Introduction
Moab is the son of Lot and his elder, unnamed daughter, born after the destruction of Sodom, explicitly identified in Genesis 19:37 as "the ancestor of the Moabites of today". The Moabites, tracing their origin to this episode, occupied territory east of the Dead Sea and appear repeatedly throughout the rest of the Hebrew Bible, in relationships ranging from hostility (as in the books of Numbers and Judges) to notable exception, as in the Book of Ruth, whose central figure, Ruth the Moabite, becomes an ancestor of King David.
Family
- Mother: Elder daughter of Lot
Origin
Moab's conception, through his mother's initiative with their intoxicated father Lot following the destruction of Sodom, is recorded without extensive narrative elaboration in Genesis 19, functioning primarily as an origin story (an etiology) explaining the ancestry of a neighbouring people from the biblical writers' perspective.
Later significance
Beyond Genesis, the Moabites and their territory, Moab, appear throughout the Torah and historical books of the Hebrew Bible, including significant roles in the accounts of Balaam's prophecies in Numbers, conflicts recorded in Judges, and, notably, the Book of Ruth, which presents a more sympathetic view of at least one Moabite woman than is typical elsewhere in the biblical text.