Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/560

Rh 534 M A B Just as Israel was the people of Jehovah, and Ammon the people of Milcom, Moab was the people of Chemosh (tt 1E3, Num. xxi. 29). The kingship of Chemosh was regarded as thoroughly national and political in its char acter, but did not on that account exclude the institution of a human king, which existed in Moab much earlier than in Israel ; in the time of Moses the Moabites had a king, and the institution was even then an old one. The capitals of the kingdom were Ar-Moab and Kir-Moab, south from the Arnon ; these were not, however, the constant residences of the kings, who continued to live in their native places, as, for example, Mesha in Dibon. Doubtless there were changes of dynasty, and traces exist of a powerful aristocracy (Ariele Moab 2 Sam. xxiii. 20). The land of the Moabites, the Balka, is bounded north ward and southward by Mount Gilead and Wadi 1-Ahsa, westward and eastward by the Dead Sea and the Wilder ness ; it is divided into two portions by the deep bed of the Arnon, that to the north being the more level (Mishor), and that to the south being more broken up, and consti tuting the proper stronghold of the nation. The soil is peculiarly adapted for sheep-farming (2 Kings iii.) and the culture of the vine (Isa. xvi.). 1 The historical importance of the Moabites lies wholly in their contact with Israel, and we have no knowledge of them apart from this. After the Israelites had quitted Egypt and passed a nomadic life for about a generation in the neighbourhood of Kadesh, they migrated thence, still under the leadership of Moses, into northern Moab, dis possessing the Amorites, who had made themselves masters of that district. The interval from Kadesh to the Arnon could be passed only by a good understanding with Edom, Moab, and Ammon, a proof that the ethnical relationships, which at a later period were expressed only in legend, were at that time still living and practical. In all probability the Moabites called the Israelites to their aid ; they were not as yet aware that this little pastoral people was des tined one day to become to them a greater danger than the Canaanites by whom they were threatened at the moment. 2 As the story of Balaam indicates, the Moabites would willingly have been rid of their cousins after their service had been rendered, but were unable to prevent them from settling in the land of Sihon. The migration of the tribes of Israel into Western Palestine, however, and the dissolu tion of their warlike confederation soon afterwards made a restoration of the old frontiers possible. If King Eglon took tribute of Benjamin at Jericho, the territory between Arnon and Jordan must also have been subject to him, and 1 There does not seem to have been any difference in this respect between the northern and southern portions ; instead of Heshbon, Sibmah, and Jaezer (Isa. xvi.), the poet Hatim of Tayyi, a little before Mohammed, names Maab and Zoar as the chief wine centres (Yakut, iv. 377, 19). 2 The facts as a whole are indubitable ; it cannot be an invention that the Israelites settled first in Kadesh, then in northern Moab, and thence passed into Palestine proper. The only doubtful point is whether the song in Num. xxi. 27 sqq. is contemporary evidence of these events. It is certainly not a forgery, but it is a ques tion whether it really refers to the destruction of the kingdom of the Amorites at Heshbon. This reference rests entirely upon the words prVD &quot;HCX TpEp, which might very well be omitted as a mere gloss, in which case the song would naturally be understood as directed against the Moabites themselves ; it is in this last sense that it is taken by the author of Jer. xlviii. (Comp. E. Meyer in Stade s Zcitschr. f. A Tliche Wisaensch., 1881, p. 129 sqq. ) As Israel got the better of the Amorites on the plain of Moab, so did Hadad king of the Edomites vanquish the Midianites on the &quot;field&quot; of Moab (Gen. xxxvi. 35) ; this took place in Gideon s time, as is borne out by the fact that between Hadad and the downfall of the ancient Edomite monarchy, i.r. to the period of David, there were four reigning princes. Confused recollections of a former settlement of the Midianites in northern Moab are seen in Num. :ixii. 4, 7 ; xxv. 18. Reuben must even then have lost his land, or at least his liberty. It would appear that the Moabites next extended their attacks to Mount Gilead, giving their support to the Ammonites, who, during the period of the judges, were its leading assailants. So close was the connexion between Moab and Ammon that the boundary between them vanishes for the narrators (Judges xi.). Gilead was delivered from the Ammonites by Saul, who at the same time waged a successful war against Moab ; the fact is lightly touched upon in 1 Sam. xiv. 47, as if this were a matter of course. The establishment of the mon archy necessarily involved Israel in feuds with its neighbours and kin. The Moabites being the enemies of the Israelite kingdom, David naturally sent his people for shelter thither when he had broken with Saul ; the incident is precisely analogous to what happened when he himself at a later period took refuge from Saul s persecution in Philistine territory, and needs no explanation from the book of Ruth. As soon as he ceased to be the king s enemy by himself becoming king, his relations with Moab became precisely those of his predecessor. The war in Avhich apparently casual circumstances involved him with Hamm ben Nahash of Ammon really arose out of larger causes, and thus spread to Moab and Edom as well. The end of it was that all the three Hebrew nationalities were incorporated with the kingdom of Israel ; the youngest brother eclipsed and sub dued his seniors, as Balaam had foreseen. Through the work of Saul and David the political system of Palestine was altogether changed : the smaller peoples were no longer a match for Israel, which established a decisive preponder ance, and transformed what had hitherto been jealousy on the part of Moab and Ammon as well as of Edom into bitter hatred ; this hatred did not cease even after nothing but a religious shadow remained of what had once been the political supremacy of the people of Jehovah. The struggle with Ammon which David began ultimately assumed larger dimensions, and brought the Aramaeans also into the field against him. He was successful, indeed, against them also, and destroyed their most powerful kingdom ; but after his death they recovered themselves, and pressed steadily on from the borders of the wilderness towards the se^; at their head were those kings of Damascus who had established themselves on the ruins of Zoba. In presence of these enemies the already fading distinction between the ruling and the subject nationality within the kingdom of Israel now completely disappeared ; and even towards the Canaanites outside the relations of the kings became friendly. It is in one instance expressly stated that the common danger threatening from the East had to do with this (2 Sam. viii. 9 sqq.). But, conversely, it was natural that Ammon and Moab should make common cause with the Aramseans ; such an attitude was suggested by geographical position and old connexions, but above all by their helpless fury against Israel. Both nationalities must have succeeded in emancipating themselves very soon after David s death, and only now and then was some strong king of Israel able again to impose the yoke for a time, not upon the Ammonites indeed, but iipon Moab. The first to do so was Omri, who garrisoned a number of their towns and compelled the king to acknowledge Israel s suzerainty by a yearly tribute of sheep, a state of matters Avhich con tinued until the death of Ahab ben Omri. But when that brave king fell in battle with the Aramaeans at Ramoth Gilead (about 850 B.C.), Mesha of Dibon, then the ruler of Moab, seized the favourable opportunity to make him self and his people independent. In his famous inscription he tells how, through the wrath of Chemosh, the land had fallen into the enemy s power and endured forty years of slavery, and how by the grace of Chemosh the yoke is now broken and the Israelites ignominiously driven off. In