Amorites: Highlanders, or hillmen, the name given to the descendants of one of the sons of
Canaan (Genesis 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" (Deuteronomy 1:7,19,20) They seem to have
originally occupied the land stretching from the heights west of the Dead Sea
(Genesis 14:7) to Hebron (Genesis 14:13) Comp. (Genesis 13:8; Deuteronomy 3:8; 4:46-48) embracing "all
Gilead and all Bashan" (Deuteronomy 3:10) with the Jordan valley on the east of the river
(Deuteronomy 4:49) the land of the "two kings of the Amorites," Sihon and Og (Deuteronomy 31:4;
Joshua 2:10; 9:10) The five kings of the Amorites were defeated with great
slaughter by Joshua (Joshua 10:10) They were again defeated at the waters of Merom
by Joshua, who smote them till there were none remaining (Joshua 11:8) It is
mentioned as a surprising circumstance that in the days of Samuel there was
peace between them and the Israelites (1 Samuel 7:14) The discrepancy supposed to
exist between (Deuteronomy 1:44; Numbers 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 (Genesis 34:2) are the
"Amorites" of (Genesis 48:22) Comp. (Joshua 10:6; 11:19; 2 Samuel 21:2) also (Numbers 14:45) with
(Deuteronomy 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" (Deuteronomy 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 (Deuteronomy 3:9)
