Fighting Moab

(1) After Ahab’s death, Moab rebelled against Israel.

(1) Jehoram son of Ahab became king of Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of King Jehoshaphat of Judah; and he reigned twelve years. (2) He did what was displeasing to the LORD, yet not like his father and mother, for he removed the pillars of Baal that his father had made. (3) However, he clung to the sins which Jeroboam son of Nebat caused Israel to commit; he did not depart from them.

He removed the pillars of Baal: But he did not remove the Ashera because of his mother, who would worship there.

(4) Now King Mesha of Moab was a sheep breeder; and he used to pay as tribute to the king of Israel a hundred thousand lambs and the wool of a hundred thousand rams. (5) But when Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. (6) So King Jehoram promptly set out from Samaria and mustered all Israel. (7) At the same time, he sent this message to King Jehoshaphat of Judah: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me; will you come with me to make war on Moab?” He replied, “I will go. I will do what you do: my troops shall be your troops, my horses shall be your horses.”

(2) In the third year, King Jehoshaphat of Judah came to visit the king of Israel. (3) The king of Israel said to his courtiers, “You know that Ramoth-gilead belongs to us, and yet we do nothing to recover it from the hands of the king of Aram.” (4) And he said to Jehoshaphat, “Will you come with me to battle at Ramoth-gilead?” Jehoshaphat answered the king of Israel, “I will do what you do; my troops shall be your troops, my horses shall be your horses.”

(8) And he asked, “Which route shall we take?” [Jehoram] replied, “The road through the wilderness of Edom.” (9) So the king of Israel, the king of Judah, and the king of Edom set out, and they marched for seven days until they rounded [the tip of the Dead Sea]; and there was no water left for the army or for the animals that were with them. (10) “Alas!” cried the king of Israel. “The LORD has brought these three kings together only to deliver them into the hands of Moab.” (11) But Jehoshaphat said, “Isn’t there a prophet of the LORD here, through whom we may inquire of the LORD?” One of the courtiers of the king of Israel spoke up and said, “Elisha son of Shaphat, who poured water on the hands of Elijah, is here.”

(5) But Jehoshaphat said further to the king of Israel, “Please, first inquire of the LORD.” (6) So the king of Israel gathered the prophets, about four hundred men, and asked them, “Shall I march upon Ramoth-gilead for battle, or shall I not?” “March,” they said, “and the Lord will deliver [it] into Your Majesty’s hands.” (7) Then Jehoshaphat asked, “Isn’t there another prophet of the LORD here through whom we can inquire?”

(12) “The word of the LORD is with him,” said Jehoshaphat. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him. (13) Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What have you to do with me? Go to your father’s prophets or your mother’s prophets.” But the king of Israel said, “Don’t [say that], for the LORD has brought these three kings together only to deliver them into the hands of Moab.”

Elisha said to the king of Israel, "What have you to do with me? Go to your father's prophets or your mother's prophets." But the king of Israel said, "Please! Do not mention our sins at this moment. Appeal for mercy on our behalf. For the LORD has brought these three kings together only to deliver them into the hands of Moab."

(14) “As the LORD of Hosts lives, whom I serve,” Elisha answered, “were it not that I respect King Jehoshaphat of Judah, I wouldn’t look at you or notice you. (15) Now then, get me a musician.” As the musician played, the hand of the LORD came upon him, (16) and he said, “Thus said the LORD: This wadi shall be full of pools. (17) For thus said the LORD: You shall see no wind, you shall see no rain, and yet the wadi shall be filled with water; and you and your cattle and your pack animals shall drink. (18) And this is but a slight thing in the sight of the LORD, for He will also deliver Moab into your hands. (19) You shall conquer every fortified town and every splendid city; you shall fell every good tree and stop up all wells of water; and every fertile field you shall ruin with stones.”

(20) And in the morning, when it was time to present the meal offering, water suddenly came from the direction of Edom and the land was covered by the water. (21) Meanwhile, all the Moabites had heard that the kings were advancing to make war on them; every man old enough to bear arms rallied, and they stationed themselves at the border. (22) Next morning, when they rose, the sun was shining over the water, and from the distance the water appeared to the Moabites as red as blood. (23) “That’s blood!” they said. “The kings must have fought among themselves and killed each other. Now to the spoil, Moab!” (24) They entered the Israelite camp, and the Israelites arose and attacked the Moabites, who fled before them. They advanced, constantly attacking the Moabites, (25) and they destroyed the towns. Every man threw a stone into each fertile field, so that it was covered over; and they stopped up every spring and felled every fruit tree. Only the walls of Kir-hareseth were left, and then the slingers surrounded it and attacked it.

(19) You shall conquer every fortified town and every splendid city; you shall fell every good tree and stop up all wells of water; and every fertile field you shall ruin with stones.”

(19) When in your war against a city you have to besiege it a long time in order to capture it, you must not destroy its trees, wielding the ax against them. You may eat of them, but you must not cut them down. Are trees of the field human to withdraw before you into the besieged city?

(26) Seeing that the battle was going against him, the king of Moab led an attempt of seven hundred swordsmen to break a way through to the king of Edom; but they failed. (27) So he took his first-born son, who was to succeed him as king, and offered him up on the wall as a burnt offering. A great wrath came upon Israel, so they withdrew from him and went back to [their own] land.

§ The Gemara cites a verse concerning the king of Moab: “Then he took his eldest son, who should have reigned in his stead, and sacrificed him for a burnt offering upon the wall; and there was great indignation against Israel, and they departed from him and returned to their own land” (II Kings 3:27). Rav and Shmuel engage in a dispute concerning this. One says: The king sacrificed his son for the sake of Heaven, and one says: The king sacrificed his son for the sake of idol worship. The Gemara asks: Granted, according to the one who says that he sacrificed him for the sake of Heaven, this is as it is written: “And there was great indignation against Israel,” as the gentile attempted to honor God according to his understanding, while the Jewish people were straying from worshipping God, leading to God’s anger against them. But according to the one who says that he sacrificed him for the sake of idol worship, why would the verse state: “And there was…indignation”? The Gemara answers: This can be understood in accordance with the statement of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi. As Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi raises a contradiction: It is written concerning the Jewish people: “You have not walked in My statutes, neither have you kept My ordinances; nor have you done according to the statutes of the nations that are round about you” (Ezekiel 5:7), and it is also written: “You have done according to the statutes of the nations that are round about you” (Ezekiel 11:12). Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi explains: You did not act like the proper ones among the nations, but you did act like the flawed ones among them. Here as well, the Jewish people learned from the king of Moab to engage in human sacrifice.

"So he took his eldest son" - My lord father of blessed memory interpreted this to mean that the son of the king of Edom who was fit to rule after him was in the custody of the king of Moab, and that for this reason he [the king of Edom] came with the two kings [of Judah and Israel], since with their help he planned to save his son from captivity under the king of Moab. When the king of Moab planned to break through to the king of Edom and could not, in his wrath he took the son of the king of Edom and brought him up on the wall and burned him before his father's eyes. This is what "he offered him up as a burnt offering" means - that he burned him as one burns a burnt offering.