Gen 19:37 gave birth to the elder a son .. named M
Num 22:3 M was greatly afraid .. was distressed M a
Deu 2:9 The Lord said to me, Do not bother me, nor
Rth 1:1 man .. went to dwell in the fields of M
2Ki 1:1 after the death of .. M rebelled
Psa 60:8; 108:9
Moab (Heb. Mô’âb, “of his father”; Moabite Stone, M’b; cun. Ma’aba, Ma’ab, and Mu’aba; Egyptian hieroglyphs, Mib). The name appears to be a combination of mô (= min, “of”) + ‘âb (“father”), thus referring to the fact that the tribe’s ancestor was born of incest. 1. Son of Lot with his oldest daughter (Gen 19: 30-37). 2. Nation of the Moabites;* the descendants of Moab. They were a sister nation to the Ammonites (Gen 19:37, 38), and both were distant relatives of the Israelites, since Moab’s father Lot had been Abraham’s nephew (12:5). The tribe developed in the southeastern Transjordan, where Lot would have lived after the destruction of Sodom. When they were strong enough they displaced the emitas and occupied their territory (Deu 2:9-11) from the Zered Creek (Wâd§ el-Hes~), which enters the Dead Sea at the southern end, to the “fields of Moab”. ” (Num 22:1), which were northeast of the Dead Sea. Shortly before the arrival of the Israelites, however, Shihon, an Amorite king, took from Moab the territory north of the Arnon (Wâd§ el-Môjib) and established his capital at Heshbon (21:13, 26-30). Moab then extended from the Zered to the Arnon, Map VI, F-4. When the Israelites reached the southern border of Moab, they asked permission to cross the country, but were denied (Jdg 11:17). Since the Edomites, Moabites, and Ammonites were related to the Israelites, Moses was not allowed to attack them or take parts of their countries (Deu 2:4, 5, 9, 18, 19). However, Balak, the king of Moab, was alarmed when the Israelites conquered King Sihon’s territory, thereby becoming his neighbors to the north. Fearing that he could not successfully meet them by arms, he hired Balaam in the hope of weakening the Hebrews through curses. By divine intervention, these were transformed into blessings. Later, on Balaam’s advice, the Moabites seduced the Israelites into sexual license and idolatry (Num_22-25). For this reason, they were excluded from the congregation of Israel until the 10th generation, and Israel was commanded to stay away from them (Deu 23:3-6; Neh 13:1,2). During the early period of the judges, the Moabites, under King Eglon, invaded western Canaan, took possession of Jericho, the “city of palm trees,” and oppressed the people of Israel for 18 years. At the end of that period, Ehud, a Benjamite, murdered Eglon in his palace, drove his subjects eastward, and freed the people (Jdg 3:12-30). Later, during the judges, when a famine struck western Palestine, Elimelech, a citizen of Bethlehem, moved to Moab, where his 2 sons married local women: Orpah and Ruth. After the 3 men died, Naomi, the wife of Elimelech, returned to Bethlehem with Ruth, where she became the wife of Boaz and, with it, the ancestor of David, and through him of Jesus (Rth_-4). Saul had difficulties with the Moabites and successfully fought against them (1Sa 14:47). When he persecuted David, the king of Moab protected his parents (22:3, 4), possibly a distant relative of Ruth’s ancestors. However, he fought against the Moabites after he was king (2Sa 8:2, 11, 12; 1Ch 18:2, 11), and may have received tribute from the country. After the division of the United Kingdom, it seems that Moab took advantage of Israel’s weakness to regain some independence. However, Omri, a strong king, once again subdued them and forced them to pay a high yearly tax (Moabite Stone,* lines 4-8; 2Ki 3:4). After Ahab’s death, Mesha, king of Moab, rebelled against Israel (2Ki 1:1; 3:4, 5). Probably shortly after this event, Jehoram of Israel made an attempt to regain his rule over the country. He induced Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom (whose name is not given) to join him on campaign. Although the allied armies defeated their enemies in battle, invaded their territory, destroyed many cities, and besieged the fortress of Kir-hareset (Kerak), they returned to their land shortly before a decisive victory (3:6-27). Apparently, around this time, King Mesha extended his border to the north and occupied much of Israel’s territory, as we know from the Moabite Stone. Toward the end of Jehoshaphat’s reign, the Moabites along with the Ammonites and the Edomites invaded Judah. However, God caused them to destroy each other, so Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, had only to gather up the spoil (2Ch 20:1-30). Moabite groups devastated parts of Israel during harvest time after Elisha’s death (and perhaps before as well; 2 Kings 13:20). These raids probably illustrate their hostility towards their Hebrew neighbors. New invasions against Judah are recorded in the time of King Jehoiakim (24:2). The prophets severely denounced this hostile 796 nation (Isa. 15; 16; 25:10; Jer 9:25, 26; 25:17, 21; 48:1-47; Eze 25:8-11; Amo 2:1 , 2; Zep. 2:8-11). However, some of the Jews found refuge in Moab when their country was devastated by Nebuchadnezzar and returned after Gedaliah’s appointment as governor (Jer 40:11, 12). The Moabites are so conventionally and ambiguously mentioned in the post-exilic OT books that it is difficult to say whether they existed as a nation then. Maps VII, E/F/G-4; VIII, F-4; IX, E/F/G-4. 