Why do the Moabites enter Israel’s camp expecting to take spoils?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

They see the sun shining on water that looks red like blood. They conclude that the three kings have fought and killed one another. When they enter the camp, Israel rises against them and defeats them.

Chapter breakdown

Joram son of Achab reigns over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Josaphat, king of Juda. His reign lasts twelve years. He does evil before the Lord, though not like his father and mother: he removes the statues of Baal his father made. Yet he clings to the sins of Jeroboam son of Nabat, who made Israel sin, and does not leave them.

Mesa, king of Moab, raises many sheep and pays Israel’s king a hundred thousand lambs and a hundred thousand rams with their fleeces. After Achab dies, he breaks the league he made with Israel’s king.

Joram goes out from Samaria that day and musters all Israel. He sends to Josaphat, king of Juda, saying Moab’s king has revolted from him and asking him to join the battle. Josaphat agrees to go up, saying that what is his is Joram’s, his people are Joram’s people and his horses Joram’s horses. The question of which way to go receives the answer: by the desert of Edom.

The kings of Israel, Juda and Edom go on a circuit of seven days’ journey. There is no water for the army or the beasts following them. Israel’s king cries alas three times and says the Lord has gathered the three kings to deliver them into Moab’s hands.

Josaphat asks whether a prophet of the Lord is there through whom they can beseech the Lord. One of Israel’s king’s servants identifies Eliseus son of Saphat, who poured water on Elias’s hands. Josaphat says the Lord’s word is with him. Israel’s king, Josaphat king of Juda and Edom’s king go down to him.

Eliseus asks Israel’s king what he has to do with him and tells him to go to his father’s and mother’s prophets. The king asks why the Lord has gathered these three kings to deliver them into Moab’s hands. Eliseus swears by the living Lord of hosts, in whose sight he stands, that without his reverence for Josaphat king of Juda, he would neither have listened to the king nor looked at him.

Eliseus asks for a minstrel. When the minstrel plays, the Lord’s hand comes upon him. He gives the Lord’s command to make the torrent’s channel full of ditches. The Lord’s word says they will see neither wind nor rain, yet the channel will fill with water for them, their families and their beasts to drink.

This is a small thing in the Lord’s sight; he will also deliver Moab into their hands. They will destroy every fenced city and every choice city, cut down every fruitful tree, stop all springs of water and cover every goodly field with stones.

In the morning, when sacrifices are usually offered, water comes by way of Edom and fills the country.

Hearing that the kings have come to fight them, the Moabites gather all who are girded with a belt and stand at the borders. They rise early. With the sun up and shining on the waters, they see the waters opposite them red like blood. They call it the blood of the sword and say the kings have fought and killed one another. They tell Moab to go to the spoils.

The Moabites enter Israel’s camp. Israel rises, defeats them and they flee. The conquerors go on and strike Moab. They destroy the cities and fill every goodly field, each man casting his stone. They stop all water springs and cut down every tree bearing fruit. The account says brick walls only remained; slingers surround the city and destroy a great part of it.

Challoner’s separate note explains brick walls only remained as the proper name of the Moabites’ capital city, in Hebrew Kir-Haraseth.

Seeing that the enemies have prevailed, Moab’s king takes seven hundred men who draw the sword to break in upon Edom’s king, but they cannot. He then takes his eldest son, who should have reigned in his place, and offers him as a burnt offering upon the wall. Great indignation arises in Israel. They presently depart from him and return to their own country.

The story inside

The account first distinguishes Joram’s removal of Baal’s statues from his continued attachment to Jeroboam’s sins. Mesa’s broken league after Achab’s death leads into Joram’s call for Josaphat to join battle. The chosen way is Edom’s desert; the three kings’ seven-day circuit brings a water shortage. Israel’s king interprets their gathering as delivery to Moab, while Josaphat asks for a prophet. A servant identifies Eliseus, and all three go down to him. Eliseus directs Israel’s king to his parents’ prophets and states his regard for Josaphat. The minstrel’s playing precedes the Lord’s hand upon him and the word about ditches, water and Moab. Water comes from Edom in the morning. The Moabites see it red like blood in sunlight and infer mutual slaughter among the kings. Their move for spoils brings them into Israel’s camp, where Israel defeats them. Cities, fields, springs and fruit trees are destroyed; Challoner separately explains the city name. Moab’s king fails to break in upon Edom’s king with seven hundred swordsmen, then sacrifices his eldest son and heir on the wall. The account closes with great indignation in Israel and departure, without explaining the indignation’s cause.

Lessons worth keeping

1
Joram’s religious conduct has a stated contrast. He removes his father’s Baal statues, so the account says he does not do evil like his father and mother. It also says he remains in Jeroboam son of Nabat’s sins. Preserving both statements prevents the removal of the statues from being treated as a complete change of conduct.
2
The water promise includes more than the army. Eliseus gives the command about ditches and says water will come without their seeing wind or rain, for them, their families and their beasts. The account then specifies its arrival from Edom at the morning time when sacrifices are usually offered. These details belong together without an invented weather report or season.
3
The Moabites act on their interpretation of what they see. Red-looking water in sunlight leads them to claim that the kings killed one another and to go for spoils. Israel defeats them when they enter the camp. The later failed attack, sacrifice and indignation are separately reported; the chapter does not give a new explanation for the indignation.

