Moab

Lore & Background

According to the biblical account, Moab and Ammon were born to Lot and Lot's elder and younger daughters, respectively, in the aftermath of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The Hebrew Bible refers to both the Moabites and Ammonites as Lot's sons, born of incest with his daughters (Genesis 19:37–38). The Moabites first inhabited the rich highlands at the eastern side of the chasm of the Dead Sea, extending as far as the Arnon River to Wadi Hasa, from which country they expelled the Emim, the original inhabitants (Deuteronomy 2:11), but they themselves were afterward driven southward by warlike tribes of Amorites, who had crossed the river Jordan. These Amorites, described in the Bible as being ruled by King Sihon, confined the Moabites to the country south of the river Arnon, which formed their northern boundary (Numbers 21:13; Judges 11:18). God renewed his covenant with the Israelites at Moab before the Israelites entered the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 29:1). Moses died there (Deut 34:5), prevented by God from entering the Promised Land. He was buried in an unknown location in Moab and the Israelites spent a period of thirty days there in mourning (Deuteronomy 34:6–8). According to the Book of Judges, the Israelites did not pass through the land of the Moabites (Judges 11:18), but conquered Sihon's kingdom and his capital at Heshbon. After the conquest of Canaan the relations of Moab with Israel were of a mixed character, sometimes warlike and sometimes peaceable. With the tribe of Benjamin they had at least one severe struggle, in union with their kindred the Ammonites and the Amalekites (Judges 3:12–30). The Benjaminite shofet Ehud ben Gera assassinated the Moabite king Eglon and led an Israelite army against the Moabites at a ford of the Jordan river, killing many of them. The Book of Ruth testifies to friendly relations between Moab and Bethlehem, one of the towns of the tribe of Judah. By his descent from Ruth, David may be said to have been part Moabite. He committed his parents to the protection of the king of Moab (who may have been his kinsman), when hard pressed by King Saul. (1 Samuel 22:3,4) But here all friendly relations stop forever. The next time the name is mentioned is in the account of David's war, who made the Moabites tributary (2 Samuel 8:2; 1 Chronicles 18:2).

Reader's Guide

The etymology of the word Moab is uncertain. The earliest Biblical annotation is found in the Koine Greek Septuagint (Genesis 19:37), which describes the meaning of the name as ἐκ τοῦ πατρός μου ("from my father"), an obvious allusion to the account of Moab's parentage. Other etymologies which have been proposed regard it as a corruption of "seed of a father", or as a participial form from "to desire", thus connoting "the desirable (land)". The medieval commentator Rashi maintained that the word Mo'ab means "from the father", since ab in Hebrew and Arabic and other Semitic languages means "father". He writes that as a result of the "immodesty" of Moab's name, God did not command the Israelites to refrain from inflicting pain upon the Moabites in the manner in which he did with regard to the Ammonites. Fritz Hommel regards Moab as an abbreviation of Immo-ab = "his mother is his father". Moab was situated in the Transjordan region, bordering by Edom to the south at the Wadi al-Ḥasa and Ammon to the north, though its exact border in the north is unclear and seems to have shifted during the kingdom's existence. While some biblical passages restrict its territory to the Karak Plateau between the Wadi al-Ḥasa and the Arnon River (today's Wadi Mujib), other biblical passages and the Mesha Inscription suggest the kingdom extended north of the Arnon. This northern frontier with Ammon was likely fluid during the Iron II period, leaving the status of border towns like Heshbon ambiguous.

Did You Know?

• The existence of the Kingdom of Moab prior to the rise of the Israelite state has been deduced from a colossal statue erected at Luxor by pharaoh Ramesses II, in the 13th century BCE.
• The 9th century BCE Mesha Stele recounts that King Mesha built up an open sanctuary in Qeriho (cultic area of Dibon), conquered the Israelite territory north of Wadi el-Wale with the cities of Medeba, Ataroth and Nebo as
• After the Roman conquest of the Levant by Pompey in 63 BCE, Moab lost its distinct identity through assimilation.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"Moab was an ancient Levantine kingdom whose territory is today located in southern Jordan. The land is mountainous and lies alongside much of the eastern shore of the Dead Sea." — Moab "Like the heart of a woman in birth pangs." — Moab "Because he exalted himself against the Lord." — Moab "And he who gets out of the pit shall be caught in the snare." — Moab