Moab
is next set to the bar before Jeremiah the
prophet, whom God has constituted judge over nations and kingdoms, from his
mouth to receive its doom. Isaiah's predictions concerning
Moab
had had their accomplishment (we had the
predictions Isa. xv. and xvi. and the like Amos ii. 1), and they were
fulfilled when the Assyrians, under Salmanassar, invaded and distressed Moab. But this is a prophecy of the desolations
of Moab
by the Chaldeans, which were accomplished
under Nebuzaradan, about five years after he had destroyed
Jerusalem. Here is, I. The destruction foretold, that
it should be great and general, should extend itself to all parts of the
country (ver. 1-6, 8, and again ver. 21-25, 34), that spoilers should come
upon them and force some to flee (ver. 9), should carry many into captivity
(ver. 12, 46), that the enemy should come shortly (ver. 16), come swiftly
and surprise them (ver. 40, 41), that he should make thorough work (ver. 10)
and lay the country quite waste, though it was very strong (ver. 14, 15),
that there should be no escaping (ver. 42, 45), that this should force them
to quit their idols (ver. 13, 35) and put an end to all their joy (ver. 33,
34), that their neighbours shall lament them (ver. 17-19) and the prophet
himself does (ver. 31, 36, &c.). II. The causes of this destruction
assigned; it was sin that brought this ruin upon them, their pride, and
security, and carnal confidence (ver. 7, 11, 14, 29), and their contempt of
and enmity to God and his people, ver. 26, 27, 30. III. A promise of the
restoration of Moab, ver. 48).
|
The
Judgment of Moab.
|
B.
C. 605.
|
|
|
1 Against Moab thus saith the LORD
of hosts, the God of Israel; Woe unto Nebo! for it is spoiled: Kiriathaim is
confounded and taken: Misgab is confounded and dismayed.
2 There shall be no more praise of Moab: in Heshbon 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 pursue thee.
3 A voice of crying shall be from Horonaim, 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 Luhith continual
weeping shall go up; for in the going down of Horonaim 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 Chemosh 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 Give wings unto Moab, that it may flee and get
away: for the cities thereof shall be desolate, without any to dwell
therein. 10 Cursed be he that doeth 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 lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel,
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 vessels, and break their bottles. 13 And Moab
shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Beth-el
their confidence.
We may observe in these verses,
I. The author of Moab's destruction; it is the Lord of hosts, that
has armies, all armies, at his command, and the God of Israel (v.
1), who will herein plead the cause of his Israel against a people that have
always been vexatious to them, and will punish them now for the injuries
done to Israel of old, though Israel was forbidden to meddle with them
(Deut. ii. 9), therefore the destruction of Moab is called the work of
the Lord (v. 10), for it is he that pleads for Israel; and his
work will exactly agree with his word, v. 8.
II. The instruments of it: Spoilers shall come (v. 8), shall
come with a sword, a sword that shall pursue them, v. 2.
"I will send unto him wanderers, such as come from afar, as if
they were vagrants, or had missed their way, but they shall cause him to
wander; they seem as wanderers themselves, but they shall make the
Moabites to be really wanderers, some to flee and others to be carried into
captivity." These destroyers stir up themselves to do execution; they have
devised evil against Heshbon, one of the principal cities of Moab, and
they aim at no less than the ruin of the kingdom: Come, and let us cut it
off from being a nation (v. 2); nothing less will serve the turn
of the invaders; they come, not to plunder it, but to ruin it. The prophet,
in God's name, engages them to make thorough work of it (v. 10): Cursed
be he that does the work of the Lord deceitfully, this bloody work, this
destroying work; though it goes against the grain with men of compassion,
yet it is the work of the Lord, and must not be done by the halves.
The Chaldeans have it in charge, by a secret instinct (says Mr. Gataker), to
destroy the Moabites, and therefore they must not spare, must not, out of
foolish pity, keep back their sword from blood; they would thereby
bring a sword, and a curse with it, upon themselves, as Saul did by sparing
the Amalekites and Ahab by letting Benhadad go. Thy life shall go for his
life. To this work is applied that general rule given to all that are
employed in any service for God, Cursed by he that does the work of the
Lord deceitfully or 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 further 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. i. 14. Let not such deceive
themselves, for God will not thus be mocked.
III. The woeful instances and effects of this destruction. The cities shall
be laid in ruins; they shall be spoiled (v. 1) and cut down (v.
