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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Jeremiah 48:16 - 48:35
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Moab's Glory Followed by its Deep Fall
v. 16. The calamity of Moab is near to come, so that destruction will soon overtake him, and his affliction hasteth fast, his misfortune coming on apace, with great speed.
v. 17. All ye that are about him, all his neighbors, bemoan him, and all ye that know his name, those living at a distance and knowing only the fame of Moab, say, How is the strong staff broken and the beautiful rod! The breaking of Moab's scepter of beauty and splendor signifies the total overthrow of his government and rule. The admonition is addressed in a general way, to emphasize the total ruin of the former mighty people.
v. 18. Thou daughter that dost inhabit Dibon, a city some four miles north of the Arnon, come down from thy glory and sit in thirst, her surroundings becoming an arid wilderness; for the spoiler of Moab shall come upon thee, and he shall destroy thy strongholds, leveling all her proud fortifications in which she trusted.
v. 19. O inhabitant of Aroer, a city on the northern bank of the Arnon, originally belonging to Ammon, Deu_2:36; Deu_3:12, stand by the way and espy, watching, as it were, for the fugitive Moabites coming down from the north to escape the Chaldean invaders; ask him that fleeth and her that escapeth, for both men and women were seeking to save their lives by a hurried flight, and say, What is done? The answer to this question is given in the next verse.
v. 20. Moab is confounded, put to shame and confusion; for it is broken down; howl and cry! Tell ye it in Arnon, the former northern boundary between Moab and Ammon, that Moab is spoiled, the news of its destruction traveling southward with the fugitives.
v. 21. And judgment is come upon the plain country, upon the plateau; north of the Arnon, cities which had been in the possession of the tribe of Reuben for some centuries after the conquest, upon Holon, and upon Jahazah, and upon Mephaath,
v. 22. and upon Dibon, and upon Nebo, and upon Beth-diblathaim,
v. 23. and upon Kiria-thaim, and upon Beth-gamul, and upon Beth-meon,
v. 24. and upon Kerioth, probably another name for the capital of the country, and upon Bozrah, and upon all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near, most of these being situated in the region east of the Dead Sea. The fact that the judgment has struck Moab is made more specific by the enumeration of the individual cities that have been destroyed.
v. 25. The horn of Moab, emblem of strength and sovereignty, is cut off, and his arm is broken, saith the Lord, he has lost all his former great power, his mighty position is shattered. All this, as the prophet now points out, is the result of Moab's pride.
v. 26. Make ye him drunken, so the prophet addresses all those whom the Lord has made executors of His punishment, for he magnified himself against the Lord, wherefore he must drink the cup of Jehovah's avenging fury; Moab also shall wallow in his vomit, the consequence of his intoxication, and he also shall be in derision, an object of mockery on the part of all men. This is retribution in kind.
v. 27. For was not Israel a derision unto thee? Did Moab not make a mockery of the people of God? Was he found among thieves? for since thou spakest of him, thou skippedst for joy, or, "Had he been found among thieves that thou, as often as thou spakest of him, shookest thy head?" Moab had given every exhibition of derision and mockery over Israel, while, in truth, this nation, together with other heathen nations nearby, had been the cause of Israel's criminal conduct.
v. 28. O ye that dwell in Moab, leave the cities, dwellings which no longer offered a sufficient shelter, and dwell in the rock, in caves of inaccessible mountain fastnesses, and be like the dove that maketh her nest in the sides of the hole's mouth, on the walls of the yawning ravine.
v. 29. We have heard the pride of Moab (he is exceeding proud), his loftiness, and his arrogancy, and his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart, the synonymous terms being heaped to express, in a way, the unusual hatefulness of Moab's sin.
v. 30. I know his wrath, his furious insolence, saith the Lord; but it shall not be so, his boastings are nothingness, idle talk, vain vauntings; his lies shall not so effect it, his deeds being just as vain as his words. All this causes the prophet to give expression to his sympathy for Moab, well as it had deserved its fate.
v. 31. Therefore will I howl for Moab, raise his voice in lamentation, and I will cry out for all Moab; mine heart shall mourn for the men of Kir-heres, the strongest citadel of the country, probably identical with Kir-Moab.
v. 32. O vine of Sibmah, I will weep for thee with the weeping of Jazer, or, "more than Jazer," since, because the vines of Sibmah excelled in grapes which they produced, their destruction by the enemy was a calamity; thy plants are gone over the sea, they reach even to the Sea of Jazer, to the Dead Sea and beyond, and northward to the pools of Jazer, considerably beyond Heshbon. The spoiler is fallen upon thy summer-fruits and upon thy vintage, so that this entire industry was ruined.
v. 33. And joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field, from the fertile farm- and garden-land which has just been described, and from the land of Moab, from the entire country; and I have caused wine to fail from the wine-presses, there being no longer a supply of grapes for them; none shall tread with shouting, with the usual cry of "Hedad!" heard in the fields; their shouting shall be no shouting. Cf Isa_16:7-10.
v. 34. From the cry of Heshbon even unto Elealeh, and even unto Jahaz, have they uttered their voice, that is, throughout the entire country inhabited by the Moabites, from the northern part to the southern end of their land, the cry of distress was heard, from Zoar, in the southwest, even unto Horonaim, as an heifer of three years old, or, "to the third Eglat," one of three villages bearing the same name; for the waters also of Nimrim, copious springs with the meadow-lands belonging to them, near the southern end of the Dead Sea, shall be desolate, dried up as a result of God's punishment.
v. 35. Moreover, I will cause to cease in Moab, saith the Lord, him that offereth in the high places and him that burneth incense to his gods, making an end of all idolaters, as He would break down their places of worship. The same fate eventually awaits all idolaters, also those who indulge in the finer forms of the sin only and consider themselves safe in their insolent behavior.