of Macedon. It is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles (xvii, 1.) St. Paul and Silas, being delivered out of prison, left Phillippi, went to Thessa lonica, and passed through Amphipolis; but it does not appear, that any church was formed there: It has its name from being encompassed by the river Strymon, the old boundary between Thrace and Macedon. It was built by Cimon the famous Athenian, 470 years before Christ, and settled with a colony of 10,000 people. It is now called Emboli by the Turks; but is not a place of much importance. Lat. 41, 50.

ANA, a city of Arabia Deserta on the Euphrates. Upon an island near it is a very fine mosque. For half a league round the town is a fruitful soil, beyond which is a frightful desert.

ANAB, a city in the mountains of Judah. Josh. xi, 22. Lat. 31, 12.

ANAHARATH, a city belonging to the tribe of Issachar. Josh. xix, 19. Lat. 32, 32. ANAKIMS, a people descended from Anak, who was the son of Arba; Numb. xii, 22. These people, like their fathers, were giants, and terrible for their fierceness. But Caleb, assisted by the tribe of Judah, took Kirjath-arba and destroyed the Anakims; Judges i, 20. There seems to have been several races of giants in Palestine. The Emims, Rephaims, &c. See Rephaims. The Anakims, or the sons of Anak, were the most famous giants of Palestine. They dwelt at Hebron, and in the vicinity. Their stature was so much above what was common, that the Israelites, who were sent to view the promised land, told the people at their return, that they had seen giants, who were of so monstrous a size, that the Israelites in comparison were but grasshoppers. Numbers xiii, 23. The Septuagint sometimes translate the word Gibbor, giant, though literally it signifies no more than a strong man, a man of valor and bravery, a warrior. example, they say, that Nimrod was a giant before the Lord, Gen. x, 8, 9; that the sun rises

For

like a giant to run his course, Psalm xi, 5: that the Lord will destroy the giant and the warlike man, Isaiah iii, 2; that he will call his giants in his wrath to take vengeance of his enemies, Isaiah xiii, 3; that he will destroy the power of Egypt by the sword of his giants, that is to say, of his warriors, Ezekiel xxxii, 12, 21, 27.

It is very probable, that the first men were of a strength and stature much superior to those of mankind at present, since they lived longer; long life being commonly the effect of a vigorous vigorous constitution. The scripture says that there were many of these mighty, men upon the earth when Noah appeared, and that there were some before, and after the sons of God had an intercourse with the daughters of men. The text in Moses runs thus, "there were giants in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bear children to them." Several of the ancient authors, led into mistake by the apocryphal book of Enoch, have asserted, that giants were the production of a marriage between angels and the daugh