Amorites

The Amorites are reckoned among the descendants of Canaan and stand at the head of the pre-Israelite peoples of the land. They appear first as confederates of Abram, then as the entrenched inhabitants of the Transjordan and the hill-country whom Israel must dispossess. Their two great kings, Sihon of Heshbon and Og of Bashan, fall to Israel before the Jordan crossing; their five hill-country kings fall to Joshua at Gibeon. The prophets later look back on the Amorites as the towering people Yahweh struck down, and as the standard against which idolatrous Israel and Judah are measured.

Descent from Canaan

In the table of nations the Amorite is counted among Canaan's sons alongside the Jebusite and the Girgashite: "and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgashite," (Gen 10:16). The Chronicler repeats the same line: "And Canaan begot Sidon his firstborn, and Heth, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgashite," (1 Chr 1:13-14). Ezekiel will pick up this genealogy in his rebuke of Jerusalem: "Your birth and your nativity is of the land of the Canaanite; the Amorite was your father, and your mother was a Hittite" (Ezek 16:3).

The Iniquity Not Yet Full

Yahweh's covenant promise to Abram fixes the Amorite at the center of the land's destiny. The exodus of Abram's seed is delayed: "And in the fourth generation they will come here again; for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full" (Gen 15:16). The list of nations whose land is given to Abram's descendants includes "the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Girgashite, and the Jebusite" (Gen 15:21). Centuries later Jacob recalls his own struggle: "Moreover I have given to you one portion above your brothers, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow" (Gen 48:22).

Abraham's Confederates

In Abram's day the Amorites already populate the land. Chedorlaomer's coalition strikes them on its sweep through the south: "And they returned, and came to En-mishpat (the same is Kadesh), and struck all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, who dwelt in Hazazon-tamar" (Gen 14:7). Abram's own allies are Amorites: "And there came one who had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew: now he stayed by the oaks of Mamre, the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner; and these were confederate with Abram" (Gen 14:13).

Territory and Hill-Country

The spies sent into Canaan place the Amorite in the highlands: "Amalek dwells in the land of the South: and the Hittite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, dwell in the hill-country; and the Canaanite dwells by the sea, and along by the side of the Jordan" (Num 13:29). Moses' opening retrospective in Deuteronomy points east of the Jordan: "after he had struck Sihon the king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who dwelt in Ashtaroth, at Edrei" (Deut 1:4). The horizon of promise extends across both: "turn⁺, and take your⁺ journey, and go⁺ to the hill-country of the Amorites, and to all its neighboring places, in the Arabah, in the hill-country, and in the lowland, and in the South, and by the seashore, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates" (Deut 1:7). After the wilderness Moses says, "And I said to you⁺, You⁺ have come to the hill-country of the Amorites, which Yahweh our God gives to us" (Deut 1:19-20).

Sihon of Heshbon

The conquest of Amorite territory begins with Sihon. Israel asks for safe passage: "And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, Let me pass through your land: we will not turn aside into field, or into vineyard; we will not drink of the water of the wells: we will go by the king's highway, until we have passed your border" (Num 21:21-22). Sihon refuses, gathers his people at Jahaz, and is struck down: "And Israel struck him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, even to the sons of Ammon... For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and taken all his land out of his hand, even to the Arnon" (Num 21:24, 26). The taunt-song that follows turns Heshbon's old proverb back upon Sihon himself (Num 21:27-30).

Moses' Deuteronomic retelling underscores Yahweh's hand in the victory: "And Yahweh said to me, Look, I have begun to deliver up Sihon and his land before you: begin to possess, that you may inherit his land" (Deut 2:31). The battle is joined and the land is taken: "Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Jahaz. And Yahweh our God delivered him up before us; and we struck him, and his sons, and all his people. And we took all his cities at that time, and completely destroyed every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones; we left none remaining" (Deut 2:32-34).

Og of Bashan

After Sihon, Og: "And they turned and went up by the way of Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei" (Num 21:33). Deuteronomy describes the same battle in greater detail: "And [the Speech of] Yahweh said to me, Don't fear him; for I have delivered him, and all his people, and his land, into your hand; and you will do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon. So Yahweh our God delivered into our hand Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people: and we struck him until none was left to him remaining" (Deut 3:2-3). The taking of his sixty fortified cities is summed up: "And we took the land at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, from the valley of the Arnon to mount Hermon; ([which] Hermon the Sidonians call Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir;) all the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, to Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan" (Deut 3:8-10).

Og himself is marked as a survivor of an older race: "(For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the Rephaim; look, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbah of the sons of Ammon? Nine cubits was its length, and four cubits the width of it, after the cubit of a man.)" (Deut 3:11).

Allotment of the Transjordan

The land of the two Amorite kings is given to the eastern tribes: "And Moses gave to them, even to the sons of Gad, and to the sons of Reuben, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land, according to its cities with [their] borders, even the cities of the land round about" (Num 32:33). The list of conquered Transjordan kings is gathered in Joshua: "Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, and ruled from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and [the city that is in] the middle of the valley, and half Gilead, even to the river Jabbok, the border of the sons of Ammon" (Josh 12:2), together with "all the kingdom of Og in Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei (the same was left of the remnant of the Rephaim); for these Moses struck, and drove them out" (Josh 13:12). Sihon's princes are named: "and all the cities of the plain, and all the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, whom Moses struck with the chiefs of Midian, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, the princes of Sihon, who dwelt in the land" (Josh 13:21).

