The Kingdom of Moab: The History of the Ancient Kingdom that Fought Against the Israelites’ Invasion of Canaan

The Biblical-era Kingdom of Moab was located primarily in modern Jordan, but we do not know precisely when it came into being. However, by the tenth century BCE, a proto-Moabite kingdom was extant.

We are also not sure about the roots of the Moabite name. The etymology of the name Moab is not completely clear and according to Jewish tradition, the name stems from the Semitic word for father, 'abi.' Therefore, the name means 'from my father.'

Since the name Moabites, and presumably the culture they represented, disappeared from the area during the Persian era, the concept of a Moabite area refers mainly to the Iron Age, and to a lesser extent, the Bronze Age. Our primary written source on Moab is the Hebrew Bible and as we will see, they played a particular rhetorical role for Biblical authors. However, we have Egyptian and even Moabite sources to cross with the Hebrew Bible; therefore, we have a better picture of Moab than of most middling kingdoms of the time. Nonetheless, our image is partial and limited.

The Kingdom of Moab: The History of the Ancient Kingdom that Fought Against the Israelites’ Invasion of Canaan examines the knowns and unknowns about the Moabites, from Biblical descriptions of them to what archaeologists have discovered.