2); they shall be desolate (v. 9), without any to dwell
therein; there shall be no houses to dwell in, or no people to dwell in
them, or no safety and ease to those that would dwell in them. Every city
shall be spoiled and no city shall escape. The strongest city shall not
be able to secure itself against the enemies' power, nor shall the finest
city be able to recommend itself to the enemies' pity and favour. The country
also shall be wasted, the valley shall perish, and the plain be
destroyed, v. 8. The corn and the flocks, which used to cover the
plains and make the valleys rejoice, shall all be destroyed, eaten up,
trodden down, or carried off. The most sacred persons shall not escape: The priests
and princes shall go together into captivity. Nay, Chemosh, the god they
worship, who, they hope, will protect them, shall share with them in the
ruin; his temples shall be laid in ashes and his image carried away with the
rest of the spoil. Now the consequence of all this will be, 1. Great shame
and confusion: Kirjathaim is confounded, and Misgah is so. They shall
be ashamed of the mighty boasts they have sometimes made of their cities: There
shall be no more vaunting in Moab concerning Heshbon (so it might be
read, v. 2); they shall no more boast of the strength of that city
when the evil which is designed against it is brought upon it. Nor shall
they any more boast of their gods (v. 13); they shall be ashamed
of Chemosh (ashamed of all the prayers they have made to and all the
confidence they put in that dunghill deity), as Israel was ashamed of
Beth-el, of the golden calf they had at Beth-el, which they confided in
as their protector, but were deceived in, for it was not able to save them
from the Assyrians; nor shall Chemosh be able to save the Moabites from the
Chaldeans. Note, Those that will not be convinced and made ashamed of the
folly of their idolatry by the word of God shall be convinced and made
ashamed of it by the judgments of God, when they shall find by woeful
experience the utter inability of the gods they have served to do them any
service. 2. There will be great sorrow; there is a voice of crying
heard (v. 3) and the cry is nothing but spoiling and great
destruction. Alas! alas! Moab is destroyed, v. 4. The
great ones having quitted the cities to shift for their own safety, even the
little ones have caused a cry to be heard, the meaner sort of people,
or the little children, the innocent harmless ones, whose cries at such a
time are the most piteous. Go up to the hills, go down to the valleys, and
you meet with continual weeping (weeping with weeping); all are in
tears; you meet none with dry eyes. Even the enemies have heard the cry,
from whom it would have been policy to conceal it, for they will be animated
and encouraged by it; but it is so great that it cannot be hid, 3. There
will be great hurry; they will cry to one another, "Away, away! flee;
save your lives (v. 6); shift for your own safety with all
imaginable speed, though you escape as bare and naked as the heath,
or grig, or dry shrub, in the wilderness; think not of carrying away
any thing you have, for it may cost you your life to attempt it, Matt. xxiv.
16-18. Take shelter, though it be in a barren wilderness, that you may have
your lives for a prey. The danger will come suddenly and swiftly; and
therefore give wings unto Moab (v. 9); that would be the
greatest kindness you could do them; that is what they will call for, O
that we had wings like a dove! for unless they have wings, and can fly,
there will be no escaping."
IV. The sins for which God will now reckon with Moab, and which justify God
in these severe proceedings against them. 1. It is because they have been
secure, and have trusted in their wealth and strength, in their works
and in their treasures, v. 7. They had taken a great deal of
pains to fortify their cities and make large works about them, and to fill
their exchequer and private coffers, so that they thought themselves in as
good a posture for war as any people could be and that none durst invade
them, and therefore set danger at defiance. They trusted in the abundance
of their riches and strengthened themselves in their wickedness, Ps. lii.
7. Now, for this reason, that they may have a sensible conviction of the
vanity and folly of their carnal confidences, God will send an enemy that
will master their works and rifle their treasures. Note, We forfeit the
comfort of that creature which we repose that confidence in which should be
reposed in God only. The reed will break that is leaned upon. 2. It is
because they have not made a right improvement of the days of the peace and
prosperity, v. 11. (1.) They had been long undisturbed: Moab has
been at ease from his youth. It was an ancient kingdom before Israel
was, and had enjoyed great tranquillity, though a small country and
surrounded with potent neighbours. God's Israel were afflicted from their
youth (Ps. cxxix. 1, 2), but 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
have often done, and yet Moab is a wicked idolatrous nation, and one of the
confederates against God's hidden ones, Ps. lxxxiii. 3, 6. Note,
There are many that persist in unrepented iniquity and yet enjoy
uninterrupted prosperity. (2.) They had been as long corrupt and unreformed:
He has settled on his lees; he has been secure and sensual in his
prosperity, has rested in it, and fetched all the strength and life of the
soul from it, as the wine from the lees. His taste remained in him, and
his scent is not changed; he is still the same, as bad as ever he was.
