XLVIII. (1) AGAINST MOAB THUS SAITH THE LORD OF HOSTS... — Better, with a different punctuation, _Concerning Moab_ (this being the title of the section), _Thus saith the Lord of hosts._ In the long prophecy that follows Jeremiah in part follows in the wake of “the burden of Moab” in Isaiah 15, 16, e... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE SHALL BE NO MORE PRAISE OF MOAB. — The self-glorifying boasts of Moab (of which the Moabite Inscription discovered at Dibân in 1868 is a conspicuous instance, see Ginsburg’s _Moabite Stone_ and _Records of the Past, xi._ p. 163) seem to have been almost proverbial (Jeremiah 48:29; Isaiah 16:6)... [ Continue Reading ]
HORONAIM — literally, _the two caverns,_ or the two Horons — may imply, like other dual names of towns, that there was an upper and a lower city. It is mentioned in Isaiah 15:5, but has not been identified.... [ Continue Reading ]
HER LITTLE ONES. — The Hebrew adjective is the same as the Zoar, the little one, of Genesis 19:20, and that city may probably have been, as in Isaiah 15:5, in the prophet’s mind. In any case the “little ones” are cities, and not children.... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE GOING UP OF LUHITH. — Here again we have an echo from Isaiah 15:5. Jerome (_Onomast. s.v. Luith_) describes it as between Zoar and Areopolis (= Rabbath-Moab). The ascent was probably to a local sanctuary. A various reading, _Laboth,_ followed by the LXX., gives the meaning “the ascent of plan... [ Continue Reading ]
BE LIKE THE HEATH IN THE WILDERNESS. — Here, as in Jeremiah 17:6, the stunted solitary shrub in the desert is taken as the type of desolation. The LXX., which adopts the meaning in Jeremiah 17:6, here strangely enough gives “as a wild ass in the wilderness.” Psalms 11:1 gives us an example of a like... [ Continue Reading ]
CHEMOSH SHALL GO FORTH INTO CAPTIVITY. — The name appears as that of the national deity of Moab in Numbers 21:29, as worshipped also by the Ammonites in Judges 11:24. Solomon introduced and Josiah abolished his worship at Jerusalem (1 Kings 11:7; 2 Kings 23:13). He is identified by Jerome (_Comm._ o... [ Continue Reading ]
THE VALLEY ALSO SHALL PERISH... — The cities of “the plain” are enumerated in Jeremiah 48:21. They belonged to the Arabah, the sunken valley of the Jordan, the “plains of Moab” of Numbers 22:1; Deuteronomy 3:10; Deuteronomy 4:43. The “valley” here is not connected with anything that helps us to iden... [ Continue Reading ]
GIVE WINGS UNTO MOAB... — “No other prayer,” the prophet seems to say, in grave, stern irony, “is left but this. Resistance is hopeless. There is nothing left but to wish for the wings of a bird that safety may be found in flight.” (Comp. Ps. Iv. 6.)... [ Continue Reading ]
CURSED BE HE... — To the prophet the destruction of the tyrannous haughtiness was a righteous retribution in which he saw the work of Jehovah, and he could not wish that it should be done otherwise than effectually. The thought rests on the belief in the Divine government that works through war as w... [ Continue Reading ]
HE HATH SETTLED ON HIS LEES. — The image, found also in Zephaniah 1:12, is drawn from the practice of pouring wine from one vessel into another to clarify it and improve its flavour. Wine not so treated retained its first crude bitterness. So, the prophet says, it is with nations. It is not good for... [ Continue Reading ]
BETH-EL THEIR CONFIDENCE. — The name of the sanctuary stands for the golden calf that was worshipped there as the symbol of Jehovah (1 Kings 12:29; Amos 7:10). That worship had been put to shame in the captivity of the Ten Tribes. So also should it be with the Chemosh-worship of Moab.... [ Continue Reading ]
(14-17) HOW SAY YE... — In the boast that follows we trace the characteristic pride of Moab. The prophet points to the fact that the pride is brought low. She, too, is subject, like other nations, to invasion and defeat. He summons her people to wail for her overthrow. The “staff” is the sceptre of... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU DAUGHTER THAT DOST INHABIT DIBON. — Dibon is mentioned among the cities of Moab in Numbers 21:30; Isaiah 15:2, and as rebuilt by the Gadites in Numbers 33:45. It is prominent in the Moabite Stone inscription as a royal city. In the distribution of the conquered territory it fell to the lot of R... [ Continue Reading ]
