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 Hebrew Bible refers to both the Moabites and Ammonites as Lot's sons, born of incest with his daughters (). The Moabites first inhabited the rich highlands at the eastern side of the chasm of the Dead Sea, extending as far as the
Arnon River to
Wadi Hasa, from which country they expelled the
Emim, the original inhabitants (
Deuteronomy ), but they themselves were afterward driven southward by warlike tribes of
Amorites, who had crossed the
river Jordan. These Amorites, described in the Bible as being ruled by King
Sihon, confined the Moabites to the country south of the river Arnon, which formed their northern boundary (
Numbers ;
Judges ). God renewed his
covenant with the Israelites at Moab before the Israelites entered the
Promised Land (). Moses died there (), prevented by God from entering the Promised Land. He was buried in an unknown location in Moab and the Israelites spent a period of thirty days there in
mourning (). According to the Book of Judges, the Israelites did not pass through the land of the Moabites (), but conquered Sihon's kingdom and his capital at
Heshbon. 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 and the
Amalekites (). The Benjaminite
shofet Ehud ben Gera assassinated the Moabite king
Eglon and led an Israelite army against the Moabites at a ford of the Jordan river, killing many of them. The
Book of Ruth testifies to friendly relations between Moab and
Bethlehem, one of the towns of the
tribe of Judah. By his descent from Ruth,
David may be said to have been part Moabite. He committed his parents to the protection of the king of Moab (who may have been his kinsman), when hard pressed by
King 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 ;
1 Chronicles ). Moab may have been under the rule of an Israelite governor during this period; among the exiles who returned to Judea from
Babylonia were a clan descended from
Pahath-Moab, whose name means "ruler of Moab". The
Moabite Ruth is regarded as a prototype of a convert to
Judaism. At the disruption of the kingdom under the reign of
Rehoboam, Moab seems to have been absorbed into the northern realm. It continued in vassalage to the
Kingdom of Israel until the death of
Ahab which according to
Edwin Richard Thiele's reckoning was in about 853 BCE, when the Moabites refused to pay tribute and asserted their independence, making war upon the kingdom of Judah (). After the death of
Ahab in about 853 BCE, the Moabites under
Mesha rebelled against
Jehoram, who allied himself with
Jehoshaphat, King of the
Kingdom of Judah, and with the King of Edom. According to the Bible, the prophet
Elisha directed the Israelites to dig a series of ditches between themselves and the enemy, and during the night these channels were miraculously filled with water which appeared red as blood in the morning light. According to the biblical account, the crimson color deceived the Moabites into thinking that the Israelites, and their allies, had attacked one another. Eager to acquire plunder, they were ambushed and defeated by the Israelites (). 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. This battle is the last important date in the history of the Moabites as recorded in the Bible. In the year of Elisha's death they invaded Israel () and later aided Nebuchadnezzar in his expedition against
Jehoiakim (). Allusions to Moab are frequent in the
prophetical books (; ; ; ). Two chapters of Isaiah (15 and 16) and one of Jeremiah (48) are devoted to the "burden of Moab". Its prosperity and pride, which the Israelites believed incurred the wrath of
God, are frequently mentioned (; ; ), and their contempt for Israel is once expressly noted (). Moab would be dealt with during the time of the Messiah's rulership according to the prophets. The
book of Zephaniah states that Moab would become "a permanent desolation". Moab is also made reference to in the
2 Meqabyan, a book considered
canonical in the
Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. In that text, a Moabite king named Maccabeus joins forces with Edom and Amalek to attack Israel, later repenting of his sins and adopting the Israelite religion.
In Jewish tradition According to the Hebrew Bible, the Moabites were not hospitable to the Israelites who exited
Egypt and hired
Balaam to curse them. As a consequence, male Moabites were excluded by
Torah law from marrying Jewish women. He was persuaded thereto particularly by the princes, who said to him. "Wert thou not a god thou couldst not come out alive from the Holy of Holies" (Ex R. viii. 3). He was assassinated by two of his servants, one of whom was the son of an Ammonite woman and the other the offspring of a Moabite (); for God said: "Let the descendants of the two ungrateful families chastise the ungrateful Joash" (
Yalk., Ex. 262). Moab and Ammon were the two offspring of
Lot's incest with his two daughters as described in . Jehoshaphet subsequently joined
Jehoram of Israel in a war against the Moabites, who were under tribute to Israel. The Moabites were subdued, but seeing
Mesha's act of offering his own son (and singular heir) as a
propitiatory human sacrifice on the walls of
Kir of Moab filled Israel with horror, and they withdrew and returned to their own land. According to the
Book of Jeremiah, Moab was exiled to
Babylon for his arrogance and idolatry. According to
Rashi, it was also due to their gross ingratitude even though
Abraham, Israel's ancestor, had saved
Lot, Moab's ancestor from
Sodom. Jeremiah, as well as
Ezekiel, prophesies that Moab's captivity will be returned in the
end of days. The book of Zephaniah states that "Moab will assuredly be like Sodom, and the sons of Ammon like Gomorrah—Ground overgrown with weeds and full of salt mines, and a permanent desolation." (2:9). The prophecy regarding their defeat by the Israelites is linked to the conquests by the Jewish
Hasmonean king
Alexander Jannaeus. During that period, the Moabites were called the "Arabian Moabites".
Boundaries in the Hebrew Bible In the boundaries are given as being marked by
Beth-jeshimoth (north),
Baal-meon (east), and
Kiriathaim (south). That these limits were not fixed, however, is plain from the lists of cities given in and
Jeremiah , where
Heshbon,
Elealeh, and
Jazer are mentioned to the north of Beth-jeshimoth;
Madaba,
Beth-gamul, and
Mephaath to the east of
Baalmeon; and
Dibon,
Aroer,
Bezer,
Jahaz, and
Kirhareseth to the south of Kiriathaim. The principal rivers of Moab mentioned in the
Bible are the
Arnon, the
Dibon or Dimon, and the
Nimrim. In the north are a number of long, deep
ravines, and
Mount Nebo, famous as the scene of the death of
Moses (
Deuteronomy ). 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: the enclosed corner or canton south of the Arnon, referred to in the Bible as "field of Moab" (
Ruth ). The more open
rolling country north of the Arnon, opposite
Jericho and up to the hills of
Gilead, called the "land of Moab" (
Deuteronomy ) and the district below
sea level in the tropical depths of the
Jordan valley (
Numbers ). ==Religion==