48:1 The Lord God of Israel who rules over all spoke about Moab. “Sure to be judged is Nebo! Indeed, it will be destroyed! Kiriathaim will suffer disgrace. It will be captured! Its fortress will suffer disgrace. It will be torn down!
Jeremiah’s third Gentile judgment was against the Moabites. The Moabites were cousins of Israel through the incestuous relationship of Lot and his oldest daughter Moab. Her upbringing in Sodom and Gomorrah by a mother who turned to salt was passed unto her descendants. Moab was located in the same location as modern central Jordan.
Jehovah is the God of Israel, but He is also sovereign over all Gentle nations as well. Nebo and Kiriathaim were Moabite cities which were taken from the Tribe of Reuben. These two cites will be taken from Moab. Kiriathaim may have also been the birthplace of Judas Iscariot.
48:2 People will not praise Moab any more. The enemy will capture Heshbon and plot how to destroy Moab, saying, ‘Come, let’s put an end to that nation!’ City of Madmen, you will also be destroyed. A destructive army will march against you.
People would no longer praise Moab anymore, because Moab would be destroyed. During the Exodus, Heshbon was the Amorite capital of Sihon. It was given to the tribe of Reuben. The Moabite Stone implied that Heshbon was later occupied by individuals from the tribe of Gad. It was eventually taken by Moab. Heshbon has been excavated by modern archaeologists. Heshbon was also the capital city of King Sidon. During the Exodus, the Sidonians were defeated by Moses.
The Hebrew word for “Madmen” is מַדְמֵ֣ן (madman), meaning “silent one.” In Hebrew, this verse expresses a play of words, meaning “O Silent One, you will become silent.”
48:3 Cries of anguish will arise in Horonaim, ‘Oh, the ruin and great destruction!’
Fugitives who escaped the slaughter of the Moabites would travel to the city of Horonaim and wail about the destruction of their cities.
48:4 “Moab will be crushed. Her children will cry out in distress.
Moab would be crushed by this unknown foreign power. Her children would cry in distress.
48:5 Indeed they will climb the slopes of Luhith, weeping continually as they go. For on the road down to Horonaim they will hear the cries of distress over the destruction.
The fugitives would climb the slopes of Luhith, weeping as they traveled down these roads. The Babylonians destroyed their city, so they would have no where to go.
Horonaim’s destruction was so complete, that it has not been found today. However, her existence was confirmed by the Moabite Stone.
48:6 They will hear, ‘Run! Save yourselves! Even if you must be like a lonely shrub in the desert!’
Jeremiah called Moab to flee the coming destruction. Moab was to save herself by running to the desert and living like a shrub.
48:7 “Moab, you trust in the things you do and in your riches. So you too will be conquered. Your god Chemosh will go into exile along with his priests and his officials.
Moab trusted in her works, her wealth, and her pagan god. Moab worshiped the demonic god Chemosh, but Chemosh would not be able to save the Moabites from her destruction. The idol of Chemosh would be carried into captivity.
48:8 The destroyer will come against every town. Not one town will escape. The towns in the valley will be destroyed. The cities on the high plain will be laid waste. I, the Lord, have spoken!
The destroyer of the Moabites has not yet been named.
48:9 Set up a gravestone for Moab, for it will certainly be laid in ruins! Its cities will be laid waste and become uninhabited.”
Jehovah is telling the Moabites in advance that they need to build gravestones for themselves.
48:10 A curse on anyone who is lax in doing the Lord’s work! A curse on anyone who keeps from carrying out his destruction!
If these nations which God called to exterminate Moab refused to fulfill their calling, then God would curse that nation as well.
48:11 “From its earliest days Moab has lived undisturbed. It has never been taken into exile. Its people are like wine allowed to settle undisturbed on its dregs, never poured out from one jar to another. They are like wine which tastes like it always did, whose aroma has remained unchanged.
Moab lived a long history of peace. No one ever conquered her and took her into exile. The Moabite people were like wine that was settled, but her dregs were never filtered out. Since the wine was never poured from one bottle to the next bottle, then the dregs sat at the bottom of the bottle and made the wine too sweet and too thick. This wine was undrinkable. Moab had turned into a nasty tasting drink of wine which would be spit out of the mouth of Jehovah.
