Oh what marvelous grace! Ruth said to Naomi, "Whither thou goest, I will go; whither thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people and thy God my God". Not only does she come to live in Israel, but she marries a prominent Hebrew. Their chief god was Chemosh (Jer 48:7, 48:13), and the Bible refers to them as the "people of Chemosh" (Num 21:29; Jer 48:46). 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). According to the Hebrew Bible, Moab was often in conflict with its Israelite neighbours to the west. The history of Moab seeking the destruction of Israel and Judah spans the entire history of Israel in the Land, from the exodus, to Israel’s zenith, and finally to the return from captivity. Relating to thought about the nature and behavior of God. ), is mentioned as one of the subject princes at the courts of Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal, while Kaasḥalta, possibly his successor, is named on cylinder B of Assurbanipal. The country of Moab was the source of numerous natural resources, including limestone, salt and balsam from the Dead Sea region. No.

Despite a scarcity of archaeological evidence, the existence of Moab[clarification needed] 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, which lists Mu'ab among a series of nations conquered during a campaign. There are arguments as to exactly when she was converted and if she had to repeat the statement in front of the court in Bethlehem when they arrived there. Once again this mixed multitude would degrade the values of the Lord’s people so that many of their children could not speak the language of Judah but had adopted the language and customs of the infiltrators (Nehemiah 13:24). It was Balak, king of Moab, who years before had sought the aid of the prophet Balaam in his attempt to get God to curse Israel. Ruth chose to go back to Naomi's people after her husband, his brother and his father, Naomi's husband, died. The Talmud uses this as the basis for what a convert must do to be converted. The Talmud expresses the view that the prohibition applied only to male Moabites, who were not allowed to marry born Jews or legitimate converts. The Moabite capital was Dibon.

In the passage before us, Jehoram was faced with the rebellion of the Moabites, one of the long-standing enemies of God’s people. Online: https://www.bibleodyssey.org:443/en/places/main-articles/moab, Bruce Routledge In the Bible this is the name of one of Israel’s twelve tribes. 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 historical closeness of these two peoples also complicates our attempts to define what is “Israelite.” In the Mesha Stela, Atharot in Moab is said to be home to the tribe of Gad and to have been rebuilt by the king of Israel. Surely Ruth posed the same danger to the welfare of the People as every other Moabite and surely she should have been condemned with the rest of them? References to the religion of Moab are scant. Deuteronomy 4:3 Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal-peor, for the LORD your God destroyed from among you all who followed Baal of Peor. Other traditions present a more favorable view of Moabite-Israelite relations. Prior to murdering Moabite captives, David sent his father and mother to take refuge with the king of Moab while on the run from Saul (1Sam 22:3-4). The Moabites occupied a vital place along the King's Highway, the ancient trade route connecting Egypt with Mesopotamia, Syria, and Anatolia. Its territory was subsequently overrun by waves of tribes from northern Arabia, including the Kedarites and (later) the Nabataeans. Deuteronomy 3:29 So we stayed in the valley opposite Beth-peor. The Moabite Stone also mentions (line 17) a female counterpart of Chemosh, Ashtar-Chemosh, and a god Nebo (line 14), probably the well-known Babylonian divinity Nabu. According to the Bible, the Moabites opposed the Israelite invasion of Canaan, as did the Ammonites. Collective ceremonies having a common focus on a god or gods. 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. He was buried in an unknown location in Moab and the Israelites spent a period of thirty days there in mourning . Abraham, the first patriarch in the book of Genesis, is a figure of memory, legend, and faith. Moses died there )Deut 34:5), prevented by God from entering the Promised Land. And once again Moab would use the same seduction of Lot’s daughters and Balaam to lead Israel to worship idols and to incur the wrath of God.

These two nations had a similar birth and history and are often mentioned together as the cause of Israel’s unfaithfulness to the Lord. Isaiah 15-16, the Mesha Stela, and changing opinion about the location of Kir Hareseth indicate that the ancient Moabite heartland lay north of the River Arnon (Wadi Mujib) and not to its south as has long been supposed.

Ruth had forsaken her people and her gods and had unconditionally clung to the Lord and His people (Ruth 2:16,17).

The territory known as Moab, is located on the east side of the Dead Sea, across from the wilderness of Judah. Moses died there, [11] prevented by God from entering the promised land. Moab as a land is first mentioned in the reign of the Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II (circa 1270 B.C.E.). The set of Biblical books shared by Jews and Christians.

It was Balak, king of Moab, who hired Balaam to curse the people of God. In addition there are the three line El-Kerak Inscription and a few seals. This too did not work.

