JEREMIAH 48 COMMENTARYEDITED BY GLENN PEASE

A Message About Moab1 Concerning Moab:This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says:Woe to Nebo, for it will be ruined. Kiriathaim will be disgraced and captured; the stronghold[a] will be disgraced and shattered.

BARNES, "Against Moab - Concerning Moab.Is confounded - Is brought to shame.Misgab - The high fort; some special fortress, probably Kir-haraseth 2Ki_3:25.

CLARKE, "Against Moab - This was delivered some time after the destruction of Jerusalem. The Moabites were in the neighborhood of the Ammonites, and whatever evils fell on the one would naturally involve the other. See Isa_15:1-9 and Isa_16:1-14 on this same subject.

Wo unto Nebo! for it is spoiled - This was a city in the tribe of Reuben, afterwards possessed by the Moabites. It probably had its name from Nebo, one of the principal idols of the Moabites.Kiriathaim - Another city of the Moabites.Misgab is confounded - There is no place of this name known, and therefore

several learned men translate hammisgab, literally, The high tower, or fortress, which may apply to Kiriathaim, or any other high and well-fortified place.

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GILL, "Against Moab thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,.... The prophecy concerning Moab is introduced with these epithets of God, partly to observe that the God of Israel was the only true God, in opposition to the gods of Moab, and other nations; and partly to point out his omnipotence, being able to perform what he here predicts and threatens; as also to suggest, that for the enmity of the Moabites to his people Israel, and their contempt of them, which is taken notice of in this chapter, and the ill treatment of them, the Lord would now take vengeance on them. Some render it, "concerning Moab" (z); because every thing that is here said is not against it; the chapter concludes in favour of it; though the far greater part, and ever, all but the last verse, is against it. This prophecy, according to Josephus (a), had its fulfilment about five years after the destruction of Jerusalem; woe unto Nebo, for it is spoiled; its walls broken down; its houses demolished; its inhabitants destroyed, and plundered of their riches; this, in prophetic language, is represented as done, because of the certainty of it. Of this city See Gill on Isa_15:2; It is thought to be an oracular one, where was a temple of their idol; and from whence their priests gave out oracles, promising peace, and prosperity and safety, to Moab; and therefore the desolation of that is first prophesied of, to show that no dependence was to be had on those lying oracles; Kirjathaim is confounded and taken; a city in the tribe of Reuben, which afterwards came into the hands of the Moabites, Jos_13:19. The word is of the dual form; and it might be a double city, like Jerusalem, consisting of a lower and upper city; or it might be divided by a river; or, as Kimchi and Ben Melech think, it was so called because it had two towers in it. It seems to be the same with Kir of Moab, Kirharesh, and Kirhareseth, Isa_15:1; when it was taken by the Chaldeans, the inhabitants were confounded, as having looked upon the place, and boasted of it, as impregnable; Misgab is confounded and dismayed; so called from its being built on a high place, and well fortified; though some think that this is not the proper name of a place; but only signifies a high and fortified place both by nature and art; a place of refuge, where persons thought themselves safe; and so the Targum renders it, "the house of their confidence;'' this, when besieged and taken by the Babylonians, threw the inhabitants into the utmost consternation and confusion. Some take it to be the same with Bamoth, a name of much the same signification, Jos_13:17; see Isa_15:2.

HENRY, "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 (Jer_48:1), 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 (Deu_2:9), therefore the destruction of Moab is called the work of the Lord (Jer_48:10), for it is he that pleads for Israel; and his work will exactly agree with his word,

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Jer_48:8.JAMISON, "Jer_48:1-47. Prophecy against Moab.It had taken part with the Chaldeans against Judea (2Ki_24:2). Fulfilled by Nebuchadnezzar five years after the destruction of Jerusalem, when also he attacked Egypt (Jer_43:8-13) and Ammon (Jer_49:1-6). [Josephus, Antiquities, 10:9, 7]. Jeremiah in this prophecy uses that of Isaiah 15:1-16:14, amplifying and adapting it to his purpose under inspiration, at the same time confirming its divine authority. Isaiah, however, in his prophecy refers to the devastation of Moab by the Assyrian king, Shalmaneser; Jeremiah refers to that by Nebuchadnezzar.Nebo a mountain and town of Moab; its meaning is that which fructifies.Kiriathaim a city of Moab, consisting of two cities, as the word signifies; originally held by the Emim (Gen_14:5).Misgab meaning elevation. It lay on an elevation.

