Jeremiah 48:1

CHAPTER XLVIII

The following prophecy concerning the Moabites is supposed to

have had its accomplishment during the long siege of Tyre in

the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. The whole of this chapter is

poetry of the first order. The distress of the cities of Moab,

with which it opens, is finely described. The cries of one

ruined city resound to those of another, 1-3.

The doleful helpless cry of the children is heard, 4;

the highways, on either hand, resound with the voice of

weeping, 5;

and the few that remain resemble a blasted tree in the wide

howling waste, 6.

Chemosh, the chief god of the Moabites, and the capital figure

in the triumph, is represented as carried off in chains, with

all his trumpery of priests and officers, 7.

The desolation of the country shall be so general and sudden

that, by a strong figure, it is intimated that there shall be

no possibility of escape, except it be in the speediest flight,

8, 9.

And some idea may be formed of the dreadful wickedness of this

people from the consideration that the prophet, under the

immediate inspiration of the Almighty, pronounces a curse on

those who do the work of the Lord negligently, in not

proceeding to their utter extermination, 10.

The subject is then diversified by an elegant and

well-supported comparison, importing that the Moabites

increased in insolence and pride in proportion to the duration

of their prosperity, 11;

but this prosperity is declared to be nearly at an end; the

destroyer is already commissioned against Moab, and his

neighbours called to sing the usual lamentation at his funeral,

13-18.

The prophet then represents some of the women of Aroer and

Ammon, (the extreme borders of Moab,) standing in the highways,

and asking the fugitives of Moab, What intelligence? They

inform him of the complete discomfiture of Moab, 19-24,

and of the total annihilation of its political existence, 25.

The Divine judgments about to fall upon Moab are farther

represented under the expressive metaphor of a cup of

intoxicating liquor, by which he should become an object of

derision because of his intolerable pride, his magnifying

himself against Jehovah, and his great contempt for the

children of Israel in the day of their calamity, 26, 27.

The prophet then points out the great distress of Moab by a

variety of striking figures, viz., by the failure of the

customary rejoicings at the end of harvest, by the mournful

sort of music used at funerals, by the signs which were

expressive among the ancients of deep mourning, as shaving the

head, clipping the beard, cutting the flesh, and wearing

sackcloth; and by the methods of catching wild beasts in toils,

and by the terror and pitfall, 28-46.

In the close of the chapter it is intimated that a remnant

shall be preserved from this general calamity whose descendants

shall be prosperous in the latter days, 47.

NOTES ON CHAP. XLVIII

Verse Jeremiah 48:1. Against Moab] This was delivered some time after the destruction of Jerusalem. The Moabites were in the neighbourhood of the Ammonites, and whatever evils fell on the one would naturally involve the other. See Isaiah 15:1 and Isaiah 16:1 on this same subject.

Wo unto Nebo! for it is spoiled] This was a city in the tribe of Reuben, afterwards possessed by the Moabites. It probably had its name from Nebo, one of the principal idols of the Moabites.

Kiriathaim] Another city of the Moabites.

Misgab is confounded] There is no place of this name known, and therefore several learned men translate המשגב hammisgab, literally, The high tower, or fortress, which may apply to Kiriathaim, or any other high and well-fortified place.