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leadership of their brave king Mesha - a name which is connected with the word
"deliverance." He styles his father Chemosh-Gad, which is a compound of the names
of the two gods, Chemosh and Gad (the latter the god of fortune). The first intimation
of the movement for the recovery of their independence seems to have been the
sudden invasion of Judaea by Moab, in alliance with the Ammonites and a tribe of
Edomites (2 Chronicles 20). Probably the Moabites had not yet felt themselves
sufficiently strong for an attack on the Israelitish stronghold in Northern Moab, and
accordingly resolved on making a raid across the undefended boundary of Judah,
while at the same time they sought to combine into an anti-Israelitish alliance all the
tribes along the eastern line of Palestine. We know that through the Divine help to
Jehoshaphat, this expedition signally failed, while in the mutual slaughter which
ensued the Edomite allies of Moab were the first to suffer. Hence, the projected anti-
Israelitish league was not only broken up, but Edom was drawn into what seems to
have been a Palestinian counter league, the pathetic story of which is connected with
the so-called "Moabite stone." It is impossible to find words for the varied feelings
which rise as we realize that after the lapse of 2,500 years a monumental stone
should in such unexpected manner have been found to bear testimony to Holy
Scripture, and especially to its record of that event from which Mesha dates the
recovery of the independence of Moab,^150 - all the more that he ascribes the glory of
it to Chemosh, his god.^151
When from the Moabite inscription we turn to the Biblical narrative, we learn that
Mesha, like his predecessors, had been under heavy annual tribute to Israel, which
was paid in kind. We read that he "was a sheepmaster." The extensive downs of
Moab were covered by numberless flocks, and the tribute which he had to pay
consisted of "a hundred thousand lambs, and a hundred thousand wethers - the wool."
The wording in the original is not very clear, but as the term used for "lambs"
generally designates "fed lambs," we conclude that if it is intended to convey that the
wool formed the tribute, it must have been that of "the wethers," and that to this the
hundred thousand fed lambs were added. It need scarcely be said that this tribute
ceased when Mesha cast off the yoke of Israel.
The events previously related will sufficiently account for the anxiety of Jehoshaphat
that the growing power of Moab should be checked, and a counter league formed
effectually to oppose the common enemies of Palestine. As regards any religious
scruples to an alliance with Israel, he may have argued that Joram was not like
Ahaziah, nor even like Ahab (2 Kings 3:2), and that since God Himself had given
such signal victory over Moab, a common invasion of their land might even be
pleasing in His sight. We rarely fail to find a satisfactory or even a religious reason
for doing that on which we set our hearts. But it does seem strange, that the answer
which Jehoshaphat returned to the invitation of Joram to join him in the campaign
against Moab should have been precisely the same as that which he had given on the
(^)