Moab (redirected from Moabites Moab)

Moab (mō`ăb), ancient nation located in the uplands E of the Dead Sea, now part of Jordan. The area is unprotected from the east, hence its history is a chain of raids by the Bedouin. The Moabites were close kin to the Hebrews, and the language of the Moabite stone is practically the same as biblical Hebrew. The relations of Moab with Judah and Israel are continually mentioned in the Bible. As a political entity, Moab came to an end after the invasion (c.733 B.C.) of Tiglath-pileser III. Its people were later absorbed by the Nabataeans. The Moabite religion was much like that of Canaan. Archaeological exploration in Moab has shown that settlements first occurred in the 13th cent. B.C.

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Moab

Kingdom, ancient Palestine. Located east of the Dead Sea in what is now west-central Jordan, it was bounded by Edom and the land of the Amorites. The Moabites were closely related to the Israelites, and the two were frequently in conflict. The Moabite Stone, found at Dibon, recorded the 9th-century-BC victories of the Moab king Mesha, especially those over Israel. Moab was conquered by the Babylonians in 582 BC.