Reference: MOABITES
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Descendants of Moab the son of Lot, Ge 19:30-38. The land of Moab lay east and southeast of the Dead Sea, and chiefly south of the river Arnon. At one period, however, it extended north as far as the Jabbok, and for a long time the region beyond the Jordan opposite Jericho retained the name of "the plains of Moab," Nu 22:1; De 1:5; 29:1; Jos 13:32. The Moabites had dispossessed a race of giants called Emin, De 2:11, and had themselves been expelled by the Amorites from the territory north of the Arnon, Nu 21:13,26; Jg 11:13-18, which was again conquered by Moses, and assigned to the tribe of Reuben. On the approach of Israel from Egypt, the Moabites acted with great inhumanity, Nu 22-24; De 2:8-9; and though God spared them from conquest, he excluded them and their seed even to the tenth generation form the peculiar privileges of his people, De 23:3-6. They were gross idolaters, worshipping Chemosh and Baal-peor with obscene rites, Nu 25; 2Ki 3:27. See MOLOCH. At times, as in the days of Ruth, there was peace between them and Israel; but a state of hostility was far more common, as in the time of Eglon, Jg 3:12-30; of Saul, 1Sa 14:47; of David, 2Sa 8:2,12; of Joram and Jeroboam, 2000'>2Ki 3:13,20; 14:25. They aided Nebuchadnezzar against the Jews, 2Ki 24:2; Eze 25:6-11; and after these began to be carried captive, appear to have regained their old possessions north of the Arnon, Isa 15-16. The Jewish prophets recorded many threatenings against these hereditary enemies of God and his people, Nu 24:17; Ps 60:12; 83:6; Jer 25:9-21; 48; Am 2:1-3; and all travelers concur in attesting the fulfillment of these predictions. Desolation and gloom, brood over the mountains of Moab, and its fruitful valleys are for the most part untilled. It is under Turkish government, but is inhabited chiefly by migratory Arabs, Zep 2:8-9. Few travelers have ventured to traverse it in modern times. They describe it as abounding in ruins, such as shattered tombs, cisterns walls, temples, etc., proving that it was once densely populated. See "KEITH ON PROPHECY."
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And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters. And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man on the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth: read more. Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve descendants of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he knew not when she lay down, nor when she arose. And it came to pass on the next day, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay last night with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and you go in, and lie with him, that we may preserve descendants of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he knew not when she lay down, nor when she arose. Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father. And the firstborn bore a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day. And the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Benammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.
From there they moved, and encamped on the other side of Arnon, which is in the wilderness that extends from the border of the Amorites: for Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.
For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and taken all his land out of his hand, even unto Arnon.
And the children of Israel set out, and encamped in the plains of Moab on this side of Jordan by Jericho.
I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not near: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall crush the forehead of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.
On this side of Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare this law, saying,
And when we passed by away from our brethren the children of Esau, who dwelt in Seir, through the way of the plain from Elath, and from Eziongeber, we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab. And the LORD said unto me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle: for I will not give you their land for a possession; because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession.
Who also were considered giants, as the Anakim; but the Moabites call them Emim.
An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD forever: Because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when you came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you. read more. Nevertheless the LORD your God would not hearken unto Balaam; but the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing unto you, because the LORD your God loved you. You shall not seek their peace nor their prosperity all your days forever.
These are the words of the covenant, which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which he made with them in Horeb.
These are the areas which Moses did distribute for inheritance in the plains of Moab, on the other side of Jordan, by Jericho eastward.
And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD. And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and struck Israel, and possessed the city of palm trees. read more. So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years. But when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man left-handed: and by him the children of Israel sent tribute unto Eglon the king of Moab. But Ehud made himself a dagger which had two edges, a cubit in length; and he did gird it under his clothes upon his right thigh. And he brought the tribute unto Eglon king of Moab: and Eglon was a very fat man. And when he had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people that bore the tribute. But he himself turned back at the stone images that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret message unto you, O king: who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him. And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in a summer chamber, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto you. And he arose out of his seat. And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly: And the hilt also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly; and his entrails came out. Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the chamber behind him, and locked them. When he had gone out, his servants came; and when they saw that, behold, the doors of the parlor were locked, they said, Surely he is relieving himself in his summer chamber. And they tarried till they were ashamed: and, behold, he opened not the doors of the chamber; therefore they took a key, and opened them: and, behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the floor. And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the stone images, and escaped unto Seirath. And it came to pass, when he had come, that he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mount, and he was before them. And he said unto them, Follow after me: for the LORD has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab, and allowed not a man to pass over. And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, all strong, and all men of valor; and there escaped not a man. So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest fourscore years.
And the king of the children of Ammon answered unto the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land, when they came up out of Egypt, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and unto Jordan: now therefore restore those lands again peaceably. And Jephthah sent messengers again unto the king of the children of Ammon: read more. And said unto him, Thus says Jephthah, Israel took not away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon: But when Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the wilderness unto the Red sea, and came to Kadesh; Then Israel sent messengers unto the king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray you, pass through your land: but the king of Edom would not listen. And in like manner they sent unto the king of Moab: but he would not consent: and Israel abode in Kadesh. Then they went along through the wilderness, and went around the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and encamped on the other side of Arnon, but came not within the border of Moab: for Arnon was the border of Moab.
So Saul took the kingdom over Israel, and fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, and against the children of Ammon, and against Edom, and against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines: and wherever he turned himself, he struck them down.
And he struck Moab, and measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground; even with two lines measured he the ones to put to death, and with one full line the ones to keep alive. And so the Moabites became David's servants, and brought gifts.
Of Edom, and of Moab, and of the children of Ammon, and of the Philistines, and of Amalek, and of the spoil of Hadadezer, son of Rehob, king of Zobah.
And Elisha said unto the king of Israel, What have I to do with you? get you to the prophets of your father, and to the prophets of your mother. And the king of Israel said unto him, Nay: for the LORD has called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab.
And it came to pass in the morning, when the grain offering was offered, that, behold, there came water by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water.
Then he took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall. And there came great wrath against Israel: and they departed from him, and returned to their own land.
He restored the border of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he spoke by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher.
And the LORD sent against him bands of the Chaldeans, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke by his servants the prophets.
Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies.
Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, says the LORD, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations. Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp. read more. And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, says the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations. And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that are written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations. For many nations and great kings shall be served by them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands. For thus says the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury from my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it. And they shall drink, and stagger, and go mad, because of the sword that I will send among them. Then took I the cup from the LORD's hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me: Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and its kings, and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse; as it is this day; Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people; And all the foreign people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod, Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon,
For thus says the Lord GOD; Because you have clapped your hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced in heart with all your disdain against the land of Israel; Behold, therefore I will stretch out my hand upon you, and will deliver you for a plunder to the nations; and I will cut you off from the people, and I will cause you to perish out of the countries: I will destroy you; and you shall know that I am the LORD. read more. Thus says the Lord GOD; Because Moab and Seir do say, Behold, the house of Judah is like unto all the nations; Therefore, behold, I will open the side of Moab from the cities, from its cities which are on its frontiers, the glory of the country, Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon, and Kiriathaim, Unto the men of the east together with the Ammonites, and will give them as a possession, that the Ammonites may not be remembered among the nations. And I will execute judgments upon Moab; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
Thus says the LORD; For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime: But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kirioth: and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet: read more. And I will cut off the judge from its midst, and will slay all its princes with him, says the LORD.
I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the children of Ammon, by which they have reproached my people, and made boasts against their borders. Therefore as I live, says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, even the breeding of weeds, and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of my people shall plunder them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them.