K&D 1-2. "Calamities to come on Moab. - Jer_48:1. "Thus saith Jahveh of hosts, the God of Israel, Woe to Nebo, for it is laid waste! Kiriathaim is come to dishonour, it is taken: the fortress is come to dishonour and broken down. Jer_48:2. Moab's glory is no more. In Heshbon they have devised evil against her, [saying], Come, and let us cut her off from [being] a nation: thou also, O Madmen, art brought to silence; the sword shall goafter thee. Jer_48:3. A sound of crying from Horonaim, desolation and greatdestruction. Jer_48:4. Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard. Jer_48:5. For they ascend the ascent of Luhith with weeping - weeping: for on the descent of Horonaim the enemies have heard a cry of destruction. Jer_48:6. Flee, save your life! and be like one destitute in the wilderness. Jer_48:7. For, because they trust [was] in thy works, and in thy treasures, thou also shalt be taken; and Chemosh shall go into captivity, his priests and his princes together. Jer_48:8. The destroyer shall come to every city, and no city shall escape; and the valley shall perish, and the plain shall be laid waste, as Jahveh hath said."With the exclamation "Woe!" Jeremiah transports the hearers of the word of God at once into the midst of the catastrophe which is to come on Moab; this is with the view of humbling the pride of this people, and chastening them for their sins. The woe is uttered over Nebo, but holds also of the towns named afterwards. Nebo is not the mountain of that name (Deu_32:49; Deu_34:1), but the city, which probably did not lie far from the peak in the mountain-range of Abarim, which bore the same name (Num_32:3, Num_

32:38; Isa_15:2), although in the Onomasticon, s.v. , the situation of the mountain is given as being six Roman miles from Heshbon, towards the west, and s.v., that of the city, eight Roman miles south from Heshbon, for both accounts point to a situation in the south-west. The Arab. name nba= is still applied to some ruins; cf. Robinson's Palestine, iii. p. 170. "Kiriathaim is taken." The site of this town, mentioned as early as Gen_14:5, has been fixed, since the time of Burckhardt, as that of a mass of ruins called et Teim, about five miles south of Heshbon; but Dietrich, in Merx' Archiv. i. S. 337ff., has shown this is incorrect. According to Eusebius, in his Onomasticon, Kiriathaim lay ten Roman miles to the west of Medeba: this suits not merely the position of et Teim, but also the ruins of Kereyat south-west from Medeba, on the ridge of Mount

