A Lament Over Moab (Jeremiah 48:29-39).
The fate of Moab is very much linked with its overweening pride. It tended to be out of the way of invaders from the north who would use the coastal route, and after the demise of the Assyrians had therefore remained relatively unscathed. It was thus confident in itself and in its god Chemosh, and saw itself as superior to other nations, especially Israel and Judah which had suffered much more at the hands of oppressors. It had grown confident that nothing could happen to it of an adverse nature. But it was now to be humbled and brought low in order that it might learn its lesson.
We have heard of the pride of Moab,
(He is very proud),
His loftiness, and his pride,
And his arrogance, and the haughtiness of his heart.”
These words are very similar to those found in Isaiah 16:1-11. See especially Jeremiah 16:6. They are similar enough to indicate that Jeremiah knew of Isaiah's prophecy, or of similar common tradition. It would seem clear that Moab's pride in itself, and its extreme arrogance, were proverbial. It would seem that it was time now for them to be humbled so that they would recognise the inadequacy of their god Chemosh, and the smallness of their own status.
“I know his wrath, the word of YHWH, that it is nought,
His boastings have accomplished nothing,
Therefore will I wail for Moab,
Yes, I will cry out for all Moab,
For the men of Kir-heres will they mourn,
With more than the weeping of Jazer will I weep for you,
O vine of Sibmah.
Your branches passed over the sea,
They reached even to the sea of Jazer,
On your summer fruits and on your vintage,
The destroyer is fallen.
And gladness and joy is taken away from the fruitful field and from the land of Moab,
And I have caused wine to cease from the winepresses,
None will tread with shouting,
The shouting will be no shouting.”
Compare here Isaiah 16:7. In Isaiah it is Moab which howls, although the prophet also weeps with them (Jeremiah 48:9). Here either YHWH or the prophet himself is the one who howls for Moab. God's judgments are always accompanied by God's weeping even as He carries them out. He is no hard-nosed judge.
“I know his wrath, the word of YHWH, that it is nought, his boastings have accomplished nothing --.” YHWH looks with scorn at Moab's attempts to aggrandise itself. Both his self-expressed haughty anger against lesser peoples, and his loud boastings, are a nothing, and accomplish nothing. They are empty attitudes and words. In the end all empires, both small and great, collapse into themselves and find themselves subdued.
‘Therefore will I wail for Moab, yes, I will cry out for all Moab, for the men of Kir-heres will they mourn --.' The question here is as to who is speaking. Jeremiah 48:35; Jeremiah 48:38 suggest that the ‘I' is YHWH Himself. Others see it as referring to words of Jeremiah, or of some unknown onlooker. But the context is in favour of the first alternative. It is YHWH Himself Who weeps for Moab. And His weeping is in parallel with the weeping of Moab or of sympathetic onlookers (‘they'). This underlines the compassion of YHWH while at the same time emphasising the certainty of what will be. It also brings out the inevitable nature of what follows. The fact that YHWH will weep over it proves that it will happen. But it further brings out that YHWH is not acting in a vindictive manner. He is doing what has to be done. But even as He judges He weeps. He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, necessary though it be.
Kir-heres, ‘the city of the sun', was probably a strong Moabite fortress the defeat of which with its powerful defenders signalled the totality of the disaster coming on Moab. Even the sun god worshipped there could not prevent coming disaster. It was only to be seen as an irrelevance not worthy of mention. What happened there was in the hands of YHWH. For Kir-heres compare Kir-haresheth (Isaiah 16:7) and Kir of Moab (Isaiah 15:1). Taken together these references indicate an important city.
“With more than the weeping of Jazer will I weep for you, O vine of Sibmah, your branches passed over the sea, they reached even to the sea of Jazer --'. Both Jazer (Joshua 21:39) and Sibmah (Joshua 13:19) appear to have been near Heshbon, and they appear to have been situated in a part of the land prominent for its vineyards. The vineyards encompassed Jazer and Sibmah stretching even to ‘the sea of Jazer'. This latter was probably a famous inland lake in northern Moab, although some see it as referring to the Dead Sea. Thus their inhabitants were united in mourning over the destruction of their vineyards. But though the mourning of the vinedressers of Jazer might be deep, it did not compare with the depths of the weeping of YHWH. He was equally deeply involved.