Note, While bad people are as happy as they used to be in the world it is no
marvel if they are bad as they used to be. They have no changes of their
peace and prosperity, therefore fear not God, their hearts and lives
are unchanged, Ps. lv. 19.
|
The
Judgment of Moab.
|
B.
C. 605.
|
|
|
14 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 hosts. 16 The calamity of Moab is near to come, and
his affliction hasteth 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 dost
inhabit Dibon, come down from thy glory, and sit 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 espy; ask
him that fleeth, and her that escapeth, 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 Holon, and upon Jahazah, and upon Mephaath,
22 And upon Dibon, and upon Nebo, and upon Beth-diblathaim, 23
And upon Kiriathaim, and upon Beth-gamul, and upon Beth-meon, 24
And upon Kerioth, and upon Bozrah, 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 he found among thieves? for
since thou spakest of him, thou skippedst for joy. 28 O ye that
dwell in Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, and be like the dove
that maketh her nest in the sides of the hole's mouth. 29
We have heard the pride of Moab, (he is exceeding proud) his loftiness, and
his arrogancy, and his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart.
30 I know his wrath, saith the LORD;
but it shall not be so; his lies shall not so effect it.
31 Therefore will I howl for Moab, and I will cry out for all Moab; mine
heart shall mourn for the men of Kirheres. 32 O vine of
Sibmah, I will weep for thee with the weeping of Jazer: thy plants are gone
over the sea, they reach even to the sea of Jazer: the spoiler is
fallen upon thy summer fruits and upon thy vintage. 33 And joy
and gladness is taken from the plentiful field, and from the land of Moab;
and I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses: none shall tread with
shouting; their shouting shall be no shouting. 34
From the cry of Heshbon even unto Elealeh, and even unto Jahaz,
have they uttered their voice, from Zoar even unto Horonaim, as
a heifer of three years old: for the waters also of Nimrim shall be
desolate. 35 Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab, saith the LORD,
him that offereth in the high places, and him that burneth incense to his
gods. 36 Therefore mine heart shall sound for Moab like pipes,
and mine heart shall sound like pipes for the men of Kirheres: because the
riches that he hath gotten are perished. 37 For every
head shall be bald, and every beard clipped: upon all the hands shall
be cuttings, and upon the loins sackcloth. 38 There shall
be lamentation generally upon all the housetops of Moab, and in the
streets thereof: for I have broken Moab like a vessel wherein is no
pleasure, saith the LORD.
39 They shall howl, saying, How is it broken down! how hath Moab
turned the back with shame! so shall Moab be a derision and a dismaying to
all them about him. 40 For thus saith the LORD;
Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread his wings over
Moab. 41 Kerioth is taken, and the strong holds are surprised,
and the mighty men's hearts in Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a
woman in her pangs. 42 And Moab shall be destroyed from being
a people, because he hath magnified himself against the LORD.
43 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, shall be upon thee, O inhabitant
of Moab, saith the LORD.
44 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 upon it, even
upon Moab, the year of their visitation, saith the LORD.
45 They that fled stood under the shadow of Heshbon because of the force:
but a fire shall come forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of
Sihon, and shall devour the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the
tumultuous ones. 46 Woe be unto thee, O Moab! the people of
Chemosh perisheth: for thy sons are taken captives, and thy daughters
captives. 47 Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the
latter days, saith the LORD.
Thus far is the judgment of Moab.
The destruction is here further prophesied of very largely and with a great
copiousness and variety of expression, and very pathetically 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. In reading this long roll of threatenings,
and meditating on the terror of them, it will be of more use to us to keep
this in our eye, and to get our hearts thereby possessed with a holy awe of
God and of his wrath, than to enquire critically into all the lively figures
and metaphors here used.
