Moab and Israel

The Bible records various conflicts between Moab and Israel. A Moabite inscription also records a war between the two peoples.

The first confrontation with the Moabites that is mentioned, takes place in the time when, under the leadership of Moses, Israel was on the way to Canaan. The Moabite King Balak calls in Balaam the seer to curse Israel. But instead of cursing the people, Balaam can only bless Israel — to the infuriation of his client (Numbers 22–24). From the Balaam inscription, a recent discovery from Jordan, it appears that Balaam was a well-known personality in this area, who was in communication with the gods.

After the Moabites had tried to subdue Israel in the days of the judge Ehud (Judges 3:12-30), later they were subjected to Israel by King David. They probably regained their independence after the death of King Solomon, although there is no further information on this.
King Omri of Israel subjected the Moabites once again. There is no report of this in the Bible, but there is in the inscription of King Mesha. This Moabite king is also mentioned in the Bible (2 Kings 3).

King Mesha succeeded in regaining Moab’s independence from Israel. His battle with Israel is described both in the inscription he left, and also in 2 Kings 3. The two texts agree on one point: Israel failed to defeat Moab.
But the texts give different reasons for this. According to Mesha, Chemosh, the god of the Moabites, helped his people in their struggle for independence from Israel. For in the time of King Omri, after a period of anger, Chemosh was again favourably disposed towards his people. And so Chemosh granted victory to Mesha.
According to 2 Kings 3 the defeat was the consequence of a human sacrifice presented by Mesha. He sacrificed his own son on the city wall of his capital. In reaction to this, the Israelite King Joram and his ally, the Judean King Jehoshaphat, returned to their own country with their armies.

We find an entirely different version of the battle between Israel and Moab in 2 Chronicles 20. In this story, the Judean King Jehoshaphat, with God’s help, defeats the Moabites and the Ammonites who had come to fight Judah.