Show THE A traveler who crosses the jordan at the ford due emt east of jericho and follows the route along the wady heshion heshbon will in about two hours and a half commence the ascent of el belka the mountains of moab here is the road down which the children of israel passed after their conquest of gilead and bashan and round here the tribes of reuben gad and part of manasseh received their inheritances the first inhabitants of the fertile highlands from the eastern shores of the dead sea to the mountains of gilead were peopled by a nation in sacred writ called anim these were expelled by the Moa bites and the ammonites Amm orites the latter of which took possession of the northern parts of the district leaving the southern part known as the field of moab to the Moa bites the land of moab must be understood says hayne 11 to consist of a parallelogram in rough measurement some fifty miles from north to south by thirty from east to west bounded on the west by the dead sea and the jordan on the east by the pilgrim road from damascus to mecca and extending from the oasis of safieh on the south to the gorge which runs down from elealeh and heshbon heshion to the jordan valley on the north and including that portion of the plain of which lies between the watercourse and the dead sea now known as the Sei saban jl it is a remarkable fact that while in the course of the past ages kingdoms have risen and fallen and their remains been scattered like the fragments of image to the four winds the Moa Moab bites itee have kept their small strip of country to themselves and still live there much as in ages past their origin their history as they have often come in contact with the people of god are interesting items to a bible student particularly as they too have yet a future before them and will be called upon to take part in the winding up scenes of our age ORIGIN OF THE on the fearful day of judgment upon the cities of the plains a j judgment that reduced a beautiful but sin stained tract of land to a bay of the dead sea and burled buried thousands of guilty souls into the de depths pt hs of hades early before su sunrise ari se lot his wife and two daughters fled from sodom into the little village zoar As soon as this place of refuge had been reached the first blood colored rays mys of the sun spread their threatening glare over the landscape everything was as yet quiet in the doomed cities the nightly revelers were still struggling with their haunting dreams while abused nature endeavored to snatch from the morning hours a little rest a and ad to heal up wounds innumerable inflicted by shameless sin the su n hadj risen bu suddenly the whole atmosphere Is darkened clouds charged from the electric batteries of almighty god rush hurriedly together from all quarters of the heavens executors of divine justice A terrible canno cannonade nadel thunders roll cross each other in all directions incessantly they strike the earth here therel there everywhere the soil saturated with combustibles takes fire in a moment the whole plain is one burning lake jake sinful men and women wake up one hour of terrible agonies and they are no do more from this elevated refuge lot had witnessed the commencement of this fearful drama but although the angel of the lord had assured him that zoar should be spared yet b be 0 concluded to flee from zoar and find a refuge in his judgment more secure trembling from fear he therefore left zoar and ascended the mountain he knew of a cave the interior of which he thought safer than the places appointed by gods promise one false step ste was taken the consequences followed followed on the way the unfortunate man lost his wife and in the place of refuge selected by his bis own wisdom where he seems to have lived for some time with his daughters he became the father of two sons moab and ben ammi the fathers of the two nations nation later slater known as Moa bites and ammonites see genesis 1118 1 38 this then is the origin of the Moa bites the relationship between the jews and the Moa bites will be understood when it is remembered that lot was the son of abrahams abraham brother the name moab given to the son by his mother the eldest daughter of lot means prom from father so 80 that the very name to is and will ever be a monument of the pit into which a righteous man was precipitated on account ot of his mistrust in gods promise MOAB AGAINST ISRAEL centuries rolled on prom from individuals sprang up nations covering the face of the earth like branches of olive trees israel had bad passed through their long thralldom in egypt and had been liberated through gods own interference in their behalf they had wandered their weary way through the wilderness and we now find them camping in the field of moab after their complete victory over the mighty amorates Am orites the next neighbors to the moab ites there were the Midia a people descended from Ml midian diana a son of abraham and Keth urah it it was among this people that moses had sojourned sojourn 8 ed while in exile and found foun d his wife ziporah the daughter of the Midian itic priest jethro up till this time ti me the two nations the Moa bites and the ft so closely related to israel had bad made no efforts to bar the way of the chosen people but now on seeing the Ismeli tish camp