# The Biblical reference to America's new 'Moab' Bomb is chilling. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 12, 2003, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biblical-reference-to-americas-new-moab-bomb-is-chilling/160879 "2003-03-12T17:44:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biblical-reference-to-americas-new-moab-bomb-is-chilling/160879/1 "2003-03-12T17:44:44Z")
Just looking at the new Bomb created by The US governemnt Moab - stands for Massive Ordinance Air Burst. When I heard some of the biblical references I just got the chills. Here are a few from Isaiah, chapter 15: > [@](#): > > 15:1 - The burden of Moab. Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence; because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence; > [@](#): > > 15:2 - He is gone up to Bajith, and to Dibon, the high places, to weep: Moab shall howl over Nebo, and over Medeba: on all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard cut off. > [@](#): > > 15:4 - And Heshbon shall cry, and Elealeh: their voice shall be heard even unto Jahaz: therefore the armed soldiers of Moab shall cry out; his life shall be grievous unto him. Thats just to name a few. Though I am in support of the war - _yes, I know I just admitted it_ - I am forced to believe there is a reason we are going in and we are there to start a process of peace in the mid-east. Now I do not want to start two very different topics, so if we could discuss the biblical ramifications of the name of the bomb, I’d like to try and stay on that topic. Why the heck dod they name it that… They could have been more astute in their study of what it might mean… ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biblical-reference-to-americas-new-moab-bomb-is-chilling/160879/2 "2003-03-12T17:50:01Z")
One other etymology I’ve heard broadcast is that it really comes from “Mother Of All Bombs”, with the official full name being a back-formation. Even the Biblical references make sense if its existence (great timing, huh?) is intended to intimidate. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biblical-reference-to-americas-new-moab-bomb-is-chilling/160879/3 "2003-03-12T17:53:10Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Phlosphr \* > \*\* Though I am in support of the war - yes, I know I just admitted it …_\* (hijack) 😕 Help me here … is admitting that you’re in favor of the invasion of Iraq something to be ashamed of in your part of the world? (/hijack) ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biblical-reference-to-americas-new-moab-bomb-is-chilling/160879/4 "2003-03-12T17:59:50Z")
Whats really scary is that like it says in verse 2 the MOAB bomb will not just kill people it will make the hair on their heads fall out before it kills them. ---
**Author:** ![Azael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a8b319/32.png) [@Azael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azael)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biblical-reference-to-americas-new-moab-bomb-is-chilling/160879/5 "2003-03-12T18:00:23Z")
The Biblical connections seem intentional, I’m curious as to what exactly Moab means in the traditional Biblical context… ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biblical-reference-to-americas-new-moab-bomb-is-chilling/160879/6 "2003-03-12T18:16:29Z")
I am not ashamed to admit I am in support of the war. No it is not a bad thing, I am an American. And apparently - non-scientific gallup poll - 1 in 2 people agree with me. From the bible: After escaping The Destruction Of Sodom, Lot and his two daughters took refuge in a mountain cave (Lot’s wife and two sons-in-law did not survive the destruction). One day, Lot’s oldest daughter, whose judgment had obviously become severely warped after having lived in Sodom, decided to start an incestuous family - … - So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab; he is the father of the Moabites of today. The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the Ammonites of today." (Genesis 19:30-38) ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biblical-reference-to-americas-new-moab-bomb-is-chilling/160879/7 "2003-03-12T18:18:47Z")
Incidentally, the land of moan is currently in Jordan. But Moab _was_ a very powerful man. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biblical-reference-to-americas-new-moab-bomb-is-chilling/160879/8 "2003-03-12T18:27:32Z")
Moab was a kingdom…more of a tribal confederation, really, to the east of Israel, in what’s now Jordan. It looks like they were conquered by the Israelites for a time, then rebelled and gained their independence under a king named Mesha. Their main god was named Chemosh. In the bible, they’re generally described in hostile terms, and as one of Israel’s main enemies. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biblical-reference-to-americas-new-moab-bomb-is-chilling/160879/9 "2003-03-12T19:33:07Z")
