Ammon, Jupiter. See Amos.
Ammon, Christopher Frederick, a German theologian, born at Bayrcuth, January 16, 1766. He became, in 1789, professor of philosophy in Erlan- gen ; in 1792, professor of theology at the same uni- versity; in 1794, professor of theology at Gottingen. In 1804 he was called back to Erlangen, and was at the same time appointed superintendent and consis- torial councillor at Ansbach. In 1813 he was called as chief court-preacher (Oberhofprediger) and chief- consistorial councillor to Dresden. In 1831 he be- came a member of the state council of Saxony, and of the ministry of worship and public instruction, and, subsequently, vice-president of the supreme consistory. He resigned in 1849, and died at Dresden on May 21. 1850. He is chiefly known by bis work on the Devel- opment of Christianity as a Universal Religion (Fort- hi Idling il. ( "hristenthvms zur Weltreligion, 4 vols. Leip. 1833-1840), in which he argues in favor of such a de- velopment of doctrine as may keep theology in harmony with the progress of science. Ammon was a leader of the Rationalist school. He was a man of extensive learning, and a copious author. Among his writings are Gesehkhte d. HomUetih (Gott. 1804); Kanzelbevedt- tamkeit (1799 and 1812, 8vo) ; Opuscula Theoloqica (2 vols. 179:'., 1803) ; Ml,!. Theohgice. (2d ed. 1801-2, 3 vols. 8vo); Summa Theologies (3d ed. 1816); Christologie (Erl. 1794, 8vo); besides many minor works. He was regarded as one of the first pulpit orators of Germany, and is the author of many volumes of sermons. He also edited the Magazin fi'tr christliche Prediger (Mag- azine for Christian preachers, Hanover, 1816-21, 6 vols.). A biographical sketch of Amnion is given in the pamphlet "Christoph Friedrich ven Amnion nach J.i h< a. Ansichfen mid Wirken" ( Leipsic, 1850). See also B'Miotheca Sacra, x, 211. — Winer, Theol. Literatur.
Am'monite (Heb. Ammoni', "^'iB?, Sept. 'Afi- uwvirr]e, and 'Appavirrjc,', also \\VS9 "23, "children of Ammon;" Sept. viol 'App<!>v)f the usual designa- tion of the people descended from Ben-Ammi, the son of Lot by his younger daughter (Gen. xix, 38; comp. Psa. lxxxiii, 7, 8), as Moab was by the elder; and dating from (ho destruction of Sodom. The near re- lation between the two peoples indicated in the story
of their origin continued throughout their existence ; from their earliest mention (Deut. ii) to their disap- pearance from the biblical history (Jud. v, 2) the brother-tribes are named together (comp. Judg. x, 10 ; 2 Chron. xx, 1 ; Zeph. ii, 8, etc.). Indeed, so close was their union, and so near their identity, that each would appear to be occasionally spoken of under the name of the other. Thus the "land of the children of Ammon" is said to have been given to the "chil- dren of Lot," i. e. to both Ammon and Moab (Deut. ii, 19). They are both said to have hired Balaam to curse Israel (Deut. xxiii, 4), whereas the detailed nar- rative of that event omits all mention of Ammon (Num. xxii, xxiii). In the answer of Jephthah to the king of Ammon the allusions are continually to Moab (Judg. xi, 15, 18, 25), while Chemosh, the peculiar deity of Moab (Num. xxi, 29), is called "thy god" (ver. 24). The land from Arnon to Jabbok, which the king of Amnion calls "my land" (ver. 13), is else- where distinctly stated to have once belonged to a "king of Moab" (Num. xxi, 26). " Land" or " coun- try" is, however, but rarely ascribed to them, nor is there any reference to those habits and circumstances of civilization — the "plentiful fields," the "hay," the "summer fruits," the "vineyards," the "presses," and the "songs of the grape-treaders" — which so con- stantly recur in the allusions to Moab (La. xv, xvi; Jer. xlviii) ; but, on the contrary, we find everywhere traces of the fierce habits of marauders in their incur- sions, thrusting out the right eyes of whole cities (1 Sam. xi, 2), ripping up the women with child (Amos i, 13), and displaying a very high degree of crafty cru- elty (Jer. xii, 6, 7; Jud. vii, 11, 12) to their enemies, as well as a suspicious discourtesy to their allies, which on one occasion (2 Sam. x, 1-5) brought all but extermination on the tribe (xii, 31). Nor is the con- trast less observable between the one city of Ammon, the fortified hold of Rabbah (2 Sam. xi, 1 ; Ezra xxv, 5; Amos i, 13), and the "streets," the "house-tops," and the "high-places" of the numerous and busy towns of the rich plains of Moab (Jer. xlviii ; Isa. xv, xvi). Taking the above into account, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that, while Moab was the settled and civilized half of the nation of Lot, the Bene-Am- mon formed its predatory and Bedouin section. A remarkable confirmation of this opinion occurs in the fact that the special deity of the tribe was worshipped, not in a house or on a high place, but in a booth or tent designated by the very word which most keenly expressed to the Israelites the contrast between a no- madic and a settled life (Amos v, 26 ; Acts vii, 43). See Succoth. (See Stanley, Palest. App. § 89.) On the west of Jordan they never obtained a footing. Among the confusions of the times of the judges we find them twice passing over; once with Moab and Amalek, seizing Jericho, the "city of palm-trees" (Judg. iii, 13), and a second time "to fight against Judah and Benjamin, and the hoiue of Ephraim ;" but they quickly returned to the freer pastures of Gilead, leaving but one trace of their presence in the name of Chephar ha-Ammonai, "the hamlet of the Ammonites" (Josh, xviii, 24), situated in the portion of Benjamin somewhere at the head of the passes which lead up from the Jordan valley, and form the natural access to the table-land of the west country.