MOAB, MOABITES (in MT ‘ Moab’ is 3x0; on Moabite Stone 2x; LXX Μωαβ, ἡ Μωαβεῖτις, -βῖτις ; Josephus, Μώαβος; Vulg. Moab; ‘Moabite(s)’ ia
MOAB, MOABITES
3 ΝῸ, '2KD, anid ya; LXX Μωαβείτης, -Slrns; Vulg. Moabita; Assyt. Ma’aba, Ma’bu, Mw dba).— i. The Name.
iv. The Religion.
v. People and History.
Literature.
i. NAmE.—The MT gives no etymology, but in Gn 1957 (J) LXX adds after ‘she called his name Moab,’ λέγοντος τοῦ πατρός μου, ἴ.6. ‘38D ‘from my father.’ The presence of an etymology of Ammon in the following verse favours the LX X text, which is adopted by Jos. Ant. 1. xi. 5, Jerome, de Wette, and Ball, SBOT. Other et ologies suggested are 38 pele ‘seed of a father’ (Ges. Thes.; Fuerst, HWB) ; or from 3" ‘to wish for’ (Maurer, Cursus, p. 130), referring to the attractive char- acter of the land. The last is the only one that is
ssible, and it is scarcely probable. ‘Moab’ serves indifferently as the name of the land or the people, the Moabites occupying Moab throughout the whole period during which they are known to history. Probably ‘Moab’ was first the name of the land and then of the people.
ii. TERRITORY.—‘ Moab > was the high tableland east of the Dead Sea and the southernmost section of the Jordan. Its western frontier is clearl defined by these natural boundaries: to the sone lay Edom and the desert ; to the east, Ammon and the desert; to the north, before the conquest by the Israelites, probably Ammon, after the conquest Israel. Towards the desert there could be no clearly - defined boundary, and the frontiers be- tween Moab, Edom, Ammon, and Israel shifted with the balance of power; but, roughly speaking, the territory inhabited by Moabites, and forming the Moabite state when not encroached upon by foreign aggression, was the cultivated plateau (specially known as ham-Mishér, ‘the Level’ or ‘Plateau,’ HGHL 53; or Mishér of Medeba, Jos 13% 18; or Sharon, 1 Ch 5", HGAL 548) from the southern end of the Dead Sea to a line some miles beyond its northern extremity. Kir of Moab is nearly as far south as the southern end, and Heshbon and Jazer (wh. see) are some distance beyond the northern end of the Dead Sea. This ess is divided by the deep chasm of the Arnon.
he northern part of this territory is claimed by some documents for Reuben or Gad, and was at times under the dominion of Israel (cf. below, History). The extreme area of Moab might be reckoned at 50 miles long 8 30 broad, 1500 sq. miles, about as large as Hampshire, but the ae plateau is only about 10 or 12 miles
road,
Conder (Heth and Moab, p. 124) describes Moab as ‘a plateau about 3000 feet above the Medi- terranean level, or 4300 feet above the Dead Sea. The western slo are generally steep. The lower formation is the Nubian sandstone .. . above this a dolomitic limestone, with bold preci-
ices in some places, forms the upper part of the
ills, and is capped by a soft marl full of flints.. . the general aspect of the Moabite mountains rising to the plateau is barren in the extreme. The sandstone varies from purple to a light tawny colour, and the ridges are divided by deep narrow ravines, . . . In spring the rounded, shapeless hills are covered with grass and wild flowers, and parts of the plateau are now sown with corn; but the number of trees in Moab might be counted with the fingers of one hand. . . . Moab is a land of streams.’ According to HGHL (p. 535) the plateau is broken by ‘deep, wide, warm valleys,’ with
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springs and brooks; and ‘eastward the plateau is separated from the desert by low rolling hills.’ Conder states that gazelles, wild oxen, wolves, jackals, hyzenas, vultures, and eagles are found on the plateau. But the appearance of the country to-day must be very different from that which it presented when it was the seat of a powerful and prosperous state. The prophets dwell upon the ‘cities of Moab’; and in their days this land of streams was carefully cultivated, dotted here and there with fortified towns and villages. Its roads and ruins still witness to ancient fertility and Populus. Although the existing remains are argely Greek and Roman, they show the former capabilities of the country, and fairly represent the prosperity of Moab in OT times,
The population must have been considerable. Conder estimates the present population of the Belka, of which Moab is a part, at about 19,000. Hampshire in 1891 had 666,250 inhabitants. Per- haps 500,000 would be the highest possible estimate of the population of Moab in its most flourishing days. One remarkable feature of the country is its great wealth of cairns, stone-circles, dolmens, and menhirs. Conder states that 700 of these rude stone monuments were found by the Palestine Exploration Fund surveyors in 1881: he is doubtful whether as many similar monuments exist in all the rest of Palestine.
In addition to the plateau itself, Moab comprised the southern corner of the eastern part of the Arabah or valley of the Jordan, the ‘arbéth Méab, the low hills skirting the plateau east and south, and pasture land beyond these hills out into the deserts. The climate, natural products, ete., are those of Eastern Palestine, in which part of Moab is usually included.