48:12 But the time is coming when I will send men against Moab who will empty it out. They will empty the towns of their people, then will lay those towns in ruins. I, the Lord, affirm it!
In the prophetic future, Jehovah would send men to Moab. These men would pour out Moab out of her bottles like bad wine. They would break Moab just as men broke bottles of bad wine.
48:13 The people of Moab will be disappointed by their god Chemosh. They will be as disappointed as the people of Israel were when they put their trust in the calf god at Bethel.
Moab should have learned her lesson from Israel. Just as the calf god could not save Bethel from destruction, neither would the false demonic god Chemosh be able to save Moab from her destruction. Moab would be ashamed of Chemosh. She would see Chemosh as an apathetic and worthless god.
48:14 How can you men of Moab say, ‘We are heroes, men who are mighty in battle?’
Moab's national slogan was that there were heroic men in Moab who were mighty in battle. Moab felt confident that her soldiers could save her.
15 Moab will be destroyed. Its towns will be invaded. Its finest young men will be slaughtered. I, the King, the Lord who rules over all, affirm it!
Moab's national slogan was a boast which could not be fulfilled. Jehovah is the true King of all nations. He had already declared that Moab would be destroyed. Her national boast would not save her from God's universal sovereignty.
48:16 Moab’s destruction is at hand. Disaster will come on it quickly.
In the very near future, Moab would be destroyed. She would be destroyed very quickly.
48:17 Mourn for that nation, all you nations living around it, all of you nations that know of its fame. Mourn and say, ‘Alas, its powerful influence has been broken! Its glory and power have been done away!’
Jehovah commanded all of the surrounding nations to mourn for the death of Moab. After Moab falls, all of the surrounding nations would fall in the same manner.
48:18 Come down from your place of honor; sit on the dry ground, you who live in Dibon. For the one who will destroy Moab will attack you; he will destroy your fortifications.
Dibon was once the capital city of the Moabite Empire. The Moabite Stone was discovered in this city. The mighty city of Dibon will be destroyed by the same foreign army who defeated Moab.
48:19 You who live in Aroer, stand by the road and watch. Question the man who is fleeing and the woman who is escaping. Ask them, ‘What has happened?’
Those living in the remote city of Aroer were to stand by the road and ask those who were fleeing past her what had happened to them.
48:20 They will answer, ‘Moab is disgraced, for it has fallen! Wail and cry out in mourning! Announce along the Arnon River that Moab has been destroyed.’
The fleeing citizens would announce the fall of Moab.
48:21 “Judgment will come on the cities on the high plain: on Holon, Jahzah, and Mephaath, 48:22 on Dibon, Nebo, and Beth Diblathaim, 48:23 on Kiriathaim, Beth Gamul, and Beth Meon, 48:24 on Kerioth and Bozrah. It will come on all the towns of Moab, both far and near.
All of the Moabite cities from north to south would be destroyed by this destroyer. Kerioth was most likely the city of Judas Iscariot.
48:25 Moab’s might will be crushed. Its power will be broken. I, the Lord, affirm it!
Moab’s horn would be cut off. Moab’s right arm would be broken. Both of these metaphors were symbols of power. An animal used its horns to hook, gouge, or ram. Moab was to be dehorned and given a broken arm.
48:26 “Moab has vaunted itself against me. So make him drunk with the wine of my wrath until he splashes around in his own vomit, until others treat him as a laughingstock.
Verses 26-30 described the pride of Moab. Moab made Jehovah her enemy. Jehovah would send His wrath upon Moab until she began to splash around in her own vomit. Other nations would laugh at her pitiful condition.
Moab was respected by other nations for the wine that she made. However, she became drunk on her own wine. In her pitiful condition, she became an alcoholic herself, She lost the respect of the other nations. People will respect a man who drinks in moderation. However, people will not respect a drunkard who vomits on himself.
48:27 For did not you people of Moab laugh at the people of Israel? Did you think that they were nothing but thieves, that you shook your head in contempt every time you talked about them?
