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 them to remain too long in a prosperity which does but strengthen their natural arrogance. There is a wholesome discipline in defeat, even in exile. In Jeremiah 48:47 we have the hope of the prophet that the discipline will do its work. The “vessels” and “bottles” of Jeremiah 48:12 are, of course, the cities and villages of Moab. (Comp. the imagery of Jeremiah 19:10.)
Related Commentaries of Jeremiah 48:11
Jeremiah 48:11
11 Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remainede in him, and his scent is not changed.