Test your recall

How do the water’s arrival, the sunlight and the Moabites’ conclusion lead to their entry into Israel’s camp and defeat?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 38187–38204
4 Kings Chapter 3 The kings of Israel, Juda, and Edom, fight against the king of Moab. They want water, which Eliseus procureth without rain: and prophesieth victory. The king of Moab is overthrown, his city is besieged: he sacrificeth his firstborn son: so the Israelites raise the siege. 3:1. And Joram the son of Achab, reigned over Israel, in Samaria, in the eighteenth year of Josaphat, king of Juda. And he reigned twelve years. 3:2. And he did evil before the Lord, but not like his father and his mother: for he took away the statues of Baal, which his father had made. 3:3. Nevertheless, he stuck to the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin, nor did he depart from them.
Lines 38205–38211
3:4. Now Mesa, king of Moab, nourished many sheep, and he paid to the king of Israel a hundred thousand lambs, and a hundred thousand rams, with their fleeces. 3:5. And when Achab was dead, he broke the league which he had made with the king of Israel.
Lines 38212–38222
3:6. And king Joram went out that day from Samaria, and mustered all Israel. 3:7. And he sent to Josaphat; king of Juda, saying: The king of Moab is revolted from me: come with me against him to battle. And he answered: I will come up: he that is mine, is thine: my people are thy people: and my horses, thy horses. 3:8. And he said: Which way shall we go up? But he answered: By the desert of Edom.
Lines 38223–38229
3:9. So the king of Israel, and the king of Juda, and the king of Edom, went, and they fetched a compass of seven days journey, and there was no water for the army, and for the beasts, that followed them. 3:10. And the king of Israel said: Alas, alas, alas, the Lord hath gathered us three kings together, to deliver us into the hands of Moab.
Lines 38230–38238
3:11. And Josaphat said: Is there not here a prophet of the Lord, that we may beseech the Lord by him? And one of the servants of the king of Israel answered: Here is Eliseus, the son of Saphat, who poured water on the hands of Elias. 3:12. And Josaphat said: The word of the Lord is with him. And the king of Israel, and Josaphat, king of Juda, and the king of Edom, went down to him.
Lines 38239–38247
3:13. And Eliseus said to the king of Israel: What have I to do with thee? go to the prophets of thy father, and thy mother. And the king of Israel said to him: Why hath the Lord gathered together these three kings, to deliver them into the hands of Moab? 3:14. And Eliseus said to him: As the Lord of hosts liveth, in whose sight I stand, if I did not reverence the face of Josaphat, king of Juda, I would not have hearkened to thee, nor looked on thee.
Lines 38248–38257
3:15. But now bring me hither a minstrel. And when the minstrel played, the hand of the Lord came upon him, and he said: 3:16. Thus saith the Lord: Make the channel of this torrent full of ditches. 3:17. For thus saith the Lord: You shall not see wind, nor rain: and yet this channel shall be filled with waters, and you shall drink, you and your families, and your beasts.
Lines 38258–38264
3:18. And this is a small thing in the sight of the Lord: moreover, he will deliver, also, Moab into your hands. 3:19. And you shall destroy every fenced city, and every choice city, and shall cut down every fruitful tree, and shall stop up all the springs of waters, and every goodly field you shall cover with stones.
Lines 38265–38268
3:20. And it came to pass, in the morning, when the sacrifices used to be offered, that behold, water came by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water.
Lines 38269–38280
3:21. And all the Moabites hearing that the kings were come up to fight against them, gathered together all that were girded with a belt upon them, and stood in the borders. 3:22. And they rose early in the morning, and the sun being now up, and shining upon the waters, the Moabites saw the waters over against them red, like blood, 3:23. And they said: It is the blood of the sword: the kings have fought among themselves, and they have killed one another: go now, Moab, to the spoils.
Lines 38281–38290
3:24. And they went into the camp of Israel: but Israel rising up, defeated Moab, who fled before them. And they being conquerors, went and smote Moab. 3:25. And they destroyed the cities: and they filled every goodly field, every man casting his stone: and they stopt up all the springs of waters: and cut down all the trees that bore fruit, so that brick walls only remained: and the city was beset by the slingers, and a great part thereof destroyed.
Lines 38291–38293
Brick walls only remained.... It was the proper name of the capital city of the Moabites. In Hebrew, Kir-Haraseth.
Lines 38294–38303
3:26. And when the king of Moab saw this, to wit, that the enemies had prevailed, he took with him seven hundred men that drew the sword, to break in upon the king of Edom: but they could not. 3:27. Then he took his eldest son, that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall: and there was great indignation in Israel, and presently they departed from him, and returned into their own country.