כמוש

מאת: אבנר רמו

The content of the words of Jeremiah to Moab (chapter 48) share many details and even figures of speech with Isaiah’s “vision on Moab” (chapters 15-16). Yet one of the more conspicuous differences is in regard to the god of the Moabites כמוש - “Chemosh.” While Chemosh is mentioned three times in chapter 48 of the Book of Jeremiah (verses 7, 13 and 46), he is not mentioned even once in the Book of Isaiah. Yet we find in Isaiah’s “vision on Moab” the following odd verse: שלחו-כר משל-ארץ, מסלע מדברה, אל-הר בת-ציון - “Send [you the] lambs [for the] ruler of the land from the crags that are toward the wilderness, to the mount of the daughter of Zion” (Is 16:1).

This English translation does not adhere to the Hebrew text, nor is it supported by the Greek translation. It is therefore suggested that שלחו-כר משל-ארץ (shilkhu kar moshel erets) is a misspelled and mis-divided: לארץ שלחו-כמוש (shilkhu kemosh laarets) - “send Chemosh to the land [from the town of Sela’ to the wilderness].” This suggestion assumes that the erroneous ר (r) letter-insertion here resulted in mis-division of the letters to words.