The Destruction of Moab (Jeremiah 48:1-13).
Note how, as in Isaiah 15, the towns and prominent places are mentioned by name. Some of them were towns that had been taken over from Israel (compare Mesha's account of his conquests above referring to Nebo and Horonaim). Now these trophies will be theirs no more.
‘Of Moab. Thus says YHWH of hosts, the God of Israel:
‘Of Moab.' A plain and succint heading indicating the country in mind in the prophecy. YHWH is then identified by His full official title as ‘YHWH of hosts', the One Who is over all the hosts both of heaven and of earth, and as ‘the God of Israel', the official God worshipped by Israel Who still acknowledges them as His people even though they have been unfaithful to Him.
“Woe to Nebo! for it is laid waste,
Kiriathaim is put to shame, it is taken,
Misgab is put to shame and broken down,
The praise of Moab is no more.
In Heshbon they have devised (hshb) evil against her.
“Come, and let us cut her off from being a nation.”
You also, O Madmen, will be brought to silence (dmm),
The sword will pursue you.”
Note the play on words between the cities named and the verbs used of their judgment, something beloved of Hebrew poetry. Moab was noted for its pride (Isaiah 16:6), and its judgment is described accordingly. Thus it is to be ‘put to shame', it is ‘no more to be praised', it is to be ‘brought to silence'. It is to be humbled in the dust.
Various towns and cities in Moab are identified, and it is noteworthy that they are conurbations which had once been a part of Israel. Note, for example, that Nebo was mentioned in the Moabite Stone (see above) as taken by Mesha from Israel. Heshbon was the leading city of Sihon, King of the Amorites (Numbers 21:25-30), and had been taken over by the tribe of Reuben on his defeat (Numbers 32:37). The fact that it was now Moabite speaks for itself. Kiriathaim, the plural ending probably indicating an upper and lower city, was also formerly a Reubenite city (Joshua 13:19). See Numbers 32:37-38; Joshua 13:17-19 for the whole. Madmen is unknown although there were towns with a similar name in Judah and Benjamin (Joshua 15:31; Isaiah 10:31). But it may refer to Dibon (Dimon in Isaiah 15:9) which was another Israelite city seized by Moab (‘m' is often used to turn a verbal root into a noun). Thus there had been a considerable annexation of land by Moab from Israel and it is salutary that the very cities that the Moabites had annexed and now proudly called their own, would now be destroyed.
“The sound of a cry from Horonaim,
“Desolation and great destruction!”
Moab is destroyed,
Her little ones have caused a cry to be heard.”
Moab no longer rings with shouts of pride, but with cries of destruction, as her people flee as refugees. All her ‘little ones' (her towns and villages) cry out. The idea of towns and cities as ‘daughters' is found regularly elsewhere. Horonaim was another annexed area and was another dual city that was to be destroyed. But it is then made clear that the destruction of these cities is synonymous with the destruction of Moab with all her towns.
Some see ‘her little ones' as referring literally to children with the idea that even the children are involved in her suffering which is affecting the whole populace, but in context the restriction to ‘little ones' in this sense seems unlikely. There is no mention of fathers, or mothers, or people. What has been in mind are the towns and cities.
“For by the ascent of Luhith,
With continual weeping will they go up,
For at the descent of Horonaim,
They have heard the distress of the cry of destruction.”
Compare here Isaiah 15:5 which may well have been in Jeremiah's mind. As the people of Moab flee before the enemy, seeking to escape as they laboriously climb the ascent of Luhith and make their way down the descent of Horonaim, (consider the difficulty that they must have faced, a long line of refugees, as they made their way up and down the passes bearing with them the possessions with which they fled) there is continual weeping and distress for the destruction that has come on their country and on their cities, the sound of which destruction is ringing in their ears from behind even as they seek to escape down ‘the descent of Horonaim'.
“Flee, save your lives,
And be like the heath (vegetation) in the wilderness (semi-desert).
For, because you have trusted in your works and in your treasures,
You also will be taken,
And Chemosh will go forth into captivity,
His priests and his princes together.
And the destroyer will come upon every city,
And no city will escape,
The valley also will perish,
And the plain will be destroyed,
As YHWH has spoken.”
The call to them is to flee and save their lives, something which will result for them in conditions here depicted in term of ‘vegetation and shrubs in the semi-desert', something stunted and fighting for life. They share the plight of all refugees in a war situation. And this was because their trust had been in their own achievements (their ‘work') and in their wealth (their ‘treasures' - mainly their vast numbers of sheep). Nor had Chemosh, their god in whom they had gloried (see again the Moabite stone inscription), been able to assist them. He too would be carried off into captivity, along with his priests and princes, to be ignominiously dealt with by his captors by being carried off helplessly on the backs of mules while the whole land was being destroyed. Compare the vivid picture of Babylonian deities being carried off by the invaders (probably the Assyrians) in Isaiah 46:1-2. Meanwhile no city would escape, and the countryside and valleys would bear their share of destruction. The whole land, city and countryside, would be devastated. And all this was because, in contrast with the helpless Chemosh, YHWH had spoken.
