Numbers 21:29 - Exposition

O people of Chemosh. עַם־כָּמוּשׁ . Chemosh was the national god of the Moabites ( 1 Kings 11:7 ; Jeremiah 48:7 ), and also to some extent of the Ammonites ( 11:24 ). It is generally agreed that the name is derived from the root כבש , to subdue, and thus will have substantially the same meaning as Milcom, Molech, and Baal; indeed it appears probable that there was a strong family likeness among the idolatries of Palestine, and that the various names represented different attributes of one supreme being rather than different divinities. Thus Baal and Ashtaroth ( 2:13 ) represented for the Zidonians the masculine and feminine elements respectively in the Divine energy. Baal himself was plural (Baalim, 1 Kings 18:18 ) in form, and either male or female ( ἡ βάαλ in Hosea 2:8 ; Romans 11:4 ). In the inscription on the Moabite stone a god "Ashtar-Chemosh" is mentioned, and thus Chemosh is identified with the male deity of Phoenicia (Ashtar being the masculine form of Ashtoreth), while, on the other hand, it was almost certainly the same divinity who was worshipped under another name, and with other rites, as Baal-Peor (see on Numbers 25:3 ). On the coins of Areopolis Chemosh appears as a god of war armed, with fire-torches by his side. Human sacrifices were offered to him ( 2 Kings 3:26 , 2 Kings 3:27 ), as to Baal and to Moloch. He hath given his sons, i.e; Chemosh, who could not save his own votaries, nor the children of his people.