Jeremiah 48
Butler48 : 1 Of Moab. Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel : Woe unto 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 evil against her, Come, and let us cut her off from being a nation. Thou also, O Madmen, shalt be brought to silence ; the sword shall pursue thee. The sound of a cry from Horonaim, spoiling and great destruction ! Moab is destroyed ; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard. For by the ascent of Luhith with continual weeping shall they go up ; for in the going down of Horonaim they have heard the distress of the cry of destruction. Flee, save your lives, and be like the heath in the wilderness. For, because thou hast trusted in thy works and in thy treasures, thou also shalt be taken : and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity, his priests and his princes together. And the spoiler shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape ; the valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed ; as the LORD hath spoken. Give wings unto Moab, that she may fly and get her away : and her cities shall become a desolation, without any to dwell therein. Cursed be he that doeth the work of
11 the LORD negligently, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood. 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 remaineth in
12 him, and his scent is not changed. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will send unto him them that pour off, and they shall pour him off ; and they shall empty
13 his vessels, and break their bottles in pieces. And Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the
14 house of Israel was ashamed of Beth-el their confidence. How say ye, We are mighty men,
15 and valiant men for the war ? Moab is laid waste, and they are gone up into her cities, and his chosen young men are gone down to the slaughter, saith the King, whose name is the
16,17. LORD of hosts. The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hasteth fast. All ye that are round about him, bemoan him, and all ye that know his name ; say, How is the
18 strong staff broken, the beautiful rod ! O thou daughter that dwellest in Dibon, come down from thy glory, and sit in thirst ; for the spoiler of Moab is come up against thee, he hath
19 destroyed thy strong holds. O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and espy : ask him
20 that fleeth, and her that escapeth ; say, What hath been done ? Moab is put to shame ; for
21 it is broken down : howl and cry ; tell ye it in Arnon, that Moab is laid waste. And judgement is come upon the plain country ; upon Holon, and upon Jahzah, and upon Mephaath ;
22, 23 and upon Dibon, and upon Nebo, and upon Beth-diblathaim ; and upon Kiriathaim, and
24 upon Beth-gamul, and upon Beth-meon ; and upon Kerioth, and upon Bozrah, and upon all
25 the cities of the land of Moab, far or near. The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is bro-
26 ken, saith the LORD. Make ye him drunken ; for he magnified himself against the LORD :
27 and Moab shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision. For was not Israel a derision unto thee ? was he found among thieves ? for as often as thou speakest of him, thou
28 waggest the head. O ye inhabitants of Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock ; and be
29 like the dove that maketh her nest in the sides of the hole’s mouth. We have heard of the pride of Moab, that he is very proud ; his loftiness, and his pride, and his arrogancy, and the
30 haughtiness of his heart. I know his wrath, saith the LORD, that it is nought ; his boastings
31 have wrought nothing. Therefore will I howl for Moab ; yea, I will cry out for all Moab : for the men of Kir-heres shall they mourn. With more than the weeping of Jazer will I weep
32 for thee, O vine of Sibmah : thy branches passed over the sea, they reached even to the sea
33 of Jazer : upon thy summer fruits and upon thy vintage the spoiler 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 shall tread with shouting ; the shouting shall be
34 no shouting. From the cry of Heshbon even unto Elealeh, even unto Jahaz have they uttered their voice, from Zoar even unto Horonaim, to Eglath-shelishiyah : for the waters of
35. Nimrim also shall become desolate. Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab, saith the LORD,
36 him that offereth in the high place, and him that burneth incense to his gods. Therefore mine heart soundeth for Moab like pipes, and mine heart soundeth like pipes for the men of Kir-heres :
37 therefore the abundance that he hath gotten is perished. For every head is bald, and every
38 beard clipped : upon all the hands are cuttings, and upon the loins sackcloth. On all the housetops of Moab and in the streets thereof there is lamentation every where : for I have
39 broken Moab like a vessel wherein is no pleasure, saith the LORD. How is it broken down ! how do they howl ! how hath Moab turned the back with shame ! so shall Moab become a
40 derision and a dismaying to all that are round about him. For thus saith the LORD : Behold,
41 he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread out his wings against Moab. Kerioth is taken, and the strong holds are surprised, and the heart of the mighty men of Moab at that day shall be
42 as the heart of a woman in her pangs. And Moab shall be destroyed from being a people,
43 because he hath magnified himself against the LORD. Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are
44 upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab, saith the LORD. He that fleeth from the fear shall fall into the pit ; and he that getteth up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare : for I will bring
45 upon her, even upon Moab, the year of their visitation, saith the LORD. They that fled stand without strength under the shadow of Heshbon : for a fire is gone forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and hath devoured the corner of Moab, and the crown of the
46 head of the tumultuous ones. Woe unto thee, O Moab ! the people of Chemosh is undone :
47 for thy sons are taken away captive, and thy daughters into captivity. Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter days, saith the LORD. Thus far is the judgement of Moab.