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Attarus, a little to the south of M'kaur (Machaerus), and of Baara in the Wady Zerka Maein, where also is the plain mentioned in Gen_14:5, either in the plain stretching direct east from Kereyat between Wady Zerka Maein and Wady Wal, or south-east in the beautiful plain el Kura, described by Burckhardt, p. 371ff., between the Wal and the Mojeb. Nebo and Kiriathaim lay on the eastern border of the high range of mountains, and seem to be comprehended under , "the height, the high fortress," in the third clause of Jer_48:1, as the representatives of the mountain country of Moab. Various expositors, certainly, take the word as a proper name designating an elevated region; Graf and Ngelsbach take it to be a name of Kir-Moab (Kir-heres, Kir-haresheth, Jer_48:31, Jer_48:36), the chief fortress in the country, the modern Kerek in the southern part of Moab; but no valid proof has been adduced. By "the height" Hitzig understands the highlands, which learn of the fall of these towns in the lowlands, and feel this disgrace that has come on Moab, but have not yet themselves been taken. But this view is untenable, because the towns of Nebo and Kiriathaim are not situated in the level country. Again, since is common to the two clauses, the distinction between and could hardly be pressed so far as to make the latter the opposite of the former, in the sense of being still unconquered. The meaning rather is, that through Nebo's being laid waste, and the capture of Kiriathaim, the fortress on which the Moabites trusted is no more. And to this Jer_48:3 appropriately adds, "the boasting of Moab is gone," i.e., Moab has no more ground for boasting. "In Heshbon they (the enemy, or the conquerors) plot evil against Moab." Heshbon was formerly the capital of the Amorite kingdom of Sihon (Num_21:26; Deu_2:24, etc.), and was assigned to the tribe of Reuben (Jos_13:17); but because it lay on the boundary of the territory belonging to the tribe, it was given up to the Gadites, and set apart as a Levitical city (Jos_21:37). It lay ten Roman miles east from the Jordan, opposite Jericho, almost intermediate between the Arnon and the Jabbok, and is still pointed out, though in ruins, under the old name Heshbn (see on Num_32:37). At the time of Jeremiah it was taken possession of by the Ammonites (Jer_49:3), consequently it was the frontier town of the Moabite territory at that time; and being such, it is here named as the town where the enemy, coming from the north, deliberate regarding the conquest of Moab -"meditate evil," i.e., decide upon conquest and devastation. The suffix of refers to Moab as a country, and hence is feminine; cf. v. 4. "We will destroy it (Moab) so ,that it shall no longer be a nation." Just as in there is a play on the words, so is there also in the expression which follows. This very circumstance forms an argument for taking Madmen as a proper name, instead of an appellative, as Venema and Hitzig have done, after the example of the lxx: "Yea, thou shalt be destroyed (and made into) a dunghill." In support of this rendering they point to 2Ki_10:27; Ezr_6:11. But the verb , in its meaning, ill accords with in the sense of a dung-heap, and in this case there would be no foundation for a play upon the words (Graf). It is no proof of the non-existence of a place called Madmen in Moab, that it is not mentioned elsewhere; Madmena in the tribe of Benjamin (Isa_10:31), and Madmanna in Judah (Jos_15:31), are also mentioned but once. These passages rather show that the name Madmen was not uncommon; and it was perhaps with reference to this name that Isaiah (Isa_25:10) chose the figure of the dunghill. , to be silent, means, in the Niphal, to be brought to silence, be exterminated, perish; cf. Jer_49:26; Jer_25:37; Jer_8:14, etc. As to the form instead of , cf. Ewald, 140, b; Gesenius, 67, Rem. 5. The

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following clause refers to Madmen: "after thee shall the sword go;" cf. Jer_9:15.CALVIN, "This prophecy is against the Moabites, who, though they derived their origin from Lot, and were of the same blood with the Israelites, had yet been inimical to them. This prophecy would be uninteresting, were we not to remember the history on which the application and use of what is said depends. We have said that the Moabites, as the father of their nation was Lot, were connected by blood with the Israelites; they ought then to have retained the recollection of their brotherhood, and to have dealt kindly with them; for God had spared them when the people of Israel entered into the land of Canaan. The Israelites, we know, passed through the borders of Moab without doing any harm to them, because it was Gods purpose, from a regard to Lot, to preserve them for a time. But this people never ceased to contrive all manner of plots against Gods people; and, as we shall hereafter see, when the state of that people became embarrassed, they cruelly exulted over them, and became more insolent than avowed enemies. Hence God prophesied against them, that the Israelites might know, as we reminded you yesterday, that their miserable condition was not overlooked by God, and that though he chastised them, yet some hope of mercy remained, as he undertook their cause and would be their defender. It was then no small comfort which this prophecy brought to the faithful; for they thus knew that God was still their father, though apparently he seemed to be severe to them. We now perceive the design of what is here said.The case of the Moabites was different from that of the Egyptians, for the Egyptians were wholly aliens to the chosen people; but the Moabites, as we have said, were related to them. They were therefore willful, and as it were intestine enemies; and nature itself ought to have taught them to acknowledge the Israelites as their brethren, and to cultivate mutual kindness. This cruelty and ingratitude were so hateful to God, that at length he punished them most severely. But as the Moabites remained in quietness when Judea was laid waste, and the city Jerusalem destroyed, after the overthrow of the kingdom of Israel, and the banishment of the ten tribes to distant countries, it behooved the faithful to exercise patience, which could not have been done without hope. It was this then that Jeremiah had in view, even to sustain the minds of the godly with the expectation of Gods judgment, which he here denounces on the Moabites.He says, Against Moab; (1) and then it follows, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel By the first term he designates the immense power of God, and reminds them that God is the judge of the whole world, and that his kingdom extends over all nations; but by the second expression he bears testimony to the love with which he had embraced the children of Abraham, because he had been pleased to choose them as his peculiar inheritance. Woe, he says, on Nebo; (2) which was a city in the land of Moab; because laid waste, ashamed, taken is Kiriathaim He names here, as we see, some cities, and he will name more as he proceeds. Ashamed then and taken is Kiriathaim; and Misgab (3) is ashamed and torn, or broken in mind. It follows,

