The children of Ammon. — They were closely allied with the Moabites by affinities of race and character. (Genesis 19:37-38.) We find them united with Moab against Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20:1. (See Judges 11:24.) It has been supposed that Chepharhaammonai (Joshua 18:24), or “the village of the Ammonites,” is a memorial of this conquest (Stanley, Jewish Church, ii. 316).
Amalek. — The wild desert clans, which are united under this name, had been from the first the bitterest enemies of Israel. They had attacked the sick and feeble of their rearguard in the wilderness, and, after the battle of Rephidim, had called down on themselves the internecine anger of Israel (Exodus 17:8-16; Deuteronomy 25:17), which finally found expression in the reign of Saul (1 Samuel 15:2-8). They are first mentioned in Genesis 14:7, and it is probable that there was a tribe of Amalekites older than those descended from Eliphaz.
The city of palm trees. — No doubt Jericho. (See Judges 1:16.) The verb “possessed” by no means implies that the whole city was necessarily re-built, still less that it was fortified. The “palace” of king Eglon was probably a wooden structure.