Difference between revisions of "Moab"

<p> Among the peoples of the [[Palestine]] region who were related to the [[Israelites]] were the Moabites. They, along with the Ammonites, were descended from [[Lot]] through the children that resulted from Lot’s immorality with his two daughters (&nbsp;Genesis 19:36-38; see also [[Ammon]] ). The [[Moabites]] lived in the tableland region east of the [[Jordan]] River and the [[Dead]] Sea, an area of good pastures suitable for raising sheep (&nbsp;Numbers 22:1; &nbsp;2 Kings 3:4; &nbsp;Isaiah 16:1-2). The Moabites’ chief city was [[Heshbon]] (&nbsp;Isaiah 16:4; &nbsp;Jeremiah 48:2) and their national god was Chemosh (&nbsp;Jeremiah 48:7; &nbsp;Jeremiah 48:46; see [[Chemosh]] ). </p> <p> '''''' </p> <p> '''Early history''' </p> <p> Conflicts with other peoples of the region meant that Moab’s boundaries changed from time to time. At the time [[Israel]] invaded Canaan, [[Moab]] controlled only the southern portion of the territory east of the Dead Sea – from the [[Arnon]] River south to the [[Zered]] [[River.]] All Moab’s former territory north of the Arnon had been taken by the [[Amorite]] king Sihon, who then made Heshbon his capital (&nbsp;Numbers 21:13; &nbsp;Numbers 21:26). </p> <p> In leading the Israelites north towards Canaan, Moses reached the Arnon River without having any conflict with Moab (&nbsp;Numbers 21:10-13). Now that he was entering territory controlled by the Amorites, Moses asked their permission to travel along the well used road known as the King’s [[Highway]] that passed through their territory (&nbsp;Numbers 21:21-22; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 2:26-29). When the Amorites responded with attack, the Israelites crushed their army and seized their territory (&nbsp;Numbers 21:23-25; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 2:30-37; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 29:7-8; see [[Amorites]] ). </p> <p> The Moabites feared this [[Israelite]] advance. Previously they had refused to supply the Israelites with food and water, but now they increased their opposition. They hired a soothsayer named Balaam to put a curse on them, believing this would ensure their destruction (&nbsp;Numbers 22:1-6). Balaam was unable to put a curse on Israel, but God put a curse on Moab (&nbsp;Numbers 23:20-21; &nbsp;Numbers 24:17; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 23:3-6; see [[Balaam]] ). </p> <p> Israel continued to advance, and eventually conquered Canaan. When all the conquered lands (on both sides of the Jordan) were divided among Israel’s twelve tribes, the tribe of [[Reuben]] received the former [[Moabite]] territory that Israel had taken from the Amorites. The Arnon now became Israel’s border with Moab (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 3:12; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 3:16). </p> <p> '''Moab and Israel''' </p> <p> During the time of the judges, Moab, with help from Ammon, exercised control over parts of Israel for eighteen years (&nbsp;Judges 3:12-14). The joint oppressors were finally overthrown by the Israelite hero, [[Ehud]] (&nbsp;Judges 3:15-30). </p> <p> Moab had further conflict with Israel during the reign of Saul (&nbsp;1 Samuel 14:47), and became subject to Israel’s overlordship during the reign of David (&nbsp;2 Samuel 8:2). After the decline of Israelite power through the division of the kingdom, Moab regained its independence (&nbsp;2 Kings 3:6-27), and gathered allies in an attempt to conquer Judah; but God saved his people (&nbsp;2 Chronicles 20:1-12; &nbsp;2 Chronicles 20:20-23). </p> <p> In