Ben-Ammi was the son of Lot and his youngest daughter, conceived after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. After the disaster, Lot and his two daughters took refuge in a mountain cave. The daughters, believing there were no other men left, got their father drunk with wine to ensure future descendants. The younger daughter gave birth to a son she named Ben-Ammi – a Hebrew name meaning 'son of my people'. Through him an entire nation arose: the Ammonites, who settled east of the Jordan River and established an independent kingdom with Rabbat-Ammon (present-day Amman in Jordan) as its capital. In biblical context, Ben-Ammi's origin shows the complex kinship between the Ammonites and Israel – both connected through Abraham and Lot. Although the Ammonites often stood in opposition to Israel throughout Old Testament history, their right to their land was recognized by God as an inheritance given to Lot's descendants.
After Lot and his daughters fled from Sodom, they settled in a cave in the mountains because Lot feared staying in Zoar. Lot's daughters, believing there were no other men left on earth, got their father drunk with wine to ensure descendants. The younger daughter became pregnant and gave birth to a son she named Ben-Ammi, meaning 'son of my people'. His brother Moab was born from the older daughter.
30Lot went up from Zoar and settled in the hills with his two daughters, because he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He lived in a cave, he and his two daughters.
33That night they gave their father wine to drink, and the older one went in and lay with her father. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.
34The next day the older said to the younger, "Last night I lay with my father. Let us give him wine to drink again tonight, and you go in and lie with him, so we can preserve offspring through our father."
35So that night also they gave their father wine to drink, and the younger one got up and lay with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.
Ben-Ammi became the ancestor of the Ammonites (Hebrew: בְּנֵי עַמּוֹן, bene ammon, 'sons of Ammon'), a people who settled east of the Jordan River in the area around what is now central Jordan. They developed into an independent nation with their own culture, religion, and kingdom, with Rabbah-Ammon as their capital.
When the Israelites were traveling toward the Promised Land, they were explicitly instructed by God not to attack or provoke the Ammonites, because God had given this land to Lot's descendants as their possession. This shows that the kinship between Israel and the Ammonites through Abraham and Lot was recognized.
19When you approach the territory of the Ammonites, do not harass them or provoke them, for I will not give you any of the land of the Ammonites as a possession, since I have given it to the descendants of Lot as their possession."
21a people great and numerous and tall as the Anakim. But the LORD destroyed them before the Ammonites, who dispossessed them and settled in their place,
37But you did not go near the land of the Ammonites, nor any part along the Jabbok River, nor the towns of the hill country — nothing that the LORD our God had forbidden us.