358. Bird’s-eye view of the mountains south of Moab. During the period of the Assyrian Empire, when virtually all of Syria and Palestine were subject to him, Moab was also his vassal, and is frequently mentioned in Assyrian records paying tribute. The names of the following Moabite kings are listed: under Tiglath-pileser III (745-727 BC) King Salamanu of Moab; under Sennacherib (705-681 BC) King Kammusunadbi (ANET 287); and under Esar-haddon (681-669 BC) and Ashurbanipal (669-627? BC), the Musuri and Kamashaltu kings. When Babylon took over the Assyrian kingdom, she also incorporated Moab into her territory. During the rule of the Persians there was an entry of Arabs in it, with the result that the inhabitants eventually lost their identity and were confused with the Nabataean Arabs, forming part of the Nabataean kingdom at the time of Christ. After AD 105, the former Moabite territory was part of the Roman province of Arabia. Maps X, E/F/G-4; XI, C-4; XVI, F-4. Their religion was polytheistic, and their main god Chemosh (Jer 48:13), whose name appears on the Moabite Stone (lines 3, 5, 9, etc.) and in personal names such as Kammusunadbi and Kamashaltu, already mentioned. Baal of Peor, presumably a local god, is mentioned in Num 25:3 and elsewhere. The name of the goddess Astar also appears on the Moabite Stone;* and the Balu’a stela, discovered at Balu’a, shows a god similar to an Egyptian deity. That they occasionally offered human sacrifices to their gods is documented in 2Ki 3:27. Their language was closely related to Hebrew, and there were only dialect variations with Biblical Hebrew, as shown by the Moabite Stone inscriptions. Map VI, F-4. Bib.: ANET 282, 291, 294, 298; FJ-AJ x.9.7. 3. Fields (Heb. í”dêh Mô’âb) that form part of the Jordan Valley. It is between the mountains of Transjordan and the Jordan River, northeast of the Dead Sea, facing Jericho (Num 22:1; 26:3, 63; 31:12; 33:48-50; 35:1; 36:13; Deu 34:1, 8; Josh 13:32). It received its name perhaps from the fact that it had been part of Moab before the Amorite king Sihon appropriated them (Num 1:26). Map I, C-2. 4. City (Heb. ‘îr Mô’âb) mentioned in Num 22:36 as the place where Balak, king of Moab, met Balaam, who had come to curse Israel. In other references it is referred to as “the city that is in the valley” or “the city that is in the middle of the valley” (Deu 2:36; Jos 13:9, 16; 2Sa 24:5). As the children of Israel apparently approached her during their wanderings in the wilderness around Moab, she has generally been sought for somewhere near the sources of the Arnon River (Map VI, F-4), but has not been found so far. suggested no site with certainty. Some scholars identify Ar (‘=r) of Num 21:15, Deu 2:18 and Isa 15:1 with the “city” (‘íŽr) of Moab. Map VI, F-4. Bib.: A. H. Van Zyl, The Moabites (Leiden, 1960). 5. Desert located in the region of Moab (Deu 2:8; etc.). Moabite, Stone. Black basalt stela containing 34 lines of text written in pre-exilic (also called Phoenician) Hebrew from the 9th century BC It is the longest historical inscription from ancient Palestine discovered to date in that country. It is in the Moabite language, a language closely related to ancient Hebrew, from which it only differs in dialect. This monument, now in the Louvre Museum, Paris, was discovered in 1868 by the German missionary F. Klein at Dh§bân (biblical Dibon), east of the Dead Sea, where at that time very few Europeans could safely travel. . He reported his finding to the Prussian consul Petermann in Jerusalem, who in turn obtained funds from the Berlin Museum to purchase the monument. Meanwhile, Charles Clermont-Ganneau of the French consulate heard about the stone’s discovery and obtained a copy of a few lines of its text, which convinced him of its importance. 797 Therefore, he began negotiations with the people on the other side of the Jordan to obtain the stone for France. This unfortunate competition between 2 western powers aroused the suspicion of the people of Dh§bân. Sensing that the stone had gold or some magical value, they increased the price, and when Petermann unfortunately made deals with the Turkish military authorities to force its owners to hand over the monument as agreed, the people of Dh§bân decided wreck it. After heating the stone red hot, they poured cold water over it and broke it into many pieces. These were distributed among the people who used it as amulets. Clermont-Ganneau had his agents buy as many pieces as they could. They eventually recovered about 2/3 of the monument, and restored it with the help of a very poor-quality cast made of paper by a native before the Stone was broken (fig. 359). This monument, which due to its historical content can be dated to the 2nd half of the 9th century BC, is of great importance for the study of the Hebrew alphabet and writing. It also sheds much light on the grammatical and lexical features of the Hebrew language in use at the time. Many of its passages and expressions parallel biblical passages, and contain the first known non-biblical text to mention Yahweh’s name (Jehovah*) with the same spelling found in Hebrew (line 18). It also mentions the kings Omri of Israel, Mesa of Moab and the tribe of Gad, as well as numerous transjordanian cities…