Genesis 19:37 - Exposition

And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab — Meab, from the father, alluding to his incestuous origin; though Mo (water, an Arabic euphemism for the semen virile ) and ab has been advanced as a more correct derivation (Rosenmüller). The same is the father of the Moabites—who originally inhabited the country northeast of the Dead Sea, between the Jabbok and the Arnon ( Deuteronomy 2:20 ), but were afterwards driven by the Amorites south of the Arnou—unto this day. This phrase, indicating a variable period from a few years to a few centuries (cf. Genesis 48:13 ; Exodus 10:6 ; Numbers 22:39 ; Joshua 22:3 ), cannot be regarded as a trace of post-Mosaic authorship (De Wette, et alii ) , since in Genesis it is always used of events which had taken place several centuries before the time of Moses, as in Genesis 26:33 ; Genesis 35:1-29 :30; Genesis 47:26 (cf. Heil, 'Introduction,' part 1. § 2, div. 1, § 33).