About Moab
48
📚 The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says this against Moab: “Woe to Nebo! For it is destroyed.
Kiriathaim 📖 has been disgraced
and captured.
Misgab 📖 has been disgraced
and shattered.
48:1 This whole chapter predicts in poetic language the destruction of the land of Moab. In it we can learn much about God’s reign over the earth. Moab was located due east of Judah and the Dead Sea. Its people were descended from Abraham’s nephew Lot (Gen 19:36-37). The destruction predicted here occurred probably during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.⚜
2 📚There will be no more praise
for Moab.
In Heshbon they have plotted
disaster for it:
‘Come, and let us cut it off from
being a nation.’
You also will be cut down,
O Madmen 📖;
the sword will pursue you.
3 📚A sound of crying will be heard
from Horonaim, plundering and
great destruction.
4 📚Moab is destroyed.
Her little ones have caused their
cry to be heard.
5 📚For in the ascent to Luhith continual
weeping will rise up,
for in the descent to Horonaim the enemies
have heard a cry of destruction.
6 📚Flee! Save your lives, and be like
a bush in the desert.
48:2-6 Heshbon also had once belonged to Israel (Num 32:37; Josh 13:17). The locations of these other towns are not known.⚜
7 📚For because you have trusted in your
works and in your treasures,
you will also be captured,
and Chemosh 📖 will go into captivity together
with his priests and his officials.
48:7 Any individual, any people, anywhere, any time, who trust in their own works and wealth will come to a sad, hopeless end (Ps 52:5-7; Luke 12:15-21).⚜
8 📚And the destroyer will come
on every city, and no city will escape.
The valley too will perish, and the plain
will be destroyed,
as the LORD has spoken.
9 📚Give wings to Moab, that it may
flee and get away;
for its cities will be desolate,
without anyone to live in them.
10 📚“Cursed be he who does the work
of the LORD deceitfully 📖,
and cursed be he who keeps
his sword back from blood 📖.
11 📚“Moab has been at ease from his youth,
and he has settled like wine
on his dregs, and not been emptied
from vessel to vessel;
nor has he gone into captivity.
Therefore his flavour remains in him,
and his aroma has not changed.
48:11 Moab as a nation enjoyed a comparatively easy time.⚜
12 📚Therefore, see, the days are coming,
says the LORD, when I will send
to him those who tilt bottles,
and they will tilt him over and empty
his jars and break his bottles.
13 📚And Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh,
as the house of Israel was ashamed
of Bethel their confidence.
48:13 Verse 7. They will be ashamed because Chemosh will be proved to be a helpless, useless, dead god. The northern kingdom of Israel experienced the same shame regarding their idol at Bethel (1 Kings 12:28-33; Hos 10:15; Amos 5:5-6). The worship of Israel there did not keep them from destruction and exile.⚜
14 📚“How can you say,
‘We are mighty and strong men
for the war?’
15 📚Moab is destroyed, and has gone up
out of her cities,
and his chosen young men have gone down
to the slaughter, says the King 📖,
whose name is the LORD of hosts.
16 📚The calamity of Moab is coming soon,
and his affliction comes quickly.
17 📚All of you around him, mourn for him,
and all of you who know his name say,
‘How the strong staff is broken,
the beautiful rod!’
18 📚“You, daughter, who live in Dibon 📖,
come down from your glory,
and sit on the thirsty ground;
for the destroyer of Moab will come
on you and will destroy
your strongholds.
19 📚O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way,
and see! Question him who is fleeing
and her who is escaping,
and say, ‘What has happened?’
20 📚Moab is put to shame,
for it is shattered.
Wail and cry. Tell in Arnon
that Moab is ruined,
48:19-20 Aroer was a town on the banks of the Arnon river.⚜
21 📚And judgment has come on the land
of the plain, on Holon, and on Jahazah,
and on Mephaath,
48:21 The plateau of Moab is about 3000 feet above sea level.⚜
22 📚And on Dibon, and on Nebo,
and on Beth-Diblathaim,
23 📚And on Kiriathaim, and on Beth-Gamul,
and on Beth-Meon,
24 📚And on Kerioth, and on Bozrah,
and on all the cities of the land of Moab,
far or near.
25 📚Moab’s horn is cut off, and his arm
is broken, says the LORD.
48:25 Horn and arm signify authority, power, strength.⚜
26 📚Make him drunk, for he exalted
himself against the LORD.
Moab will also wallow in his vomit,
and become an object of derision.
27 📚For was not Israel an object of
derision to you? Was he found
among thieves,
for you to shake your head when
you speak of him?
48:26-27 Here are two further reasons why Moab would be destroyed. It defied God and it ridiculed God’s people. Moab will be treated as it treated others (Zeph 2:8-10). This is a principle seen in many places in God’s Word. The cup of God’s anger will make them senseless and fainting (see Jer 25:15-17, 21).⚜
28 📚O you who live in Moab,
leave the cities, and live among the rocks,
and be like the dove that makes her
nest in the sides of a cave’s mouth.
29 📚“We have heard of the pride of Moab
(he is exceedingly proud), his self-exaltation
and his arrogance and his pride, and
the haughtiness of his heart.
48:29 A further reason for Moab’s destruction (Prov 6:16-17; 11:2; 16:18; 18:12; 29:23; Jam 4:6). Moab’s pride was well known (Isa 25:10-11; Zeph 2:8, 10). But what reasons for pride did Moab have? The founder of their nation was the offspring of an incestuous relationship (Gen 19:36-37). Their god was vile and they sometimes sacrificed their children in the fire to him; they were never a large or strong or wise or righteous nation. Let us learn from this that human pride does not need any outward circumstances to feed on. People who have least reason to be proud sometimes have more pride than anyone else. And pride, a dark and destructive force, lurks in the hearts of all men until it is dealt with in the presence of God.⚜
30 📚I know his excessive rage,
says the LORD, but it is useless;
his lying boasts will not accomplish
anything.
31 📚Therefore I will wail for Moab,
and I will cry out for all of Moab.
My heart will mourn for the men
of Kir-Heres.
32 📚O vine of Sibmah, I will weep for you
like the weeping for Jazer.
Your branches have gone over the sea,
they reach even to the sea of Jazer.
The destroyer has fallen on your summer
fruits and on your vintage.
33 📚And joy and gladness has been taken
from the fruitful field, and from
the land of Moab;
and I have caused the wine to fail
from the winepresses.
No one will trample the grapes
with shouting.
Their shouting will not be
shouts of joy.
34 📚“From the cry of Heshbon to Elealeh and to Jahaz they have made their voice heard, from Zoar to Horonaim, like a three-year old heifer, for the waters of Nimrim also will become desolate.
35 📚Moreover I will put a stop in Moab, says the LORD, to him who offers on the high places, and to him who burns incense to his gods.
48:35 This is the fifth reason why God determined to destroy Moab (the other reasons are in vs 7,26,27,29). They had other gods besides Chemosh. Idolaters do not usually stop at one god.⚜
36 📚Therefore my heart will sound for Moab like flutes, and my heart will sound like flutes for the men of Kir-Heres, because the riches that he has gotten have perished.
37 📚For every head will be shaved bald, and every beard cut off. There will be cuts on every hand, and sackcloth around the waist.
48:37 Signs of mourning (Jer 16:6).⚜
38 📚There will be lamentation everywhere, on all the housetops of Moab, and in its streets, for I have broken Moab like a jar in which I have no pleasure, says the LORD.
48:38 Notice the Lord’s words “I have broken Moab”. He both broke and groaned and lamented at the breaking.⚜
39 📚They will wail, saying, ‘How it is broken down! How Moab has turned his back with shame!’ So Moab will be an object of derision and dismay to all those around him.
48:30-39 In this remarkable section God, Who was bringing justly deserved destruction on Moab, expresses His great sorrow over them. This was a people other than His people Israel, who were often enemies of Israel. Still God could not see their destruction without pain in His heart. To punish men for their many sins and great evils God justly causes armies to march on earth and through them bring much bloodshed, destruction, and misery. But He groans when He has to do it (v 31), His compassionate heart makes mournful noises like the sad notes of a flute (v 36 – flutes were often played by mourners at funerals). Compare Luke 19:41-44.⚜
40 📚“For thus says the LORD:
See, he will fly like an eagle,
and will spread his wings over Moab.
41 📚Kerioth will be taken,
and the strongholds will be surprised,
and in that day the hearts of the mighty men
in Moab will be like the heart of a woman
in labour.
42 📚And Moab will be destroyed as a people,
because he has exalted himself
against the LORD.
48:42 Verse 26.⚜
43 📚Fear and the pit and the snare
will be on you,
O inhabitant of Moab, says the LORD.
44 📚He who flees from the fear will fall
into the pit,
and he who gets out of the pit will be
captured in the snare;
for I will bring on it, on Moab,
the year of their punishment 📖,
says the LORD.
45 📚“Those who fled stand under
the shadow of Heshbon without strength;
but a fire will come out of Heshbon,
and a flame from inside Sihon,
and will devour the forehead of Moab,
and the crown of the head
of the riotous ones.
46 📚Woe to you, O Moab!
The people of Chemosh perish;
for your sons are taken as captives,
and your daughters as captives.
47 📚“Yet I will bring back the captives
of Moab in the latter days,
says the LORD”.
Thus far the judgment on Moab.
48:47 Moab was destroyed as a nation (v 42). But some of its people survived. The time of the restoration of Moab is not given. This word may be fulfilled during Christ’s future reign on earth.⚜