(4) The revolt of Moab, continued from 2Kings 1:1. Ahaziah did not reign two full years, and his accident seems to have prevented any attempt on his part to reduce the Moabites.

Mesha.--The name means "deliverance, salvation," and occurs on the monument set up by this king, describing his victories and buildings. (See Note on 2Kings 1:1.)

A sheep-master.--Heb., noq?d (Amos 1:1). In Arabic, naqad means a kind of sheep of superior wool; naqqad, the owner or shepherd of such sheep. The land of Moab is mountainous, but well watered, and rich in fertile valleys, and thus specially suited for pasture; and the Arabian wilderness lay open to the Moabite shepherds and their flocks.

Rendered.--Used to render (waw conversive of the perfect); scil., year by year. This tribute is referred to in Isaiah 16:1.

With the wool.--Rather, in wool (an accusative of limitation). The word rendered "lambs" (k?rim) means lambs fatted for food. The expression "in wool," therefore, relates only to the rams. Mesha's annual tribute was paid in kind, and consisted of a hundred thousand fatted lambs and the fleeces of a hundred thousand rams. This was a heavy burden for a country no larger than the county of Huntingdon. (Comp. Mesha's own allusions to the "oppression" of Moab by Omri and Ahab, 2Kings 1:1, Note.) The LXX. adds, ?? ?? ??????????? ("in the revolt"); implying that the present rebellion was distinct from that of 2Kings 1:1, and that this tribute was imposed as an indemnity for the former revolt. The addition is probably due to a transcriber.

Verses 4-27. - THE WAR WITH MOAB. The historian goes back to the origin of the war. He had already, in 2 Kings 1:1, mentioned the revolt of Moab at the death of Ahab; but he now recalls his readers' attention to the fact, and to some extent explains it and accounts for it. Moab had been treated oppressively - had been forced to pay an extraordinarily heavy tribute - and was in a certain sense driven into rebellion (vers. 4, 5). Jehoram, when he came to the kingdom, determined to make a great effort to put the rebellion down, and to re-establish the authority of Israel over the revolted people His relations with Jehoshaphat of Israel were so close that he had no difficulty in persuading him to join in the war. He was also able to obtain the alliance of the King of Edom. Thus strengthened, he made no doubt of being successful, and confidently invaded the country (vers. 6-9). The course of the war is then related (vers. 10-27).

3:1-5 Jehoram took warning by God's judgment, and put away the image of Baal, yet he maintained the worship of the calves. Those do not truly repent or reform, who only part with the sins they lose by, but continue to love the sins that they think to gain by.And Mesha king of Moab was a sheep master,.... With which his country abounded; he kept great numbers of them, and shepherds to take care of them; he traded in them, and got great riches by them; his substance chiefly consisted in them:

and rendered unto the king of Israel: either as a present, or as an annual tribute:

an hundred thousand lambs, and an hundred thousand rams, with the wool; that is, upon them, unshorn, and so the more valuable; and it was usual for tributary nations to pay their tribute to those to whom they were subject in such commodities which they most abounded with; so the Cappadocians, as Strabo (c) relates, used to pay, as a tribute to the Persians, every year, 1500 horses and 2000 mules, and five myriads of sheep, or 50,000; and formerly, Pliny (d) says, the only tribute was from the pastures.

(c) Geograph. l. 11. p. 362. (d) Nat. Hist. l. 18. c. 3.