Moabites

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MO`AB (of his father). Moab was the son of Lot's oldest daughter mentioned in the Book of Genesis. The city of Zoar bore both the Moabites and the Ammonites. The Moabites drove out the original inhabitants (the giants or Enim) who possessed the territory east of the Dead Sea, as far north as Gilead. When they expanded to the south of the Arnon they were stopped by the Amorites, Numbers 21:26-30, Deuteronomy 2:10, 11. Moab refused to allow the Israelites to cross the Jordan into their territory after their wanderings in the Wilderness. Numbers 22:24. The Moabites were idolatrous worshippers of Chemosh and Baalpeor, and were at times tributary to the Israelites. Isaiah 15, 16, Jeremiah 48.
 

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Moabites The Moabites dwelt on the East side of the Dead Sea, and they were a constant thorn in Israel's side throughout Old Testament history. Their original ancestor was Moab who was actually the child of Lot and his daughter who committed incest with him because she thought it was the end of the world after having been in the area when Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire and brimstone from heaven. Moab was the area east of the Dead Sea, extending northward for about 50 miles and inland for about 30 miles. Originally the territory of ancient Moab was dominated by a race of giants known as the Emim. At the time when Moses came to the area with the children of Israel Moab was an area that ranged from the brook Zered on the South, and the river Arnon on the North. During the period of Old Testament history there were numerous cities within this region, and we know this from the Scriptures and also from the famous Moabite stone. The cities mentioned were Dibon, Nebo, Beth-diblaim, Kerioth, and Zoar. According to the Bible in Genesis 19:30-37 Abrahams nephew Lot was enticed into committing incest with his daughter. His daughter had believed that the end of the world had come because of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and she and her sister got her father drunk and slept with him. Her child's name was Moab and he was the father of the Moabites. Moab was a constant thorn and in Israel's side, and their relationship was marked by constant enmity. When the southern kingdom of Judah finally fell under the power of the Babylonians and King Nebuchadnezzar, Moab fled the area and over time their identity was lost.
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Moab in Smiths Bible Dictionary (of his father), Mo'abites. Moab was the son of the Lot's eldest daughter, the progenitor of the Moabites. Zoar was the cradle of the race of Lot. From this centre the brother tribes spread themselves. The Moabites first inhabited the rich highlands which crown the eastern side of the chasm of the Dead Sea, extending as far north as the mountain of Gilead, from which country they expelled the Emims, the original inhabitants, De 2:11 but they themselves were afterward driven southward by the warlike Amorites, who had crossed the Jordan, and were confined to the country south of the river Arnon, which formed their northern boundary. Nu 21:13; Jud 11:18 The territory occupied by Moab at the period of its greatest extent, before the invasion of the Amorites, divided itself naturally into three distinct and independent portions:-- (1) The enclosed corner or canton south of the Arnon was the "field of Moab." Ru 1:1,2,6 etc. (2) The more open rolling country north of the Arnon, opposite Jericho, and up to the hills of Gilead, was the "land of Moab." De 1:5; 32:49 etc. (3) The sunk district in the tropical depths of the Jordan valley. Nu 22:1 etc. The Israelites, in entering the promised land, did not pass through the Moabites, Jud 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 warlike and sometimes peaceable. With the tribe of Benjamin they had at least one severe struggle, in union with their kindred the Ammonites. Jud 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. 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. 1Sa 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. 2Sa 8:2; 1Ch 18:2 At the disruption of the kingdom Moab seems to have fallen to 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. 2Ch 22:1 ... As a natural consequence of the late events, Israel, Judah and Edom united in an attack on Moab, resulting in the complete overthrow of the Moabites. Falling back into their own country, they were followed and their cities and farms destroyed. Finally, shut up within the walls of his own capital, the king, Mesha, in the sight of the thousands who covered the sides of that vast amphitheater, killed and burnt his child as a propitiatory sacrifice to the cruel gods of his country. Isaiah, chs. Isa 15,16,25:10-12 predicts the utter annihilation of the Moabites; and they are frequently denounced by the subsequent prophets. For the religion of the Moabites see CHEMOSH; MOLECH; PEOR. See also Tristram's "Land of Moab." Present condition. --(Noldeke says that the extinction of the Moabites was about A.D. 200, at the time when the Yemen tribes Galib and Gassara entered the eastern districts of the Jordan. Since A.D. 536 the last trace of the name Moab, which lingered in the town of Kir-moab, has given place to Kerak, its modern name. Over the whole region are scattered many ruins of ancient cities; and while the country is almost bare of larger vegetation, it is still a rich pasture-ground, with occasional fields of grain. The land thus gives evidence of its former wealth and power. --ED.)
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Moabites Scriptures

2 Kings 23:13 - And the high places that [were] before Jerusalem, which [were] on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile. 

2 Kings 24:2 - And the LORD sent against him bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by his servants the prophets. 

2 Samuel 8:2 - And he smote Moab, and measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground; even with two lines measured he to put to death, and with one full line to keep alive. And [so] the Moabites became David's servants, [and] brought gifts. 

Ezra 9:1 - Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, [doing] according to their abominations, [even] of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. 

1 Kings 11:33 - Because that they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do [that which is] right in mine eyes, and [to keep] my statutes and my judgments, as [did] David his father. 

1 Kings 11:1 - But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, [and] Hittites; 

Deuteronomy 2:9 - And the LORD said unto me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle: for I will not give thee of their land [for] a possession; because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot [for] a possession. 

Deuteronomy 2:29 - (As the children of Esau which dwell in Seir, and the Moabites which dwell in Ar, did unto me;) until I shall pass over Jordan into the land which the LORD our God giveth us. 

2 Kings 3:22 - And they rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone upon the water, and the Moabites saw the water on the other side [as] red as blood: 

Numbers 22:4 - And Moab said unto the elders of Midian, Now shall this company lick up all [that are] round about us, as the ox licketh up the grass of the field. And Balak the son of Zippor [was] king of the Moabites at that time. 

Judges 3:28 - And he said unto them, Follow after me: for the LORD hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over. 

2 Kings 3:21 - And when all the Moabites heard that the kings were come up to fight against them, they gathered all that were able to put on armour, and upward, and stood in the border. 

2 Kings 13:20 - And Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year. 

2 Kings 3:18 - And this is [but] a light thing in the sight of the LORD: he will deliver the Moabites also into your hand. 

1 Chronicles 18:2 - And he smote Moab; and the Moabites became David's servants, [and] brought gifts. 

Genesis 19:37 - And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same [is] the father of the Moabites unto this day. 

Deuteronomy 2:11 - Which also were accounted giants, as the Anakims; but the Moabites call them Emims. 

2 Kings 3:24 - And when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and smote the Moabites, so that they fled before them: but they went forward smiting the Moabites, even in [their] country.