Note the huge contrast here between Chemosh and YHWH. Outwardly it might have appeared that neither could defend their people, for both nations would have been pillaged, but Jeremiah's whole point is that YHWH's people have suffered at YHWH's hands as chastisement for their sins, precisely because they had turned to idols, and not because YHWH had been powerless to help them (had they obeyed YHWH's word through Jeremiah they would not have been devastated). And He would therefore deliver them again. It did not thus indicate that YHWH had been helpless. No one had carried YHWH off in a mule train. Rather it was in fact He Who had brought the situation about. And as seen here He was still in overall control of events both on behalf of His people and on behalf of surrounding nations. He was LORD of all.
We should note here the very great difference between the Old Testament prophets, and the false prophets and the prophets of surrounding nations. The latter all assumed that their god would deliver, indeed that was the message that they were expected to give. Thus when their gods failed to do so those gods were discredited, although it should be noted that in the Moabite Stone Moab had suffered temporary humiliation at the hands of Israel because Chemosh was angry with them. But that was presumably over a lack if proper religious observance. However, in the case of YHWH His true prophets had regularly declared what YHWH would do to His people because of their disobedience to the covenant which covered their behaviour both religious and ethical, so that when it happened YHWH was actually vindicated.
“Give wings to Moab,
That she may fly and get her away,
And her cities will become a desolation,
Without any to dwell in them.
Cursed be he who does the work of YHWH negligently,
And cursed be he who keeps back his sword from blood.”
With pointed irony the prophet calls for wings to be given to Moab so that she could flee the more quickly. But it would not be for the people's benefit. They would still be refugees. This prayer was rather in order to underline the speed that they would need in order to escape, the devastation that was being left behind, and the haste in which they were having to leave it. While she ‘flew away' her cities would be left devastated and uninhabited, her land desolated by war.
Some translate this as ‘give salt to Moab', based on comparison of sis with a Ugaritic word. Then the idea parallels what follows for the spreading of salt was used in order to render a city uninhabitable.
This whole picture is then underlined by what follows, the calling for a curse on the invaders if they failed to do their task properly. This was because they were seen as doing the work of YHWH in bringing judgment on Moab, and had thus to do it to His satisfaction. They must not therefore draw back or hesitate. They must fulfil that task to the full. It is a reminder that nothing that is done for God should be done casually. This call for a curse is of course hyperbole. It is a hyperbolic method of underlining the fact that what is occurring is of YHWH. It is not calling for a literal curse to be laid on individuals as such We can compare here Judges 5:23; 1Sa 15:3; 1 Samuel 15:18; 1 Kings 20:42.
“Moab has been at ease from his youth,
And he has settled on his lees,
And has not been emptied from vessel to vessel,
Nor has he gone into captivity,
Therefore his taste remains in him,
And his scent is not changed.”
Moab is likened to a skin (bottle-equivalent) of wine which has been left to mature. The picture is vivid. It is quality wine which is left to mature in this way. The lees have settled on the bottom and nothing has escaped, neither scent nor taste, because the skin has never been opened and poured out into another container. The wine has thus become rich and fruity, a delight both to the nose and the palate. Compare here Zephaniah 1:12. Moab was seen as like this because up until now her people had escaped invasion and being taken into exile. They had not been ‘poured out'. Rather they had continued to grow wealthy and expand their flocks of sheep without hindrance (their wealth was founded on sheep - 2 Kings 3:4). They would, of course, at times have had to pay tribute, but by doing so expediently they had escaped worse. But we know that at this stage they were getting involved in intrigue against Babylon, and this time therefore they would not escape.
‘Emptying from vessel to vessel' was a technique of wine producers used in order to clarify wine and improve its flavour. It was especially necessary for cheaper wines. In practise it is to some extent a matter of taste. Some like wine clear, some like it mature, but the point here is that it is for a nation's good to be stirred up every now and again, because it prevents them from becoming arrogant like Moab had. She boasted in her own ‘good fortune' and of course laid it at the door of her god Chemosh.
“Therefore, behold, the days come,
The word of YHWH,
That I will send to him those who pour off,
And they will pour him off,
And they will empty his vessels,
And break their bottles in pieces,
And Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh,
As the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel their confidence.”
But Moab's complacency will soon be shattered as surely as YHWH has spoken. Her wineskins will be opened up and poured out, and they will be made empty. And the wineskins themselves will be shattered and rendered useless. Such will be her condition that she will be ashamed of her god Chemosh as she recognises that he has been unable to help her. Just as in the same way Israel were made ashamed of Bethel. This latter possibly has in mind the golden calf at Bethel set up by Jeroboam I (1 Kings 12:29), or it may refer to an actual god worshipped under the name of Bethel. Such a god was known among the Jewish colony at Elephantine in 5th century BC. The parallel and the phraseology might be seen as favouring the second as more probable, but even if that is so the worship of the golden calf would almost certainly be in mind. That god too had failed to deliver Israel.