Ammon was an ancient nation east of the Dead Sea and the Jordan River, between the Arnon and Jabbok rivers. The Israelites traced its people, the Ammonites, to Ben-ammi, son of Lot, making them kin to Israel through Lot (Genesis 19:38). Amorite expansion took part of their territory before Israel’s arrival. As Israel traveled toward Canaan, it was commanded not to distress the children of Ammon or take their land, because the territory had been given to the descendants of Lot (Deuteronomy 2:19). The Ammonites paid tribute to regional powers during the Assyrian period, including Tiglath-pileser, and later to the Babylonians. They warred against Israel repeatedly through the period of the Judges and the monarchy: Ammonite war on Israel led Gilead to make Jephthah their captain (Judges 11), Nahash the Ammonite besieged Jabesh-gilead and demanded the right eyes of its men (1 Samuel 11), and after Nahash’s death his son Hanun provoked war with David (2 Samuel 10).
There were intervals of peace, as when Shobi son of Nahash brought David food and supplies at Mahanaim during Absalom’s revolt (2 Samuel 17:27-29). Ammon’s idol was Molech, for whom Solomon built a high place near Jerusalem (1 Kings 11:7); Molech worship involved passing children through the fire (Leviticus 18:21; 20:2-5). The prophets condemned Ammon: Amos for ripping up the pregnant women of Gilead to enlarge their border (Amos 1:13), Jeremiah and Ezekiel for seizing the land of Gad and reviling Israel, with both foretelling the desolation of their capital Rabbah (Jeremiah 49:1-6; Ezekiel 21:28-32), and Zephaniah for reproaching the people of the Lord (Zephaniah 2:8,9). When Jerusalem fell, Ammonite bands joined the Chaldeans against Judah (2 Kings 24:2). In the Persian period, Tobiah the Ammonite opposed Nehemiah’s rebuilding of Jerusalem’s wall (Nehemiah 4), and Ammonites later fought the Hasmoneans as recorded in the books of the Maccabees. Ammon’s place in the prophetic vision of Israel’s restoration also appears in the Book of Mormon: Nephi quotes Isaiah’s prophecy that in the final gathering of Israel, reunited Ephraim and Judah will “lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them” (2 Nephi 21:14), placing Ammon among the surrounding nations that yield to restored Israel in the last days.