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Moabites....
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Moab ("Seed of father/leader", Standard Hebrew) is the historical name for a mountainous strip of land in
Jordan running along the eastern shore of the
Dead Sea. In ancient times,
it was home to the kingdom of the Moabites, a people that was often in
conflict with its Israelite neighbors to the west. Nevertheless, there was
considerable interchange between the two peoples, and the Bible in the
Book of Ruth traces King David's lineage to a Moabite woman.
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The Moabites were a historical people. Their existence is
attested to by numerous archeological findings, most notably the Mesha
Stele, which describes the Moabite victory over an unnamed son of Omri king
of Israel (see 2 Kings 3). The conflict between the Israelites and the
Moabites is expressed in the biblical narrative describing the Moabites'
incestuous origins. According to the story, Moab was the son of
Abraham's
nephew Lot, through his eldest daughter, with whom he had a child after the
destruction of Sodom. The Bible then explains the etymology of Moab as
meaning "of his father". |
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The Israelites, in entering the promised land, did not
pass through the Moabites, (Judges 11:18) but conquered the
Amorites, who
occupied the country from which the Moabites had been so lately expelled.
After the conquest of Canaan the relations of Moab with Israel were of a
mixed character, sometimes war like and sometimes peaceable. With the tribe
of Benjamin they had at least one severe struggle, in union with their
kindred the Ammonites. (Judges 3:12-30). The story of Ruth,
on the other
hand, testifies to the existence of a friendly intercourse between
Moab and
Bethlehem, one of the towns of
Judah. |
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By his descent from Ruth,
David may be said to have had
Moabite blood in his veins. He committed his parents to the protection of
the king of Moab, when hard pressed by 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). At the disruption of the kingdom, Moab
seems to have absorbed into the northern realm. At the death of Ahab the
Moabites refused to pay tribute and asserted their independence, making
war upon the kingdom of Judah. (2 Chronicles 22:1). |
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