Moab was located on a plateau about 910 metres (3,000 ft) above the level of the Mediterranean, or 1,300 metres (4,300 ft) above the Dead Sea, rising gradually from north to south. Moab was a flourishing kingdom east of the Dead Sea that competed politically and militarily with Israel. The prophets Amos (Amos 2:1-2), Isaiah (Isa 15-16, Isa 25:10-12), Jeremiah (Jer 48), and Ezekiel (Ezek 25:8-11) all prophesy the destruction of Moab. Bruce Routledge, "Moab", n.p. Of or relating to ancient lower Mesopotamia and its empire centered in Babylon. In Psalms 60 and 108, God even referred to Moab as belonging to Him, though He said nothing in either place concerning Ammon. Early modern travellers in the region included Ulrich Jasper Seetzen (1805), Johann Ludwig Burckhardt (1812), Charles Leonard Irby and James Mangles (1818), and Louis Félicien de Saulcy (1851).[3].

[citation needed] Rashi explains the word Mo'ab to mean "from the father", since ab in Hebrew and Arabic and the rest of the Semitic languages means "father". Israel and Moab share a great-grandfather in Terah, the father of Abraham (Gen 11:27), and Deut 2:9-12 gives Moab a similar history to Israel, displacing an indigenous race of giants in order to claim territory given to them by Yahweh. Fritz Hommel regards Moab as an abbreviation of Immo-ab = "his mother is his father".[1].

The problem in Ezra and Nehemiah occurred because Jewish men married women from the various nations without their first converting to Judaism (Nehemiah 13:23–24).

Yet again, the Moabites and the Ammonites would seek the downfall of the people of Israel. According to Mesha's inscription on the Mesha Stele, however, he was completely victorious and regained all the territory of which Israel had deprived him. Nevertheless pagan women caused even him to sin.

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 act of relating a prophecy, or inspired message. Sanballat tried to lure Nehemiah into an unholy alliance, just as Moab had done on previous occasions (Nehemiah 6:2). It was a Canaanite language closely related to Biblical Hebrew, Ammonite and Edomite,[6] and was written using a variant of the Phoenician alphabet.    |    Privacy Policy

Sanballat used every trick in the book to discourage Nehemiah in his work and when mocking, attacks and blackmail did not work they resorted to their old and proven trickery.    |    Technical Support

Even to the tenth generation, none of their descendants shall be admitted to the assembly ... View more, Balak Summons Balaam to Curse Israel1The Israelites set out, and camped in the plains of Moab across the Jordan from Jericho.2Now Balak son of Zippor saw all t ... View more, Ehud12The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord strengthened King Eglon of Moab against Israel, because they had done what ... View more, 2He also defeated the Moabites and, making them lie down on the ground, measured them off with a cord; he measured two lengths of cord for those who were to be ... View more, 27Then he took his firstborn son who was to succeed him, and offered him as a burnt offering on the wall.

The elder got him drunk to facilitate the deed and conceived Moab. The Bible refers to both the Moabites and Ammonites as Lot's sons, born of incest with his daughters (Genesis 19:37–38). This stone contained writings by a Moab king that told of their conquest and occupation of Israel. The famous historian, Josephus, documented how the Moabites were subdued in 200 BC. Being “just like us” made the Moabites dangerous to Israelite identity.

According to II Kings, at times, especially in dire peril, human sacrifices were offered to Chemosh, as by Mesha, who gave up his son and heir to him (2 Kings 3:27).

Descendants of Terah27Now these are the descendants of Terah. The same problems plague the identification of Gad. Publications include Moab in the Iron Age: Hegemony, Polity, Archaeology and “The antiquity of the nation? Why did God allow this when He Himself banished all Moabites from the congregation? The seduction, schemes and infiltration is unceasing. The Moabite king Balak hires Balaam to curse the Israelites but is foiled by a talking donkey (Num 22-24), and a later Moabite monarch, Eglon, oppresses Israel until he is assassinated by the clever Ehud from the tribe of Benjamin (Judg 3:12-30). Not to be confused with MoAb, the short-form for, A theoretical map of the region around 830 BCE. According to the Book of Jasher (24,24), Moab had four sons—Ed, Mayon, Tarsus and Kanvil—and his wife, whose name is not given, is apparently from Canaan. God renewed his covenant with the Israelites at Moab before the Israelites entered the "promised land" (Deuteronomy 29:1). He receives us unreservedly, wipes away our past and removes the curse that hung over us. The earliest gloss is found in the Koine Greek Septuagint (Genesis 19:37) which explains the name, in obvious allusion to the account of Moab's parentage, as ἐκ τοῦ πατρός μου ("from my father"). 9the Lord said to me: “Do not harass Moab or engage them in battle, for I will not give you any of its land as a possession, since I have given Ar as a possessi ... View more, Jehoram Reigns over Israel1In the eighteenth year of King Jehoshaphat of Judah, Jehoram son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria; he reigned twelve years ... View more, 2Then Israel made a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will indeed give this people into our hands, then we will utterly destroy their towns.”, 16But as for the towns of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, you must not let anything that breathes remain alive.17You shall ... View more, 17The city and all that is in it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction.