Make him drunken, for he magnified himself against Jehovah; and Moab shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision.
Jeremiah 48 is one of a series of messages about the nations around Judah, and the sentence on Moab now reaches its sharpest point. Two questions sit behind it: what had Moab done to the LORD, and why does God answer pride with the picture of a drunk man in his own vomit?
God gives His reason before He gives the sentence. One writer names that cause and what God thinks of it:
The chief places of Moab are mentioned. "The horn of Moab (the horn is the emblem of power) is cut off, and his arm is broken, declares the LORD." And why this judgment? "For he has magnified himself against the LORD." They were filled with pride — yes, they were extremely proud. The Lord speaks of it like this: "His loftiness, his pride, and his arrogance, and the haughtiness of his heart." How God detests pride! Both Testaments mark it out as the great abomination in the sight of God.
Moab's sin was not the same as Egypt's. Pride can wear more than one set of clothes:
Moab's mark is not confidence in political wisdom, as it is with Egypt. But pride can show itself in other ways, and God finds it most offensive in every form. In what land or people was it more obvious than in Moab?
"Make him drunk" is not a call to a drinking party. Earlier in the book God hands the prophet a cup to pass round the nations, and Moab's name is on the list:
Then God tells the prophet to give the cup of vengeance to the guilty nations. But look who stands among them, and first of all: Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with their kings and princes! "Thus the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: Take from My hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. They shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of the sword that I am sending among them"… Edom and Moab, and the children of Ammon…
Note who drinks first. Jerusalem heads the list, so this chapter is not just about other people's trouble.
The verse ends where the next one begins — with mockery. Moab had laughed at Israel; now Moab becomes the joke. Moab was no stranger to Israel. One writer notes the family tie before naming the sin:
Moab had a family relationship to Jacob. Moab and Ammon (whom we hear about in the next chapter) were both children of Lot. Truly Moab was proud and magnified himself against the Lord and derided Israel His people (vv. 26-27), and so he should be punished accordingly.
The same pride shows up in how Moab talked about God's people:
How true it is that God resists the proud! We have heard of Moab's pride, and He resented it all the more because they dared to say — as they would have liked to believe — that "the house of Judah is like all the other nations."
Earlier in the chapter God says what grew this pride: nothing had ever shaken Moab. One writer turns that picture on anyone living at ease today:
"Moab has been at ease from his youth and has settled on his dregs; he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, nor has he gone into exile; so his taste remains in him, and his scent is not changed." This is Moab… He is not profiting by God's disciplinary dealings, so he is not "emptied from vessel to vessel"… His conscience is no longer stirred. The old appetites of the flesh are still strong in him because he has indulged them, and his scent, his discernment, has become dulled. This is simply a Christian who may live an outwardly respectable life, but who is out of communion with God.
("Dregs" are the sediment wine settles on when no one pours it out.)
The chapter does not end with wallowing and derision. Some of the nations named in these chapters have a future:
These nations were all to fall under the power of Nebuchadnezzar; but some of them are to be restored in the latter day. Among these nations will be Elam, Egypt, Moab and Ammon, but not Philistia, not Damascus, not Hazor, and above all not Babylon.
- Cause — pride. Moab magnified himself against the LORD, and both Testaments mark out pride as the great abomination to God.
- Comfort bred it. Moab sat undisturbed, kept his old taste, and lost his discernment.
- Cup — the answer. "Make him drunk" means the cup of God's fury, carried round the nations. Jerusalem drinks first, so no one is only a spectator.
- Consequence — derision. Moab laughed at God's people. Now Moab wallows, and the laughter turns on him: the punishment mirrors the sin.
- Close — mercy. Moab's judgment is real but not final; in the latter day the LORD restores Moab, while Babylon has no such promise.
For was not Israel a derision unto thee? Was he found among thieves, that as oft as thou didst speak of him, thou didst shake the head?
Israel had fallen under God's hand, and Moab, its neighbour, enjoyed the collapse. Here God turns the question back on the mocker, after the verses just before announced Moab's own judgment.
Moab's mockery had a root. The same chapter charges Moab with pride, and one writer traces the judgment back to it.
"The horn of Moab (horn the emblem of power) is cut off and his arm is broken, says the LORD." And why this judgment? "For he has magnified himself against the LORD." They were filled with pride; yes, they were very proud. The Lord speaks of it like this: "His loftiness and his arrogance and his pride and the haughtiness of his heart." How God detests pride! Both Testaments mark it out as the great abomination in the sight of God. Filled with pride and haughtiness, they derided Israel, God's people. Whenever anyone spoke of Israel, "they skipped for joy" (verse 27).
That wording comes from an older translation. The ESV puts it as "you wagged your head."
Moab was not a stranger looking in from far off. One writer points to the family tie, and to the reason for Moab's punishment.
Unlike the Philistines, however, he had a certain relationship to Jacob. Moab and Ammon (of whom we hear in the next chapter) were both children of Lot. Moab really was proud. He magnified himself against the Lord and derided Israel, His people (vv. 26-27). So he should be punished accordingly.
Moab's family line also says something about what Moab pictures. The nation began with a believer who chose worldly gain.
Moab, as we know, was the child of Lot's sin. Lot was a child of God. He was not content with a life of obedient dependence on Him. He preferred to go down into Sodom for worldly advantage. Moab represents the results of this departure. So it fits that the nation coming from him should picture mere profession: an outward connection with God without any reality.
The verse asks whether Israel had been caught in the act, like a thief. Even when God's people deserve His hand, no one else may enjoy their fall. One writer makes the point about Edom, another nation that rejoiced over Israel.
here
As a nation, Edom was marked by pride and bitter hatred against the people of God. They rejoiced at the disasters that came on Israel. But if God finds it necessary to chasten His people, He does so for their good. And it is always wrong to rejoice over the evils that come on God's people, even if they deserve chastening.
God also sets a limit on the instruments He uses for that chastening.
God will not let the nations mistreat His poor straying people. He will use them as His rod of discipline. But the moment they try to go past the limit He set, giving free rein to their own bitter hatred, He will break the rod in pieces. He will make it clear to everyone that He Himself is dealing with His beloved but straying people, for their final blessing and His glory.
The same delight shows up whenever someone is glad that an enemy has fallen. One writer puts the question straight to the conscience.
How selfish and base to rejoice in the fall of an enemy! It may please the crafty enemy, and the flesh too. But do not let your heart be glad that he stumbles. If you do, Jehovah will certainly see it and be displeased, and He will turn His anger away from him. And to whom? Let your conscience answer.
The chapter does not end with Moab destroyed and forgotten. Its last word is a promise, and one writer rests it on God's own faithfulness.
The last verse (47) pronounces this awful course of judgment on Moab. Yet that same verse declares that Jehovah will bring back the captivity of Moab in the latter days. Has He spoken and will He not perform? Nothing is more sure.
- Pride. Moab magnified himself against the Lord. Both Testaments mark pride out as the great abomination in God's sight.
- Mockery. The pride came out as glee at Israel's fall. Moab skipped for joy at the very mention of God's people.
- Measure. Moab derided Israel, so God punished Moab accordingly.
- Mirror. Moab came from Lot, a picture of outward connection with God without any reality. The same gloating heart is in anyone glad that an enemy stumbles, and God sees it and is displeased.
- Mercy. God chastens His people for their good. Even Moab's story closes with a promise, and He will perform what He has spoken.