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Moabites and Ammonites, Children of Lot

The next enemy nation which we find mentioned in Psalm 83 as having joined the alliance of nations that conspired against Israel was Moab. However, for genealogical reasons, I will be discussing Ammon and Moab together, being as they are both mentioned in Psalm 83. As I explain in such articles as "Job and the Land of Uz", the ancient nations of Ammon and Moab were populated by the descendants of half-brothers Moab and Benammi. Their mothers were the two daughters of Lot. You may recall from parts two and three that Lot was Abraham's nephew -- being the son of Abraham's deceased brother, Haran -- who Terah took with him when he chose to leave Ur in the land of the Chaldees.

To clarify, Terah, Lot, Abraham and Sarah left Ur in the land of the Chaldees, and headed northwestward to what later became known as Haran. This city was more than likely named in honor of Terah's son -- and Abraham's brother -- Haran. Although it is not stated clearly in the Scriptures, it can also be assumed that Nahor and his wife Milcah -- Nahor was Abraham's other brother -- left Ur with Terah, Lot, Abraham and Sarah as well, because we later find out that Milcah's youngest son -- Bethuel -- had a daughter named Rebekah -- as well as a son named Laban -- in Padanaram, which today is a part of Syria. Isaac later married Rebekah, and Jacob -- Isaac' son -- later worked for Laban in Padanaram for about twenty years in order to marry Laban's sisters Rachel and Leah. Consider the following verses:

"And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she hath also born children unto thy brother Nahor; Huz his firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram, And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel. And Bethuel begat Rebekah: these eight Milcah did bear to Nahor, Abraham's brother."


"And Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban: and Laban ran out unto the man, unto the well."


"And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian."


All of the aforementioned historical events are discussed in considerable detail in the article "The Children of God and Politics". Abraham and Lot later chose to split up due to the size of their herds. Just prior to God's fiery destruction of the evil cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, due to the insistence of two Angels, Lot and his two daughters fled to a cave in the mountains which overlooked the plains. Their mother died along the way because she was disobedient, turned backwards, and was immediately turned into a pillar of salt. This desire for the things of the world is so repulsive to the Lord, that thousands of years later, Jesus even referred to the incident when He warned His listeners to not have second thoughts, or to look back, when He returned for them, as we see by these verses:

"And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot's wife. Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together."


So as I explained in part one, Jesus and His Apostles teach us that we Christians are not of this world, and we are not supposed to become entangled in the affairs of this life, or be enticed by or desire its many delicacies. Following are some additional verses concerning this same topic of falling away from the Lord, or backsliding:

"For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire."


"The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: and a good man shall be satisfied from himself."


"Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:"


"Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return."


"If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself."


If you would like to learn more about this subject, you may wish to consider reading such articles as "Beholding the Evil and the Good" and "Backsliding, Divine Chastisement and the Divine Agreement".

Continuing our story concerning Lot and his two daughters, with the world they knew seeming to come to a fiery end, and Lot growing old, his two daughters were concerned that they might possibly be left without children, being as they had no husbands. So after purposely getting Lot drunk on two nights, they both engaged in sexual relations with him. By our modern standards, their conduct would be viewed as a clear case of incest. However, according to Jewish customs and laws at that time, it was viewed as a legal right and necessity in order to continue a family line. As I explained earlier, both women became pregnant, and brothers Moab and Benammi were born nine months later. Following is the story as it is found in the Book of Genesis:

"And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt. And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters. And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth: Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father. And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day. And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day."


In part three we learned that the other side of Abraham's family viewed the recently liberated Israelites as a threat to their very existence. During the hundreds of years that Jacob's side of the family spent in bondage in Egypt, the other side of Abraham's family -- the descendants of Esau, Ishmael and the sons of Keturah -- formed nations of their own, with territories of their own. Now, the descendants of Jacob -- a vast and powerful army of more than one million strong -- were on the march, and nothing seemed capable of stopping them. Word had traveled of the miracles that their powerful God had done for them, and now the Israelites were encroaching on their territories. As we read in the Book of Deuteronomy:

"This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee."


Fear, mistrust, jealousy and probably poor communication, resulted in a huge gulf growing between the two sides of Abraham's family. What eventually became the Arab side, probably never imagined that Jacob's side of the family would one day suddenly emerge out of the nation of their captivity -- Egypt -- as a great army, and threaten their very existence. In fact, even after the Israelites were liberated from Egypt, they were swallowed up by the desert for another forty years, and seemed to have disappeared.

No doubt, the Arab side of Abraham's family assumed that the descendants of Jacob had perished in the desert. So imagine their shock when the great Israelite army advanced to their very doorsteps, and asked for safe passage through their land. Imagine some of the questions which must have passed through their minds: What are they going to do? Where are they going to go? Are they a threat to us? Will they try to steal our land? Such is human nature. We imagine the worst, instead of the best.