“On your summer fruits and on your vintage, the destroyer is fallen, and gladness and joy is taken away from the fruitful field and from the land of Moab, and I have caused wine to cease from the winepresses, none will tread with shouting, the shouting will be no shouting.” The whole of Moab's vintage crop will be destroyed, along with its summer fruits (figs and pomegranates) and harvests, with the result that the wine presses will lie empty and unused, and there will be no treaders of the grapes to shout joyously as they trample on the grapes. What shouting occurs will not be joyous shouting. It will not be the shouting of the treaders of the grapes exulting in the harvest, but that of the conquerors scenting their own harvest of booty and conquest.
“From the cry of Heshbon even to Elealeh,
Even to Jahaz have they uttered their voice,
From Zoar even to Horonaim, to Eglath-shelishiyah,
For the waters of Nimrim also will become desolate.”
The weeping and crying will not just be localised, it will stretch to all the cities of Moab. Heshbon and Elealeh were two miles apart, and Jahaz was not too far away. The whole area in northern Moab (once Reubenite) would be filled with weeping and cries of distress. And the same would apply to the region from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah, including the waters of Nimrim. Here we are in southern Moab. All would become desolate.
‘Eglath-shelishiyah.' This means literally ‘heifer of the third year', that is, one not brought under the yoke. Most commentators see it as the name of a city, the three names in southern Moab paralleling those in northern Moab. Others see it as signifying ‘the third Eglath' (there being two other towns of the same name), or as signifying that Eglath is the third of the triumvirate Zoar, Horonaim and Eglath. Still others consider that it rather indicates that Horonaim (or Horonaim and Zoar) was a city that had never been previously brought under foreign control, the parallel to Jazer (compare ‘the sea of Jazer' above) being the waters of Nimrim.
“Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab,
The word of YHWH,
Him who offers in the high place,
And him who burns incense to his gods.”
Here is one of the foundation causes of YHWH's judgments, the false worship of the Moabites, for they were eponymously descended from worshipers of the true God (Genesis 19:37), and were therefore without excuse. Thus YHWH prophetically assures them that the priests and worshipers of Moab's false gods will have their activities brought to an end by Him. The ‘high place' has in mind altars in sanctuaries, some possibly in the mountains. Incense offering was common throughout the Near East, and ancient incense altars have been found.
“Therefore my heart sounds for Moab like pipes,
And my heart sounds like pipes for the men of Kir-heres,
Therefore the abundance that he has obtained,
It is perished,
For every head is bald,
And every beard is clipped,
On all the hands are cuttings,
And on the loins sackcloth.”
Compare here Isaiah 16:11 from which the idea is taken. The heart of YHWH is so moved that its vibes sound like funeral pipes playing for the men of Moab and Kir-heres. Even while they suffer under His judgments YHWH weeps with them over their sufferings. And yet His weeping is the very proof that it will happen. Of course all these expressions are anthropomorphisms emphasising that God understands our sufferings and shares in our grief, something especially revealed when He became man on our behalf. This reminds us that when we look at the problem of suffering we must look deep. Our problem is that we are so sinful that we are not aware of the problem of sin. Thus we do not understand why God has to act as He does.
The consequence of what YHWH wept for was that the wealth of Moab would perish, her abundance would cease. And as a result they would all be in dire mourning. The shaving of the head, the clipping of the beard, the cuttings on the hands and the sackcloth on the loins were all recognised funerary activities.
“On all the housetops of Moab and in its streets,
There is lamentation every where,
For I have broken Moab like a vessel,
In which no one delights,
The word of YHWH.
Indeed in every town and city lamentation would be everywhere, and this would include in rooftop sanctuaries and resting places (see Judges 3:20). And this would be because YHWH had broken Moab like a clay vessel which no one wanted, either because it was cracked, or because it was dirty, past its user date and useless. Note the point that Moab's condition is in mind. It has become defiled and useless. And this was the assured prophetic word of YHWH.