O INHABITANT OF AROER. — There seems to have been two cities of this name: one which had belonged first to the territory of Sihon, then to Reuben, then to Moab, on the north side of the Arnon (Deuteronomy 2:36; Deuteronomy 3:12; Deuteronomy 4:48; Joshua 12:2); another in the Ammonite territory belon... [ Continue Reading ]
TELL YE IT IN ARNON. — The name, which means a rushing stream, belonged to the chief river of Moab, now the _Mugab,_ which rises in the Arabian mountains and flows into the Dead Sea. It appears in the war-song quoted, in Numbers 21:14, from the “Book of the Wars of the Lord,” and the “high places” o... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JUDGMENT IS COME UPON THE PLAIN COUNTRY... — We enter here upon a list of less known names, of which Jahaz, Beth-diblathaim, Beth-Baal-meon are found on the Moabite Stone inscription (_Records of the Past, xi._ 165-168). Holon does not appear elsewhere. Jahazah (under the form Jahaz) appears in... [ Continue Reading ]
BETH-DIBLATHAIM. — The name signifies “the house of the double cake of figs,” and was, probably, applied to one of the more fertile districts of the Moabite country. In Numbers 33:46, the name Almon-diblathaim appears as one of the stations of the Israelites between Dibon and “the mountains of Abari... [ Continue Reading ]
KIRIATHAIM. — See Jeremiah 48:1. BETH-GAMUL. — The place is not named in the earlier lists of Numbers 32:34 and Joshua 13:16. The name (=house of the camel) has a parallel in Gamala, and appears in the modern _Um-el-Jemal,_ south of Buzrah, in the Haûran. This, however, lies out of the range of the... [ Continue Reading ]
KERIOTH. — The name, plural in form (= cities), has been identified by Mr. Porter (_Five Years,_ &c, ii. 191-198) with _Kureiyeh,_ a ruined town lying not far from _Buzrah,_ identified with the Bozrah that is coupled with it here, in the Haûran. These are, however, some sixty miles north of Heshbon,... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HORN OF MOAB. — The horn of animals was naturally the symbol of their strength, and it was as natural that the symbolism should be extended to men and nations. (Comp. 1 Samuel 2:1; Psalms 92:10; Lamentations 2:3; Daniel 7:7; Luke 1:69.) The figure of the broken arm, powerless to grasp sword or s... [ Continue Reading ]
WAS NOT ISRAEL A DERISION UNTO THEE? — The “derision” had been shown at an earlier stage in the history of Judah (Zephaniah 2:8; comp. Ezekiel 25:6), but was, we may well believe, reproduced when the Moabites heard of the disasters that fell on Israel in the days of Josiah and his successors. The qu... [ Continue Reading ]
O YE THAT DWELL IN MOAB... — The general thought is the same as in Jeremiah 48:6; Jeremiah 48:9, but is more vivid as being more specific. The Moabites are to leave their cities and take refuge in the caves, always in Palestine the asylum of fugitives (1 Samuel 13:6; 2 Samuel 17:9), as the wild dove... [ Continue Reading ]
WE HAVE HEARD THE PRIDE OF MOAB... — It will be seen that here and in the next verse the very words of Isaiah (Isaiah 16:6) are reproduced. The prophet seems to find a pleasure in going back to the old words as showing that the fault of which he spoke was inveterate, and had shown itself incurable.... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS LIES SHALL NOT SO EFFECT IT. — The Hebrew for “lies” has also, as in the margin, the meaning of “bars” or “staves” or “branches” as the symbol of defence (Hosea 11:6), but the version in the text is preferable. The emphasis of the original lies in the iteration. “Not so,” the sentence of frustra... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE WILL I HOWL FOR MOAB. — The changes of person are remarkable. The “I” that speaks is neither Jehovah nor the prophet, but the unnamed mourner, who in the next clause appears in the third person (“she shall mourn,” the English “mine heart” having no equivalent in the Hebrew) as the represen... [ Continue Reading ]