What is interesting about this is the fact that when Moses and the Israelites first began their conquest of Canaan, the Lord specifically told Moses to leave Edom alone, because He had given that land to Esau's descendants for an inheritance. In similar fashion, the Lord told Moses to leave Ammon and Moab alone as well, because He had given that land to Lot's descendants for an inheritance, as we see by these verses:

"And the LORD spake unto me, saying, Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward. And command thou the people, saying, Ye are to pass through the coast of your brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you: take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore: Meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot breadth; because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession . . . And the LORD said unto me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle: for I will not give thee of their land for a possession; because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession . . . And when thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, distress them not, nor meddle with them: for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon any possession; because I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession."


However, as we saw in part three, as had occurred with the Edomites, the Ishmaelites and the Midianites -- who were all directly related to Abraham and his progeny -- even though Lot was one of Abraham's nephews by way of his brother Haran, Lot's descendants -- the Ammonites and the Moabites -- also became the enemies of the Israelites with time. As we have seen, the Israelites were the chosen side of Abraham's family through Isaac and Jacob, who received the family inheritance, while all of the other sons were blessed and then sent away.

After having forged their own nations during the hundreds of years that the descendants of Jacob were absent from events in Canaan and land eastward, they were not about to surrender their territories so easily. So, just as Abraham had done in years past when he fought against the Babylonian kings, they formed alliances. Thus "Moab said unto the elders of Midian, Now shall this company lick up all that are round about us, as the ox licketh up the grass of the field." So the Moabites and the Midianites apparently formed an alliance in order to protect themselves. It appears that from that point forward, the Moabites became the on-again and off-again enemies of the Israelites, as we can see by the following sample verses:

"And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD. And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and possessed the city of palm trees. So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years. But when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded: and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab. But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length; and he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh. And he brought the present unto Eglon king of Moab: and Eglon was a very fat man. And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the present. But he himself turned again from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king: who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him. And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in a summer parlour, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of his seat. And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly: And the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly; and the dirt came out. Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlour upon him, and locked them. When he was gone out, his servants came; and when they saw that, behold, the doors of the parlour were locked, they said, Surely he covereth his feet in his summer chamber. And they tarried till they were ashamed: and, behold, he opened not the doors of the parlour; therefore they took a key, and opened them: and, behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth. And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped unto Seirath. And it came to pass, when he was come, that he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mount, and he before them. And he said unto them, Follow after me: for the LORD hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over. And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, all lusty, and all men of valour; and there escaped not a man. So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest fourscore years."


"And he [King David] smote Moab, and measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground; even with two lines measured he to put to death, and with one full line to keep alive. And so the Moabites became David's servants, and brought gifts."


"Then Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab."


"But it came to pass, when Ahab was dead, that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. And king Jehoram went out of Samaria the same time, and numbered all Israel. And he went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, The king of Moab hath rebelled against me: wilt thou go with me against Moab to battle? And he said, I will go up: I am as thou art, my people as thy people, and my horses as thy horses. And he said, Which way shall we go up? And he answered, The way through the wilderness of Edom. So the king of Israel went, and the king of Judah, and the king of Edom: and they fetched a compass of seven days' journey: and there was no water for the host, and for the cattle that followed them. And the king of Israel said, Alas! that the LORD hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab! But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the LORD, that we may enquire of the LORD by him? And one of the king of Israel's servants answered and said, Here is Elisha the son of Shaphat, which poured water on the hands of Elijah. And Jehoshaphat said, The word of the LORD is with him. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him. And Elisha said unto the king of Israel, What have I to do with thee? get thee to the prophets of thy father, and to the prophets of thy mother. And the king of Israel said unto him, Nay: for the LORD hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab. And Elisha said, As the LORD of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee. But now bring me a minstrel. And it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the hand of the LORD came upon him. And he said, Thus saith the LORD, Make this valley full of ditches. For thus saith the LORD, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye, and your cattle, and your beasts. And this is but a light thing in the sight of the LORD: he will deliver the Moabites also into your hand. And ye shall smite every fenced city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all wells of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones. And it came to pass in the morning, when the meat offering was offered, that, behold, there came water by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water. And when all the Moabites heard that the kings were come up to fight against them, they gathered all that were able to put on armour, and upward, and stood in the border. And they rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone upon the water, and the Moabites saw the water on the other side as red as blood: And they said, This is blood: the kings are surely slain, and they have smitten one another: now therefore, Moab, to the spoil. And when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and smote the Moabites, so that they fled before them: but they went forward smiting the Moabites, even in their country. And they beat down the cities, and on every good piece of land cast every man his stone, and filled it; and they stopped all the wells of water, and felled all the good trees: only in Kirharaseth left they the stones thereof; howbeit the slingers went about it, and smote it. And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too sore for him, he took with him seven hundred men that drew swords, to break through even unto the king of Edom: but they could not. Then he took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall. And there was great indignation against Israel: and they departed from him, and returned to their own land."


"And Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year."


"Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done. In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him. And the LORD sent against him bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by his servants the prophets."


"And he smote Moab; and the Moabites became David's servants, and brought gifts."


