Jeremiah 48

Jeremiah 48:28-33

The dean of Moab is next read. Here is, 1. The destruction foretold, that it should be great and general, should extend itself to all parts of the country, ver. 1-6, 8. 2. The cause of this destruction affirmed; it was for that brought this man upon them; their pride and ferocity, and carnal confidence, ver. 7, 11, 14, 20, and their contempt of and enmity to God and his people, ver. 20, 27, 30. 3. A promise of the restoration of Moab, ver. 47.

1. A Gaintt Moab thus saith the LORD of hofts, the God of Israel, Wo unto Nebo, for it is spoiled: Kirtasthain is confounded and taken, + Mifgab is confounded and dismayed. 2. There shall be no more praise of Moab: in Hefshon they have devised evil against it; come and let us cut it off from being a nation; also thou shalt be cut down, O Madmen, the sword shall purse thee. 3. A voice of crying shall be from Horonain, spoiling and great destruction. 4. Moab is destroyed, her little ones have caused a cry to be heard. 5. For in the going up of Lubath, + continual weeping shall go up: for in the going down of Horonain the enemies have heard a cry of destruction. 6. + Flee, save your lives, and be like the heath in the wilderness. 7. + For because thou hast trusted in thy works and in thy treasures, thou shalt also be taken, and + Chemofs shall go forth into captivity with his priests and his princes together. 8. 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. 9. Gave wings unto Moab, that it may flee and get away: for the cities thereof shall be desolate, without any to dwell therein. 10. + Curled be he that doth the work of the LORD + deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood. 11. + Moab hath

been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lens, and hath not been emptied from veffet to veffet, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed. 12. Therefore behold the days come, saith the LORD, that I will send unto him wanderers that shall cause him to wander, and shall empty his veffets and break their bottles. 13. And Moab shall be ashamed of + Chemofs, as the house of Israel was ashamed of + Bethel their confidence.

9. 1-13. We have here,

10. The destruction of Moab. The Lord of Hofts, who hath all the armies of heaven and earth at his beck, sends forth spoilers, whose sword shall devour around, and purse the fugitives, 9. 2. Desolation shall be spread on every side, every city be destroyed; there shall be no more praise of Moab in Hefshon, the place and people utterly ruined, every fruitful valley wafted, the land left without inhabitant, the princes and priests shall go into captivity; and with confidence they shall behold their idol Chemofs, their confidence, share their fate, unable as the Calf of Bethel to defend his victories, 9. 7-13. In vain they cry fire, when flight is impossible, 9. 8. or perhaps this is the call of the prophet, ironically deriding their attempt to escape from city to city, when all must fall, and so on egress. The cry of Horonain taken, echoes; and whilst the fugitives go weeping up the accent to Lubath, the enemies hear their cry, and follow at their heels, 9. 9. Savit the destruction paffes through as the bird cuts the air; and as on eagles wings they are hurried into captivity, 9. 9. Moab, throughout, is destroyed, and desolate, as the heath in the wilderness, not even the infants are spared; nor can their cries avail, 9. 4. The charge is given, and sealed with an anathema; Curled be he that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood, and no pleas of pity must be heard, when vengeance from God is to be executed. Note, (1.) When God’s work is given us to do, of whatever kind, to act hypocrisically or negligently, will bring his curle upon our heads. (2.) The vain confidence of every sinner will as much disappoint their hopes in the day of trial, as Chemofs shamed his foolish victories.

11. The cause of this destruction is their pride and carnal security. Like wine that hath not been emptied from veffet to veffet, Moab had been at ease from the days they were formed into a people, and had never known such captivities as Israel had undergone. Strong as wine settled on its lens, filled with wealth, and confident with long prosperity, they defied danger, tragique as their works, their fortifications, or their idol-deities, the work of their own hands, and in their treasures, as if these were a sure defence; though the event must be fearfully disappoint their expeditions, their works be demolished, their treasures and their gods together spoiled and carried off by the conquerors. Note, (1.) Worldly prosperity is a dangerous soare to the soul. (2.) God’s enemies often enjoy here below that worldly ease and assurance to which his own people are strangers. They have their good things here, and have nothing to hope for in eternity. (3.) Creature confidences in the day of evil prove utter vanity and vexation of spirit. (4.) The sinner’s presumption is the prelude to his ruin.