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COFFMAN, "Verse 1JEREMIAH 48THE PROPHECY AGAINST MOABThere are three remarkable differences in this prophecy, as compared with others, as cited by Green. "These are (1) its unusual length, (2) its use of material from other prophets, and (3) the large number of place names in it."[1]A number of other prophets also received messages from God regarding the eventual judgment of Moab; and, "These include: Isaiah 15-16; 25:10; Ezekiel 25:8-11; Amos 2:1-3; and Zephaniah 2:8-11."[2] Also, this is not the first prophecy regarding Moab that came through Jeremiah. See Jeremiah 9:26; Jeremiah 25:21; and Jeremiah 27:3.We have already commented upon all of these passages except the one in Ezekiel; and there are not many new things to cover in this chapter. See my commentaries on Amos, Zephaniah and Isaiah.The reason for God's judgment against Moab is not far to seek. From the days of the false prophet Balaam and afterward, Moab rebelled against the true God, adopted the horrible worship of Chemosh, and reveled in the licentious worship of the Canaanite Baalim. The Moabite women, under the suggestion of Balaam, had pulled off a wholesale seduction of the Israelites at Baal-Peor (Numbers 25:1ff), in which a thousand of the princes and judges of Israel fell, leading all Israel into paganism from which the Israelites never totally recovered.The origin of the Moabites, of course, will be remembered as beginning in the incestuous union of Lot and his daughters, the same event from which the Ammonites also sprang (Genesis 19). The Moabites always hated Israel, and "They had actually taken part with the Chaldeans against Judaea (2 Kings 24:2)."[3]Actually, there are no critical problems worth bothering with here; but some writers still insist on repeating some of the old shibboleths of the radical critics, prattling about "which is the original," with regard to similar passages to the writings of other prophets to which Jeremiah referred in this chapter. All the passages are "original." This we shall continue to believe until some critic convinces us that Almighty God could not possibly have given the same words, or similar words, to more than one prophet! Besides, as regards this chapter, the Dean of Canterbury noted the following. "The passages borrowed from other authors by Jeremiah are so interwoven with Jeremiah's own words that we cannot omit them as interpolations without destroying the whole. Also passages most certainly belonging to Jeremiah, and in

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many of the alterations of the borrowed passages, one recognizes so strongly Jeremiah's mode of expression, that one has no resource except to acknowledge the whole to be Jeremiah's."[4]Jeremiah 48:1-4JEHOVAH vs. CHEMOSH; THE DOWNFALL OF MOAB (Jeremiah 48:1-10)"Of Moab, Thus saith Jehovah 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, shall be brought to silence; the sword shall pursue thee. The sound of a cry from Horonaim, desolation and great destruction. Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard.""Nebo ..." (Jeremiah 48:1). "This is not the mountain from which Moses viewed the Promised Land, but the city of Numbers 32:3,38, built by the Reubenites."[5]"Kiriathaim ..." (Jeremiah 48:1). "A city six miles south of Dibon."[6] Dibon was where the Moabite Stone was found."Heshbon ..." (Jeremiah 48:1). This was an important city, belonging originally to Moab; but then captured by Sihon and made his capital (Numbers 21:26); after its conquest by Israel under Moses, it was given to the Reubenites (Numbers 21:21-24; 32:37). By the times of Jeremiah, the city was at the zenith of its prosperity and had been retaken by Moab.[7]But in the times of a certain Alexander, Heshbon again became a Jewish city.[8] Moab eventually was lost as a nation, except for the hope expressed in Jeremiah 48:47 (below)."In Heshbon they have devised evil against her ..." (Jeremiah 48:2). It is believed that this is a prophecy that the Babylonians would plan their subjugation of Moab at Heshbon. There is a play on the word. "Heshbon" means "to plan"; and the words "plan evil" are similar in the Hebrew."Misgab ..." (Jeremiah 48:1) and "Madmen ..." (Jeremiah 48:2). Nothing is known of either of these towns; and the dictionaries available to us have no notes on them whatever."Horonaim ..." (Jeremiah 48:3). "This is the same as the city of Avara, mentioned by Ptolemy; the name means `the double caves' (Nehemiah 2:10; Isaiah 15:5).[9]"Her little ones have caused a cry to be raised ..." (Jeremiah 48:4). The "little ones" referred to here were in all probability the infant sacrifices offered to the savage old