> [@](#): > > Whats really scary is that like it says in verse 2 the MOAB bomb will not just kill people it will make the hair on their heads fall out before it kills them. The MOAB is not radioactive. Its a really, really big BOOM! No radioactive waste. No cancer. ---
**Author:** ![Avalonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Avalonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avalonian)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biblical-reference-to-americas-new-moab-bomb-is-chilling/160879/10 "2003-03-12T19:39:05Z")
Using the MOAB acronym is a pretty cheap shot, in my mind. What’s the next one going to be, MFOAB? You figure it out, this is GD. ---
**Author:** ![feath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4bbf92/32.png) [@feath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/feath)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biblical-reference-to-americas-new-moab-bomb-is-chilling/160879/11 "2003-03-12T21:11:39Z")
Reading on AOL news service - that sent me to cnn news - that the MOAB goes BOOM really loud. But someone was quoted to say that it was HOPED the Iraqi’s THOUGHT it was a nuclear bomb. Myself, I thought that was the stupidest thing anyone could want. SH has stated if US sends nucs, he will respond with nucs. Are we pushing EVERY button this man has, to get him to hit us FIRST? ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biblical-reference-to-americas-new-moab-bomb-is-chilling/160879/12 "2003-03-12T21:39:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by feath \* > \*\*Reading on AOL news service - that sent me to cnn news - that the MOAB goes BOOM really loud. But someone was quoted to say that it was HOPED the Iraqi’s THOUGHT it was a nuclear bomb. > > Myself, I thought that was the stupidest thing anyone could want. SH has stated if US sends nucs, he will respond with nucs. Are we pushing EVERY button this man has, to get him to hit us FIRST? \*\* From [CNN](http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/03/11/sprj.irq.moab/index.html) > [@](#): > > Officials suggest perhaps the Iraqis might even mistake a MOAB blast for a nuclear detonation. I think you misread the article. ---
**Author:** ![feath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4bbf92/32.png) [@feath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/feath)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biblical-reference-to-americas-new-moab-bomb-is-chilling/160879/13 "2003-03-12T22:00:24Z")
The full paragraph, were I felt they HOPED it would make Iraqi think the bomb was a nuc, reads: > [@](#): > > But military officials tell CNN that the MOAB is mainly conceived as a weapon employed for “psychological operations.” Military officials say they hope the MOAB will create such a huge blast that it will rattle Iraq troops and pressure them into surrendering or not even fighting. Officials suggest perhaps the Iraqis might even mistake a MOAB blast for a nuclear detonation. yes, its says they hope it will rattle them so much, they will quit. Yet, with the next sentence, in the same paragraph, suggests it is the same subject/feeling. And that is perhaps they will _even_mistake it for a nuclear detonation. That is a continuation of the thought/action of the previous sentense. ---
**Author:** ![feath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4bbf92/32.png) [@feath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/feath)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biblical-reference-to-americas-new-moab-bomb-is-chilling/160879/14 "2003-03-12T22:07:43Z")
All right… lets say I did miss read it – to that I will say: > [@](#): > > Officials suggest perhaps the Iraqis might even mistake a MOAB blast for a nuclear detonation. Why would they want to send over a bomb that MIGHT be mistaken as a nuclear detonation, as SH has stated, if we nuc him, he will nuc US? Is this not … slightly… _asking for it?_ (but I still feel they hoped Iraqis mistaked the blast for a nuc!) ---