O VINE OF SIBMAH. — Here again we have an echo of Isaiah 16:9. Sibmah appears in Joshua 13:19 as assigned to the Reubenites, in the region east of Jordan. After that date it does not appear again till we find it in these prophetic notices. Jerome (_Comm. in Isa._ Jeremiah 5) names it as a strong cit... [ Continue Reading ]
NONE SHALL TREAD WITH SHOUTING. — The words bring before us the vintage-song of those who trod out the grapes (Jeremiah 25:30; Isaiah 16:10). Of this the prophet says, in a form which reminds us of the δωρα αδωρα (“gifts that are no gifts”) of Soph. Aias. 674, that it shall be “no shouting,” _i.e.,_... [ Continue Reading ]
FROM THE CRY OF HESHBON... — Elealeh (now _El-Al_) and Heshbon (now _Hesbân_) were about two miles apart. The panic-cry of the one city was echoed in the other; it reached even to Jahaz (see Note on Jeremiah 48:21), to the south-west of Heshbon. FROM ZOAR EVEN UNTO HORONAIM... — Both names represent... [ Continue Reading ]
I wILL CAUSE TO CEASE IN MOAB... — The words indicate that the pilgrimages to the sanctuary of Chemosh, on the mountains of Moab, were a prominent feature in the nation’s life. One result of the Chaldæan conquest would be that they should be brought to an end.... [ Continue Reading ]
MINE HEART SHALL SOUND FOR MOAB LIKE PIPES... — The words reproduce Isaiah 16:11. His heart becomes, as it were, musical in its groans and sighs. He cannot look on the panic-stricken and mourning city without sharing in its misery. In the baldness (Jeremiah 7:29; Jeremiah 16:6), the clipped beard, t... [ Continue Reading ]
UPON ALL THE HOUSETOPS OF MOAB. — The flat roof of Eastern houses was the natural gathering place of men in a time of panic and distress, as it was, in a time of peace, for prayer or meditation, or even for festive meetings. So in Isaiah 22:1, the city described as “the valley of vision” (Samaria or... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SHALL HOWL, SAYING, HOW IS IT BROKEN DOWN! — Better, taking the words in the Hebrew order, _How is she broken down! How do they howl!_ In the word “derision” we have the emphatic iteration of the term that had been pointedly used in Jeremiah 48:26; Jeremiah 48:2. At this stage the parallelism w... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SHALL FLY AS AN EAGLE... — The image, as in Deuteronomy 28:49; Isaiah 46:11; Ezekiel 17:3, was the natural symbol of a fierce invader, probably, in this case, of Nebuchadnezzar. Here it receives a fresh vividness from the previous comparison of Moab to the dove that had its nest in the clefts of... [ Continue Reading ]
KERIOTH. — (See Note on Jeremiah 48:24.) Here the word is used with the article, and should probably be translated, as in the margin, _the cities,_ as painting the wide-spread devastation that was to come on all the fortresses. AS THE HEART OF A WOMAN IN HER PANGS. — See Notes on Jeremiah 30:6; Isa... [ Continue Reading ]
MOAB SHALL BE DESTROYED... — What is predicted is not annihilation (see Jeremiah 48:47), but the loss of national independence. And the cause of this punishment is once more asserted. With Moab, as with other nations, it was her self-exalting pride that called for chastisement.... [ Continue Reading ]
(43)FEAR, AND THE PIT, AND THE SNARE. — The words are a reproduction of Isaiah 24:17, which had probably passed into something like proverbial use. The sequence in each case shows that each word plays a distinct part in the imagery. First there is the terror of the animal pursued by huntsmen, then t... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE OF THE FORCE. — Better, _without strength._ What is meant is that the fugitives of Moab seek shelter in Heshbon, the capital of the Ammonites (Jeremiah 49:3), and find no protection there. A FIRE SHALL COME FORTH OUT OF HESHBON... — The words are interesting as being a quotation from a fragm... [ Continue Reading ]
YET WILL I BRING AGAIN... — This intermingling of the hope of a far-off return is specially characteristic of these later Chapter s, as in the case of the Ammonites (Jeremiah 49:6) and Elam (Jeremiah 49:39). THUS FAR IS THE JUDGMENT OF MOAB. — This is very probably originally a note made by editor... [ Continue Reading ]