Moab was anti-Semitic. Like many Gentiles, she poked fun at the Jews. She accused the Jews of being thieves. She wagged her head at Israel in contempt. This mocking laughter was a violation of the Abrahamic Covenant. She would receive the kind-for-kind curses of the Abrahamic Covenant. Now, other nations would laugh at her just as she laughed at Israel. The other Gentile nations would laugh at her as she splashes around in her own vomit.
48:28 Leave your towns, you inhabitants of Moab. Go and live in the cliffs. Be like a dove that makes its nest high on the sides of a ravine.
If Moab wanted to survive, then she better listen to Jehovah and flee to the mountains.
48:29 I have heard how proud the people of Moab are, I know how haughty they are. I have heard how arrogant, proud, and haughty they are, what a high opinion they have of themselves.
Jehovah had seen and heard the pride and haughtiness of Moab. She possessed a very high opinion of herself. This type of arrogant attitude is very similar to the high opinion which modern atheists, evolutionists, and liberals possess of themselves. God will judge this type of haughtiness.
48:30 I, the Lord, affirm that I know how arrogant they are. But their pride is ill-founded. Their boastings will prove to be false.
Jehovah knew of Moab’s arrogance. She boasted of her military strength but she would not be able to accomplish what she boasted.
Modern atheists boast that there is no God and that they are their own final authority. Evolutionists boast that nothing created all things. Liberals boast that their intellect is greater than the wisdom and doctrinal truths of the inspired, inerrant, and infallible written Word of God. All of these men are arrogant. Their options are ill-founded, because their foundation is their own total depravity of their sin nature. When they appear before God at the White Throne Judgment, then they will find out that their boastings were ill-founded and false.
48:31 So I will weep with sorrow for Moab. I will cry out in sadness for all of Moab. I will moan for the people of Kir Heres.
Jehovah would weep for Moab and for the city of Kir Heres. He knew that they would not listen to his warnings. He knew that they would be destroyed.
48:32 I will weep for the grapevines of Sibmah just like the town of Jazer weeps over them. Their branches once spread as far as the Dead Sea. They reached as far as the town of Jazer. The destroyer will ravage her fig, date, and grape crops.
Moab was known for her grapevines. These grapevines made the finest of wines. Her grapevines were spread all over Moab, even to her borders. The enemies of Moab would taste her wine and desire it. They would then conquer Moab and plunder her vineyards.
48:33 Joy and gladness will disappear from the fruitful land of Moab. I will stop the flow of wine from the winepresses. No one will stomp on the grapes there and shout for joy. The shouts there will be shouts of soldiers, not the shouts of those making wine.
The Moabites would no longer shout out joy from her drinking feasts. Instead, the foreign soldiers would shout out battle cries against the Moabites.
48:34 Cries of anguish raised from Heshbon and Elealeh will be sounded as far as Jahaz. They will be sounded from Zoar as far as Horonaim and Eglath Shelishiyah. For even the waters of Nimrim will be dried up.
Cries of mourning were shouted out from all of the cities of Moab.
48:35 I will put an end in Moab to those who make offerings at her places of worship. I will put an end to those who sacrifice to other gods. I, the Lord, affirm it!
The Moabites practiced infant sacrifice to Chemosh. Jehovah would put an end to this type of idolatry.
48:36 So my heart moans for Moab like a flute playing a funeral song. Yes, like a flute playing a funeral song, my heart moans for the people of Kir Heres. For the wealth they have gained will perish.
Verses 36-39 recorded the funeral dirge of Moab. Jehovah played a funeral song on his flute for the Moabites.
48:37 For all of them will shave their heads in mourning. They will all cut off their beards to show their sorrow. They will all make gashes in their hands. They will all put on sackcloth.
The Moabites would shave her heads in mourning. She cut off her beards in mourning. She would gash her hands in the mourning. She would put on sackcloth in the mourning. All of these rituals were an attempt to motivate her demonic god Chemosh to notice her pitiful situation and take action. Chemosh would ignore all of these self-mutilating rituals, because he did not exist.
48:38 On all the housetops in Moab and in all its public squares there will be nothing but mourning. For I will break Moab like an unwanted jar. I, the Lord, affirm it!
