Biblical Nations - Moabites

Moabites

Key Scripture: Genesis 19:36-37

Figures: Moab, Balak, Cozbi, Eglon, Ruth, Mesha

This week we dive into the story of the third group of related neighbors to the children of Israel, the Moabites.  They share many similarities with the Ammonites, so much of the story you read today will sound familiar.  In fact, the nations of Moab and Ammon seem to always be referenced together whenever they come up in the Biblical narrative.  But there are several details that merit attention, which gives this nation an interesting place in the story of God's people and plan.  Let's dive in and see what we can discover. 

Like the Ammonites, the descendants of Moab had a sordid and disturbing origin story as the eldest daughter of Lot was the first to become pregnant by her father.  As the oldest heir, it seems her son Moab was able to establish himself in the same region where he was conceived.  The city of Zoar was where Lot fled after being saved from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and it was the only city in the valley that did not burn.  Interestingly, later in the Bible it is referenced as a Moabite city, which supports the text in Deuteronomy 2 stating that God had given the land of the Rephaim to the sons of Lot.  The Moabites had seemingly grown in number and power, forcing out the oversized inhabitants east of the modern Dead Sea, right in between the nations of Edom and Ammon.  That said, their territory had been diminished significantly by the time Moses arrived, as Numbers 21 tells that the Amorites had overtaken the plains of Moab under the rule of King Sihon along the eastern side of the Jordan River, including cities named Dibon, Nophah, and Medeba, all the way south to the river Arnon which became the new northern border of the Moabites.

Despite the fact that the wandering Hebrews did not pass through the Moabite territory, the king was nevertheless frightened of their presence along his border.  This ruler, Balak, consulted with elders from Midian and decided to hire a seer named Balaam who lived hundreds of miles away along the Euphrates River to come and curse Israel.  God did speak to and through Balaam, but although the prophet showed himself to be a wicked man he was not permitted to say anything evil about the Lord's chosen people.  Four times he pronounced blessings on the encampment of Israelites, which caused Balak a great deal of anger and consternation.  Perhaps seeking the favor of the king in hopes of being paid, however, Balaam convinced the Midianites to send women among the Jewish people, leading them to not only commit sexual sins but also to engage in the worship of their god, Chemosh.  God sent a plague through the camp which killed 24,000 people and was only stopped when Aaron's grandson, Phineas, drove a spear through a Jewish man named Zimri and the Moabite woman named Cozbi that he had brought into his tent.  Because of the idolatry they led the congregation to commit, God included the Moabites among the cursed people groups who were not allowed into the Israelite assembly.

King Eglon of Moab was one of the first oppressors of Israel during the time of the judges, until God raised up Ehud as a deliverer to drive a sword into the fat man's stomach and raise an army against the Moabites.  By killing their leader, taking control of the fords over the Jordan River, and killing some 10,000 Moabites, Ehud was able to force the invaders out of the land and establish a rest of some 80 years.  It is likely that towards the end of that period, right about the time another oppressor named Hazor began to rule portions of the northern region of Israel, that a man named Elimelech led his small family from Bethlehem over into Moabite territory to avoid a famine.  Upon his death in a foreign land, the man left behind a widow named Naomi to fend for herself and their two sons.  The young men found wives from among the local population, but they also died.  It was then that Naomi returned home to Bethlehem alongside her widowed daughter-in-law, Ruth.  While the story of the two women would normally be little more than a touching tribute to their loving devotion towards one another and the hopeful joy provided by Boaz, the kinsman redeemer who saved them, the fact that Ruth and Boaz became the great-grandparents of Israel's King David has incredible implications for Jews and Christians.

Despite his family relationship with the Moabites, David warred against them just as his predecessor Saul had done.  After defeating them, in fact, he executed two thirds of their people and forced the survivors into servitude.  Subsequent kings of Israel and Judah continued fighting with their eastern neighbors, including Jehoram and Jehoshaphat who joined forces together with a king from Edom after Moab's King Mesha rebelled after the death of Jehoram's father, Ahab of Israel.  The prophet Elisha guided the three kings on how to fight against the Moabites, including cutting down every good tree, stopping up every spring, and filling every field with stones.  Their attack on Mesha's capital city was a success and their victory was only halted when the desperate king sacrificed his son, the crown prince, atop the city wall.  A commemorative stone written by King Mesha was discovered in the 19th century in the city of Dibon which recounts his side of this event, and it has become a very important archaeological find, as it has given modern scholars an example of the Moabite language, evidence of the royal house of David, and supporting proof of Biblical events and individuals.  As nearby empires began to spread throughout the region, the once-proud Moab was relegated to the status of a vassal state to the Assyrians in the 8th century BC.  Their civilization limped along for approximately two hundred more years before Babylonians under the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar conquered the nation.  Some Moabites are referenced in the Bible after that point, such as during the time when Ezra and Nehemiah returned to rebuild Jerusalem's temple and walls, and several Old Testament prophets pronounced judgment on their remnant.  The civilization did not survive Roman control, however, and before the time of the New Testament its people had largely been absorbed into nearby societies.  The descendants of Moab are not identifiable today, but may exist as part of the population of Jordan, Israel, and surrounding countries.