Jeremiah 48:11-17

C. Prophetic Explanation Jeremiah 48:11-17

TRANSLATION

(11) From his youth Moab has been at ease, and settled on his lees; he was not emptied from vessel to vessel, nor had he gone into captivity; therefore, his taste remains in him and his aroma has not changed. (12) Therefore, behold, days are coming (oracle of the LORD) when I will send to him tilters, and they shalt tilt him; and they shall empty his vessels, and smash their bottles. (13) Then Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel their trust. (14) How can you say; We are mighty men, valiant men of war? (15) Moab is plundered, and one assaults her cities, and the finest of her young men have gone down to the slaughter (oracle of the king whose name is the LORD of hosts). (16) The calamity of Moab is close at hand, and his misfortune hastens quickly. (17) Mourn for him all you who are round about and who know his name. Say: How sad it is that the strong staff is broken, the glorious staff.

COMMENTS

Why is Moab to suffer so terribly? In answering this question Jeremiah utilizes the figure of wine and wine jars. Owing to its mountainous terrain and some-what isolated geographical position (shielded by the Dead Sea on the west and the desert on the east) Moab had remained comparatively undisturbed throughout history. The country had been invaded from time to time and periodically had been subject to tribute. But unlike surrounding nations which had faced the fierce wrath of the Assyrian and Chaldean conquerors, Moab had never seen her cities totally destroyed and her people carried away into captivity. Jeremiah compares the nation to wine which has settled on the lees (sediment). It was the custom to leave new wine for a time on its sediment in order to heighten its strength and flavor. In other words, due to its relatively undisturbed existence Moab had become a strong and proud nation with a culture and character unchanged by foreign influences.[385] All that is about to change. God is about to send to Moab what the KJV renders as wanderers. The ASV gives a better translation, them that pour off, and the RSV a still better translation tilters. The reference is to those whose job it was to pour the wine out of the aging vessels into vessels of skins or earthenware. The tilters who will come to Moab will not perform their task in the careful manner which men of that profession normally used. They will in fact pour Moab on the ground and then smash his vessels (Jeremiah 48:12). Moab is to experience a radical and abrupt change in fortunes. Her proud, ancient culture will be poured out like wine from the jar; her political existence smashed like an earthenware jar.

[385] Many commentators take the figure settled on his lees in a somewhat more negative sense: Moab is compared to an inferior wine which has been left too long on the lees and hence had become sour and bitter.

Two aspects of Moabite pride are doomed to horrible disappointment. First, their confidence in Chemosh will be shaken in that day when they discover that he is unable to save his people from calamity. Like the inhabitants of the fallen kingdom of Israel who had placed their trust in the fake religious system established by Jeroboam at Bethel,[386] the Moabites would come to realize the folly of misplaced trust (Jeremiah 48:13). They would come to realize that Chemosh was a nonentity. secondly, their pride in military might will prove unjustified. How sad it is, says Jeremiah, that you are saying, We are strong men, powerful men of war! (Jeremiah 48:14). What sinful vainglory! Moab shall be spoiled, the walls of her cities scaled by the enemy,[387] her chosen young men slaughtered in battle. This is the oracle which the King of all nations and the God of history, the Lord of Hosts, has spoken concerning Moab (Jeremiah 48:15). The ruin of Moab was prophesied by Balaam eight hundred years before (Numbers 24:17) and foretold by Amos (Jeremiah 2:1-3) and Isaiah (chaps. 15-16) is now rapidly approaching (Jeremiah 48:16). All who are friends of Moab are sincerely urged by the prophet to bemoan the fate of that nation for the scepter of Moabite sovereignty and the rod of Moabite splendor is broken (Jeremiah 48:17).

[386] Jeroboam I established a counterfeit form of worship for the people of the northern kingdom of Israel. Golden calves were erected at Bethel and Dan and later at Samaria. Israel was carried away into captivity in 722 B.C. by the Assyrians.
[387] The translation of the ASV they are gone up into his cities, is much to be preferred over the KJV which takes the phrase to be referring to the Moabites and translates and gone up out of her cities.