Near the end of Parshat Chukat (Bamidbar 21:29) we read about Moav’s defeat:
Woe to you, O Moav, you are destroyed, people of Chemosh, he rendered your sons as refugees, and your daughters as captives, of Sichon, King of Emori.
Ramban explains that the people of Moav used to worship Chemosh, their deity and build alters for him and trust in him yet he didn’t save them. Chemosh was also worshipped by the people of Ammon.
In the Haftara (Shoftim 11:1-33), Yiftach explains that although Chemosh had been the idol of Moav, it was not able to save Moav from the Emori. The lands that Israel occupied in Trans-Jordan were taken from Sichon, King of Emori and Og, King of Bashan, not from Ammon or Moav.
In the Louvre in Paris, one can see the Mesha Stele, also known as the Moavite Stone. It was inscribed by King Mesha of Moav in around 840 BCE. In it, he describes the rivalry between Yisrael and Moav and gives us the back story to Melachim II Chapter 3 when Mesha refused to pay taxes to Israel as required under the terms of the peace settlement:
I am Mesha, son of Chemosh, king of Moav, the Divonite. My father ruled over Moav for thirty years, and I ruled after my father. I made this high place for Chemosh because he saved me from all predators
and because he made me triumph over all my enemies.
Omri was king of Israel, and oppressed Moab for many days, and Chemosh was angry with his aggressions. His son succeeded him, and he also said, I will oppress Moab. In my days he said, Let us go, and I will see my desire upon him and his house, and Israel said, I shall destroy it forever. Now Omri took the land of Madeba, and occupied it in his day, and in the days of his son, forty years. And Chemosh had mercy on it in my time. And I built Baal-meon and made therein the ditch, and I built Kiriathaim.
And the men of Gad dwelled in the country of Atarot from ancient times, and the king of Israel fortified Atarot. I assaulted the wall and captured it, and killed all the warriors of the city for the well-pleasing of Chemosh and Moav, and I removed from it all the spoil, and offered it before Chemosh in Kirjat; and I placed therein the men of Siran, and the men of Mochrat. And Chemosh said to me, Go take Nevo against Israel, and I went in the night and I fought against it from the break of day till noon, and I took it: and I killed in all seven thousand men…women and maidens, for I devoted them to Ashtar-Chemosh; and I took from it the vessels and offered them before Chemosh.
And the king of Israel fortified Jahaz, and occupied it, when he made war against me, and Chemosh drove him out before me, and I took from Moav two hundred men in all, and placed them in Jahaz and took it to annex it to Divon.
I built Karcha…I built Aroer, and I made the road across the Arnon. I built Bet-Bamoth for it was destroyed. I built Bezer for it was cut down by the armed men of Divon, for all Divon was now loyal; and I reigned from Bikran, which I added to my land. And I built Bet-Gamul, and Bet-Divlathaim…Bet Baal-Meon, and I placed there the poor people of the land…
Some of the cities mentioned in the Mesha Stele, were the cities that were built by the tribe of Gad which we recognize from Bamidbar 32:34-36:
The sons of Gad built up Divon, Atarot, Aroer, Atrot Shofan, Yazeir, Yogbeha, Beit Nimra and Beit Haran as fortified cities and sheep pens.
Mesha was able to conquer all of the territory of Moav that B’nai Yisrael had originally conquered.
Unfortunately, the kingdom was split between Yehuda and Yisrael and this conflict gave Misha the opportunity to reclaim Moavite land that had been previously conquered by B’nai Yisrael.
This should be a lesson to Israelis today to remain united, especially during times of war so that our enemies won’t have the opportunity to take advantage of us when we are most vulnerable.
