Deut. iii. 2.RABBATH, or Rabbat-Ammon, Rabbat-Ammana, or only Ammana; or Rabbath of the Children of Ammon, afterwards call’d Philadelphia, the capital City of the Ammonites, situated beyond Jordan. It was famous and considerable even in the Time of Moses, who tells us, that there was still to be seen there the iron Bedstead of King Og. When David declared War against the Ammonites, his General Joab laid Siege to Rabbath-Ammon,2 Sam. xi. 1, 15, 16, &c. 2 Sam. xii. 28, 29. where the brave Uriah lost his Life, by the secret Order given by this Prince, that Uriah should be forsaken in a Place of Danger. And when the City was reduced to the last Extremity, David himself went thither, that he might have the Honour of taking it. From this time it became subject to the Kings of Judah. Afterwards the Kings of Israel became Masters of it, with all the rest of the Tribes beyond Jordan.
But towards the Conclusion of the Kingdom of Israel, Tiglath-pileser having taken away a great Part of the Israelites of that Country, the Ammonites put in Execution many Cruelties against those that remain’d; from whence it follow’d, that the Prophets JeremiahJer. xlix. 1, 2, 3. Vide & Sophon. ii. 8. Ezek. xxi. 20. xxv. 5. and Ezekiel pronounced very severe Prophecies against Rabbath, the capital City of the Ammonites, and against the rest of the Country, which probably had their Completion five Years after the Destruction of Jerusalem. Antiochus the Great took the City Jos. Antiq. l.13. c.17. Polyb. l. 5.of Rabbath-Ammon about the Year of the World 3786. Some time before this Ptolemy Jer. xlviii. 31, 36, &c. Vulgat.Philadelphus had given it the Name of Philadelphia. ‘Tis thought it was to this City of Philadelphia, that St. Ignatius the Martyr wrote his Epistle, a little time before his Martyrdom. Philadelphia is not far from the Fountain of Arnon.