Rabbah

Rabbah was the capital city of Ammon, the kingdom of the Ammonites. Throughout the Old Testament the Ammonites were often enemies with Israel.

Rabbah
A part of	Ammon

In Moses' time

Rabbah is mentioned in the book of Deuteronomy as the location of the iron bed of the giant king Og at the time of writing. Og was king of Bashan and attacked the Israelites as they were wandering in the wilderness, but the Israelites, led by Moses, defeated him. The reference to Og's giant bed in Rabbah gave the original readers proof that God had given such a formidable enemy into the Israelites' hands.

In David's time

The Ammonites were enemies of Israel during the reigns of Saul and David. During David's reign, Hanun became king of Ammon, and he provoked a war against Israel. The Ammonites called on Syria for help, but they were defeated by Israel. Soon after, David sent his army, commanded by Joab, to completely defeat Ammon. The Israelites were successful and made it all the way to Rabbah, which they besieged. However, David stayed in Jerusalem and it was during this time that he fell into adultery with Bathsheba, and ordered the death of Bathsheba's wife Uriah the Hittite by commanding Joab to send him in a vulnerable position against the mightiest warriors of the Ammonites. After David repented of his sin, he received word from Joab that he had taken Rabbah. Joab urged David to come to the battlefield, lest Joab be the one to get the glory for conquering the Ammonites. So David gathered the people and went to Rabbah and captured the city. The Israelites took the crown of the Ammonite king and put it on David's head. They captured a great amount of spoil from the city, and forced the Ammonites to labour. So in the days of David, and his son Solomon, Ammon was no longer an independent kingdom, but was ruled by the Israelites.

However, not all the Ammonites opposed David. When David had to flee Jerusalem because of the revolt of his son Absalom, Shobi, who was the brother of Hanun, came up from Rabbah and met David and gave him supplies.

Prophecies against Rabbah

During the time of the divided monarchy, the prophet Amos prophesied against the Ammonites due to their brutality in their expansionist wars against Israel. He prophesied that Rabbah would be conquered and the Ammonites sent into exile. In the days of Ezekiel, the king of Babylon was faced with a choice to attack either Jerusalem or Rabbah; Ezekiel declared that he would choose to attack Jerusalem. Nevertheless, Rabbah would ultimately still be attacked. Ezekiel prophesied against the Ammonites, because they had celebrated the defeat and exile of Judah, and the profanement of the Temple. Ezekiel prophesied that the Ammonites would also be conquered by a people from the East, and that Rabbah would become a pasture for camels. Jeremiah also prophesied against Ammon, and called to the daughters of Rabbah to mourn because the Ammonites were about to be conquered and exiled.

Modern times

Today, Rabbah is known as Amman (coming from the kingdom Ammon), and is the capital of the country of Jordan. Nevertheless, the Ammonite people and kingdom no longer exist.