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god Molech, or Chemosh. That horrible rebellion against God in offering such sacrifices was certainly one of the reasons that brought the wrath of God upon Moab. See more about that pagan god under Jeremiah 48:7.COKE, "Jeremiah 48:1. Against Moab, &c. The Moabites were in league with Zedekiah against Nebuchadnezzar: see chap. Jeremiah 27:3; Jeremiah 27:9, &c. But they gave Israel no assistance against him. See Jeremiah 48:26-27. Nebo and Kiriathaim, were the names of two cities of Moab, the latter of which was given to the Reubenites; but the inhabitants of Moab afterwards recovered it, together with several other places. The reader will refer to Isaiah's prophesies concerning Moab. Instead of Misgab, Houbigant and many other commentators read, That high structure, or that which boasted itself. TRAPP, "Jeremiah 48:1 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.Ver. 1. Against Moab.] That bastardly brood, infamous for their inveterate hatred of Gods Israel, at whom they were anciently irked, fretted, vexed, though no way provoked, [Numbers 22:3] whom also they outwitted, by the counsel of Balaam, in the business of Baal-peor, [Numbers 25:1-3; Numbers 25:16-18] had been plagued and judged by the kings of Israel, by David especially, as also by Sennacherib, [Isaiah 15:1-9; Isaiah 16:1-14] but were no whit amended; and are therefore here, and Ezekiel 25:9, threatened with utter destruction by the Chaldeans, and that very much in a scoffing way; like as they were a proud, petulant, scornful people, despisers of all other nations, but especially of the Jews, their near neighbours and allies.Woe unto Nebo.] Their oracular city, as it may seem by the name. See Isaiah 15:2.Kiriathaim is confounded.] It is of a dual form, and so seemeth to have been Bipolis, a double city; as was of old Jerusalem, and as are now Rome, Prague, Craeovia.Misgab is confounded.] It signifieth the high place, and is the same, say some, with Bamoth, [Numbers 21:20] and Selah. [Isaiah 16:1]ELLICOTT, " XLVIII.(1) Against Moab thus saith the Lord of hosts . . .Better, with a different punctuation, Concerning Moab (this being the title of the section), Thus saith the Lord of hosts. In the long prophecy that follows Jeremiah in part follows in the wake of the burden of Moab in Isaiah 15, 16, entering even more fully into geographical details. (See Notes there.) The relations between Moab and Israel had for a long period been more or less uneasy. The former had been tributary to the latter under Ahab, but on his death Mesha revolted, and a war ensued, which ended in the defeat of the Moabites by the allied forces of Israel, Judah, and Edom (2

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Kings 3). They repeated their attack, however (2 Kings 13:20), and appear to have occupied the territory of the Trans-jordanic tribes on their deportation by Tiglath-pileser. Of the three places named, Nebo, memorable as the summit of Pisgah, from which Moses looked upon the land of promise, and forming part of the range of the mountains of Abarim (Deuteronomy 32:49; Deuteronomy 34:1), has been identified conjecturally with Djebel-el-Attarus, or Djebel-el-Jelad. Hitzig derives the name from the Sanscrit Nabho (= the cloud-heaven). Kiriathaim (= the double city) is named in Genesis 14:5 and Numbers 32:37, in the latter passage in conjunction with Elealeh, Heshbon, and Nebo. Jerome places it at a distance of ten miles west of Medaba, as one of the cities rebuilt by the Reubenites, but it has not been identified. Misgab, the high fort or citadel of Isaiah 25:12, has shared the same fate, but has been referred by some writers to Kir-Moab, or Kir-heres, as the chief fortified city of the country (see Jeremiah 48:31; Jeremiah 48:36; Isaiah 15:1; Isaiah 16:7). The article which is prefixed to it in the Hebrew has led Frst (Lexicon) to take it in a wider sense, as meaning the plateau or highland country of Moab generally.EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMMENTARY, "MOABJeremiah 48:1-47"Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he hath magnified himself against Jehovah."- Jeremiah 48:42"Chemosh said to me, Go, take Nebo against Israeland I took itand I took from it the vessels of Jehovah, and offered them before Chemosh."-MOABITE STONE."Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter days."- Jeremiah 48:47THE prophets show a very keen interest in Moab. With the exception of the very short Book of Joel, all the prophets who deal in detail with foreign nations devote sections to Moab. The unusual length of such sections in Isaiah and Jeremiah is not the only resemblance between the utterances of these two prophets concerning Moab. There are many parallels of idea and expression, which probably indicate the influence of the elder prophet upon his successor; unless indeed both of them adapted some popular poem which was early current in Judah.It is easy to understand why the Jewish Scriptures should have much to say about Moab, just as the sole surviving fragment of Moabite literature is chiefly occupied with Israel. These two Terahite tribes-the children of Jacob and the children of Lot-had dwelt side by side for centuries, like the Scotch and English borderers before the accession of James I. They had experienced many alternations of enmity and friendship, and had shared complex interests, common and conflicting, after the manner of neighbours who are also kinsmen. Each in its turn had oppressed the other; and Moab had been the tributary of the Israelite monarchy till the victorious arms of Mesha had achieved independence for his people and firmly established their dominion over the debatable frontier lands. There are traces, too, of more

