Reference: Moab, Moabites
Hastings
Moab occupied the lofty table-land to the east of the Dead Sea. It was bounded on the E. by the Arabian desert, on the S. by the land of Edom, on the W. by the Dead Sea and Jordan Valley. Its N. boundary fluctuated at different periods between the Arnon and an indistinct line some distance north of Heshbon. This table-land is elevated some 3000 feet above the level of the Mediterranean, and 4300 feet above the Dead Sea. It is traversed by three deep valleys, the middle one of which, the Arnon, is the deepest, and is often mentioned in the Bible. The northern portion consists of broad stretches of rolling country, the reddish soil of which is fertile, while in the southern portion more hills are found, and the deep wrinkles interfere more with agriculture. In the winter months the rainfall is adequate, and renders the country very desirable in comparison with the deserts on its border.
In the earliest times known to us this land was called Lotan (Egyp. Ruten), or Lot. The narrative of Ge 19, which makes Lot (wh. see) the father of Moab, apparently means that the Moabites settled in this land of Lot. The meaning of Moab is undetermined. The etymology of Ge 19:37 (Septuagint) is not philological, and modern guesses are uncertain.
The narrative of Ge 19 shows that the Israelites recognized the Moabites as their kinsmen. That they really were such, their language, religion, and customs, so far as known to us, also testify. Probably, then, the Moabites came with the wave of Aram
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And the firstborn bore a son, and called his name Moab. The same is the father of the Moabites to this day.
And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, Let me pass through thy land. We will not turn aside into field, or into vineyard. We will not drink of the water of the wells. We will go by the king's highway, until we have passed thy border. read more. And Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his border, but Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel into the wilderness, and came to Jahaz, and he fought against Israel. And Israel smote him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, even to the sons of Ammon, for the border of the sons of Ammon was strong. And Israel took all these cities. And Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all the towns of it. For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and had taken all his land out of his hand, even to the Arnon. Therefore those who speak in proverbs say, Come ye to Heshbon. Let the city of Sihon be built and established. For a fire has gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon. It has devoured Ar of Moab, the lords of the high places of the Arnon. Woe to thee, Moab! Thou are undone, O people of Chemosh. He has given his sons as fugitives, and his daughters into captivity, to Sihon king of the Amorites. We have shot at them. Heshbon is perished even to Dibon, and we have laid waste even to Nophah, which [reaches] to Medeba. Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites.
And Moses said to the judges of Israel, Kill ye every one his men who have joined themselves to Baal-peor.
Behold, these caused the sons of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against LORD in the matter of Peor, and so the plague was among the congregation of LORD.
And LORD said to me, Do not vex Moab, neither contend with them in battle, for I will not give thee of his land for a possession, because I have given Ar to the sons of Lot for a possession.
Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the valley of the Arnon. Behold, I have given into thy hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle. This day I will begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the peoples who are under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee. read more. And I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying, Let me pass through thy land. I will go along by the highway, I will turn neither to the right hand nor to the left. Thou shall sell me food for money, that I may eat, and give me water for money, that I may drink. Only let me pass through on my feet, as the sons of Esau who dwell in Seir, and the Moabites who dwell in Ar, did to me, until I shall pass over the Jordan into the land which LORD our God gives us. But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him, for LORD thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as at this day. And LORD said to me, Behold, I have begun to deliver up Sihon and his land before thee. Begin to possess, that thou may inherit his land. Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Jahaz. And LORD our God delivered him up before us. And we smote him, and his sons, and all his people. And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones; we left none remaining. We only took the cattle for a prey to ourselves, with the spoil of the cities which we had taken.
because they met you not with bread and with water on the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt, and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee.
