Page:Light and truth.djvu/114

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light and truth.

time multitudes left it. It is thought by some, that these poured themselves on Egypt, and were the shepherds mentioned by Manetho.


THE CITIES OF MOAB.

Moab. 1. The son of Lot, was born about the same time as Isaac, in A M. 2108. 2. The land called by his name, eastward of the Dead Sea, and about the river Arnon. The present name of this country is El-Rabba.

Arnon. (Deut. ii. 24.) The principal river east of Jordan, and originally the boundary between the Moabites and the Ammonites; then between the Moabites and Amorites; and finally, between the Moabites and the tribe of Reuben. It is now called the Modjeb or Mujeb, and is about fifty miles long, emptying into the Dead Sea. The current in winter is full and rapid, but in summer the channel is nearly dry.

Abel-shittim, a town beyond Jordan, in the plain of Moab. Here 24,000 Israelites were destroyed in one day for falling into the sins of Moab. (Numb, xxv.) It was probably the mourning for this event that gave the name of Abel to the spot.

Beth-jeshimoth. (Josh. xiii. 20.) A city of the tribe of Reuben on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. It was formerly in possession of the Moabites, and after remaining in the tribe of Reuben until the Assyrian captivity, it fell back into the hands of the Moabites.(Ezek. xxv. 9.)

Dibon. (Josh. xiii. 17.) A city of Moab, a few miles north of the Arnon, now called Diban. It was built by the tribe of Gad, and hence called Dibongad. (Num. xxxiii. 45.) The same place is called Dimon. (Isa. xv. 9.) At a later day it returned again to Moab. (Isa. xv. 2.) In Neh. xi. 25, a Dibon in Judah is mentioned, which may be the same with Debir. (Josh. xiii. 26.) A place called Diban is mentioned by modern travellers as situated about three miles north of the Arnon or Madjeb.

Horonaim, a city of Moab, perhaps the same as