in their own country and learning of the wonderful victories obtained fear came over moab and the king determined to oppose the children this was all the more unjust as god had expressly forbidden israel to make war upon the descendants of lot and esau beut deut 11 II 19 1 9 and israel had consequently asked tor for the elege of marching through this coun try peFe peaceably ably paying for all they needed even the the water but the offers of peace were not accepted the king of the Moa bites at this time was balak the son of in the country was also althis at this time a prophet the notorious balaam this prophet seemed to have possessed the confidence of his countrymen in a high degree it was generally held that wha whatever tover he said mid would surely come to paw pass having established this reputation he be like his brethren i ai modern ti times mes was able to make mak elarge large sums of money butof out of his bis prophecies it is hardly necessary to remark that this soothsayer or magician was no true prophet of god even if his predictions r actions very often came true his is whole course shows that he was not it is probable that he like socrates and others had bad a good genius who followed him and whose voice he erroneously held to be the voice of jehovah but he was undoubtedly also in rapport with bad spirits whose assistance he be obtained or imagined himself to obtain through the practice of various dark arts artl now in his fear balak sent a deputation consisting of an and Midian itic princes to balsam balaam requesting him to command come and curse israel the particulars are well remembered balaam was too willing to please balak as there was profit in it but jehovah himself interfered in behalf of thir thin people and impressed the money making prophet even through a miracle with the fact that there was no uee tue trying to curse when god commanded to bless if god this was the object lesson could direct the mouth of the animal into articulate sounds how easy would it be for the same god to prevent a man from uttering curses where god wanted him to utter blessings accordingly balaam blessed israel and his prophecies on this occasion maybe may be relied upon as inspired by god himself the question might be asked why was it so important that god should prevent balsam balaam from carsin cursing israel A stream of words would apparently not have been able to do the people any barm even if those words were strung together into a curse whence the necessity of performing reforming that great miracle alich which has always been the stumbling blockoff block of timid theologians and a subject of ridicule to infidels well the necessity arose in the purpose of god to spare the Moa bites from extinction had balaam been allowed to curse israel this would have so worked upon the superstition and per perhaps hapa fanaticism of the Moa bites that they would have thrown themselves into a battle with the people of god out of which only a few of them would have come alive this god would prevent the Moab Moa bites itee were not like some of the surrounding nations and the rips ripe for extinction they had therefore by the unfathomable merey mercy of god to be spared even at the cost coat of Jehova hs personal interference and a singular miracle I 1 but although god prevented balaam from stirring up the moab ites to a war inevitably resulting in their extinction he did not prevent him from giving ivin that wicked counsel which if god god had not again interfered would buve led to he be utter ruin of israel balaam seeing the anger of bajak badak and deprived of his wages gave the two allied nations the counsel that they should send and women into the amp of israel in order to induce the people le to commit adultery and to from jehovah if this coufa cou d be dou done e he added jehovah would soon boon leave them in the hands hand of the enemies it is safe to say that if god had inspired the blessings pronounced upon israel batau batata inspired this counsel for a more satanic plot could never have been laid even in the lowest depths of bell the counsel was followed and soon the camp of israel became the resort of foreign women a den stinking with apostasy apo stacy and sin it had to be cleans d god under took to do this before it became too late but this cleansing cost israel the live of 23 souls and a war with the Mid ites which almost extirpated this nation a war in which balaam too the originator of all this evil fell see numbers xiv revelations Beve lations ii 11 14 VICTORY AND DEFEAT when israel took possession of and divided canaan a great political error and what is more a sin was committed inasmuch as people were permitted to live there whom god had doomed to destruction As each tribe received t deir portion of the land they became so engrossed in the cultivation thereof and the accumulation of wealth that they became unwilling to help the rest in carrying out the will of god and all found it more convenient to make slaves of the subjugated nations than to expel them the results soon became visible another generation arose living in the neighborhood of idolaters idol aters having idolaters idol aters in their own cities and houses the israelites copied choir examples intermarried inter married with them and in the course of time turned