I. It is a surprising destruction, and very sudden, that is here threatened.
They were very secure, thought themselves strong for war and able to
deal with the most powerful enemy (v. 14), and yet the calamity is
near, and he is not able to keep it off, nor so much as to keep the enemy
long in parley, for the affliction hastens fast (v. 16) and
will soon come to a crisis. The enemy shall fly as an eagle, so
swiftly, so strongly shall he come (v. 40), as an eagle flies upon
his prey, and he shall spread his wings, the wings of his army, over
Moab; he shall surround it, that none may escape. The strong-holds
of Moab are taken by surprise (v. 41), so that all their
strength stood them in no stead; and this made the hearts even of their
mighty men to fail, for they had not time to recollect the
considerations that might have animated them. It requires a more than
ordinary degree of courage not to be afraid of sudden fear.
II. It is an utter destruction, and such as lays Moab all in ruins: Moab
is spoiled (v. 15), quite spoiled, is confounded and broken
down (v. 20); their cities are laid in ashes, or seized by the
enemy so that they are forced to quit them, v. 15. Divers cities are
here named, upon which judgment has come, and the list concludes with an et
cetera--and such like. What occasion was there for him to mention more
particulars when it comes upon all the cities of Moab in general, far
and near? v. 21-24. Note, When iniquity is universal we have
reason to expect that calamity should be so too. The kingdom is deprived of
its dignity and authority: The horn of Moab is cut off, the horn of
its strength and power, both offensive and defensive; his arm is broken,
that he can neither give a blow nor prevent a blow, v. 25. Is the
youth of the kingdom the strength and beauty of it? His chosen young men
have gone down to the slaughter, v. 15. They went down to the
battle promising themselves that they should return victorious; but God told
them that they went down to the slaughter; so sure are those to fall
against whom God fights. In a word, Moab shall be destroyed from being a
people, v. 42. Those that are enemies to God's people will soon
be made no people.
III. It is a lamentable destruction; it will be just matter of mourning and
will turn joy into heaviness. 1. The prophet that foretels it does himself
lament it, and mourns at the very foresight of it, from a principle of
compassion to his fellow-creatures and concern for human nature. The prophet
will himself howl for Moab; his very heart shall mourn for
them (v. 31); he will weep for the vine of Sibmah (v.
32); his heart shall sound like pipes for Moab, v. 36. Though
the destruction of Moab would prove him a true prophet, yet he could not
think of it without trouble. The ruin of sinners is no pleasure to God, and
therefore should be a pain to us; even those that give warning of it should
lay it to heart. These passages, and many others in this chapter, are much
the same with what Isaiah had used in his prophecies against Moab (Isa. xv.
16); for, though there was a long distance of time between that prophecy and
this, yet they were both dictated by one and the same Spirit, and it becomes
God's prophets to speak the language of those that went before them. It is
no plagiarism sometimes to make use of old expressions, provided it be with
new affections and applications. 2. The Moabites themselves shall lament it;
it will be the greatest mortification and grief imaginable to them. Those
that sat in glory, in the midst of wealth, and mirth, and all manner
of pleasure, shall sit in thirst, in a dry and thirsty land, where no
water, no comfort is, v. 18. It is time for them to sit in thirst,
and inure themselves to hardship, when the spoiler has come, who will
strip them of all, and empty them. The Moabites in the remote corners of the
country, that are furthest from the danger, will be inquisitive to know how
the matter goes, what news from the army, will ask every one that
escapes, What is done? v. 19. And when they are told that all is
gone, that the invader is the conqueror, they will howl and cry, in
bitterness and anguish of spirit (v. 20); they will abandon
themselves to solitude, to lament the desolations of their country; they
will leave the cities that used to be full of mirth, and dwell in
the rock where they may have their full of melancholy; they shall no
more be singing birds, but mourning birds, like the dove (v.