The Crossing and the Five Kings

Before the Jordan crossing the Amorite stands first in Joshua's list of nations to be dispossessed: "Hereby you⁺ will know that the living God is among you⁺, and that he will without fail drive out from before you⁺ the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Hivite, and the Perizzite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Jebusite" (Josh 3:10). News of Sihon and Og has already reached Canaan: "For we have heard how Yahweh dried up the water of the Red Sea before you⁺, when you⁺ came out of Egypt; and what you⁺ did to the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and to Og, whom you⁺ completely destroyed" (Josh 2:10). When Israel crosses, the western Amorite kings melt: "And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, who were by the sea, heard how that Yahweh had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the sons of Israel, until we had passed over, that their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them anymore, because of the sons of Israel" (Josh 5:1).

The hill-country Amorites form a coalition against Gibeon: "Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, gathered themselves together, and went up, they and all their hosts, and encamped against Gibeon, and made war against it" (Josh 10:5). Yahweh routs them with hailstones: "And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, while they were at the descent of Beth-horon, that Yahweh cast down great stones from heaven on them to Azekah, and they died: they who died with the hailstones were more than they whom the sons of Israel slew with the sword" (Josh 10:11). Then Joshua speaks the sun-and-moon prayer: "Then Joshua spoke to Yahweh in the day when Yahweh delivered up the Amorites before the sons of Israel; and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand still on Gibeon; And, Moon, in the valley of Aijalon" (Josh 10:12).

Joshua's farewell summary credits the victory to Yahweh, not to the sword: "And you⁺ went over the Jordan, and came to Jericho: and the men of Jericho fought against you⁺, the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Girgashite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; and I delivered them into your⁺ hand" (Josh 24:11), "And I sent the hornet before you⁺, which drove them out from before you⁺, even the two kings of the Amorites; not with your sword, nor with your bow" (Josh 24:12).

Charge to Drive Out and Destroy

The Amorite stands inside the canonical list of nations marked for dispossession: "For my angel will go before you, and bring you in to the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Canaanite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: and I will cut them off" (Ex 23:23); "and I will send an angel before you; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite" (Ex 33:2); "You observe that which I command you this day: look, I drive out before you the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite" (Ex 34:11); "When Yahweh your God will bring you into the land where you go to possess it, and will cast out many nations before you, the Hittite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and mightier than you" (Deut 7:1). The reason for total destruction is preservation from Amorite religion: "but you will completely destroy them: the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; as Yahweh your God has commanded you; that they don't teach you⁺ to follow all their disgusting behaviors, which they have done to their gods; so you⁺ would sin against Yahweh your⁺ God" (Deut 20:17-18).

A Remnant Not Driven Out

In Judges the project is left unfinished. The Amorites press the tribe of Dan back into the highlands: "And the Amorites forced the sons of Dan into the hill-country; for they would not allow them to come down to the valley; but the Amorites determined to dwell in mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim: yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became subject to slave labor. And the border of the Amorites was the Edomites, from the ascent of Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward" (Judg 1:34-36). The Manassite slack mirrors the Danite: "Yet the sons of Manasseh could not drive out [the inhabitants of] those cities; but the Canaanites determined to dwell in that land" (Josh 17:12).

The remnant survives long past the conquest. Jephthah argues from Sihon's defeat: "And Yahweh, the God of Israel, delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they struck them: so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country" (Judg 11:21), "And they possessed all the border of the Amorites, from the Arnon even to the Jabbok, and from the wilderness even to the Jordan. So now Yahweh, the God of Israel, has dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and should you possess them?" (Judg 11:22-23). The Gibeonites are still identified as Amorites under Saul: "now the Gibeonites were not of the sons of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the sons of Israel had sworn to them" (2 Sam 21:2). Solomon presses the survivors into corvée: "As for all the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the sons of Israel; their sons who were left after them in the land, whom the sons of Israel were not able completely to destroy, of them Solomon raised slave labor to this day" (1 Kgs 9:20-21). Pharaoh meanwhile takes Canaanite Gezer by fire: "Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burned it with fire, and slain the Canaanites who dwelt in the city, and given it for a portion to his daughter, Solomon's wife" (1 Kgs 9:16).

Idolatry and the Standard of Wickedness

The presence of Amorite religion is treated as Israel's chronic temptation. A prophet rebukes the generation of Gideon: "and I said to you⁺, I am Yahweh your⁺ God; you⁺ will not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you⁺ dwell. But you⁺ haven't accepted [my Speech]" (Judg 6:10). The historian's verdict on Ahab measures him against the Amorites: "And what he did was very disgusting in following idols, according to all that the Amorites did, whom Yahweh cast out before the sons of Israel" (1 Kgs 21:26). Manasseh of Judah is judged the same way: "Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these disgusting things, and has done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols" (2 Kgs 21:11).

Prophetic Recall

Amos remembers the Amorite as the towering enemy Yahweh felled before Israel: "Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath. Also I brought you⁺ up out of the land of Egypt, and led you⁺ forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite" (Amos 2:9-10). Ezekiel uses Jerusalem's Amorite parentage as indictment: "Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh to Jerusalem: Your birth and your nativity is of the land of the Canaanite; the Amorite was your father, and your mother was a Hittite" (Ezek 16:3). The psalmist places Sihon and Og in the litany of Yahweh's victories: "Sihon king of the Amorites, And Og king of Bashan, And all the kingdoms of Canaan" (Ps 135:11), and Nehemiah's prayer recalls the same conquest: "Moreover you gave them kingdoms and peoples, which you allotted after their portions: so they possessed the land of Sihon, even the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan" (Neh 9:22).

Post-Exilic Memory

After the return from exile the Amorites still appear in the list of peoples whose ways have not been put off. The princes report to Ezra: "The people of Israel, and the priests and the Levites, haven't separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, [doing] according to their disgusting things, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the peoples of the lands: yes, the hand of the princes and rulers has been chief in this trespass" (Ezra 9:1-2). The Amorite, who entered scripture as Canaan's son and rose to the cedars, exits as a category of intermarriage to be undone.