its arrogance, Moab repeatedly boasted of its glory and mocked God’s people. As a result it brought upon itself the assurance of divine judgment (&nbsp;Isaiah 16:6-7; &nbsp;Isaiah 16:13; &nbsp;Jeremiah 48:29-39; &nbsp;Zephaniah 2:8-11). Moab was among those whose raids helped to weaken Judah in the days of Babylon’s final assault on [[Jerusalem]] (&nbsp;2 Kings 24:1-2), and so made its own destruction inevitable (&nbsp;Ezekiel 25:8-11). </p> <p> God’s prophet warned that when that day of judgment came, all Moab’s desperate pleas for help would be useless (Isaiah 15; &nbsp;Isaiah 16:1-7; &nbsp;Isaiah 16:12). The conquests by [[Babylon]] and [[Persia]] saw the prophecies of judgment fulfilled, and Moab’s national existence came to an end (&nbsp;Jeremiah 48:42). </p> <p> Despite Moab’s overall hostility to Israel, there were occasions when individual Moabites showed kindness to Israelites (e.g. &nbsp;1 Samuel 22:3-4). The most notable example was that of the young widow Ruth, who sacrificed her own interests to help her Israelite mother-in-law (&nbsp;Ruth 1:2-5; &nbsp;Ruth 1:16-18; &nbsp;Ruth 2:1). Ruth later married an Israelite. She became an ancestress of Israel’s King David, and therefore an ancestress of the [[Messiah]] Jesus (&nbsp;Ruth 4:13; &nbsp;Ruth 4:17; &nbsp;Matthew 1:1; &nbsp;Matthew 1:5). </p>

<p> ("from father"), i.e. the incestuous offspring of Lot's older daughter, near Zoar, S.E. of the Dead Sea (&nbsp;Genesis 19:37). Originally the Moabites dwelt due E. of the Dead Sea, from whence they expelled the Emims. Their territory was 40 miles long, 12 wide, the modern ''Belka'' or ''Kerak'' (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 2:10-11). Afterward, [[Sihon]] king of the Amorites drove them S. of the river Amon, now ''Wady El Mojib'' (&nbsp;Numbers 21:13; &nbsp;Numbers 21:26-30; &nbsp;Judges 11:13; &nbsp;Judges 11:18), which thenceforward was their northern boundary. Israel was forbidden to meddle with them (&nbsp;Judges 11:9; &nbsp;Judges 11:19) on account of the tie of blood through Lot, Abraham's nephew, for [[Jehovah]] gave Ar unto the children of Lot, having dispossessed the giant Emims. It was only when Moab seduced Israel to idolatry and impurity (Numbers 25), and hired Balaam to curse them, that they were excluded from Jehovah's congregation to the tenth generation (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 23:3-4). Ammon was more roving than Moab and occupied the pastures to the N.E. outside the mountains. </p> <p> Moab was more settled in habits, and remained nearer the original seat Zoar. Its territory after the Amorite conquest was circumscribed, but well fortified by nature (&nbsp;Numbers 21:20, margin); called "the field of Moab" (&nbsp;Ruth 1:1-63, and "the corner of Moab" (&nbsp;Numbers 24:17; &nbsp;Jeremiah 48:45). The country N. of Arnon, opposite [[Jericho]] reaching to Gilead, was more open; vast prairie-like plains broken by rocky prominences; "the land of Moab" (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 1:5; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 32:49). Besides there was the Arboth Moab, "plains (rather deep valley) of Moab," the dry sunken valley of Jordan (&nbsp;Numbers 22:1). Outside of the hills enclosing Moab proper on the S.E. are the uncultivated pastures called midbar, "wilderness," facing Moab (&nbsp;Numbers 21:11). Through it Israel advanced. The song (&nbsp;Exodus 15:15) at the Red Sea first mentions the nation, "trembling shall take hold upon ... the mighty men of Moab." </p> <p> Israel's request for a passage through [[Edom]] and Moab, and liberty to purchase