Interesting Facts

• Moab was born to the elder daughter of Lot.
• The name Moab signifies “From my father did I conceive him”.
• Moab is considered the father of the Moabites unto this day.
• The Moabites inhabited a land to which the sons of Esau sent for hired fighting men.
• The Moabites were among those who hired fighting men to go against Jacob and his sons.

Genealogy

• Moab was the firstborn son of Lot’s elder daughter. His birth resulted from an encounter with his father after the destruction of Sodom.
• Moab had descendants who became known as the Moabites.
• Lot’s grandchildren, the children of Moab, were Ed, Mayon, Tarsus, and Kanvil, who are identified as the fathers of the children of Moab.
• The Moabites intermarried with people from the land of Canaan.

Historical Context

The birth of Moab occurred shortly after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, an event that profoundly impacted his origins and his father’s family. Moab’s lineage is directly tied to this cataclysmic event and the subsequent flight and isolation of Lot and his daughters. Later in the narrative, the Moabites are depicted as a distinct people residing in a land to which the sons of Esau looked for military support in their conflict with Jacob. This suggests a geographical location and a potential reputation for military prowess or availability for hire. The Moabites were among the various peoples (‘Aram and Philistia and Moab and Ammon’) contacted by Esau’s sons to gather an army against Jacob after Isaac’s death, highlighting their existence as a defined political and possibly military entity in the region.

Narrative

Moab’s personal narrative is limited to the account of his birth, named by his mother to signify his paternal origin. His significance in the texts lies primarily in his role as the progenitor of the Moabite people. The narrative involving the Moabites focuses on their interactions with the descendants of Abraham. They are mentioned in the context of the military alliance formed by Esau’s sons to wage war against Jacob, indicating a potential adversarial relationship or at least a willingness to engage in conflict against Jacob’s lineage. The Moabite fighting men were among those who attacked Jacob and his sons at the tower, ultimately facing defeat at the hands of Levi, Dan, and Asher. This episode portrays the Moabites as participants in a larger conflict stemming from the tensions between the families of Jacob and Esau after Isaac’s death and the inheritance disputes. The narrative concludes with the sons of Jacob prevailing and imposing servitude upon the sons of Esau, though the specific fate of the Moabite allies beyond their defeat in the battle is not detailed in these excerpts.