away from jehovah and worshipped wor shipped baal and Ast haroth judges Canaan ites so long left undisturbed gathered strength and combined together against israel wars and sufferings followed and in the same degree israel yielded to licentiousness ease and idolatry they lost the faith and the energy of their fathers then they became an easy prey to their enemies the Moa bites at one time also succeeded in conquering the children of israel and kept them in servitude for a period of eighteen years judges III 12 32 the incident is thus related israel turned away from jehovah therefore god strengthened egton eglon the Mos bitle king aud and he formed an alliance with the the Immo ammonites and the Ama lekites and invaded palestine t taking possession of jericho the city of palms from which place he ruled israel 18 years but ise as the people again repented of their sins ins the lord delivered them from the yoke among the children of benjamin wu was a resolute man called ehud he was once sent with the customary tribute to king eglon As soon as he had delivered his tribute he sent away the messengers who had accompanied him and stayed behind pretending to have a secret message to the king he suspected no treachery but admitted ehud ebud to a private audience in a secluded place As soon eoon as the doors were shut ehud unsheathed his sword and thrust it with ith such force into the body of the king that both sword and hilt disappeared beneath the surface of the ski a the king died instantly and ehud hastened home bome and mustered his people together they came and drove away the 8 who were compelled to leave men on the battle field for eighty years this part of the coultry was free from hostile invasions DAVID RELATED BELATED TO THE one of the prettiest little narratives of the whole w hole sacred collection is that contained in the book of ruth and it shows how the greatest king of israel david and our gur blessed savior himself abro through u gh david was partly of descent during the reign of the judges judat s a famine came upon the southern parts of canaan A certain man of bethlehem Eli melek then left his native soil and emigrated together with his wife naomi and their two sons mablon and edjon to the land of moab Eli Elinie melek lek soon died and the sons married two esses arpa and ruth after ten years both the sons were dead with but out children naomi was now old and wanted to go back to her native country arpa and ruth accompanied their mother inlaw in law on the road naomi tried to persuade them to remain with their own people as she herself was poor and could offer them no inducements arpa took a most affectionate leave and returned home but ruth was determined let to accompany her ber dear mother she silenced all arguments by the noble declaration where thou boest there will I 1 also go 90 where thou rem ainest I 1 will remain rema thy people is my people thy god is my god where thou diest I 1 will die and there I 1 will be buried before the lord nothing but death can separate me from thee after this strong expression of disinterested love naomi agreed to take ruth along and the two proceeded on their journey to bethlehem in this city ruth became acquainted quain ted with boaz who took her to wife in this marriage she became the mother of obed who was the grandfather of king david A SACRIFICE later on during du ring the reign of king ahab we mid find the Moa bites tributary to israel but when ahab died the king mesa ceased to pay his tribute joram who became king of samaria after abad then called upon the king of Juda band hand together with the king of edom they invaded the land of the south seven days they marched in the wilderness with their army and found no water the king of israel feared that they would all perish on the proposition of messengers were sent to the prophet elijah to ask him b im what god would do the prophet then called for a musician and while this man was playing on his harp the spirit of god came over the prophet and he predicted the speedy relief and the victory over the Moa bites the next day one of the many rivers which empty themselves into the dead sea commenced to flow although there had been no rain nor storm the army was waa supplied with water As the sun went up and shone upon the water the moab ites thought it was blood and concluded that the allied forces had bad killed each other the king therefore gathered his troops and hastened to the hostile camp in order to take the spoil but he found a well prepared army A fearful battle ensued king mesa was defeated his troops were scattered in all directions and the allied kings broke down the catl cities threw rock in the cultivated fields hewed down the trees filled the wells and left the country a complete ruin king kin mesa then gathered seven hundred men of his routed army and tried to march against the king of edom buebe but be could accomplish nothing in this distress the cruel king and unnatural father took his own first born son the crown prince and slew him on the wall of the city in order to obtain favor from god and victory over his enemies the religious and moral status of the Moa bites at this time may be fairly judged of from this horrible burnt offering fiering of MOAB ONCE MORE once more in the history of israel we find the Moa bites |