The national god of the Moabites, and of the Ammonites, worshipped also under Solomon at Jerusalem, ; ; ; ; . Some erroneously identify Chemosh with Ammon.\par
The national god of the country
of Moab.
The *abomination* (i.e. idol, in Scripture's contemptuous phrase) of Moab (Num 21:29; Jer 48:7; Jer 48:13-46). Depicted on coins with sword, lance, and shield, and two torches at his side. Ammon, from its close connection with Moab, also worshipped Chemosh, but Moloch (kin) was their peculiar deity (Jdg 11:24). Solomon introduced, and Josiah overthrew, Chemosh worship in Jerusalem. A black star, according to Jewish tradition, was his symbol, whether as identical with Mars or Saturn. Jerome states that Dibon was his chief seat of worship.
A black stone was the Arab symbol of him. The inscribed black stone set up at Dibon, lately discovered, is full of the Moabite king Mesha's praises of Chemosh as the giver of his martial successes against Israel. (See MOAB; DIBON.) Derived from kabash, to vanquish. Idolatry originated in appropriating to separate deities the attributes combined in the one true God. *Ashtar Chemosh,* mentioned on the Moabite stone, connects the Moabite and the Phoenician worship. Ashtar is the masculine of Astarte, an androgynous god, combining the active and passive powers of nature. Chemosh required human sacrifices as god of war; Mesha, after taking Ataroth, offered all the warriors in sacrifice.
Bordering Israel in the region east of the Dead Sea was the nation Moab, whose national god was Chemosh. In times of religious corruption, Israel copied Moabite religious practices (Jdg 10:6; 1Ki 11:7; 1Ki 11:33), and in times of reformation got rid of them (2Ki 23:13). The Moabites looked for help from Chemosh through offering child sacrifices (2Ki 3:26-27; cf. Jdg 10:6; Jdg 11:30-31; Jdg 11:39), but Chemosh was powerless to save them from the judgment of God (Jer 48:7; Jer 48:13; Jer 48:46; see MOAB).
handling; stroking; taking away
Che´mosh is the name of a national god of the Moabites (; ; ; who are for this reason called the 'people of Chemosh,' in ), and of the Ammonites (), whose worship was introduced among the Israelites by Solomon (). No attempt which has been made to identify this god with others whose attributes are better known, are sufficiently plausible to deserve particular notice. The only theory which rests on any probability is that which assumes a resemblance between Chemosh and Arabian idolatry. Jewish tradition affirms that he was worshipped under the symbol of a black star; and Maimonides states that his worshippers went bare-headed, and abstained from the use of garments sewn together by the needle. The black star, the connection with Arabian idolatry, and the fact that Chemosh is coupled with Moloch, favor the theory that he had some analogy with the planet Saturn.
Head god Moab
Che'mosh. (subduer). The national deity of the Moabites. ; ; ; . In . He also appears as the god of the Ammonites. Solomon introduced, and Josiah abolished, the worship of Chemosh at Jerusalem. ; . Also identified with Baal-peor, Baalzebub, Mars and Saturn.
כמוש , an idol of the Moabites, Num 21:29. The name is derived from a root which in Arabic signifies to hasten. For this reason, many believe Chemosh to be the sun, whose precipitate course might well procure it the name of swift. Some identify Chemosh with Ammon; and Macrobius shows that Ammon was the sun, whose rays were denoted by his horns. Calmet is of opinion that the god Hamanus and Apollo Chomeus, mentioned by Strabo and Ammianus Marcellinus, was Chamos, or the sun. These deities were worshipped in many parts of the east. Some, from the resemblance of the Hebrew Chamos with the Greek Comos, have thought Chamos to signify Bacchus. Jerom and most interpreters consider Chemosh and Peor as the same deity; but some think that Baal-Peor was Tammuz, or Adonis. To Chemosh Solomon erected an altar upon the Mount of Olives, 1Ki 11:7. As to the form of the idol Chemosh, the Scripture is silent; but if, according to Jerom, it were like Baal-Peor, it must have been of the beeve kind; as were, probably, all the Baals, though accompanied with various insignia. There can be little doubt that part of the religious services performed to Chemosh, as to Baal- Peor, consisted in revelling and drunkenness, obscenities and impurities of the grossest kinds. From Chemosh the Greeks seem to have derived their Κωμος, called by the Romans Comus, the god of feasting and revelling.