MOAB, MOABITES - Moab occupied the lofty tableland to the E. of the Dead Sea. It was bounded on the E. by the Arabian desert, on the S. by the river Zered (the northern boundary of Edom), on the W. by the Dead Sea and the Jordan Valley. Its N. boundary fluctuated at different periods between the Arnon and an indistinct line some distance N. of Heshbon. This tableland is elevated some 3000 feet above the level of the Mediterranean, and about 4300 feet above the Dead Sea. It is traversed by several valleys of which the middle one, the Arnon, frequently mentioned in the Bible, is the deepest. The northern portion of Moab consists of broad stretches of rolling country. Its reddish soil is fertile. In the southern portion more hills are found, and the deep wrinkles there interfere with agriculture. In the winter months the rainfall is adequate, and renders the country very desirable in comparison with the deserts on its border.
This area was originally occupied by a people known from the Bible as Rephaim, whom the Moabites are said to have called Emim (Dt.2.10f). Another name of a people preceding the Moabites is found in the Balaam oracles as 'sons of Sheth' who stand parallel to Moab (Nu.24.17). They occur in the Egyptian execration texts of the 19th cent. BC as Swt(w), and in cuneiform records as Sutu (Albright, BASOR, 83 [1941], 34; JBL, lxiii, [19441,220). The narrative of Gn.19 tells the story of the origin of the Moabites from Lot and their relationship with the Ammonites. It also explains the name in popular etymology from me'abhi, 'from my father' (Gn.19.37), but its real meaning is disputed. That story, furthermore, shows that the Israelites recognized the Moabites as their kinsmen. That they really were such, their language, religion, and customs, so far as known to us, also testify.
Originally nomads, the Moabites became a settled people about 1300 BC. At the time of the approach of the Hebrews to Palestine they were so strongly entrenched in their land that the invaders avoided all conflict with them (Dt.2.9, Jg.11.15, 2 Ch.20.10), although they conquered the land of king Sihon, who had subdued all of Moab N. of the Arnon (Nu.21.21-31, Dt.2.24-35). The Moabites viewed the coming of Israel with alarm, and desired to attack them, but did not dare (Nu.22-24, Dt.23.4, Jg.11.25). The Israelites secured at this time the territory N. of the Arnon; but the narratives differ as to whether its cities were all assigned to Reuben (so Jos.13.15-21), or whether some of the most southerly (Dibon, Ataroth, and Aroer) were assigned to Gad (Nu.32.34ff). The Gadites apparently obtained some of the southern cities, and the Reubenites some of the northern. Probably the conquest was not complete.
Early in the period of the Judges, the Moabites not only regained control of all this territory, but extended their power into western Palestine so as to oppress the Hebrews (Jg.3.12-30). This led to the assassination of Eglon, king of Moab, by Ehud. In course of time the Moabites absorbed the tribe of Reuben.
According to the Book of Ruth, friendly intercourse existed between Moab and Israel at some time during the period of the Judges. Saul fought with the Moabites (1 S.14.47), and they aided David against Saul towards the end of his reign (1 S.22.3ff). David subjugated Moab, and rendered the country tributary to Israel (2 S.8.2, 12). This subjugation apparently continued during the reign of Solomon, who also took Moabitish women into his harem, and built a shrine for Chemosh, the god of Moab (1 K. 11,1, 7).
After the reign of Solomon, Moab apparently gained its independence. Our next information comes from the so-called 'Moabite Stone,' an inscription of Mesha, king of Moab, found in 1868 at ancient Dibon, and now preserved in the Louvre. Mesha states that Omri, king of Israel, conquered Moab, and that it continued subject to Israel till the middle of the reign of his son. Then Chemosh enabled him (Mesha) to win victories over Israel and regain his country's independence. These affairs are described in detail. A narrative parallel only in parts is found in 2 K.3.3ff. Jehoram, Ahab's successor, undertook, with the aid of Jehoshaphat of Judah and the king of Edom, to reconquer Moab. The campaign almost succeeded. The country was overrun, the capital besieged and reduced to great extremity, when the king of Moab sacrificed to Chemosh his firstborn son on the city wall in sight of both armies (2 K.3.27). The courage which this aroused in the Moabites, and the superstitious dread which it excited in the besieging army apparently secured a victory for the former. It appears from 2 K.13.20 that after this Moabites occasionally invaded Israel.
Amos (2.1-3) in the next century reproved Moab for barbarities to Edom. Tiglath-pileser III. of Assyria enumerates Salamanu, the king of Moab, among his tribute-payers (ANET, p. 282a). Sennacherib, about 700 BC, received tribute from Kammusunadbi, king of Moab (ANET, p. 287b), and the country remained subject to Assyria during the following reigns of Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal, who mention the Moabite kings Musuri (ANET, pp. 29 la, 294a) and Kamashaitu (ANET, p. 298b) among their vassals.
Moabites aided Nebuchadnezzar against Jehoiakim at the end of the latter's reign (2 K.24.2). Is.15, 16, Zeph.2.8-11, Jer.48, and Ezk.25.8ff contain prophecies against Moab, but provide no historical information. Jer.48 indicates that a great calamity was impending over them. In Neh.4.7 Arabians rather than Moabites are allies of the Ammonites (cf also 1 Mac.9.32-42 and Jos. Ant. xiii. xiii. 5 [374], xiv. i. 4 [15]). We know that the Nabataeans were in possession of this country a little later, and it is probable that by the time of Nehemiah they had already brought the Moabite power to an end. Some infer from Jeremiah's prophecy that Moab rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar as Israel and Ammon did, and that he carried enough of them captive to weaken them and render them an easy prey to the Nabataeans. This is possibly true, but no more than an attractive hypothesis.
The language of the Moabites was, as the Moabite Stone shows, identical with that of Israel. That peculiar construction known as waw consecutive is found, outside of Biblical Hebrew, only in the Moabite Stone and in a few Phoenician inscriptions.
The religion of the Moabites was somewhat similar to that of early Israel. The references to Chemosh in Mesha's inscription parallel those to Yahweh in Israelitish writings of the same period. The name Ashtar-Chemosh indicates that the worship of the feminine divinity known to the Babylonians as Ishtar, and to the Phoenicians as Astart, was also mingled with the worship of Chemosh. Traces of the repellant nature of this worship appear in the OT (Nu.25.5, 31.16, Jos.22.7, Ps.106.28). No great ethical prophets, such as elevated the religion of Israel, rescued the religion of Moab from the level of its barbaric origin. [Article: Dictionary of the Bible, J.Hastings, 2nd Ed., T&T.Clark, 1963 - G.A.B. - S.H.Hn.]