Most pagans believed that their gods lived in the heavens. The housetop was the patio on the roof where pagans went to get closer to their gods in the heavens. They committed sexual sins at the highest elevation so that their gods could see them better. The Moabites would mourn from all of her public squares. Jehovah would break Moab like an unwanted jar. Jehovah made an oath that Moab would be destroyed.
48:39 Oh, how shattered Moab will be! Oh, how her people will wail! Oh, how she will turn away in shame! Moab will become an object of ridicule, a terrifying sight to all the nations that surround her.”
Moab would become a shattered jar. Her people would wail to her gods, but receive no answer. She would be ashamed that she ever trusted in such ineffective and nonexistent gods. The other nations would ridicule Moab, just as she ridiculed Israel. She would receive the kind-for-kind judgments of the Abrahamic Covenant.
48:40 For the Lord says, “Look! Like an eagle with outspread wings a nation will swoop down on Moab.
A foreign nation would swoop down upon Moab like an eagle and grab her in its clutches.
48:41 Her towns will be captured. Her fortresses will be taken. At that time the soldiers of Moab will be frightened like a woman in labor.
The Moabite soldiers would be frightened like a woman in labor. They would no longer boast their national slogan of their great prowess in battle as fearless warriors (verse 14).
48:42 Moab will be destroyed and no longer be a nation, because she has vaunted herself against the Lord.
Moab defied Jehovah, worshipped a demonic god (Chemosh), and sacrificed infants to her demonic god. Therefore, she would be exterminated from the earth. If any nation defies Jehovah, then He simply throws them down the trash and sends in another group of people to live in their land. The more light that a nation receives, the more violent is her destruction. God will not be mocked. Those who meet God at the Great White Throne Judgment will discover this lesson way too late.The land of Moab was later inhabited by the Nabataeans in the first century B.C. and later (and currently) by the Arabs.
48:43 Terror, pits, and traps are in store for the people who live in Moab. I, the Lord, affirm it!
Jehovah made an oath to Himself that the Moabites would experience terror, pits, and traps. In Hebrew, these three snares are an alliteration. It reads as פַּ֥חַד וָפַ֖חַת וָפָ֑ח (pacahd wa-pachat wa-pach), eating “terror, pits, and traps.” These three nouns of alliteration are placed at the beginning of the sentence, making them emphatic.
48:44 Anyone who flees at the sound of terror will fall into a pit. Anyone who climbs out of the pit will be caught in a trap. For the time is coming when I will punish the people of Moab. I, the Lord, affirm it!
If Moab escapes the sound of terror, then she would fall into a pit. If she escapes the pit, then she would fall into a trap. There would be no escape for Moab. Jehovah made an oath to Himself that Moab would be divinely punished with inescapable, multiple traps.
48:45 In the shadows of the walls of Heshbon those trying to escape will stand helpless. For a fire will burst forth from Heshbon. Flames will shoot out from the former territory of Sihon. They will burn the foreheads of the people of Moab, the skulls of those war-loving people.
In verses 46-47, Jeremiah quoted an old national song from Heshbon. Instead of the Moabites burning the heads of her enemies, God would burn the heads of the Moabites.
The major sin of Moab was her anti-Semitism. Sin carries its own destruction. This sin of anti-Semitism would start an internal fire among the Moabite skulls which would burn their brains from within. This fire would spread and destroy the entire territory of Moab.
It is important to note that the identity of the destroyer of Moab was never identified. Never in history has Moab been destroyed in this manner. The destroyer of Moab will come in the future. The destroyer of Moab will be the Messiah Himself. This destruction will come upon Moab at the Second Coming of the Messiah. Numbers 21:28 and Number 24:17 confirm the identity of the Messiah as the destroyer of Moab.
48:46 Moab, you are doomed! You people who worship Chemosh will be destroyed. Your sons will be taken away captive. Your daughters will be carried away into exile.
Moab was doomed. The demonic false god Chemosh would no longer be worshipped. Some of the sons and daughters would be carried away into captivity. They would later be absorbed by the Arabians.
48:47 Yet in days to come I will reverse Moab’s ill fortune.” says the Lord. The judgment against Moab ends here.
Moab will be judged in the near future, but Jehovah will restore her during the Millennial Kingdom.