bread and water, was refused (&nbsp;Judges 11:17; &nbsp;Numbers 20:14-21). In Israel's circuitous march round the two kingdoms they at last, when it suited their own selfish ends and when they could not prevent Israel's march, sold them bread and water (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 2:28-29; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 23:3-4). The exclusion of a Moabite from the congregation only forbade his naturalization, not his dwelling in Israel nor an Israelite marrying a Moabitess. Ruth married Naomi's son, but became a proselyte. The law of exclusion it is clear could never have been written after David's time, whose great grandmother was a Moabitess. Israel was occupying the country N. of Arnon which Moab had just lost to Sihon, and which Israel in turn had wrested from him, and with its main force had descended from the upper level to the [[Shittim]] plains, the Arboth Moab, in the Jordan valley, when Balak, alarmed for his already diminished territory, induced the [[Midianite]] "elders" to join him and hired Balak; virtually, though never actually, "warring against Israel" (&nbsp;Joshua 24:9; &nbsp;Judges 11:25). </p> <p> The daughters of Moab, mentioned in &nbsp;Numbers 25:1, were those with whom Israel "began whoredom," but the main guilt was Midian's, and on [[Midian]] fell the vengeance (&nbsp;Numbers 25:16-18; &nbsp;Numbers 31:1-18). Moab's licentious rites furnished the occasion, but Midian was the active agent in corrupting the people. [[Balak]] (contrast, "the former king of Moab," &nbsp;Numbers 21:26) was probably not hereditary king but a Midianite; the [[Midianites]] taking advantage of Moab's weakness after Sihon's victories to impose a Midianite king. [[Zippor]] ("bird"), his father, reminds us of other Midianite names, [[Oreb]] "crow," [[Zeeb]] "wolf"; Sihon may have imposed him on Moab. The five "princes" or "kings" of Midian were vassal "dukes of Sihon dwelling in the country" (&nbsp;Joshua 13:21; &nbsp;Numbers 31:8). The licentiousness of the neighboring cities of the plain and Moab's origin accord with the more than common licentiousness attributed to Moab and Midian in Numbers 25. Eglon king of Moab, with Ammon and Amalek, smote Israel and occupied Jericho, but was slain by the [[Benjamite]] Ehud (&nbsp;Judges 3:12-30). (See [[Eglon]] .) </p> <p> Saul fought Moab successfully, himself also a Benjamite (&nbsp;1 Samuel 14:47). David moved away to Moab the land of his ancestry, fleeing from Saul, his and Moab's enemy, and committed to the king his father and mother (&nbsp;1 Samuel 22:3-4). Probably some act of perfidy of Moab, as the murder or treacherous delivering of his parents to Saul, caused David 20 years afterward to slay two thirds of the people, and make bondmen and tributaries of the rest (&nbsp;2 Samuel 8:2; in this war [[Benaiah]] slew two lion-like men, &nbsp;2 Samuel 23:20; compare also &nbsp;Psalms 60:8, "Moab is my washpot"; yet among David's heroes was "Ithmah the Moabite," &nbsp;1 Chronicles 11:22; &nbsp;1 Chronicles 11:46), fulfilling Balaam's prophecy, &nbsp;Numbers 24:17; &nbsp;Numbers 24:19; "out of Jacob shall come he that shall destroy him that remaineth of Ar" (Hebrew, namely, of Moab). Among Solomon's foreign concubines were Moabitish women, to whose god Chemosh he built "a high place on the hill before (facing) Jerusalem" (&nbsp;1 Kings 11:1; &nbsp;1 Kings 11:7; &nbsp;1 Kings 11:33), where it remained until [[Josiah]] defiled it four centuries afterward (&nbsp;2 Kings 23:13). </p> <p> At the severance of Israel from Judah Moab was under Israel, because the Jordan fords lay