Mesha
King of Moab who rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab. He is known from 2 Kings 3 and from his own inscription, the Mesha Stele, in which he records the towns he took from Israel.
Mesha calls himself a man of Dibon and the son of a king who ruled Moab for thirty years, and says that he built a sanctuary for the god Chemosh (Mesha Stele lines 1–4). Kings describes him as a sheep breeder who paid tribute to Israel and rebelled when Ahab died. Besieged in Kir-hareseth by the kings of Israel, Judah and Edom, he sacrificed his eldest son on the wall, and the besiegers withdrew (2 Kings 3:4–27).
His stele tells of the same struggle from his side: the oppression of Moab by Omri and his son, and the capture of Ataroth, Nebo and Jahaz from Israel (Mesha Stele lines 4–21); see Moab’s Revolt and the Mesha Stele. Neither source gives the years of his reign.
In the timeline
- about 840 BC, estimated dateMoab’s Revolt and the Mesha Stele
Mesha, king of Moab, throws off the rule of Israel after Ahab’s death. Kings tells of the campaign sent against him; Mesha’s own stele, found at Dibon, tells of the towns he took from Israel in the name of his god Chemosh.
Primary sources
Scripture
The Mesha Stele (Moabite Stone)
- Mesha Stele lines 1–4archive.org
- Mesha Stele lines 4–21archive.org