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, 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 out from Zoar and settled in the hill country with his two daughters, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. So he lived in a cave, he and his two daughters. And the firstborn [daughter] said to the younger one, "Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to come in to us according to the manner of all the land. read more. Come, let us give our father wine to drink and let us lie with him that {we may secure descendants through our father}." And they gave their father wine to drink that night, and the firstborn went and lay with her father, but he did not know when she lay down or when she got up. And it happened [that], the next day the firstborn said to the younger one, "Look, I laid with my father last night. Let us give him wine to drink also tonight, then go and lie with him that {we may secure descendants through our father}." And they gave their father wine to drink again that night, and the younger got up and lay with him, but he did not know when she lay down or when she got up. And the two daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. The firstborn gave birth to a son, and she called his name Moab. He [is] the father of Moab until this day. And the younger, she also gave birth to a son, and she called his name Ben-Ammi. He [is] the father of the {Ammonites} until this day.
From there they set out and encamped beyond Arnon, which [is] in the desert that goes out from the boundary of the Amorites, because Arnon [is] the boundary of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.
Because Heshbon [was] the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and taken all his land from his hand until Arnon.
The {Israelites} set out, and they encamped on the desert-plateau of Moab, across from Jericho beyond [the] Jordan.
I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; a star will go out from Jacob, and a scepter will rise from Israel; it will crush the foreheads of Moab and destroy all the children of Seth.
On the other side of the Jordan in the land of Moab Moses began to explain this law, {saying}:
And so we passed by our brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, past the road of the Arabah, from Elath and Ezion Geber, and we turned and traveled along the route of the desert of Moab. And Yahweh said to me, 'You shall not attack Moab, and you shall not engage in war with them, for I will not give you any of his land [as] a possession; I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot [as] a possession.'
They were reckoned also [as] Rephaim as the Anakites [were]; but the Moabites called them Emim.
An Ammonite or a Moabite may not come into the assembly of Yahweh; even [to] the tenth generation none {of his descendants} may come into the assembly of Yahweh {forever}, {because} they did not come to meet you with food and with water {when you came out of Egypt}, and [also] {because} they hired Balaam, son of Beor, from Pethor, in Aram Naharaim [to act] against you to curse you read more. But Yahweh your God was not willing to listen to Balaam, and Yahweh your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because Yahweh your God loved you. You shall not promote their welfare or their prosperity all your days {forever}.
These [are] the words of the covenant that Yahweh commanded Moses to make with the {Israelites} in the land of Moab {besides} the covenant that he made with them at Horeb.
These [are the territories] that Moses gave as an inheritance on the desert-plateau of Moab, beyond the Jordan, east of Jericho.
And again the {Israelites} did evil in the eyes of Yahweh. So Yahweh strengthened Eglon king of Moab against Israel, because they did evil in the eyes of Yahweh. He gathered to himself the {Ammonites and Amalekites}, and he went and defeated Israel, and they took possession of the city of palms. read more. And the {Israelites} served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years. And the {Israelites} cried out to Yahweh, and Yahweh raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud son of Gera, a Benjaminite and {a left-handed man}. And the {Israelites} sent a tribute to Eglon king of Moab {through him}. Ehud made for himself a short, {two-edged} sword (a cubit in length), and he fastened it under his clothes on his right thigh. Then he presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon [was] a very fat man. When Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who carried the tribute. But he turned back from the sculptured stones that [were] near Gilgal, and he said, "I have {a secret message} for you, O king." And he said, "Silence!" So all those standing in his presence went out, and Ehud came to him [while] he [was] sitting alone in his cool upper room. And Ehud said, "I have a {message from God} for you." So he got up from his seat. Then Ehud reached with his left hand for the sword on his right thigh, and he thrust it into his stomach. And the handle also went [in] after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade because he did not draw back the sword from his stomach; and it went protruding out the back. And Ehud went out the vestibule, and he closed the doors of the upper room and locked [them] behind him. After he left, his servants returned. When they saw [that] the doors of the upper room [were] locked, {they thought}, "Surely he [is] {relieving himself} in the cool inner room." And they waited so long they became embarrassed because he did not open the doors of the upper room. So they took the key and opened [the doors], and there their lord was lying on the ground dead. And Ehud escaped while they delayed. He passed by the sculptured stones and escaped to Seirah. And when he arrived he sounded the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim, and the {Israelites} went down from the hill country with him leading them. And he said to them, "Follow after me! Yahweh has given Moab your enemies into your hand." So they went down after him, and they captured the fords of the Jordan toward Moab; and they did not allow anyone to cross over. And they struck Moab at that time, about ten thousand men, {all strong and able men}; no one escaped. And Moab was subdued on that day under the hand of Israel. And the land rested eighty years.
