AMORITES

Highlanders, or hillmen, the name given to the descendants of one of the sons of Canaan (Gen. 14:7), called Amurra or Amurri in the Assyrian and Egyptian inscriptions. On the early Babylonian monuments all Syria, including Palestine, is known as “the land of the Amorites.” The southern slopes of the mountains of Judea are called the “mount of the Amorites” (Deut. 1:7, 19, 20). They seem to have originally occupied the land stretching from the heights west of the Dead Sea (Gen. 14:7) to Hebron (13. Comp. 13:8; Deut. 3:8; 4:46-48), embracing “all Gilead and all Bashan” (Deut. 3:10), with the Jordan valley on the east of the river (4:49), the land of the “two kings of the Amorites,” Sihon and Og (Deut. 31:4; Josh. 2:10; 9:10). The five kings of the Amorites were defeated with great slaughter by Joshua (10:10). They were again defeated at the waters of Merom by Joshua, who smote them till there were none remaining (Josh. 11:8). It is mentioned as a surprising circumstance that in the days of Samuel there was peace between them and the Israelites (1 Sam. 7:14). The discrepancy supposed to exist between Deut. 1:44 and Num. 14:45 is explained by the circumstance that the terms “Amorites” and “Amalekites” are used synonymously for the “Canaanites.” In the same way we explain the fact that the “Hivites” of Gen. 34:2 are the “Amorites” of 48:22. Comp. Josh. 10:6; 11:19 with 2 Sam. 21:2; also Num. 14:45 with Deut. 1:44. The Amorites were warlike mountaineers. They are represented on the Egyptian monuments with fair skins, light hair, blue eyes, aquiline noses, and pointed beards. They are supposed to have been men of great stature; their king, Og, is described by Moses as the last “of the remnant of the giants” (Deut. 3:11). Both Sihon and Og were independent kings. Only one word of the Amorite language survives, “Shenir,” the name they gave to Mount Hermon (Deut. 3:9).

AMORITES, correctly EM'ORITES (mountaneers), a Syrian tribe descended from Canaan, and among the most formidable of the tribes with whom the Israelites contended. Gen 10:16. They were of gigantic stature and great courage. Am 2:9. They first inhabited the hill-country south of Jerusalem, the barren and rocky land in which David took refuge; but from there they went into better possessions, and at the time of the Conquest they inhabited one of the most fertile districts of the country, being bounded on three sides by the rivers Arnon, Jabbok, and Jordan. See Ammonites. The Israelites asked permission of their king to travel through their territory, promising to injure nothing, not even to draw water from their wells; but it was refused. The Amorites collected and attempted to oppose their progress, but were defeated, and their territory taken and divided between the tribes of Reuben and Gad. Josh 13:15, 2 Chr 11:21, Jud 6:24, Gen 1:27. Nothing more is heard of them in the Bible, except occasionally as moving in small bands.

AMORITES, correctly EM'ORITES (mountaneers), a Syrian tribe descended from Canaan, and among the most formidable of the tribes with whom the Israelites contended. Gen 10:16. They were of gigantic stature and great courage. Am 2:9. They first inhabited the hill-country south of Jerusalem, the barren and rocky land in which David took refuge; but from there they went into better possessions, and at the time of the Conquest they inhabited one of the most fertile districts of the country, being bounded on three sides by the rivers Arnon, Jabbok, and Jordan. See Ammonites. The Israelites asked permission of their king to travel through their territory, promising to injure nothing, not even to draw water from their wells; but it was refused. The Amorites collected and attempted to oppose their progress, but were defeated, and their territory taken and divided between the tribes of Reuben and Gad. Josh 13:15, 2 Chr 11:21, Jud 6:24, Gen 1:27. Nothing more is heard of them in the Bible, except occasionally as moving in small bands.