**Author:** ![AvidReader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47774/32.png) [@AvidReader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AvidReader)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biblical-reference-to-americas-new-moab-bomb-is-chilling/160879/15 "2003-03-12T23:04:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by smiling bandit \* > \*\*The MOAB is not radioactive. Its a really, really big BOOM! No radioactive waste. No cancer. \*\* Just a clean kill…very thoughtful… ---
**Author:** ![Azael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a8b319/32.png) [@Azael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azael)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biblical-reference-to-americas-new-moab-bomb-is-chilling/160879/16 "2003-03-12T23:05:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by feath \* > \*\*Myself, I thought that was the stupidest thing anyone could want. SH has stated if US sends nucs, he will respond with nucs. Are we pushing EVERY button this man has, to get him to hit us FIRST? \*\* Um, Saddam never said that, seeing as that would be the same as admitting he has nuclear weapons. Not even the U.S. believes he already _has_ nuclear weapons, but we have been making the case that he is seeking to aquire them. In any event, I think your concerns are overstated… especially since a first strike by Iraq would make people at the pentagon very very happy. The case for war would already be made and that would make all of the diplomatic wrangling the U.S. is currently mired in irrelevant. Suffice to say that Saddam isn’t going to give us that kind of pretext. Scaring your enemy into surrendering is infintely preferable to killing them outright, that’s what this is about. Ominous mushroom clouds are very scary. ---
**Author:** ![AvidReader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47774/32.png) [@AvidReader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AvidReader)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biblical-reference-to-americas-new-moab-bomb-is-chilling/160879/17 "2003-03-12T23:06:23Z")
\*\*The MOAB is not radioactive. Its a really, really big BOOM! No radioactive waste. No cancer. \*\* [/QUOTE] Just a clean kill. We Americans are **so** thoughtful. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biblical-reference-to-americas-new-moab-bomb-is-chilling/160879/18 "2003-03-13T00:02:39Z")
I don’t think there’s anything particularly “chilling” about this. I bet the name came from someone thinking about a good acronym for this thing. It’s a type of morbid humor. Hell, the US Navy’s old A-7 Corsair attack bomber was nicknamed the “Ensign Eliminator” because the jet engine intake was located in a large slot under the nose of the plane. The Russians dubbed an experimental 50 megaton hydrogen bomb _Czar Bomba_ which roughly translates to King of Bombs (an apt description.) An early air-aircraft vehicle consisted of four .5" machine guns on a quadruple mount stuck in the back of a halftrack. It was sometimes used against infantry attacks, which earned it the nickname “meat grinder.” Israel has a missile called the Jericho. Look at some of the names of British tanks and armored vehicles during WW2: Comet, Challenger, Crusader, Cromwell, Achilles, Valentine, Priest, Sexton. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biblical-reference-to-americas-new-moab-bomb-is-chilling/160879/19 "2003-03-13T01:48:12Z")
My father… yes, another my father story… My father was an ordinance officer in Vietnam when the old Blooie was designed. Turns out it was built without… exactly… figuring out how to drop it. So they give it to the army. Army attaches it to a sky crane, and drops it. Fun fact: Sky cranes have a fairly low ceiling. Not high enough to avoid the detonation. So, Dad gets the brilliant idea of a C-130. Stuffs it on an Airborne’s jeep pallet, attaches a drogue chute, and they go up. Strap everyone the heck down, drop the rear, and toss the chute out. Works real well, except for any concept of precision, of course, and… That C-130 just lost 15,000 pounds of weight. It goes _all_ over the sky, with the people in the back just swinging over the big empty hole. And that’s how they did it for the rest of the war. If that doesn’t scare you, I should tell you the story of the nuke and the F-111s. ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Cool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecb155/32.png) [@Joe\_Cool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Cool)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biblical-reference-to-americas-new-moab-bomb-is-chilling/160879/20 "2003-03-13T02:24:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AvidReader \* > \*\*\*\*The MOAB is not radioactive. Its a really, really big BOOM! No radioactive waste. No cancer. \*\* Just a clean kill. We Americans are **so** thoughtful. \*\* [/QUOTE] So it was terrible that we would drop a dirty, radioactive bomb that would make their hair fall out, but it’s worse that we would drop a bomb that makes clean, humane kills? Would you like the army to develop a bomb that spreads joy and scatters flowers and money about the target? What exactly do you think bombs are for? Party favors? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biblical-reference-to-americas-new-moab-bomb-is-chilling/160879.md?page=2)