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kindly relations: the House of David reckoned Ruth the Moabitess amongst its ancestors, and Jesse, like Elimelech and Naomi, had taken refuge in Moab.Accordingly this prophecy concerning Moab, in both its editions, frequently strikes a note of sympathetic lamentation and almost becomes a dirge."Therefore will I howl for Moab;Yea, for all Moab will I cry out.For the men of Kirheres shall they mourn.With more than the weeping of JazerWill I weep for thee, O vine of Sibmah.Therefore mine heart soundeth like pipes for Moab,Mine heart soundeth like pipes for the men of Kirheres."But this pity could not avail to avert the doom of Moab; it only enabled the Jewish prophet to fully appreciate its terrors. The picture of coming ruin is drawn with the colouring and outlines familiar to us in the utterances of Jeremiah-spoiling and destruction, fire and sword and captivity, dismay and wild abandonment of wailing."Chemosh shall go forth into captivity, his priests and his princes together.Every head is bald, and every beard clipped;Upon all the hands are cuttings, and upon the loins sackcloth.On all the housetops and in all the streets of Moab there is everywhere lamentation;For I have broken Moab like a useless vessel-it is the utterance of Jehovah.How is it broken down! Howl ye! Be thou ashamed!How hath Moab turned the back!All the neighbours shall laugh and shudder at Moab.The heart of the mighty men of Moab at that dayShall be like the heart of a woman in her pangs."This section of Jeremiah illustrates the dramatic versatility of the prophets method.

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He identifies himself now with the blood thirsty invader, now with his wretched victims, and now with the terror-stricken spectators; and sets forth the emotions of each in turn with vivid realism. Hence at one moment we have the pathos and pity of such verses as we have just quoted, and at another such stern and savage words as these:-"Cursed be he that doeth the work of Jehovah negligently,Cursed be he that stinteth his sword of blood."These lines might have served as a motto for Cromwell at the massacre of Drogheda, for Tillys army at the sack of Magdeburg, or for Danton and Robespierre during the Reign of Terror. Jeremiahs words were the more terrible because they were uttered with the full consciousness that in the dread Chaldean king a servant of Jehovah was at hand who would be careful not to incur any curse for stinting his sword of blood. We shrink from what seems to us the prophets brutal assertion that relentless and indiscriminate slaughter is sometimes the service which man is called upon to render to God. Such sentiment is for the most part worthless and unreal; it does not save us from epidemics of war fever, and is at once ignored under the stress of horrors like the Indian Mutiny. There is no true comfort in trying to persuade ourselves that the most awful events of history lie outside of the Divine purpose, or in forgetting that the human scourges of their kind do the work that God has assigned to them.In this inventory, as it were, of the ruin of Moab our attention is arrested by the constant and detailed references to the cities. This feature is partly borrowed from Isaiah. Ezekiel too speaks of the Moabite cities which are the glory of the country; [Ezekiel 25:9] but Jeremiahs prophecy is a veritable Domesday Book of Moab. With his epic fondness for lists of sonorous names-after the manner of Homers catalogue of the ships-he enumerates Nebo, Kiriathaim, Heshbon, and Horonaim, city after city, till he completes a tale of no fewer than twenty-six, and then summarises the rest as "all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near." Eight of these cities are mentioned in Joshua [Joshua 13:15-28] as part of the inheritance of Reuben and Gad. Another, Bozrah, is usually spoken of as a city of Edom. {Jeremiah 49:13, possibly this is not the Edomite Bozrah.}The Moabite Stone explains the occurrence of Reubenite cities in these lists. It tells us how Mesha took Nebo, Jahaz, and Horonaim from Israel. Possibly in this period of conquest Bozrah became tributary to Moab, without ceasing to be an Edomite city. This extension of territory and multiplication of towns points to an era of power and prosperity, of which there are other indications in this chapter. "We are mighty and valiant for war," said the Moabites. When Moab fell "there was broken a mighty sceptre and a glorious staff." Other verses imply the fertility of the land and the abundance of its vintage.Moab in fact had profited by the misfortunes of its more powerful and ambitious

