Bible Question:
Where is MOAB (in modern day terms) and who are/or who are the modern day descendants of the Moabites? |
Bible Answer: MO´ABITE, MO´ABITES (mo4´a-bi3t). Descendants of the elder of Lot's two surviving daughters, as the Ammonites are of the younger. The starting point of both was in the vicinity of Zoar. Thence the roving Ammonites went to the NE (see Ammonites), whereas the more peaceful Moabites remained near their ancestral home, displacing the Emim (Deut. 2:10-11; cf. Genesis 14:5). Territory. According to Smith (s.v. “Moab”), the territory of Moab at its greatest extent included three parts: (1) The “land of Moab” (Ruth 1:1-2), a tract enclosed by natural fortifications; on the N by the chasm of the Arnon, on the W by the cliffs that rise almost perpendicularly from the shore of the Dead Sea, on the S amd E by a semicircle of hills that opens only for the Arnon and another Dead Sea torrent. (2) The “land of Moab,” the more open country from the Arnon north to the hills of Gilead. (3) The so-called “plains of Moab” (Numbers 22:1), “the sunk” district in the tropical depths of the Jordan Valley. Before the arrival of Israel, Sihon, king of the Amorites, had taken from “the former king of Moab,” very possibly Zippor the father of Balak (Numbers 22:2), all the land “from the Arnon to the Jabbok” (Numbers 21:26). Thus Moab was penned up in the closely fenced “land of Moab” mentioned above (no. 1). Coming up from Egypt the Israelites approached Moab through the desert facing Moab, outside the bordering circle of hills on the SE. They were forbidden to molest the Moabites in the enjoyment of the land that they had taken from the Emim (Deut. 2:9-11). They therefore applied for permission to pass through the territory of Moab and, being refused, went around its borders. From (Ungers Bible Dictionary) |