Year 2, Week 16, Day 2 Bible Reading Observations

Year 2, Week 16, Day 2

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Jeremiah 47-48.

Today’s reading continues the fifth segment of the Book of Jeremiah. The fifth segment (chapters 46-51)  is a collection of judgment against the nations as it corresponds to the first segment (chapters 2-20) in that it is a collection of judgments against Judah. Jeremiah 47 is the pronouncement of judgment on Philistia, a perpetual enemy of Israel: “Ah, sword of the LORD! How long till you are quiet? Put yourself into your scabbard; rest and be still! How can it be quiet when the LORD has given it a charge? Against Ashkelon and against the seashore he has appointed it” (Jeremiah 47:6-7). Jeremiah 48 is the pronouncement of judgment on the Moabites, the children of Lot: “Moab shall be destroyed and be no longer a people, because he magnified himself against the LORD” (Jeremiah 48:42).

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading was not only the lengthiness of the judgment against Moab, which probably suggests they were even more heinous in their atrocities than some of the other nations; but also the surprising element of restoration toward Moab: “Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab in the latter days, declares the LORD.” Thus far is the judgment on Moab” (Jeremiah 48:47). The Moabites, along with the Ammonites were particularly bad neighbors to Israel, especially during the last days of Jerusalem: “And the LORD sent against him bands of the Chaldeans and bands of the Syrians and bands of the Moabites and bands of the Ammonites, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by his servants the prophets” (2 Kings 24:2). The Moabite territory was located just east of Judah, and it is possible that the Moabites were especially vicious, not only in their mockery but also their thievery: “Was not Israel a derision to you? Was he found among thieves, that whenever you spoke of him you wagged your head?” (Jeremiah 48:27).

As a part of Jeremiah’s pronouncement of judgment on Moab, he references their origin (which was also true of the Ammonites): “Make him drunk, because he magnified himself against the LORD, so that Moab shall wallow in his vomit, and he too shall be held in derision…“Leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, O inhabitants of Moab! Be like the dove that nests in the sides of the mouth of a gorge” (Jeremiah 48:26,28). Lot, who was a nephew of Abraham, was hesitant to live in the towns nearby after the fall of Sodom and Gomorrah, so he lived in a cave. Lot's daughters conspired against their father, wherein they made him drunk and lay with him: “Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father” (Genesis 19:32). Their plan was successful and he impregnated them: “Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites to this day” (Genesis 19:36-38). Thus Jeremiah points out that Moab is a woman who will vomit after being drunk on the wine of God’s wrath (Jeremiah 48:26). She will have to flee the cities and live in a cave in the wilderness (Jeremiah 48:28).

But Moab’s judgment was not so much concerning their origins but their present operations: “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I shall send to him pourers who will pour him, and empty his vessels and break his jars in pieces. Then Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence” (Jeremiah 48:12-13). The root of Moab’s judgment was their idolatry. Chemosh was the patron god of the Moabites: “Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh are undone, for your sons have been taken captive, and your daughters into captivity” (Jeremiah 48:46). In fact, Jeremiah’s words are reminiscent of Moses: “Woe to you, O Moab! You are undone, O people of Chemosh! He has made his sons fugitives, and his daughters captives, to an Amorite king, Sihon” (Numbers 21:29). Moab will fall just as the northern kingdom of Israel did for its syncretism with the calf cult at Bethel (see 1 Kings 12:28-32).

The first commandment by which Israel was to obey before the LORD concerning false gods: "You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). While Israel had specifically been given that statute as a part of the Mosaic Law code, the prohibition against idols is applicable for not only the Jews, but all peoples everywhere for all time. The restriction against worshipping anything other than the One True God is a universal requirement. Unfortunately, it is also a universal problem and primary cause of universal condemnation before God: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse…Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things” (Romans 1:18-20,22-23). But there is always the hope of a different future for idolaters: “For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10).

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe