The Moabites
According to the Bible,
Moab was the son of Lot, and therefore the nation of Moab was related
to the Israelites (Genesis 19:30-38).
The Moabites, who settled east of the Dead
Sea (present day Jordan),
had a highly developed culture, and artifacts written in Hebrew bearing Moabite inscriptions support the widely held view that the Moabites
spoke the biblical language. During the Exodus period, part of the Moab
kingdom was taken by the Amorites;
Israel would later capture the territory. This parcel of land then became
the object of contention and exacerbated animosity between the two nations.
One example of the feud between the two nations is the story in the
Torah of Balaam, who was sent by Moabite king Balak to curse the Jewish
nation.
Sources: Bridger, David. Ed. The
New Jewish Encyclopedia. NY: Behrman House, Inc. 1976.
Schreiber, Mordecai (ed.). The
Shengold Jewish Encyclopedia. Shengold Books. 1998.
Telushkin, Joseph. Jewish
Literacy. William Morrow and Company, Inc. 1991. |