Chap. 48. The succession of pictures of approaching judgment which Jeremiah draws are not monotonous repetitions of the same description. They are definite and distinctively applicable to the respective subjects of them.
The grounds of this judgment are given in the revelation of the sins of Moab. The head and front of her offence is pride (e.g., verse 29). Other characteristics are closely related—viz.: trust in wealth and material resources (verse 7); self-indulgent ease (verse 11); boastfulness (verse 14); scorn (verse 27); defiance of heaven (verse 26). Such a catalogue of offences is peculiarly hateful to God. Sins of appetite and passion are partly the result of weakness. The culpability of them is less than that of the intellectual and spiritual sins by all the weight of temptations which arise out of the natural constitution of man. For such sins as those of Moab there is no excuse. They are nearest to the most diabolical wickedness. Adam fell by a sin of appetite; Satan by a sin of spiritual pride. Adeney.
3-6. The outcries of warriors spoiling her cities and the bitter wails of the spoiled and fleeing people are heard throughout the land. Luhith, on the side of the mountain as the fugitives ascended, and Horonain, on the other side where they descended, are here named in connection to say that this sorrowful troop wept as they went up, and wailed as on the other side they went down. H. C.
7. Trusted in thy treasures.** Riches are not evil things in themselves. The gifts of God in nature, or the fruits of man’s industry, they are valuable just because they have in them some serviceableness for human wants. Money is not the root of all evil, but the love of it (1 Tim. 6 : 10). It is they who trust in riches who find it impossible to enter into the kingdom of God (Mark 10 : 24). But riches are snares, and the possessor of them had need beware of the dangers they necessarily bring. When the servant becomes a god the degraded worshipper is on the road to ruin. Before God we are judged by what we are, and by our use of gifts. Adeney.
7-9. Moab had probably trusted in her great exploits and in her accumulated treasures. Therefore is she doomed to be taken forcibly by her enemies. Chemosh was the national god of Moab (see 1 K. 11 : 7; 2 K. 23 : 13), whose worship Solomon introduced and Josiah exterminated. That the god himself, with his priests and princes, together goes into captivity, is a triumph of Jehovah over them to show all people their utter vanity.
10. Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord negligently.** The case contemplated is not that of one who pretends to do the work better than he actually does, but of him who fails to do it vigorously and effectually, as the last clause being parallel shows—“who” through false pity “restrains his sword from blood.” The spirit of the Lord and consequently of His prophet is fired with the sense of justice and its now inexorable demands. The Moabites must fall, and woe to him whom God appoints as His executioner if he shrink from his work! The passage reminds us of Judges 5 : 23 : “Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord; curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.” H. C.
God executes His judgments upon sinners by the ministry of men, and those oftentimes as great sinners as those that suffer. He had declared by Jeremiah His purpose of making the Chaldeans His instruments in punishing the Jews and the neighboring countries. (See chap. 25 : 9.) Their success answered the prediction, and Nebuchadnezzar seems to have looked upon Jeremiah as a prophet, and had a particular regard to his character. (See chap. 39 : 11.) Being thus assured that he had a commission from God, he might confidently proceed in his conquests, and it would have been a fault to have shown mercy to those whom he had good reason to believe that God had marked out for destruction. W. Lowth.
Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord negligently, that pretends to do it, but does it not to purpose, makes a show of serving God’s glory, but is really serving his own ends, and carries on the work of the Lord no farther than will suit his own purposes; or that is slothful in business for God, and takes neither care nor pains to do it as it should be done (Mal. 1 : 14). Let not such deceive themselves, for God will not thus be mocked.
