Editing Ammon (section)

===Rabbinic literature===
The Ammonites, still numerous in the south of Palestine in the second century CE according to [[Justin Martyr]],<ref>"Dialogus cum Tryphone," ch. cxix.</ref> presented a serious problem to the Pharisaic scribes because many marriages with Ammonite and Moabite wives had taken place in the days of [[Nehemiah]] (Neh. 13). Still later, it is not improbable that when [[Judas Maccabeus]] had inflicted a crushing defeat upon the Ammonites, Jewish warriors took Ammonite women as wives, and their sons, sword in hand, claimed recognition as Jews notwithstanding the law (Deut. 23) that "an Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord." Such a condition or a similar incident is reflected in the story told in the Talmud<ref>Yeb. 76b, 77a; Ruth R. to ii. 5</ref> that in the days of King [[Saul]], the legitimacy of David's claim to royalty was disputed on account of his descent from [[Ruth (biblical figure)|Ruth]], the Moabite; whereupon Ithra, an [[Israelite]],<ref>II Sam. xvii. 25; compare I Chron. ii. 17</ref> girt with his sword, strode like an [[Ishmaelites|Ishmaelite]] into the schoolhouse of [[Jesse (biblical figure)|Jesse]], declaring upon the authority of [[Samuel]], the prophet, and his bet din (court of justice), that the law excluding the Ammonite and Moabite from the Jewish congregation referred only to the men—who alone had sinned in not meeting Israel with bread and water—and not to the women. The story reflects actual conditions in pre-[[Talmud]]ic times, conditions that led to the fixed rule stated in the [[Mishnah]]: "Ammonite and Moabite men are excluded from the Jewish community for all time; their women are admissible."<ref>Yeb. viii. 3</ref>

That [[Rehoboam]], the son of King [[Solomon]], was born of an Ammonite woman<ref>I Kings, xiv. 21-31</ref> also made it difficult to maintain the messianic claims of the [[Davidic line|house of David]]; but it was adduced as an illustration of divine Providence which selected the "two doves," Ruth, the Moabite, and [[Naamah (wife of Solomon)|Naamah]], the Ammonitess, for honorable distinction.<ref>B. Ḳ. 38b</ref><ref>[http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1414-ammon-ammonites Jewish encyclopedia Ammonites]</ref> Ruth's kindness as noted in the Book of Ruth by Boaz is seen in the Jewish Tradition as in rare contradistinction to the peoples of Moab (where Ruth comes from) and Amon in general, who were noted by the Torah for their distinct ''lack'' of kindness. Deut. 23:5: "Because they [the peoples of Amon and Moab] did not greet you with bread and water on the way when you left Egypt, and because he [the people of Moab] hired Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor in Aram Naharaim against you, to curse you." Rashi notes regarding Israel's travels on the way: "when you were in [a state of] extreme exhaustion."

[[Jehoash of Judah|Jehoash]] was one of the four men who pretended to be gods.<ref>The other three were Pharaoh; Hiram and Nebuchadnezzar (Louis Ginzberg's The Legends of the Jews From Moses to Esther; Notes for Volumes Three and Four(p.423)</ref> He was persuaded thereto particularly by the princes, who said to him. "Wert thou not a god thou couldst not come out alive from the Holy of Holies" {{clarify |text=(Ex R. viii. 3) |reason=what does this set of letters and numbers mean? |date=November 2023}}. He was assassinated by two of his servants, one of whom was the son of an Ammonite woman and the other the offspring of a Moabite (2 Chron. 24:26); for God said: "Let the descendants of the two ungrateful families chastise the ungrateful Joash" ([[Yalk.]], Ex. 262). Moab and Ammon were the two offspring of [[Lot (biblical person)|Lot]]'s incest with his two daughters as described in Gen. 19:30–38.

Baalis, king of the Ammonites, envious of the Jewish colony's prosperity, or jealous of the might of the Babylonian king, instigated [[Ishmael son of Nethaniah|Ishmael, son of Nathaniel]], "of the royal seed," to make an end of the Judean rule in Palestine, Ishmael, being an unscrupulous character, permitted himself to become the tool of the Ammonite king in order to realize his own ambition to become the ruler of the deserted land. Information of this conspiracy reached [[Gedaliah]] through Johanan, son of Kareah, and Johanan undertook to slay Ishmael before he had had time to carry out his evil design; but the governor disbelieved the report, and forbade Johanan to lay hands upon the conspirator. Ishmael and his ten companions were royally entertained at Gedaliah's table. In the midst of the festivities Ishmael slew the unsuspecting Gedaliah, the Chaldean garrison stationed in Mizpah, and all the Jews that were with him, casting their bodies into the pit of Asa (Josephus, "Ant." x. 9, § 4). The Rabbis condemn the overconfidence of Gedaliah, holding him responsible for the death of his followers (Niddah 61a; comp. Jer. xli. 9). Ishmael captured many of the inhabitants of Mizpah, as well as "the daughters of the king" entrusted to Gedaliah's care by the Babylonian general, and fled to Ammon. Johanan and his followers, however, on receiving the sad tidings, immediately pursued the murderers, overtaking them at the lake of Gibeon. The captives were rescued, but Ishmael and eight of his men escaped to the land of Ammon. The plan of Baalis thus succeeded, for the Jewish refugees, fearing lest the Babylonian king should hold them responsible for the murder, never returned to their native land. In spite of the exhortations of Jeremiah they fled to Egypt, joined by the remnant of the Jews that had survived, together with Jeremiah and Baruch (Jer. xliii. 6). The rule of Gedaliah lasted, according to tradition, only two months, although Grätz argues that it continued more than four years.<ref>[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/6548-gedallah Jewish Encyclopedia Gedallah]</ref> Although a voice from heaven uttered for eighteen years these words in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, "O wicked servant; go and destroy the house of your master, since his children no longer obey him," yet the king was afraid to obey the command, remembering the defeat which Sennacherib had suffered in a similar attempt. Nebuchadnezzar asked the advice of different oracles, all of which warned him not to undertake the expedition against Jerusalem (Lam. R. l.c.). Furthermore, the Ammonites and the Moabites, Israel's "wicked neighbors," gave inducements to Nebuchadnezzar to come by saying that the Prophets announced Judah's downfall. They allayed the king's fear lest God might send the same fate upon him that He had upon Sennacherib, by saying that God had now abandoned Israel, and that there were left among the people no pious ones able to turn away God's anger (Sanh. 96b).<ref>[https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/11407-nebuchadnezzar#anchor3 Jewish Encyclopedia Nebuchadnezzar]</ref>