And their border was from Aroer, that is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and the city that is in the middle of the valley, and all the plain by Medeba; Heshbon, and all its cities that are in the plain; Dibon, and Bamoth-baal, and Beth-baal-meon, read more. and Jahaz, and Kedemoth, and Mephaath, and Kiriathaim, and Sibmah, and Zereth-shahar in the mount of the valley, and Beth-peor, and the slopes of Pisgah, and Beth-jeshimoth, and all the cities of the plain, and all the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites who reigned in Heshbon, whom Moses smote with the chiefs of Midian, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, the rulers of Sihon who dwelt in the
Now to the one half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given in Bashan, but to the other half Joshua gave among their brothers beyond the Jordan westward. Moreover when Joshua sent them away to their tents, he blessed them,
And the sons of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of LORD. And LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel because they had done that which was evil in the sight of LORD. And he gathered to him the sons of Ammon and Amalek, and he went and smote Israel, and they possessed the city of palm trees. read more. And the sons of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years. But when the sons of Israel cried to LORD, LORD raised up for them a savior, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. And the sons of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab. And Ehud made for himself a sword which had two edges, a cubit in length. And he girded it under his raiment upon his right thigh. And he offered the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man. And when he had made an end of offering the tribute, he sent away the men who bore the tribute. But he himself turned back from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand to thee, O king. And he said, Keep silence. And all who stood by him went out from him. And Ehud came to him. And he was sitting by himself alone in the cool upper room. And Ehud said, I have a message from God to thee. And he arose out of his seat. And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his body. And the handle also went in after the blade, and the fat closed upon the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his body, and it came out behind. Then Ehud went forth into the porch, and shut the doors of the upper room upon him, and locked them. Now when he was gone out, his servants came, and they saw, and, behold, the doors of the upper room were locked. And they said, Surely he is covering his feet in the upper chamber. And they delayed till they were ashamed, and, behold, he did not open the doors of the upper room. Therefore they took the key, and opened, and, behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth. And Ehud escaped while they delayed, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped to Seirah. And it came to pass, when he came, that he blew a trumpet in the hill-country of Ephraim. And the sons of Israel went down with him from the hill-country, and he before them. And he said to them, Follow after me, for LORD has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites, and did not allow a man to pass over. And they smote about ten thousand men of Moab at that time, every robust man, and every man 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 he said to him, Thus says Jephthah: Israel did not take away the land of Moab, nor the land of the sons of Ammon,
And now are thou anything better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them?
Now when Saul had taken the kingdom over Israel, he fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, and against the sons of Ammon, and against Edom, and against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines. And where
And David went from there to Mizpeh of Moab, and he said to the king of Moab, Let my father and my mother, I pray thee, come forth, [and be] with you, till I know what God will do for me.
And after this it came to pass, that David smote the Philistines, and subdued them. And David took the bridle of the mother city out of the hand of the Philistines. And he smote Moab, and measured them with the line, making them to lay down on the ground. And he measured two lines to put to death, and one full line to keep alive. And the Moabites became servants to David, and brought tribute.
of Syria, and of Moab, and of the sons of Ammon, and of the Philistines, and of Amalek, and of the spoil of Hadadezer, son of Rehob, king of Zobah.
Now king Solomon loved many foreign women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites,
Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab on the mount that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the sons of Ammon.
Now Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years.
Then he took his eldest son who should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt-offering upon the wall. And there was great wrath against Israel, and they departed from him, and returned to their own land.
And Elisha died, and they buried him. Now the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year.
And LORD sent against him bands of the Chaldeans, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the sons of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of LORD, which he spoke by his
But it came to pass that, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem went forward, [and] that the breaches began to be stopped, then they
They also joined themselves to Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead.
Thus says lord LORD: Because Moab and Seir say, Behold, the house of Judah is like all the nations,
Thus says LORD: For three transgressions of Moab, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment of it, 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 Kerioth, 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 kill all the rulers of it with him, says LORD.
I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the sons of Ammon, with which they have reproached my people, and magnified themselves against their border. Therefore as I live, says LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the sons of Ammon as Gomorrah, a possession of nettles, and salt pits, and a perpetual desolation. The residue of my people shall make a read more. They shall have this for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of LORD of hosts. LORD will be terrible to them, for he will famish all the gods of the earth. And men shall worship him, everyone from his place, even all the isles of the nations.