Moab at ease from his youth. He has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, has not known any troublesome weakening changes, but is as wine kept on the lees, and not racked or drawn off, by which it retains its strength and body. He has not been unsettled nor any way made uneasy; he has not gone into captivity, as Israel had often done, and yet Moab is a wicked, idolatrous nation, and one of the confederates against God’s hidden ones (Ps. 83 : 6). There are many that persist in unrepented iniquity, and yet enjoy uninterrupted prosperity. Note, while bad people are as happy as they used to be in the world, it is no marvel if they are as bad as they used to be. They have no changes of their peace and prosperity, therefore they fear not God, their hearts and lives are unchanged (Ps. 55 : 19). H.
During two centuries and a half Moab regained all, and more than all, of its former prosperity. For the land was beautiful and rich in the extreme. Its pastures were covered over with sheep and its valleys with corn. The very name “Moab” is thought to mean the land of desire—that is, the desirable land. Now, during these long periods, the description here given is applicable. They had enjoyed much ease, and the natural evils engendered by their cruel, idolatrous system had become more fixed and settled; “their scent had not changed.” The truth, therefore, which is here taught is that prolonged and abundant ease, however coveted by men, is full of peril to their higher nature, and tends continually to the deterioration of character and the hardening of the habit of evil. C.
There is a reference here to wine, or to the process by which it is prepared and finished. It is first expressed from the grape, when it is a thick, discolored fluid or juice. It is then fermented, passing through a process that separates the impurities, and settles them as lees at the bottom. Standing thus upon its lees or dregs in some large tun or vat, it is not further improved. A gross and coarse flavor remains, and the scent of the feculent matter stays by and becomes fastened, as it were, in the body of the wine itself. To separate this, and so to soften or refine the quality, it is now decanted or drawn off into separate jars or skins. After awhile it is done again, and then again; and so, being emptied from vessel to vessel, the last remains of the lees or sediment are finally cleared, the crude flavors are reduced, the scent itself is refined by ventilation, and the perfect character is finished.
So it has not been, the prophet says, with Moab. He hath been at ease from the first, shaken by no great overturnings or defeats, humbled and broken by no captivities, ventilated by no surprising changes or adversities. He has lived on, from age to age, in comparative security, settled on his lees; and therefore he has made no improvement. What he was, he still is; his taste remains in him, and the scent of his old idolatries and barbarities of custom is not changed. Accordingly the prophet goes on to declare, in the verses that follow, that God will now deal with him in a manner better adapted to his want; that He will cause him to wander, empty his vessels, break his bottles, give him all the agitation he needs, and so will make him to be ashamed of the idolatries of Chemosh, even as Israel was made ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.
There has all along been a kind of mental reference, it will be seen, in his language, to the singular contrast between Moab and Israel, which here in these last words comes out. Israel, the covenanted people, have had no such easy and quiet sort of history. They have been wanderers, in a sense, all the while; shaken loose or unsettled every few years by some great change or adversity; by a state of slavery in Egypt, by a fifty years’ roving and fighting in the wilderness, by a time of dreadful anarchy under the Judges, by overthrows and judgments under the Kings, by a revolt and separation of the kingdom, then by a captivity, then by a another; and so, while Moab, heaved and loosened by no such changes, has retained the scent of its old customs and abominations, Israel has become quite another people. The calves of Bethel were long ago renounced; the low superstitions, the coarse and sensual habit, all the idolatrous fashions and affinities which corrupted their religion, have been gradually fined away.
The principle that underlies the text is one that may be universalized in its applications. It is this: That we require to be unsettled in life by many changes and interruptions of adversity, in order to be most effectually loosened from our own evils, and prepared to the will and work of God. We need, in other words, to be shaken out of our places and plans, agitated, emptied from vessel to vessel, else the flavors of our grossness and impurity remain. We cannot be refined on our lees, or in any course of life that is uniformly prosperous and secure. The very scheme of life appears to be itself a grand decanting process, where change follows change, and all are emptied from vessel to vessel. Here and there a man, like Moab, stands upon his lees, and commonly with the same effect. Fire, flood, famine, sickness in all forms and guises, wait upon us, seen or unseen, and we run the gauntlet through them, calling it life. And the design appears to be to turn us hither and thither, allowing us no chance to stagnate in any sort of benefit or security. Even the most successful, who seem, in one view, to go straight on to their mark, get on after all, rather by a dexterous and continual shifting, so as to keep their balance and exactly meet the changing conditions that befall them. Nor is there anything to sentimentalize over in this ever-shifting, overturning process, which must be encountered in all the works of life; no place for sighing—vanity of vanities. There is no vanity in it, more than in the mill that winnows and separates the grain. Bushnell.