28); the doves of the valley, Ezek. vii. 16. Let those that give
themselves up to mirth know that God can soon change their note. Their
sorrow shall be so very extreme that they shall make themselves bald and
cut themselves (v. 37), which were expressions of a desperate
grief, such as tempted men to be even their own destroyers. Job
indeed rent his mantle and shaved his head, but he did not cut
himself. When the flood of passion rises ever so high wisdom and grace must
set bounds to it, set banks to it, to restrain it from such barbarities. The
sorrow shall be universal (v. 38): There shall be a general
lamentation upon all the house-tops of Moab, where they worshipped their
idols, to whom they shall in vain bemoan themselves, and in all the
streets, where they conversed with one another, for they shall be free
in communicating their grief and fears and in propagating them; for they see
all lost: "I have broken Moab like a vessel wherein is no pleasure,
which shall not be regarded and cannot be pieced again." That which
Moab used to rejoice in was their pleasant fruits and the abundance of their
rich wines. The delights of sense were all the matter of their joy. Take
away these, destroy their gardens and vineyards, and you make all their
mirth to cease, Hos. ii. 11, 12. There is great weeping when their
plants are transplanted, have gone over the sea (v. 32), are
carried into other countries, to be planted there. The spoiler has fallen
upon thy summer-fruits and upon thy vintage, and it is this that makes the
cry of Heshbon to reach even to Elealeh, v. 34. Take
joy and gladness from the plentiful field, and you take it from the
land of Moab, v. 33. If the wine fail from the wine-presses,
that used to be trodden with acclamations of joy, all their gladness is cut
off. Take away that shouting, and there shall be no shouting. Note, Those
who make the delights of sense their chief joy, their exceeding joy, since
these are things they may easily be deprived of in a little time subject
themselves to the tyranny of the greatest grief; whereas those who rejoice
in God may do that even when the fig-tree does not blossom and there is
no fruit in the vine. These Moabites lost not only their wine, but their
water too: Even the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate (v.
34), and therefore their grief grew extravagantly loud and noisy, and their
lamentations were heard in all placed like the lowing of a heifer of
three years old. The expressions here are borrowed from Isa. xv. 5, 6.
3. All their neighbours are called to mourn with them, and to condole with
them on their ruin (v. 17): All you that are about him bemoan him,
Let him have that allay to his grief, let him see himself pities by the
adjoining countries. Nay, let those at a distance, who do but know his
name and have heard of his reputation, take notice of his fall, and say,
How is the strong staff broken, whose strength was the terror of its
enemies, and the beautiful rod, whose beauty was the pride of its
friends! Let the nations take notice of this and receive instruction. Let
none be puffed up with or put confidence in their strength or beauty, for
neither will be a security against the judgments of God.
IV. It is a shameful destruction and such as shall expose them to contempt: Moab
is made drunk (v. 26), and he that is made drunk is made vile; he
shall wallow in his vomit, and become an odious spectacle, and
shall justly be in derision. Let the Moabites be intoxicated with
the cup of God's wrath till they stagger and fall, and be brought to their
wits' end, and make themselves ridiculous by the wildness not only of
their passions but of their counsels. And again (v. 39): Moab
shall be a derision and a dismaying to all about him; they shall laugh
at the fall of the pomp and power he was so proud of. Note, Those that are
haughty are preparing reproach and ignominy for themselves.
V. It is the destruction of that which is dear to them, not only of their
summer fruits and their vintage, but of their wealth (v. 36): The
riches that he has gotten have perished, though he thought he had laid
them up very safely, and promised himself a long enjoyment of them, yet they
are gone. Note, The money that is hoarded in the chest is as liable to
perishing as the summer-fruits that lie exposed in the open field. Riches
are shedding things, and, like dust as they are, slip through our fingers
even when we are in most care to hold them fast and gripe them hard. Yet
this is not the worst; even those whose religion was false and foolish were
fond of it above any thing, and, such as it was, would not part with it; and
therefore, though it was really a promise, yet to them it was a threatening
(v. 35), that God will cause to cease him that offers in the high
places, for the high places shall be destroyed, and the fields of
offerings shall be laid waste, and the priests themselves, who burnt
incense to their gods, shall be slain or carried into captivity, v.
7. Note, It is only the true religion, and the worship and service of the
true God, that will stand us in stead in a day of trouble.
VI. It is a just and righteous destruction, and that which they have
deserved and brought upon themselves by sin.
1. 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, v. 29. We
have all heard of the pride of Moab; his neighbours took notice
of it; it has testified to his face, as Israel's did; he is exceedingly
proud, and grows worse and worse. Observe his loftiness, his
arrogancy, 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. xvi.
