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 up from 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 first-born said to the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man on the earth to come in to 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 seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night: and the first-born went in and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. And it came to pass on the morrow that the first born said to the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father; let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father. And the first-born bore a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites to this day. And the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Ben-ammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon to this day.
From thence they removed, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, which is in the wilderness that cometh out of the coasts 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 to Arnon.
And the children of Israel moved forward, and pitched 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 nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.
On the east side of Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare this law, saying,
And when we passed by from our brethren the children of Esau, who dwelt in Seir, through the way of the plain from Elath, and from Ezion-gaber, we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab. And the LORD said to me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle: for I will not give thee of their land for a possession; because I have given Ar to the children of Lot for a possession.
Who also were accounted giants, as the Anakims; but the Moabites call them Emims.
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 for ever: Because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth from Egypt; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee. read more. Nevertheless, the LORD thy God would not hearken to Balaam: but the LORD thy God turned the curse into a blessing to thee, because the LORD thy God loved thee. Thou shalt not seek their peace, nor their prosperity all thy days for ever.
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 countries which Moses distributed 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 to him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote 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 to the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjaminite, a man left-handed: and by him the children of Israel sent a present to Eglon king of Moab. But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length; and he girded it under his raiment upon his right thigh. And he brought the present to Eglon king of Moab: and Eglon was a very fat man. And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bore the present. But he himself turned again from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand to thee, O king: who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him. And Ehud came to him; and he was sitting in a summer-parlor, which he had for himself alone: and Ehud said, I have a message from God to thee. And he arose from 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 haft also entered after the blade: and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly; and the dirt came out. Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlor upon 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 covereth his feet in his summer-chamber. And they tarried till they were ashamed: and behold, he opened not the doors of the parlor, therefore they took a key and opened them: and behold, their lord lay dead on the earth. And Ehud escaped while they tarried; and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped to 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 before them. And he said to them, Follow me: for the LORD hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan towards Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over. And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, all lusty, 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 eighty years.
And the king of the children of Ammon answered to the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land, when they came out of Egypt, from Arnon even to Jabbok, and to Jordan: now therefore restore those lands again peaceably. And Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the children of Ammon: read more. And said to him, Thus saith 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 to the Red sea, and came to Kadesh; Then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land: but the king of Edom would not hearken to it. And in like manner they sent to the king of Moab; but he would not consent. And Israel abode in Kadesh. Then they went along through the wilderness, and compassed the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and pitched 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 whithersoever he turned himself, he harassed them.
And he smote Moab, and measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground; even with two lines he measured to put to death, and with one full line to keep alive. And so the Moabites became David's servants, and brought gifts.
Of Syria, 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 to the king of Israel, What have I to do with thee? go to the prophets of thy father, and to the prophets of thy mother. And the king of Israel said to him, No: for the LORD hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab.
And it came to pass in the morning, when the meat-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 was to reign in his stead, and offered him for a burnt-offering upon the wall. And there was great indignation against Israel: And they departed from him, and returned to their own land.
He restored the border of Israel from the entering of Hamath to 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 of Gath-hepher.
And the LORD sent against him bands of the Chaldees, 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 will tread down our enemies.
Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations around, 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 candle. 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, saith 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 is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations. For many nations and great kings shall reduce them to subjection also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands. For thus saith the LORD God of Israel to me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it. And they shall drink, and be moved, and enraged, because of the sword that I will send among them. Then I took the cup at the LORD'S hand, and made all the nations to drink, to whom the LORD had sent me: To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and her kings, and her 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 mingled 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 saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast clapped thy hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced in heart with all thy despite against the land of Israel; Behold, therefore I will stretch out my hand upon thee, and will deliver thee for a spoil to the heathen; and I will cut thee off from the people, and I will cause thee to perish out of the countries: I will destroy thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD. read more. Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because that Moab and Seir do say, Behold, the house of Judah is like all the heathen; Therefore behold, I will open the side of Moab from the cities, from his cities which are on his frontiers, the glory of the country, Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon, and Kiriathaim, To the men of the east with the Ammonites, and will give them in 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 saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn away his 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 the midst of it, and will slay all its princes with him, saith 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 magnified themselves against their border. Therefore as I live, saith 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 nettles, and salt-pits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of my people shall lay them waste, and the remnant of my people shall possess them.