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SERIES M --- PROPHESIES AND MIRACLES --- LESSON 11

STRANGE ALLIANCE

THE BATTLE AGAINST MOAB

From 1 Kings 22:50; 2 Kings 3; 2 Chronicles 20:34

During the eighteenth year of the reign of King Jehoshaphat of Judah, King Ahab’s son Jehoram began to rule over Israel. He ruled for the next twelve years from the capital city of Samaria. Jehoram was evil in Adonai’s sight, but not quite as bad as his father Ahab or his mother Jezebel, for at least he took down the pillar of Baal which King Ahab had made. Yet he followed the sin and idolatry which King Jeroboam had begun. King Mesha of Moab had paid King Ahab an annual tribute of one hundred thousand lambs and the wool of one hundred thousand rams, for the Moabites were sheep breeders. When Ahab died, Mesha rebelled against Israel and refused to send the tribute. King Jehoram then summoned his army. He also sent word to King Jehoshaphat of Judah. [King Mesha of Moab has rebelled against me,] he said. [Will you help me fight him?] [Yes, I will help you,] Jehoshaphat replied. [My people and horses are at your command. Which way shall we attack?] [By the Wilderness of Edom,] Jehoram answered. Before long the king of Israel and the king of Judah were joined by the king of Edom. They made a circle through the wilderness for seven days, but there was no water for the men or the animals. [How terrible!] Jehoram cried out. [Adonai has brought us here to be conquered by the king of Moab.] [Isn’t there a prophet of Adonai here who can tell us what to do?] Jehoshaphat asked. [Elisha is here,] said one of Jehoram’s officers. [He was Elijah’s special assistant.] [Adonai is with him,] said Jehoshaphat. The three kings went to see him. [Why come to me?] Elisha asked Jehoram. [Why not go to the false prophets of your father and mother?] [Because Adonai Himself has called us three kings here to be destroyed by the king of Moab,] Jehoram answered. [I wouldn’t do a thing for you,] Elisha told Jehoram. [But since King Jehoshaphat is here and I respect him, I will bring you word from Adonai. Now bring me a minstrel.] When the minstrel played the lute, the power of Adonai came upon Elisha. [Adonai says that you are to dig ditches in this dry stream bed,] Elisha said. [You will see neither wind nor rain, but those ditches will be filled with water for you and your animals to drink. Adonai will do much more for you. He will give you victory over the armies of Moab. You will destroy their choice and fortified cities, cut down every fruitful tree, stop their springs of water and ruin their good land with stones.] The next morning, at the time for the morning sacrifice, water flowed from the direction of Edom, until all the ditches were filled with water. In the meantime, the Moabites had learned that the three kings had come to fight them, so they armed all their men, from youngest to oldest and brought them to the battlefront. That morning, when the water had flowed miraculously into the ditches, the Moabites looked toward the enemy camp and saw the sun shining on this water which looked as red as blood. [It’s blood!] the Moabites exclaimed. [That means our enemies have fought among themselves and destroyed each other. Let’s go gather the spoil!] When the Moabites arrived at the camp of Israel, the Israelites attacked them and slaughtered them as they retreated. As Elisha had said, they conquered every choice and fortified city of the Moabites and threw stones on the best land until it was ruined. They filled every spring of water and cut all the good trees. At last, there was nothing left but the fortress Kirharaseth, but the slingers surrounded it and conquered it, too. The king of Moab realized that all was against him, so he made one final effort to break through the forces of the king of Edom, but even with his seven hundred swordsmen he could not. Then he took his oldest son, who would have become king in his place and offered him on the wall as a burnt offering. The people of Israel were greatly disgusted when they saw that. They left Moab and returned home.

COMMENTARY

THE MOABITES

The people called Moabites took their name from their ancestor Moab, the son born to Lot and his eldest daughter. Moab’s descendants settled in the fertile Transjordan plateau overlooking the Dead Sea. This region was first known as the [land of Moab,] but eventually was called Moab. The boundaries of Moab followed the natural features of the land. In the south a narrow gorge called Wadi Zered provided a secure border. The western edge of the plateau ended abruptly at the Dead Sea, with a wall of cliffs plunging more than four thousand feet to the water. Atop the plateau, hills stretched eastward almost thirty miles, gradually sloping down to the edge of the Arabian Desert. In its weakest years, Moab controlled land up to Wadi Arnon, a very deep gorge cutting into the Dead Sea. But in times of strength, Moab’s land extended into the richly fertile elevated plateau north of the gorge, known as the plains of Moab. When the tribes of Israel began the conquest of Canaan, they claimed this land as their own. Moabites considered the claim unbearable for several reasons. One was that the land included the caravan route called the King’s Highway and the towns along the route profited from the trade it carried. Another was that the Israelites’ claim would badly affect the sheep-raising activities for which the Moabites had grown famous. A struggle to control the land became a constant theme in Moab’s history. Conflict through the years of the judges continued until the monarchy, when David and Solomon reduced Moab to the status of a small dependent country; a vassal kingdom. When Israel divided, Moab broke free for a short time, but the powerful rule of Omri again reduced it to a vassal kingdom. To Omri as well as his son Ahab, the Moabites surrendered an annual tribute of wool and thousands of lambs. As Ahab became involved in wars with Syria, the Moabite king took the opportunity to revolt. At Ahab’s death he stopped paying tribute and began a battle to regain the northern tableland. Ahab’s son, Jehoram, attempted to force the Moabite king, Mesha, into submission again. He formed an alliance with the kings of Judah and Edom and entered Moab’s southern border. The coalition nearly forced a surrender at Kir-hareseth, the southern Moabite fortress. But when the allied troops saw King Mesha sacrificing his son on the city wall, they ended the assault and withdrew from Moab. Within a short time, the Moabites went on to gain complete independence from Israel, a victory King Mesha believed showed the favour of Chemosh, the national god.

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