The story was no different with the Ammonites, who were the descendants of Benammi, who was the half-brother of Moab. As had occurred with the Moabites, the Ammonites felt threatened by the Israelites, and were a constant thorn in their side, as we can determine by the following verses:

"Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabeshgilead: and all the men of Jabesh said unto Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee. And Nahash the Ammonite answered them, On this condition will I make a covenant with you, that I may thrust out all your right eyes, and lay it for a reproach upon all Israel. And the elders of Jabesh said unto him, Give us seven days’ respite, that we may send messengers unto all the coasts of Israel: and then, if there be no man to save us, we will come out to thee. Then came the messengers to Gibeah of Saul, and told the tidings in the ears of the people: and all the people lifted up their voices, and wept. And, behold, Saul came after the herd out of the field; and Saul said, What aileth the people that they weep? And they told him the tidings of the men of Jabesh. And the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard those tidings, and his anger was kindled greatly. And he took a yoke of oxen, and hewed them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the coasts of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying, Whosoever cometh not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done unto his oxen. And the fear of the LORD fell on the people, and they came out with one consent. And when he numbered them in Bezek, the children of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand. And they said unto the messengers that came, Thus shall ye say unto the men of Jabeshgilead, To morrow, by that time the sun be hot, ye shall have help. And the messengers came and shewed it to the men of Jabesh; and they were glad. Therefore the men of Jabesh said, To morrow we will come out unto you, and ye shall do with us all that seemeth good unto you. And it was so on the morrow, that Saul put the people in three companies; and they came into the midst of the host in the morning watch, and slew the Ammonites until the heat of the day: and it came to pass, that they which remained were scattered, so that two of them were not left together."


"It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle. Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side Syria; and, behold, they be in Hazazontamar, which is Engedi . . . And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir [the Edomites], whom thou wouldest not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not; Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit . . . And when he [King Jehoshaphat] had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever. And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir [the Edomites], which were come against Judah; and they were smitten. For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir [the Edomites], utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir [the Edomites], every one helped to destroy another. And when Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped. And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much . . . And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries, when they had heard that the LORD fought against the enemies of Israel. So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God gave him rest round about."


In short, as I mention in "The Children of God and Politics" and "Job and the Land of Uz", from the times of the wars of the ancient Israelites to the situation which exists in the Middle East today, what we are really witnessing amounts to nothing more than an extended family feud between both sides of the Patriarch Abraham's family. While it is beneath the Zionist Jews to acknowledge their biological connection to the Arabs who they now hate, this is in fact Biblical fact, as we are now seeing.

The Hagarites or Hagarenes

The next enemy nation that we find listed in Psalm 83 is the Hagarenes, who are also known as Hagarites, or Hagrites. It is commonly accepted that they were descended from Abraham's concubine Hagar and her son Ishmael, which would make them Ishmaelites, and thus Arabs. During the reign of King Saul, the first Book of Chronicles informs us that the two tribes of Reuben and Gad, along with half of the tribe of Manasseh, waged war against the Hagarenes, which resulted in a serious military defeat for the Hagarenes. This defeat would help to explain why the remnant of the Hagarenes would hold a grudge against the Israelites, and would join the confederacy of nations that conspired against Israel in Psalm 83. Consider the following verses:

"And in the days of Saul they made war with the Hagarites, who fell by their hand: and they dwelt in their tents throughout all the east land of Gilead . . . The sons of Reuben, and the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, of valiant men, men able to bear buckler and sword, and to shoot with bow, and skilful in war, were four and forty thousand seven hundred and threescore, that went out to the war. And they made war with the Hagarites, with Jetur, and Nephish, and Nodab. And they were helped against them, and the Hagarites were delivered into their hand, and all that were with them: for they cried to God in the battle, and he was intreated of them; because they put their trust in him. And they took away their cattle; of their camels fifty thousand, and of sheep two hundred and fifty thousand, and of asses two thousand, and of men an hundred thousand. For there fell down many slain, because the war was of God. And they dwelt in their steads until the captivity."


Gebal and Inhabitants of Tyre

There appears to be some confusion regarding the precise identity of Gebal in the Scriptures. In the seventh verse of Psalm 83, the Brown, Driver, Briggs, Gesenius Hebrew Aramaic English Lexicon defines Gebal as a mountainous area that was located to the south of the Dead Sea. This would seem to put it either in or right next to Edom, which suggests that the people of Gebal may have had an alliance with the Edomites. However, in the twenty-eighth chapter of the Book of Ezekiel, where the Prophet prophesies against Tyrus, -- or Tyre -- another Gebal is mentioned, as we see by the following verse:

"The ancients of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy calkers: all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise."


According to the same Brown, Driver, Briggs, Gesenius Hebrew Aramaic English Lexicon, this Gebal was a maritime town of Phoenicia that was situated near Tyre. Today, Gebal is known as Jubayl, Lebanon. It is located about twenty-six miles to the north of Beirut. However, to the ancient Greeks, Gebal was known as Byblos. As I point out in other articles, Byblos -- or Gebal -- is well known to many Bible researchers due to the fact that papyrus -- which the Greeks called "byblos" -- was exported to the Aegean area through the port of Byblos. Furthermore, our English word "Bible" is directly derived from this very same word, meaning "the papyrus book". Gebal -- or Byblos -- is believed to have been founded around 5000 BC by Cronus, as the first city in Phoenicia. It is believed by many people to be the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world.

Please go to part five for the continuation of this series.

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