6 MOABITE
nius conjectures to be a IMoabitish form of the word which in Hebrew appears as Ir ("l^", a city); Amon, the river ("^:"1S); Bamoth Baal, Beer Elim, Beth-dibla- thaim, Dibon or Dimon, Eglaim, or perhaps Eglath* Shelishiya (Isa. xv, 5),Horonaim, Kiriathaim, Kirjath- huzoth (Numb, xxxii, 39; comp. Isa. xxiv, 11), Kir- haraseth, -haresh, -heres; Kir-Moab, Luhith, ^ledeba, Nimrim, or Nimrah, Nobah, or Xopliah (Numb, xxi, 30), hap-Pisgah, hap-Peor, Shaveh-Kariathaim (V), Zo- phim, Zoar. It shouUl be noticed how large a propor- tion of these names end in im.
For the rtUgion of the Moabites, see Ciiemosii ; Mo- lech; Peoij.
Of their habits and customs we have hardh' a trace. The gesture employed by Balak when he found tliat Balaam's interference was fruitless — "he smote his hands together" — is not mentioned again in the Bible, but it may not on that account have been peculiar to the Moabites. Their mode of mourning, viz., cutting off the hair at the back of the head and cropping the beard (Jer. xlviii, 37), is one which they followed in common with the other non-Israeli tish nations, and which was forbidden to the Israelites (Lev. xxi, 5), who indeed seem to have been accustomed rather to leave their hair and beard disordered and untrimmed when in grief (see 2 Sam. xix, 24 ; xiv, 2).
Y. Literature. — As above remarked, through fear of the predatory and mischievous Arabs that people it, few of the numerous travellers in Palestine have ventured to explore it (see BUsching's Asia, p. 507. 508). Seet- zen, who, in February and March, 1806, not without danger of losing his life, undertook a tour from Damas- cus down to the south of the Jordan and the Dead Sea, and thence to Jerusalem, was the first to shed a new and altogether unexpected light upon the topography of this region. He found a multitude of places, or at least of ruins of places, still bearing the old names, and thus has set bounds to the perfectly arbitrary designations of them on the old charts (see U. I. Seetzen's Rdsen, etc., von Prof. Krusc, etc., i, 405-26 ; ii, 320-77 ; also the editor's notes thereon in vol. iv). From June to Sep- tember, 1812, Burckhardt made the same tour from Da- mascus beyond the Jordan down to Kerak ; whence he advanced over Wady Jlousa, or the ancient Petra (which he was the first European traveller to visit), to the bay of Aila, and thence went to Cairo {Travels in the Holy Land and Syria, Lond. 1822 ; sec also the notes of Ge- senius to the German translation [Weimar, 1824], ii, 1061-64). A party of English gentlemen — captains Irby and ]\Iangles, ISIr. Bankes and Jlr. Legh— passed through the land of :Moab in returning from Petra in 1818 (Travels in K;/ypt, etc. [1822, 8vo; 1847, 12mo], ch. viii; see also Legh's Supplement to Dr. Macmi- cha(jrs Journey from Moscow to Constantinople [1810]). The northern parts of the country were visited by ^Nlr. Buckingham, and more lately by Mr. George Kobinsou and by lord Lindsay (see also the plates to Laborde's new work, I'oyrK/e en Orient). Kerak, the capital of the country, was penetrated by the party in commaiul of Lieut. Lynch {Expedition to the Dead Sea [1^40] ) ; and the region was partially examined by 51. Dc Saulcy, January, 1851 {Voyaye uiitour de la Mer Morle, Paris, 1853; also translated into English, Lond. and X.York, 1853). Tristram, however, was the first who really ex- plored it accurately {Land of Moab, Lond. and X. York, 1873), and the American engineers of the Palestine Ex- ploration Society have triangulated the northern portion of it. Several parties of tourists have also traversed it in various directions lately. See generally Gesenius, Comment, on Isa. xv, xvi, Introducl. translated by W. S. Tyler, with Xotes by Moses Stuart, in Biblical liepos. for 1836, vii, 107-124; Keith, Evidence from Prophecy, p. 153-165; and Land of Israel, p. 279-295; Kitto, Pic- torial Bible, Notes to Dent, ii, 2 ; Isa. xvi, xvii ; Jer. xliii; H. Scharban, Parerya philol. tlieol. (Liibeck, 1723 sq.), pt. iii and iv ; G. Kohlreiff, Gesch. d.Philist. u, Moab,
MOABITESS
397
MODENA
(Ratzeb. 1738). See also the Quarterly Rev. Oct. 1873, art. vi ; Brit, and For. Kv, Rev. Jan. 1874, p. 195 ; Meth. Qu. Rev. Jan. 1874, p. 174; Luth. Ev. Rev. Jan. 1874, p. 140. For a singular endeavor to identify the Moabites with the Druses, see Sir G. H. Rose's pamphlet, The A_ff}jkans the Ten Tribes, etc. (Lond. 1852) ; especially the statement therein of Mr. Wood, late British consul at Damascus (p. 154-157)..
Mo'abitess (Heb. Moahhjah', il^iXi^, fern, of Moahite ; Sept. Moo/Sinc), a MoabLtish woman (Ruth i, 22 ; ii, 2, 21 ; iv, 5, 19 ; 2 Chron. xxiv, 2G). See Mo-
ABITE.
Moadi'ah (Nch. xiii, 17). See Maadiah.
Mobley, Wili-iam H., a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was born in Kentucky in 1830; removed to Missouri in 1852 ; was licensed to preach in 1854, and shortly after joined the St. Louis Conference ; continued to travel and preach regularly till 1861, when the troubles of war compelled his removal to Arkansas, where he remained till 1865. He then returned to Ken- tucky, his native state, and died in Hickman County, July 27, 1865. Mr. Mobley was a good man and an ef- ficient preacher. — Minutes of the M. E. Church, South, 1866, s. V.