Steady sunshine is ruinous. Jeremiah explains the profitlessness of Moab by saying that “Moab had been at ease from his youth, had settled upon his lees, never been emptied from vessel to vessel, never gone into captivity.” We have to be shaken out of the stupefying routine of quietness. “Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God,” wrote David. Earthly splendors eclipse the celestial, just as the sun that hangs comparatively close by so fills our eyes with near light that we know nothing, till after nightfall, of the larger suns that blaze out in the deeps of the sky. We touch things celestial and Divine when the air is not loaded with things human and earthly. The bruised flower yields the sweetest perfume, and the finest poetry of the Church has been inspired in seasons of persecution. Horace Bushnell once said: “I have learned more of experimental religion since my little boy died than in all my life before.” It was he also that wrote, “Deserts and stone-pillows prepare for an open heaven and an angel-crowded ladder.” John did not receive his revelations till he was shut up in little sea-girt Patmos. Paul’s most jubilant epistle was written in jail; as birds sometimes have their cage darkened in order to teach them to sing. We often pray that God would enable us to bear adversity; there is quite as much need of His grace to keep us from falling in seasons of prosperity. C. H. P.
12. Possessions give opportunities of service, opportunities denied to many who see the needs of others, have the will to meet them and lack the power. Is it not a righteous thing that God should deal severely with those whose circumstances give them the means and the time for doing great good, and yet who fill their lives with selfish pleasure? Such lives will come out at last in pitiable contrast with what they might have been. Note how the vessels that should have been used toward the perfection of the wine, and the bottles that should have held them, become at last useless. If we will not use our opportunities for God’s purpose, God will secure, in due time, that we should not use them for our own. Y.
13. Betrayed by their gods. This statement, as it is more especially from the religious standpoint, is a generalization of the cause of Moab’s ruin, full of spiritual insight and sagacity. It is in such directions as these we are to seek for the reasons of human success or failure; everything else is but superficial. The true causes of human success or failure, happiness or misery, are of a moral or spiritual kind. M.
14–17. The destruction is here further prophesied of very largely, and with a great copiousness and variety of expression, and in moving language, designed not only to awaken them by a national repentance and reformation to prevent the trouble, or by a personal repentance and reformation to prepare for it, but to affect us with the calamitous state of human life which is liable to such lamentable occurrences, and with the power of God’s anger and the terror of His judgments when He comes forth to contend with a provoking people. H.
15. All in vain are their boasts of might or strength for war. With exquisite beauty and force these words are said to be the words of “the King, that great King of nations, whose name is Jehovah of hosts.” The Lord of the armies of heaven, the Captain of that vast celestial host of starry worlds, may well speak with majesty of the fall of a power so small and yet so proud as Moab. (Cf. chap. 46:18; 51:57; Isa. 47:4; 48:2.) H. C.
17. Our visions are dull; our conceptions are material, and we judge from what we see with our natural eye, and we think of heaven as very far away, and of those who leave us here as gone forever from our sight. And when some illustrious servant of God lays down his battered armor, and his shield and spear, bruised and broken in the conflict, to go up to the presence of the King, and be crowned, and enter upon his kingdom, we cry out in our sorrow and tears: “How is the strong staff broken, and the beautiful rod!”
We too often fail to read God’s providence in the light of the world to come. We do not avail ourselves of the light God gives us to interpret what else is so dark and mysterious. We look to poor human reason alone, and are sadly misled in matters that are vastly above all reason and all natural light. We try to look at the outer court, and find all mysteries solved there, and forget the glory of the inner sanctuary, deluged with light and with the clear revelation of God. We weep over the present and forget the joy of the future. We place our faces in the dust of earth and cry out, “How dark this world is,” and forget to look up at the stars, where the glory of the Lord is revealed. When we cry out, How is the strong staff broken, in regard to the departure of God’s servants, we forget that God has said, “I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out.” We forget that the beautiful rod instead of being broken and thrown away has budded more beautifully in the House of the Lord than did that of Aaron in the Tabernacle, and is stronger and more beautiful in heaven than it could be upon the earth. Earth is but the training school of heaven. The redeemed of the Lord are on the earth prepared for their work in heaven. And as true life only dawns when the gates of immortality are thrown open, so the full service only commences when God’s people pass through this gate, and look upon God, and see His kingdom in all its length and breadth and beauty and glory! Oh, not broken, but made strong is the staff, when the sweet, restful change comes! Still more beautiful and glorious is the beautiful rod, when the curtain is rolled away that separates between the holy place of this life and the Holy of Holies of the life to come. S. J. M. Eaton.