within [[Benjamin]] which in part adhered to the northern kingdom. At Ahab's death Mesh and Dibon, who had paid for the time the enormous tribute, 100,000; lambs and 100,000 rams with the wool, revolted (&nbsp;2 Kings 1:1; &nbsp;2 Kings 3:4-5). (See [[Mesh]] ; DIBON.) His first, step was, he secured the cooperation of Ammon and others enumerated in &nbsp;Psalms 83:8-7, in an invasion of Judah, which was before Jehoshaphat's alliance with Ahaziah (&nbsp;2 Chronicles 20:1-35), therefore still earlier than the invasion of Moab by the confederate kings of Edom, Israel (Jehoram, Ahaziah's son), and Judah (2 Kings 3). (See [[Jehoshaphat]] ; JEHORAM; ELISHA; EDOM.) [[Mutual]] dissension, under God, destroyed this heterogeneous mass. Then followed the joint invasion of Moab by Jehoshaphat of Judah, [[Jehoram]] of Israel, and the king of Edom (2 Kings 3). </p> <p> The [[Septuagint]] states that the Moabite king assembled all old enough to bear a sword girdle. His mistaking the water glowing red with the morning sun for the mutually shed blood of the invaders (which observe he remembered had happened to his own and the allied forces attacking Jehoshaphat) caused Moab to rush forward for spoil, only to be slaughtered by the allies. At Kirhareseth or Kerak his immolation of his own son struck superstitious fear into the besiegers so that they retired (&nbsp;2 Kings 3:27; compare &nbsp;Micah 6:5-8); and then followed all the conquests which [[Mesha]] records on the Moabite stone. Then too Moah, indignant at his former ally Edom having joined Israel against him, when Israel and Judah retired, burned the king of Edom alive, reducing his bones to lime; or, as [[Hebrew]] tradition represents, tore his body after death from the grave and burned it (&nbsp;Amos 2:1). Moabite marauding "bands" thenceforward at intervals invaded Israel, as under [[Jehoahaz]] (&nbsp;2 Kings 13:20). </p> <p> A century and a half later, in Isaiah's "burden of Moab" (Isaiah 15-16) Moab appears possessing places which it had held in the beginning N. of Arnon, and which had been vacated by Reuben's removal to [[Assyria]] (&nbsp;1 Chronicles 5:25-26). Compare also Jeremiah 48, a century later, about 600 B.C. Isaiah (&nbsp;Isaiah 16:14) foretells, "within three years, as the years of an hireling (who has a fixed term of engagement, so Moab's time of doom is fixed) ... the glory of Moab shall be contemned." [[Fulfilled]] by [[Shalmaneser]] or Sargon, who destroyed [[Samaria]] and ravaged the whole E. of Jordan (725-723 B.C.). As Ammon, so Moab probably, put itself under Judah's king, Uzziah's protection, to which Isaiah (&nbsp;Isaiah 16:1, "send ye the lamb (the customary tribute) to the ruler ... unto ... Zion") refers (&nbsp;2 Chronicles 26:8; &nbsp;2 Samuel 8:2; &nbsp;2 Kings 3:4). Moab contrasts with Ammon, Edom, Philistia, Amalek, Midian, as wealthy, abounding in vineyards, fruitful fields, and gardens, and civilized to a degree next Israel. </p> <p> Hence flowed "pride (he is exceeding proud), loftiness, arrogance, and haughtiness of heart" (&nbsp;Jeremiah 48:26; &nbsp;Jeremiah 48:29; &nbsp;Isaiah 16:6-7). This sin is what brought on Moab destruction, "for he magnified himself against the Lord," boasting against God's people that whereas Israel was fallen Moab remained flourishing (&nbsp;James 5:6). In &nbsp;Isaiah 25:10-12 Moab is the representative of Israel's and the church's foes, especially antichrist, the last enemy. Jehovah, as a "swimmer," strikes out right and left, so shall smite the foe with rapidity, cleaving a way through them on every side. &nbsp;Zephaniah 2:8, "Moab ... Ammon ... reproached