1. A place which marks the boundary of the Joktanite territory.
2. King of Moab, a contemporary of Kings Ahab and Jehoram of Israel and Jehoshaphat of Judah. According to II Kings 3:4, Moab was tributary to Israel, but during Israel's war against Aram, Mesha revolted against Jehoram. Aided by King Jehoshaphat of Judah and by Edom, Jehoram embarked on a punitive campaign (II Kgs 3:6), devastating Moab until, at the siege of Kir Hareseth, Mesha in despair offered his eldest son as a burnt offering upon the city wall, to his god Chemosh. The Israelites were so horrified that they lifted the siege and withdrew (II Kgs 3:25-27).
A different account of relations between Israel and Moab and of Mesha's successful revolt is recorded on the "Mesha Stone" (also called the "Moabite Stone"), a large stele erected by Mesha in his capital at Dibon, and inscribed in a Moabite-Canaanite dialect similar to biblical Hebrew. (see INSCRIPTIONS) The stele, discovered in 1868, sheds considerable light on Moab's history and religion. Dedicated to the Moabite national god Chemosh, it commemorates Mesha's revolt against Israel, apparently after the death of Ahab (II Kgs 1:1; 3:5), his recovery of independence for Moab, and his glorious and successful reign. The order of events mentioned in the stele conflicts with the biblical account: Mesha claims that he revolted 40 years after Omri began his oppression of Moab, in the middle of the reign of Omri's son, whereas II Kings 3:5 tells of Mesha's revolt against Israel after the death of Omri's son and successor Ahab. This contradiction may be reconciled if we take "son" to mean "grandson" (as in II Kgs 8:26). The horrifying account of the siege of Kir Hareseth (II Kgs chap. 3) is completely ignored in the stele, perhaps indicating that this took place after the stele was erected by Mesha. Several aspects of ancient western-semitic religion are illuminated by the stele: Chemosh's anger against his people and the resultant punishment of Moab by Israelite domination under Omri parallel the biblical conception of divine punishment. Just as Israel's victories were attributed to divine intervention (Judg 11:24; II Kgs 3:18, etc.), so Moab saw hers as coming from Chemosh. The biblical custom of ban-devotion of spoils of war to God – was observed in Moab as in israel. The biblical description of Mesha as a "sheepbreeder" (II Kgs 3:4) is borne out by Mesha's explicit claim in the stele that he placed "sheep-raisers" over the land. Although written in Moabite, the stele has been called the "earliest important Hebrew inscription," its import lying in its historical as well as paleographic significance.
3. The firstborn son of Caleb the grandson of Judah.
4. A son of Shaharaim, an ancestor of Saul.
Concordance
MESHA 1:
Gen 10:30
MESHA 2:
II Kgs 3:4
MESHA 3:
I Chr 2:42
MESHA 4:
I Chr 8:9
