Abstract

BAR, Shaul. Saul's wars against Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Zobah. Old testam. essays [online]. 2014, vol.27, n.3, pp.825-838. ISSN 2312-3621.

According to 1 Sam 14:47-48 Saul fought against Moab, Ammon, Edom and the kings of Zobah. In addition he fought against the Philistines and the Amalekites. Not much is said about the wars against Moab, Ammon, Edom and the kings of Zobah. Thus, in order to see if indeed Saul fought against these people we will analyze the geopolitical and economic factors which led him to fight these wars. We will demonstrate that by his battles in the east, he expanded the border of his young monarchy to Trans-Jordan and eliminated the threat that came from the alliance between David, the Ammonites, and Moabites. Since the land was very limited the new territories that Saul conquered ensured the livelihood of the people in Israel who were looking for territories to settle. By fighting within the borders of Israel the war against the Amalekites came to protect the tribe of Judah from the Amalekites. By defeating the Amalekites, Saul incorporated an important tribe into his emerging monarchy. Furthermore his victory insured a monopoly on the Arabian trade. Saul's aim infighting against the Philistines was to break the Phil-istines oppressions, to liberate large territories which would con-nect the Israelites tribes. The battles took place at important strate-gic locations which were important to the two parties and connected the different parts of the country and also had economic significance.

Keywords : 1 & 2 Samuel; Saul; wars; strategic locations; monarchy; trade.

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