4. (Sept. 'H/xti/i v. r. 'Bfjui/i.) The head or ances- tor of one of the families of the Ncthinin that returned from Babylon (Neh. vii, 59) ; called Ami in Ezra ii, 57. B.C. ante 536.
Am'orite (Heb. Emori' , ^bX, Sept. 'A^oppai- oc), the designation of the descendants of one of the sons of Canaan (Gen. x, 16, in like manner, with the art., ihaXtt, Sept. 6 'Afioppawc, Auth. Vers, "the Am- orite." Gesenius, however, prefers the derivation sug- gested by Simonis, from an obsolete ION, height, q. d. mountaineer; comp. Ewald, Isr. Gesch. i, 279 sq.). They were the most powerful and distinguished of the Canaanitish nations (Gen. x, 16 ; Exod. iii, 8 ; xiii, 5 ; xxxiii, 2). We find them first noticed in Gen. xiv, 7, "the Amorites that dwelt in Hazezon-tamar" (q. v.), afterward called Engedi, a city in the wilderness of Judasa not far from the Dead Sea (Num. xiii, 29 • Deut. i, 7, 20). In the promise to Abraham (Gen xv, 21), the Amorites are specified as one of the nations whose country would be given to his posterity. But at that time three confederates of the patriarch be- longed to this tribe— Mamre, Aner, and Eshcol (Gen. xiv, 13, 24). When the Israelites were about to enter the promised land, the Amorites occupied a tract on both sides of the Jordan. Josephus calls it Amoritis (A/uuplnc, Ant. iv, 5, 1 ; 7, 3) and Amoria ('A/Aopia v. r. 'A/tonaia, 'Afiwpaia, Ant. v, 1, 1). They seem to have originally inhabited the southern slopes of the mountains of Judaea (hence called the mount of the Amorites, Deut. i, 7; xix, 20), but whether as abo- rigines or as dispossessors of an earlier race is uncer- tain, probably the former. It appears, therefore, that from the barren heights west of the Dead Sea (Gen. xiv, 7) they had stretched west to Hebron (Gen. xiv, 13; comp. xiii, 18). From this, their ancient seat, they may have crossed the valley of the Jordan, tempt- ed by the high table-lands on the east, for there we next meet them at the date of the invasion of the coun- try. Sihon, their then king, had taken the rich pas- ture-land south of the Jabbok, and had driven the Moabites, its former possessors, across the wide chasm of the Anion (Num. xxi, 26, 13), which thenceforward formed the boundary between the two hostile peoples
(Num. xxi, 13). That part of their territories which lay to the east of the Jordan was allotted to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh. This district was under two kings — Sihon, king of Heshbon (frequently called king of the Amorites), and Og, king of Bashan, who "dwelt at Ashtaroth [and] in [at] Edrei" (Deut. i, 4, compared with Josh, xii, 4 ; xiii, 12). The Israelites apparently approached from the south- east, keeping "on the other side" (that is, on the east) of the upper part of the Anion, which there bends southward, so as to form the eastern boundary of the country of Moab. Their request to pass through his land to the fords of Jordan was refused by Sihon (Num. xxi, 21; Deut. ii, 20); he "went out" against them (xxi, 23; ii, 32), was killed with his sons and his peo- ple (ii, 33), and his land, cattle, and cities, taken pos- session of by Israel (xxi, 24, 25, 31 ; ii, 34-56). This rich tract, bounded by the Jabbok on the north, the Arnon on the south, Jordan on the west, and "the wil- derness" on the east (Judg. xi, 21, 22) — in the words of Josephus, " a land lying between three rivers after the manner of an island" {Ant. iv, 5, 2) — was, perhaps, in the most special sense, the "land of the Amorites" (Num. xxi, 31 ; Josh, xii, 2, 3 ; xiii, 9 ; Judg. xi, 21, 22) ; but their possessions are distinctly stated to have extended to the very foot of Hermon (Deut iii, 8; iv, 48), embracing "all Gilead and all Bashan" (iii, 10), with the Jordan valley on the east of the river (iv, 49), and forming together the land of the " two kings of the Amorites," Sihon and Og (Deut. xxxi, 4; Josh. ii, 10 ; ix, 10 ; xxiv, 12). Og also gave battle to the Israelites at Edrei, and was totally defeated. After the capture of Ai, five kings of the Amorites, whose dominions lay within the allotment of the tribe of Judah, leagued together to wreak vengeance on the Gibeonites for having made a separate peace with the invaders. Joshua, on being apprised of their design, marched to Gibeon and defeated them with great slaughter (Josh, x, 10). Another confederacy was shortly after formed on a still larger scale ; the asso- ciated forces are described as "much people, even as the sand upon the sea-shore in multitude, with horses and chariots very manv" (Josh, xi, 4). Josephus says that they consisted of 300,000 armed foot-soldiers, 10,000 cavalry, and 20,000 chariots {Ant. v, 1, 8). Joshua came suddenly upon them by the waters of Merom (the lake Semechonitis of Josephus, Ant. v, 5, 1, and the modern Bahr el-Huleh), and Israel smote them until they left none remaining (Josh, xi, 8). Still, after their severe defeats, the Amorites, by means of their war-chariots and cavalry, confined the Danites to the hills, and would not suffer them to settle in the plains ; they even succeeded in retaining possession of some of the mountainous parts (Judg. i, 34-36). It is mentioned as an extraordinary circumstance that in the days of Samuel there was peace between Israel and the Amorites (1 Sam. vii, 14). In Solomon's reign a tribute of bond-service was levied on the rem- nant of the Amorites and other Canaanitish nations (1 Kings ix, 21 ; 2 Chron. viii, 8). See Canaan.