My people and magnified themselves against their border," i.e., haughtily seizing on the territory vacated by [[Gad]] and Reuben, E. of Jordan, after these had been carried captive, as if Ammon, instead of Judah, Israel's own brother, were Israel's heir (&nbsp;Jeremiah 49:1). </p> <p> "Moab therefore shall be as [[Sodom]] (from whose doom her ancestor had been rescued) ... nettles ... salt pits (S. of the Dead Sea) ... perpetual desolation." Moab was doomed to feel Nebuchadnezzar's heavy hand (&nbsp;Jeremiah 25:9-21), though for a time acting in concert with Chaldaean bands against [[Jehoiakim]] (&nbsp;2 Kings 24:2); but should recover after 70 years, at Babylon's fall, for righteous Lot's sake (&nbsp;Exodus 20:6). [[Spiritual]] blessings under Messiah are finally meant. Moab sent messengers to Jerusalem to [[Zedekiah]] (so read for "Jehoiakim") to consult as to shaking off Nebuchadnezzar's yoke (&nbsp;Jeremiah 27:1-8; &nbsp;Jeremiah 27:10-11). By submission to Nebuchadnezzar's yoke, according to Jeremiah's counsel, Moab though chastised was not carried captive as Judah. But for her usurpation of Israel's land, and for saying "Judah is like unto all the pagan," i.e. fares no better for having Jehovah for her God than the pagan who have idols, God "would open her side from the cities on her frontiers, the glory of the country (a glorious country in richness of soil), Bethjeshimoth, Baalmeon, and Kiriathaim, unto the men of the East," i.e. to the marauding Bedouin (&nbsp;Ezekiel 25:8-11). </p> <p> [[Sanballat]] of Horonaim, the molester of Nehemiah's work, was a Moabite (&nbsp;Nehemiah 2:19; &nbsp;Nehemiah 4:1; &nbsp;Nehemiah 6:1). Ruins in profusion abound in the country, betokening its former populousness and wealth. Their language was but a dialect of the Hebrew (which the [[Dibon]] stone proves, as also Ruth's intercourse with [[Naomi]] and David's with the Moabite king), as was to be expected from Lot's affinity to Abraham. Some of Judah's descendants in Shelah's line had dominion in Moab, and some Benjamite chiefs were born and settled in Moab (&nbsp;1 Chronicles 4:21-23; &nbsp;1 Chronicles 8:8-10). The name of the family Pahath Moab, "governor of Moab," among those returned from Babylon (&nbsp;Ezra 2:6), implies a former connection with Moab as ruler. </p> <p> Daniel (&nbsp;Daniel 11:41) foretells "Moab shall escape out of his (Antiochus Epiphanes') hand." So [[Porphyry]] says, in marching against Ptolemy, [[Antiochus]] turned out of his course to assail the Jews, but did not meddle with Moab, Edom, and Ammon. Nay, he used their help in crushing the Jews, Moab's old enemy; therefore [[Judas]] Maccabeus punished them with "a great overthrow" (&nbsp;1 [[Maccabees]] 4:61; &nbsp;1 Maccabees 5:3, etc.). Isaiah (&nbsp;Isaiah 11:14) foretells the Jews "shall lay their hand upon Moab," i.e. shall occupy their land at Israel's final restoration. </p>

<p> [[Moab]] (''Mô'Ab'' ), ''From, The Father.'' The son of Lot and his eldest daughter, and founder of the Moabite people. &nbsp;Genesis 19:30-38. Moab is also used for the Moabites; and also for their territory. &nbsp;Numbers 22:3-14; &nbsp;Judges 3:30; &nbsp;2 Samuel 8:2; &nbsp;2 Kings 1:1; &nbsp;Jeremiah 48:4. </p> <p> The territory of the Moabites, originally inhabited by the Emims, &nbsp;Deuteronomy 2:10, lay on the east of the Dead Sea and the Jordan, strictly on the highlands south of the Arnon; &nbsp;Numbers 21:13; &nbsp;Ruth 1:1-2; &nbsp;Ruth 2:6; but in a wider sense it included also the region anciently occupied by the Amorites over against Jericho, usually called the "Plains of Moab." &nbsp;Numbers 