19-24. The whole plain of Moab is spread out before us, and wherever we turn our eyes, deserted towns and villages are seen. Bozrah is on the west, some twelve miles distant—an old road running toward it straight as an arrow. The town of Beth-gamul, now Um-el-Jemal, is faintly visible far away on the southwest. In the plain immediately to the south are several deserted villages. South by west, about three miles off, is the high hill Abd-el-Maaz, with a deserted town on its eastern declivity. To the southeast, the ancient road runs straight across the plain, far as the eye can see. About two hours along it, on the summit of a hill, is a deserted town, called Malah. On the segment of the plain, from south to east, I counted fourteen large villages, none of them more than twelve miles distant, and almost all of them, so far as I could see with a telescope, still habitable, like Sulkhad, but entirely deserted. Not less than thirty deserted sites can be counted from this commanding spot. Well may we exclaim, with the prophet, as we look over this scene of utter desolation, “Moab is confounded; for it is broken down; howl and cry: tell ye it in Arnon, that Moab is spoiled, and judgment is come upon the plain-country: upon Beth-gamul, and upon Beth-meon, and upon Kerioth, and upon Bozrah, and upon all the cities of Moab far and near.” J. L. Porter.
28-30. In verse 29 the accumulation of words denoting pride and arrogance is remarkable. In this connection the word in verse 30 rendered “wrath” seems to mean the outburst and overflowing of scorn. It does indeed usually mean “wrath,” but its primary sense is of what overleaps due bounds, is excessive, outbreaking; and in such a connection as this should refer to his insolence. In the latter part of this verse, the words rendered “not so” mean, not sound, right—i.e., empty and vain; thus: “I know his insolence, saith the Lord, and the vanity (unsoundness) of his lying boasts (“lies”); they do all things vainly, proudly. In this rendering I change the principal pause so as to attach the word “lies” to the middle clause rather than to the last. In this construction, the passage has a pertinent and forcible significance. H. C.
29. The sin which they had been most notoriously guilty of, and for which God now reckoned with them, was pride. It is mentioned six times (verse 29). We have all heard of the pride of Moab; his neighbors took notice of it; it has testified to his face, as Israel’s did, he is exceeding proud, and grows worse and worse. Observe his loftiness, his arrogance, his pride, his haughtiness; the multiplying of words to the same purport intimates in how many instances he discovered his pride, and how offensive it was both to God and man. It was charged upon them (Isa. 16:6), but here it is expressed more largely than there. Since then they had been under humbling providences, and yet were unhumbled; nay, they grew more arrogant and haughty, which plainly marked them for that utter destruction of which pride is the forerunner. H.
Pride. With accumulated phrases emphasis is laid upon this leading sin of Moab, a sin which is condemned throughout Scripture as one of great wickedness. Pride is a passion rising out of an inordinate opinion of our own worthiness. It is to be distinguished from vanity. Vanity is eager for the admiration of others, though, perhaps, in its own heart conscious of possessing but little to deserve it. But pride is inwardly elated with the feeling of self-importance, and may be quite indifferent to the opinion of the world. Indeed, the height of pride is to scorn the admiration as much as the hatred of other men. It is possible, however, for a man to have a very high opinion of his own powers, importance, etc., without much pride. For pride is not a mere conviction of the great worth of one’s self, it is an emotion, a passion, a disposition to dwell on one’s own merits and make idols of them. Why is this so strongly condemned in Scripture? so hateful to God? Pride is the denial of guilt, the assumption that the good we receive from God is deserved; it is, therefore, a gross presumption, an evidence of base ingratitude, a proof of self-will that refuses to humble itself before the good and holy Father. Adeney.
