#74. The Breakout Attempt
And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too fierce for him, he took with him seven hundred men who drew swords, to break through to the king of Edom, but they could not.
II Kings 3:26 NKJV
In late 1942, the battle of Stalingrad had been engaged for many months. The Russian winter had led the Red Army to realize not only that the battle for Stalingrad could be won but that a great Russian victory could be achieved over the German 6th Army. The key to Russian victory was to attack the southern flanks of the German army, which were made up of weak Romanian troops. By the end of the first day’s offensive, the 3rd and 4th Romanian armies were in headlong retreat. Three days later, Red Army forces from the north met with Red Army forces from the south and the 6th German Army was surrounded in Stalingrad where it would be destroyed.
The king of Moab was surrounded, his nation was destroyed, and while he did not hope for a victory at Kir-Haraseth, he was hoping to survive. His plan was similar to that of the Russians many years later: Attack the weakest link in the enemy line. That was the army of the king of Edom. Israel and Judah had aligned themselves for the battle and developed the plan, and the king of Edom seemed to have joined towards the end of the plan and provided access through his wilderness to attack Moab. Perhaps, after already participating in a great victory, his troops would retreat with a sudden and severe breakthrough attempt by the king of Moab.
The plight of Moab at this stage was such that this daring attempt with a measure of wisdom behind it was still doomed to failure. The 700 choice men remaining from Moab were unable to break through the encirclement and escape to fight another day.
When a nation is destroyed, peace would seem to be the logical pursuit but that was not the case with Moab. The king wanted to escape rather than admit defeat and submit himself again to the kings surrounding Moab.
The Lord’s blocking this escape was for at least two reasons: 1) The Lord had promised to destroy Moab, and if the king had escaped in a last strategic hurrah, Moab would achieve a small strategic victory in the end; and 2) The Lord allowed one more deed to reveal the great heights of evil that Moab and surrounding nations had achieved.
When our sins destroy us it seems logical to pursue peace with God. Peace is freely offered through Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, but many will rally their strength to break away from the Lord or commit even greater evil rather than submit themselves to Him. Let us pray for ourselves and others to submit wholly to the Lord and King Jesus Christ.
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