21:13; &nbsp;Numbers 22:1; &nbsp;Numbers 26:3; &nbsp;Numbers 33:48; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 34:1. When the Hebrews advanced to Canaan, they did not enter the territory of Moab proper, &nbsp;Deuteronomy 2:9; &nbsp;Judges 11:18; but there was always a great antipathy between the two peoples, which arose from Balaam having seduced the Hebrews to sin by the daughters of Moab. &nbsp;Numbers 25:1-2; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 23:3-6. After the death of Joshua the Moabites oppressed the Hebrews, but they were delivered by Ehud. &nbsp;Judges 3:21. David subdued Moab and Ammon, and made them tributary. &nbsp;2 Samuel 8:2-12; &nbsp;2 Samuel 23:20. Soon after the death of Ahab they began to revolt, &nbsp;2 Kings 3:4-5; &nbsp;Isaiah 16:1-2, and were subsequently engaged in wars with the Hebrews. &nbsp;2 Chronicles 20:1; &nbsp;2 Chronicles 20:10; &nbsp;2 Chronicles 27:5. Under [[Nebuchadnezzar]] the Moabites acted as the auxiliaries of the Chaldeans, &nbsp;2 Kings 24:2; &nbsp;Ezekiel 25:8-11; and during the exile they took possession once more of their ancient territory, vacated by the tribes of Reuben and Gad; as did the Ammonites also. &nbsp;Jeremiah 49:1-5. </p> <p> Some time after the exile their name was lost under that of the Arabians, as was also the case with the Ammonites and Edomites. The famous Moabite Stone, bearing an inscription of Mesha, a king of Moab, about 900 b.c., was found at Dibon, in Moab, within the gateway by, Rev. F. A. Klein—a German missionary at Jerusalem—in 1868. The stone is of black basalt, 3 feet 8½ inches high, 2 feet 3½ inches wide, and 1 foot 1.78 inches thick. It has 34 lines of Hebrew-Phœnician writing, and contains a most remarkable corroboration of the [[Scripture]] history in &nbsp;2 Kings 3:1-27. The long-predicted doom of Moab is now fulfilled, and the 48th chapter of Jeremiah is verified on the spot by the traveller. There are 27 references to Moab in this chapter, and 121 in the Scriptures. </p>

<li> The land of Moab (&nbsp;Jeremiah 48:24 ), called also the "country of Moab" (&nbsp;Ruth 1:2,6; &nbsp;2:6 ), on the east of Jordan and the Dead Sea, and south of the Arnon (&nbsp;Numbers 21:13,26 ). In a wider sense it included the whole region that had been occupied by the Amorites. It bears the modern name of Kerak. <p> In the [[Plains]] of Moab, opposite Jericho (&nbsp;Numbers 22:1; &nbsp;26:63; &nbsp;Joshua 13:32 ), the children of Israel had their last encampment before they entered the land of Canaan. It was at that time in the possession of the Amorites (&nbsp;Numbers 21:22 ). "Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah," and "died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord" (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 34:5,6 ). "Surely if we had nothing else to interest us in the land of Moab, the fact that it was from the top of Pisgah, its noblest height, this mightiest of the prophets looked out with eye undimmed upon the [[Promised]] Land; that it was here on Nebo, its loftiest mountain, that he died his solitary death; that it was here, in the valley over against Beth-peor, he found his mysterious sepulchre, we have enough to enshrine the memory in our hearts." </p> <div> <p> '''Copyright Statement''' These dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton M.A., D.D., Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by [[Thomas]] Nelson, 1897. Public Domain. </p> <p> '''Bibliography Information''' Easton, Matthew George. Entry for 'Moab'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/m/moab.html. 1897. </p> </div> </li>