There never was a saint yet that grew proud of his fine feathers but what the Lord plucked them out by and by; there never yet was an angel that had pride in his heart but he lost his wings, and fell into Gehenna, as Satan and those fallen angels did; and there shall never be a saint who indulges self-conceit and pride and self-confidence but the Lord will spoil his glories, and trample his honors in the mire, and make him cry out yet again, “Lord, have mercy upon me!” less than the least of all saints, and the “very chief of sinners.” The first Adam was for self-exaltation, and to be as gods; the second bids us to be as He was, “meek and lowly in heart.” Anon.
Suggestions for its cure. How entirely all our gifts are gifts! Much as we may think of ourselves on account of them, we are excelled by very many. If we have many gifts, that does but mean much and solemn responsibility. How ill it would fare with us were we to be called now to account for the use we have made of our gifts in the past! How but for the mercy of God in Christ, the most gifted is but a poor, lost sinner, cast out from the presence of God forever! C.
35. Idolatry had blighted her morals, debased her character and insulted the living God; why should not His judgments smite those who “brought offerings to her high places and burned incense to her gods?” H. C.
36. The abundance he hath gotten is perished.** Earthly treasure can only enable its possessor to surround himself with superfluous pomp, to “walk in a vain show;” it can only gratify the taste and imagination or catch the applause of the multitude; it has no power to come into contact with the soul; none to calm the perturbations of conscience, heal the corrosions of remorse or give comfort to the dying-bed; wealth cannot meet the requisitions of the heart, it cannot impart purity to the affections; it can shed no mental grace or joy, nor let in the light of hope upon eternity; it leaves the mind as exposed as ever to all the terrors of judgment and the wrath of God! But heavenly riches illuminate the understanding, pacify the conscience, and fill the heart with unutterable joy. “The good man is satisfied from himself;” he is admitted to the communion of saints and angels; he dwells in love, he dwells in God, and God in him!
The wealth of this world can never, by its nanature, become truly our own. We may identify ourselves with it, and seem as if we were enlarged by our possession; but this is merely a fiction of the imagination; we must at least shrink back into our proper selves, and feel that our possessions are utterly separate from our souls. Whatever our circumstances, we are left unaltered in our moral state, our spiritual reality. But the riches of eternity are part of ourselves. R. Hall.
36-39. Here are clustered the prominent oriental tokens of a great public mourning. The prophet sympathizes, as is shown by his heart sounding or moaning like pipes. The central fact from which this expression comes is, that extreme grief violently convulses the bodily organs. Then the hair is torn out or shorn off; the flesh gashed; the coarsest cloth girded about the loins. People ascend the housetops to retire from public view, as the Orientals went there for secret prayer (Acts 10:9). They howl and wail, giving expression in this plaintive way to their grief. H. C.
38. The broken vessel was not broken by accident. A vessel broken by accident would not have furnished the proper figure. Lives that are as real serviceable vessels in the hand of God never do get broken by accident. Earthen vessels though they often be, there is a providence and a watchfulness which preserves them till their work is done. They are kept through days of persecution; they are restored from sickness; they live on into a good old age, while men apparently stronger and of greater physical resource are stricken down. And when there seems sometimes a premature and unaccountable breaking, yet it is really to be regarded in another light, namely, as a change to higher and fuller service. Only service gives value to a human life. Y.
40-42. This destroyer, “He who should come like an eagle,” was primarily the king of the Chaldeans. Moab fell before the same power which desolated Judah and Jerusalem. Here we meet again, as in verse 26, with the vital truth that Moab ceased from being a nation because she had magnified herself against the living God. If all the historians who record the ultimate extinction of nations were inspired of God to give the true reasons of their fall, we should often meet this testimony, “Perished of national pride, producing contempt of God and of fundamental morality.” H. C.
43,44. The frequent prosperity of the wicked is indeed a fact not at all concealed or qualified in the Scriptures. A man of the world takes his own worldly way to keep peril at a
distance, and he seems to fall into no pit, no snare. Let all this be allowed. Nothing is gained by trying to make out that the wicked have no advantages. It was an old-world legend that some men sold themselves to the devil, and that his protection secured to them their wonderful immunities and prosperity. But all that is gained is in the way of postponement. Wicked men travel in a narrowing path, and at last are shut up to face the judgments of God. Y.