Amorites אֱמֹרִי

We are in chapter thirty-three of Exodus with our word for today. אֱמֹרִי Amorite, Amorites, mountaineer. It is used 97 times in the Old Testament. A form of our word gives some insight to where they are from. Our word is used in the sense of mountaineer from Hebrew word אַמַר summit, elevation, mountain. Numbers 13:29 The Hittites, the Jebusites, וְהָֽאֱמֹרִי֙ and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. Deuteronomy 1:44 Then הָאֱמֹרִ֜י the Amorites who lived in that hill country came out against you. Joshua 10:6 And the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal, saying, “Do not relax your hand from your servants. Come up to us quickly and save us and help us, for all the kings of הָאֱמֹרִ֖י the Amorites who dwell in the hill country are gathered against us.” This geographical location is more specifically identified as an ancestor of Jerusalem in Canaan (Ezekiel 16:2-3). Apparently the greatest and most powerful nation of Canaan, and whose name is sometimes used in a wider sense, so as to include all the nations of Canaan. Numbers 21:25 And Israel took all these cities, and Israel settled in all the cities of הָֽאֱמֹרִ֔י the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages. What is interesting is how many times our word is used in a list of other nations throughout the Old Testament. This list is used to describe the nations that lived in the land where God had promised to give to his people which is why it is called the promise land. This list is how our word is used in our passage today. Exodus 33:2 I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, הָֽאֱמֹרִ֔י the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. This list is repeated none other than 20 times (Genesis 15:21; Exodus 3:8, 17; 13:5; 23:23; 33:2; 34:11; Numbers 13:29; Deuteronomy 7:1; 20:17; Joshua 3:10; 9:1; 11:3; 12:18; 24:11; Judges 3:5; 1 Kings 9:20; Ezra 9:1; Nehemiah 9:8; 2 Chronicles 8:7). This is a huge amount. I think God wants his people to remember the enormous obstacle that He himself removed in His power so his people could enjoy the promised land. It also reminds us that we have to trust God especially when what he promised seems impossible. Trusting God is not a onetime thing and it involves believing in what he says we should do. In other words, faith without works is dead. The people were instructed to finish what God started in removing all the people of the land because their influence would cause them to sin against God. Our word is used a lot in this sense. God warns his people from serving the gods of this nation nor fear them. Joshua 24:15 Choose this day whom you will serve ...  the gods of הָאֱמֹרִ֔י the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Judges 6:10 ‘I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of הָאֱמֹרִ֔י the Amorites in whose land you dwell.’ 1 Kings 21:26 There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord like Ahab, whom Jezebel his wife incited. He acted very abominably in going after idols, as הָאֱמֹרִ֔י the Amorites had done, whom the Lord cast out before the people of Israel. God compares Manasseh’s evil to that of this nation. 2 Kings 21:11 Manasseh king of Judah ... has done things more evil than all that הָאֱמֹרִ֖י the Amorites did, who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols. This makes God’s point about the danger of these false gods. This is still a problem in Ezra and Nehemiah’s time period. Ezra 9:1 The people ... have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations, from the Canaanites, ... וְהָאֱמֹרִֽי and the Amorites. I’ll close with this great reminder. 1 Corinthians 15:33-34 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.