Tim Maas Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

As I read the chapter in question (2 Kings 3), God (speaking through the prophet Elisha in verses 16-19) commanded the combined armies of Israel and Judah (along with Edom) to overthrow all the fortified cities and major towns of the Moabites, cut down every good tree, block the Moabites' springs, and fill up the fields of the Moabites with the stones from the cities' walls, so that the fields would not be fit for agriculture.

After the armies had completely filled up the fields of the Moabites with the stones from the walls of all the Moabite cities other than Kir Hareseth (apparently without having already attacked or torn down the walls of Kir Hareseth), the armies then attacked Kir Hareseth with slings.

But when the king of Moab stood on the walls of Kir Hareseth and in desperation offered his own son (his designated successor as king) as a sacrifice to his pagan god in an effort to save himself and the city, it caused such a fury among his own people against the combined armies that were attacking them, and such horror, shock, and realization by those armies of the extremes to which the remaining Moabites would go in resisting them, that the armies withdrew and returned to their countries, without completely overthrowing the city (as they had been commanded to do), or tearing down its walls.

January 28 2016 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report