6, but here it is expressed more largely that 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. Two instances are here given of the pride
of Moab:-- (1.) He had conducted himself insolently towards God. He must be
brought down with shame (v. 26), for he has magnified
himself against the Lord; and again (v. 42), he shall be
destroyed from being a people, for this very reason. The Moabites
preferred Chemosh before Jehovah, and thought themselves a match for the God
of Israel, whom they set at defiance. (2.) He had conducted himself
scornfully towards Israel, particularly in their late troubles; therefore
Moab shall fall into the same troubles; into the same hands, and be a
derision, for Israel was a derision to him, v. 26, 27. The
generality of the Moabites, when they heard of the calamities and
desolations of their neighbours the Jews, instead of lamenting them,
rejoiced in them, they skipped for joy. Many, in such a case,
entertain in their minds a secret pleasure at the fall of those they had a
dislike to, who yet have so much discretion as to conceal it; it is so
invidious a thing. But the Moabites industriously proclaimed their joy, and
avowed the enmity they had to Israel, triumphing over every Israelite they
met with in distress and laughing at him, which was as inhuman as it was
impious and an impudent affront both to man, whose nature they were of, and
to God, whose name they were called by. Note, Those that deride others in
distress will justly and certainly, sooner or later, come into distress
themselves, and be had in derision. Those that are glad at calamities,
especially the calamities of God's church, shall not long go
unpunished.
2. Besides this they had been guilty of malice against God's people, and
treachery in their dealings with them, v. 30. They made a jest of the
desolations of Judah and Jerusalem, and pretended, when they laughed at
them, that it was but in sport and to make themselves merry; but, says God,
"I know his wrath; I know it comes from the old enmity he has to
the seed of Abraham and the worshippers of the true God. I know he
thinks these calamities of the Jewish nation will end in their utter
extirpation. He now tells the Chaldeans what bad people the Jews are, and
irritates them against them; but it shall not be so as he expects; his
lies shall not so effect it. The nation, whose fall they triumph in,
shall recover itself." Some read it, I know his rage. Is it not so?
Is he not very furious against the people of God? And his lies I know
also. Do they not do so? Do they not belie them? Note, All the fury
and all the falsehood of the church's enemies are perfectly known to God,
whatever the pretences are with which they think to cover them, Isa. xxxvii.
28.
VII. It is a complicated destruction, and by one instance after another will
at length be completed; for those that make their escape from one judgment
shall perish by another: Fear, and the pit, and the snare, shall be upon
them, v. 43. There shall be fear to drive them into the pit, and
a snare to hold them fast in it when they are in it; so that they shall
neither escape from the destruction nor escape out of it. What was said of
sinners in general (Isa. xxiv. 17, 18), that those who flee from the fear
shall fall into the pit and those who come up out of the pit shall be
taken in the snare, is here particularly foretold concerning the sinners
of Moab (v. 44); for it is the year of their visitation, when
God comes to reckon with them, and will be known by the judgments which
he executes, for he is the King whose name is the Lord of hosts (v.
15); he is not only the King who has authority to give judgment, but
he is the Lord of hosts, who is able to do what he has determined.
The figurative expressions used v. 44 are explained in one instance (v.
45): Those that fled out of the villages for fear of the enemy's
forces put themselves under the shadow of Heshbon, stood there, and
supposed they stood safely, as now armies sometimes retire under the cannon
of a fortified city, and it is their protection; but here they should be
disappointed, for, when they flee out of the pit, they fall into the
snare; Heshbon, which they thought would shelter them, devours them as
Moses had foretold long since (Num. xxi. 28): A fire has gone out of
Heshbon, and a flame from the city of Sihon, and devours those
that come from all the corners of Moab, and fastens upon the crown
of the head of the tumultuous noisy ones, or of the revellers, or
children of noise, not meant of the rude clamorous multitude, but of the
great men, who bluster, and hector, and make a noise; the judgments of God
shall light on them. Shall we hear the conclusion of this whole matter? We
have it (v. 46): "Woe be to thee, O Moab! thou art
undone; the people that worship Chemosh perish, and are gone;
farewell, Moab. Thy sons and daughters, the hopes of the next
generation, have gone into captivity after the Jews, whose calamities they
rejoiced in."
VIII. Yet it is not a perpetual destruction. The chapter concludes with a
short promise of their return out of captivity in the latter days.
God, who brings them into captivity, will bring again their captivity,
v. 47. Thus tenderly does God deal with Moabites, much more with his
own people! Even with Moabites he will not contend for ever, nor be
always wrath. When Israel returned, Moab did; and perhaps the prophecy
was intended chiefly for the encouragement of God's people to hope for that
salvation which even Moabites shall share in. Yet it looks further, to
gospel times; the Jews themselves refer it to the days of the Messiah; then
the captivity of the Gentiles, under the yoke of sin and Satan, shall be
brought back by divine grace, which shall make them free, free indeed.
This prophecy concerning Moab is long, but here it ends; it ends
comfortably: Thus far is the judgment of Moab.
