Jeremiah 48:26,27 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Make ye him drunken God's judgments are often represented under the metaphor of a cup of intoxicating liquors: see note on Jeremiah 25:15. Moab also shall wallow in his vomit The judgments which God sends upon him shall expose him to the scorn of his enemies; just as a drunken man is the object of men's laughter and derision. For was not Israel a derision unto thee? Didst not thou insult over the calamities of the Jews when they were carried away captive? Israel is here put for Judah. Was he found among thieves? Though the sins of Israel were great in the sight of God, yet, as he had done no injury to the Moabites, there was no reason why they should use him with the same despite and contempt as if he had been a common thief and robber, whom all men think they have a right to abuse. For since thou spakest of him, thou skippedst for joy This translation, Blaney observes, seems quite foreign to the purpose, and does not accord with the literal meaning of the Hebrew, מדי דברין בו תתנודד, which, he thinks, may be properly rendered, That thou shouldest insult him with all the power of thy words. The sense then of the sentence will be, “Didst thou find Israel among thieves, coming to rob thee of thy property, that thou shouldest think thyself entitled to break out into all manner of revilings against him? Compare Ezekiel 25:8; Zephaniah 2:8; Zephaniah 2:10. Lowth suggests another interpretation, which the words will very well bear, and which agrees with the Chaldee paraphrase, namely, For the words thou hast spoken against him, thou shalt be carried captive. To this purpose also the Vulgar Latin, propter verba tua quæ adversum ilium locutus es, captivus diceres.