And the king of the {Ammonites} said to Jephthah's messengers, "Because Israel took my land from [the] Arnon up to the Jabbok and the Jordan when they came up from Egypt; so then, restore it peacefully." Once again Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the {Ammonites}, read more. and he said to him, "Thus says Jephthah, 'Israel did not take the land of Moab or the land of the {Ammonites}, because when they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness to the {Red Sea} and went to Kadesh. Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, "Please let us cross through your land," but the king of Edom would not listen. And they also sent [messengers] to the king of Moab, but he was not willing. So Israel stayed in Kadesh. Then they traveled through the wilderness, went around the land of Edom and Moab, and came to {the east} side of the land of Moab, and they encamped beyond [the] Arnon; and they did not go into the territory of Moab because [the] Arnon [was] the border of Moab.
So Saul took the kingship over Israel, and he fought all around against his enemies, against Moab, against the {Ammonites}, against Edom, against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines. He inflicted punishment against all who rebelled.
When he defeated Moab, he measured them with the cord, making them lie on the ground. He measured two cords to kill and {the third cord} to let live. So Moab became servants of David, bringing tribute.
from Aram and from Moab and from the {Ammonites} and from [the] Philistines and from Amalek and from the plunder of Hadadezer the son of Rehob, the king of Zobah.
Then Elisha said to the king of Israel, "{What do we have in common}? Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother." Then the king of Israel said to him, "No, for Yahweh has called for these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab."
It happened in the morning about the time of the [morning] offering, that water was suddenly coming from the direction of Edom and the land was filled with water.
He took his firstborn son who was to become king in his place and offered him [as] a burnt offering on the wall. Great wrath came upon Israel, and they withdrew from him and returned to the land.
He restored the boundary of Israel from Lebo-Hamath up to the sea of the Arabah, according to the word of Yahweh which he spoke by the hand of his servant Jonah the son of Amittai the prophet, who was from Gath-Hepher.
So Yahweh sent against him raiding bands of Chaldeans, raiding bands of Aram, raiding bands of Moab, and raiding bands of the {Ammonites}. He had sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of Yahweh that he had spoken by the hand of his servants the prophets.
Through God we will do {valiantly}, and [it is] he [who] will tread down our enemies.
look, I [am] going to send and take all [the] clans of [the] north,' {declares} Yahweh, 'and [I will send] to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations all around, and I will destroy them, and I will make them a horror, and [an object of] hissing, and {everlasting ruins}. And I will exterminate from them the sound of jubilation, and the sound of joy, [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 all this land will become a site of ruins, a desolation, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. {And then} when [the] seventy years [are] fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,' {declares} Yahweh, 'for their iniquity, and [the] land of [the] Chaldeans, and I will make it {an everlasting waste}. And I will bring upon that land all my words that I have spoken against it, everything that is written in this scroll which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. For many nations and great kings will let them work, even them, and I will repay them according to their deeds, and according to the work of their hands.'" For thus said Yahweh, the God of Israel, to me, "Take this cup of the wine [of] wrath from my hand, and you must give it [to] all the nations to whom I [am] sending you to drink. And they will drink, and they will stagger, and they will act like madmen because of the {presence} of the sword that I [am] sending among them." So I took the cup from the hand of Yahweh and I gave [it] [to] all the nations to whom Yahweh sent me to drink: Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, and its kings, [and] its officials, to make them a site of ruins, a horror, an [object of] hissing, and a curse, as [it is] this day; Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and his servants, and his officials, and all his people; and all the other people; and all the kings of the land of Uz; and all the kings of the land of [the] Philistines--Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod; Edom, and Moab, and the {Ammonites};
For thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Because of clapping your hand and stamping with your foot, and [because] you rejoiced in yourself with all of your malice over the land of Israel, therefore look! I stretched out my hand against you, and I will give you as plunder to the nations, and I will cut you off from the peoples, and I will destroy you from the countries, and I will wipe you out, and you will know that I [am] Yahweh." read more. Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Because of Moab and Seir saying, 'The house of Judah [is] like all of the nations,' therefore, look! I [am] opening the side of Moab from the cities on its frontier, [the] glory of [the] land: Beth Jeshimoth, Baal Meon, and Kiriathaim. I will give it to the people of the East in addition to the {Ammonites} as a possession, so that the {Ammonites} will not be remembered among the nations. And on Moab I will execute punishments, and they will know that I [am] Yahweh."
Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Moab and for four I will not revoke [the punishment], because he burned to lime the bones of the king of Edom. So I will send a fire against Moab and it will devour the citadel fortresses of Kerioth, and Moab will die amid uproar, amid war cries [and] amid the sound of a horn. read more. And I will cut off [the] ruler from its midst and I will kill all of its officials with him," says Yahweh.
I have heard the reproaches of Moab and the scorning of the {Ammonites}, [with] which they have taunted my nation and made boasts against their territory. "Therefore, as I live"--a declaration of Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel-- "Moab shall be as Sodom, and the {Ammonites} like Gomorrah, a place of weeds and salt pits and a desolation forever. The remnant of my people shall plunder them, and the remainder of my nation shall possess them."