12. How say ye, We are mighty and strong men for the war? 15. Moab is spoiled and gone up out of her cities, and + his chosen young men are gone down to the slaughter, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hofts. 16. The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hasteeth fast. 17. All ye that are about him bemoan him, and all ye that know his name, say, How is the strong staff broken, and the beautiful rod! 18. + Thou daughter that doft inhabit Dibon, come down from thy glory, and fit in thirst; for the spoiler of Moab shall come upon thee, and he shall destroy thy strong-holds. 19. O + inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way and eipy, ask him that fleeth, and her that eicapeth; and say, What is done? 20. Moab is confounded, for it is broken down: howl and cry, tell ye it in Arnon, that Moab is spoiled, 21. And judgment is come upon the plain country; upon Hefson, and upon Jaiszah, and upon Mephaath, 22. And upon Dibon, and upon Nebo, and upon Beth-dibathaim, 23. And upon Kirtasthain, and upon Beth-gamiel, and upon Beth-moon, 24. And upon Kerioth, and upon Boarah, and upon all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near. 25. + The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, saith the LORD. 26. + Make ye him drunken: for he magnified himself against the LORD: Moab also shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision. 27. For was not Israel a derision unto thee: was be found

found

of resistance, the designs of Damascus, alligned as a woman in the pages of travail, place all their hopes in flight, v. 24. How is the day of prayer, in famous once, not left or spared, but ruined by the Chaldean enemy; the city of my fort either the prophet afflicted its beauty, or her king lamented her ruin, v. 25: her young men fallen, her warriors slain, her walls reared, her palaces burnt to the ground, v. 26. God’s wrath hath kindled the flames, and none can quench them. Note, (1.) They who place their joy in earthly comforts will be punished with greater bitterness in the loss of them. (2.) When God hath a controversy with a nation, he can easily dispirit the braves, and make the strong men feeble.

28. ¶ Concerning Kedar, and concerning the kingdoms of 1 Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon shall imite, thus saith the LORD, Arise ye, go up to Kedar, and spoil the men of the rest. 29. Their tents and their flocks shall they take away, they shall take to themselves their curtains and all their vessels, and their camels, and they shall cry unto them, 1 Fear is on every side. 30. ¶ 2 Flee, get you far off, dwell deep, O ye inhabitants of Hazor, saith the LORD; for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon hath taken counsel against you, and hath conceived a purpose against you. 31. Arise, get you up unto the wealthy nation that dwelleth without care, saith the LORD, which have neither gates nor bars, which dwell alone. 32. And their camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle a spoil, and I will scatter into all winds them; 1 that are in the utmost corners, and I will bring their calamity from all sides thereof, saith the LORD. 33. And Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons, and a desolation for ever; there shall no man abide there, nor any son of man dwell in it.

Kedar was a son of Ismael; his descendants settled in Arabia; Hazor or Pera was the capital, and had other tributary kingdoms under it; though some suppose that some of the Hazorites, who escaped in the days of Joshua, fled hither, and built a city of the same name with that they had offered.

Nebuchadnezzar is invited to come and spoil this wealthy nation, or rather this nation living at risk, and dwelling without care, in peace and security, unprepared to repel an invader; that have neither gates nor bars, not dwelling in cities, but abide, separate from other nations, and in tents, roving from place to place. Their curtains, vessels, camels, and flocks, wherein their riches chiefly confided, are given for a prey. Unable to resist the arms of the conqueror, or countermine his purposes, they are called upon to her; and, scattered on every side, their deferred country is ravaged, and their capital, in ruins, becomes no longer the abode of men, but of wild health for ever. Note, (1.) They who are most secure are not therefore most safe. (2.) The most inoffensive have no guard against the ravages of ambition and covetousness.

34. ¶ The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet: against Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah, laying, 35. That saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might. 36. And upon Elam will I bring the four winds, from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them towards all those winds, and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come. 37. For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, rove my fierce anger, saith the LORD, and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them. 38. And I will set thy throne in Elam, and will destroy from thence the king and the princes, saith the LORD. 39. ¶ But it shall come to pals in the latter days, that I will bring again the captivity of Elam, saith the LORD.

1 Pet. 6.