摩押和亚扪

摩押和亚扪是中东地区两个民族的名字；旧约时期也指他们居住的死海和约旦河东部地区。亚伯拉罕搬到迦南地区的时候带着他的侄儿罗得。后来，罗得与亚伯拉罕分开搬到死海南边。罗得和家人脱离罪恶之城所多玛之后，在山里与自己两个女儿乱伦生下孩子。长女生下摩押，幼女生下亚扪。摩押和亚扪在圣经中代表不洁的民族。关于这两人后裔的状况，圣经多有记述：

   1. Moab: Meaning “from his father,” he was the ancestor of the Moabites. They lived on the plains of Moab, east of the Dead Sea. Their territory extended east to the Arabian Desert, south to the land of Edom, west to the Dead Sea, and north to the region of Mount Nebo, beyond the Arnon River. The Moabites grew strong after the Israelites settled in Egypt. Later, when the Israelites returned to Canaan, the king of Moab hired Balaam to curse them and repeatedly tried to tempt the Israelites into sin. Because of this, God declared that even after ten generations, no descendant of a Moabite could enter the assembly of the LORD (Deuteronomy 23:3). The Israelites had killed Sihon, the Amorite king north of the Arnon River, who had hindered them. They then divided the land, which originally belonged to Moab, between the tribes of Reuben and Gad. The Moabites resented this. During the time of the Judges, King Eglon of Moab oppressed the Israelites but was later killed by Ehud. King Saul defeated the Moabites and other tribes (1 Samuel 14:47). David’s ancestor Ruth was a Moabitess. When David fled from Saul, he asked the king of Moab to allow his parents to live in Moab (1 Samuel 22:3-4). Later, David attacked the Moabites (Jewish tradition says it was because the Moabites later killed David’s parents), either killing them or subjugating them into paying tribute (2 Samuel 8:2; Psalm 60:8). Among King Solomon’s wives was a Moabite woman, and he built high places for their gods. After Solomon’s death, Moab regained its strength but was defeated again during the reign of King Omri of Israel. After King Ahab’s death, Moab rebelled again (2 Kings 3:5) and was defeated by the kings of Israel, Judah, and Edom. However, they soon regained their independence and frequently encroached upon Israelite territory. The prophets foretold that Moab would be punished and utterly destroyed (Amos 2:1-3; Isaiah 15-16, 25:10; Zephaniah 2:8-11; Jeremiah 48; Ezekiel 25:8-11). In the 8th century BC, Moab paid tribute to Assyria. During the reign of King Jehoiakim, the armies of Moab, Ammon, and other foreign nations attacked Jehoiakim and destroyed Judah (2 Kings 24:2). By the time the Jews returned from Babylonian exile, the Nabataean Arabs had occupied the land of Moab, and the Moabites’ power gradually waned. The last historical record of Moab outside the Bible (in cylinder B of Assurbanipal) mentions King Kaasḥalta of Moab submitting to the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (reigned 669-631 BC). From the Persian Empire onward, Moab no longer appears in historical records, though their former land was still called “the land of Moab,” but it was occupied by successive waves of tribes from northern Arabia.

    2. Ammon: Meaning “son of my people,” his original name was Ben-ammi. He was the ancestor of the Ammonites. By the time the Israelites entered Canaan, they had become a large nation known for their cruelty (1 Samuel 11:2; Amos 1:13). They lived east of the Jordan River, and their territory stretched south and north, with their main city being Rabbah (2 Samuel 11:1; Ezekiel 25:5). When the Israelites were approaching Canaan, the Ammonites refused to let them pass through their land and hired Balaam to curse them. Because of this, God decreed that they could never enter the assembly of the LORD. During King Solomon’s reign, he took an Ammonite woman named Naamah as a wife, and she gave birth to Rehoboam (1 Kings 14:21). The Ammonites worshipped a god named Milcom, also known as Molech. Solomon’s marriage to Moabite and Ammonite women led him into the sin of worshipping these idols (1 Kings 11:1, 4-8). The Ammonite capital was Rabbah, or “Rabbath-ammon” (meaning “city of the Ammonites”). Later, the Greeks called this city “Rabbathammana.” The modern capital of Jordan, Amman, is built roughly on the site of ancient Rabbah.

圣经预言摩押和亚扪时，却提到这两国还要存在，两国有人要归回，“耶和华说，到末后，我还要使被掳的摩押人归回。”“后来我还要使被掳的亚扪人归回。这是耶和华说的”(耶48:47；49:6)。