The Plains of Moab () are mentioned in three books of the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Numbers A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The most basic examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can ...

Deuteronomy Deuteronomy (; ) is the fifth book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called () which makes it the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament. Chapters 1–30 of the book consist of three sermons or speeches delivered to ...

and

Joshua Joshua ( ), also known as Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' Literal translation, lit. 'Yahweh is salvation'), Jehoshua, or Josue, functioned as Moses' assistant in the books of Book of Exodus, Exodus and ...

) as an area in Transjordan, stretching along the

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

"across from

Jericho Jericho ( ; , ) is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, and the capital of the Jericho Governorate. Jericho is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It had a population of 20,907 in 2017. F ...

", and more specifically "from Beth Jeshimoth to Abel Shittim" (). Here is the last Station of the Exodus and the place from which

Moses In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...

climbs up on

Mount Nebo Mount Nebo (; ) is an elevated ridge located in Jordan, approximately Height above sea level, above sea level. Part of the Abarim mountain range, Mount Nebo is mentioned in the Bible as the place where Moses was granted a view of the Promised L ...

"to the top of Pisgah", where he dies ().

Geography

Nelson Glueck Nelson Glueck (June 4, 1900 – February 12, 1971) was an American rabbi, professor, academic and archaeology, archaeologist. He served as president of Hebrew Union College from 1947 until his death, and his pioneering work in biblical archaeolo ...

describes the Plains of Moab as having the shape of a "truncated harp", with its northern limit marked by Wadi Nimrin, and the southern tip created by the

Moab Moab () was an ancient Levant, Levantine kingdom whose territory is today located in southern Jordan. The land is mountainous and lies alongside much of the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. The existence of the Kingdom of Moab is attested to by ...

hills south of Wadi el-'Azeimeh, which stretch out from the Moab Plateau toward the NE end of the

Dead Sea The Dead Sea (; or ; ), also known by #Names, other names, is a landlocked salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east, the Israeli-occupied West Bank to the west and Israel to the southwest. It lies in the endorheic basin of the Jordan Rift Valle ...

, closing off the Plains.Glueck (1943), p. 10. Glueck names the three main streams crossing the Plains toward the Jordan as, from north to south, Wadi Nimrin, which before emerging from the hills is called Wadi Sha'ib; Wadi el-Kefrein; and Wadi er-Ramah, called Wadi Hesban in the hills, which merges with Wadi el-Kefrein two-thirds of the way across the Plains. In his 1856 book ''The Sacred Plains'' J.H. Headley described the Plains of Moab as having a wider extent: "The Plains of Moab lie east of the Dead Sea and River Jordan. The Arnon, running through its midst, divides them into two parts. A low range of mountains, called Abarim, extending from the southern part of the Dead Sea to Mount

Gilead Gilead or Gilad (, ; ''Gilʿāḏ'', , ''Jalʻād'') is the ancient, historic, biblical name of the mountainous northern part of the region of Transjordan.''Easton's Bible Dictionary'Galeed''/ref> The region is bounded in the west by the J ...

, again subdivides them east and west. On the east they extend to the borders of the Great Desert, into which they gradually sink; and on the West, form a succession of elevated terraces, like gigantic steps, down to the shores of Jordan and Dead Sea. <...> In ancient times the Moabites had possessed the whole plains from the southern part of the Dead Sea to Mount Gilead; but the

Amorites The Amorites () were an ancient Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic-speaking Bronze Age people from the Levant. Initially appearing in Sumerian records c. 2500 BC, they expanded and ruled most of the Levant, Mesopotamia and parts of Eg ...

had warred against them, and wrestled all that portion lying north of the River Arnon from them..."''The Sacred Plains'', J.H. Headley, 1856
"The Plains of Moab"
/ref>

Persian period

In the 4th century BC,

Israelites Israelites were a Hebrew language, Hebrew-speaking ethnoreligious group, consisting of tribes that lived in Canaan during the Iron Age. Modern scholarship describes the Israelites as emerging from indigenous Canaanites, Canaanite populations ...

returning from the

Babylonian exile The Babylonian captivity or Babylonian exile was the period in Jewish history during which a large number of Judeans from the ancient Kingdom of Judah were forcibly relocated to Babylonia by the Neo-Babylonian Empire. The deportations occurre ...

settle the ancient site of Beth-nimrah, their city marking the easternmost point of Jewish settlement in Transjordan.

References

Bibliography

* {{coord missing, Jordan Hebrew Bible places Archaeology of Jordan Jews and Judaism in Jordan

Geography

Persian period

See also

References

Bibliography