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neighbours. The pressure of Damascus, Assyria, and Chaldea prevented Israel and Judah from maintaining their dominion over their ancient tributary. Moab lay less directly in the track of the invaders; it was too insignificant to attract their special attention, perhaps too prudent to provoke a contest with the lords of the East. Hence, while Judah was declining, Moab had enlarged her borders and grown in wealth and power.And even as Jeshurun kicked, when he was waxen fat, [Deuteronomy 32:15] so Moab in its prosperity was puffed up with unholy pride. Even in Isaiahs time this was the besetting sin of Moab; he says in an indictment which Jeremiah repeats almost word for word:-"We have heard of the pride of Moab, that he is very proud,Even of his arrogancy and his pride and his wrath." [Isaiah 16:6]This verse is a striking example of the Hebrew method of gaining emphasis by accumulating derivatives of the same and similar roots. The verse in Jeremiah runs thus: "We have heard of the pride (GeON) of Moab, that he is very proud (GEEH): his loftiness (GABHeHO), and his pride (GeONO), and his proudfulness (GAaWATHO)."Jeremiah dwells upon this theme:-"Moab shall be destroyed from being a people,Because he hath magnified himself against Jehovah."Zephaniah bears like testimony:-[Zephaniah 2:10]"This shall they have for their pride,Because they have been insolent, and have magnified themselvesAgainst the people of Jehovah Sabaoth."Here again the Moabite Stone bears abundant testimony to the justice of the prophets accusations: for there Mesha tells how in the name and by the grace of Chemosh he conquered the cities of Israel; and how, anticipating Belshazzars sacrilege, he took the sacred vessels of Jehovah from His temple at Nebo and consecrated them to Chemosh. Truly Moab had "magnified himself against Jehovah."Prosperity had produced other baleful effects beside a haughty spirit, and pride was not the only cause of the ruin of Moab. Jeremiah applies to nations the dictum of Polonius-

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"Home-keeping youths have ever homely wits,"and apparently suggests that ruin and captivity were necessary elements in the national discipline of Moab:-"Moab hath been undisturbed from his youth;He hath settled on his lees"He hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel;He hath not gone into captivity:"Therefore his taste remaineth in him,His scent is not changed.Wherefore, behold, the days come-it is the utterance of Jehovah-That I will send men unto him that shall tilt him up;They shall empty his vessels and break his bottles."As the chapter, in its present form, concludes with a note-"I will bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter days-it is the utterance of Jehovah"-we gather that even this rough handling was disciplinary; at any rate, the former lack of such vicissitudes had been to the serious detriment of Moab. It is strange that Jeremiah did not apply this principle to Judah. For, indeed, the religion of Israel and of mankind owes an incalculable debt to the captivity of Judah, a debt which later writers are not slow to recognise. "Behold," says the prophet of the Exile, -"I have refined thee, but not as silver;I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." [Isaiah 48:10]History constantly illustrates how when Christians were undisturbed and prosperous the wine of truth settled on the lees and came to taste of the cask; and-to change the figure-how affliction and persecution proved most effectual tonics for a debilitated Church. Continental critics of modern England speak severely of the ill-effects which our prolonged freedom from invasion and civil war, and the unbroken continuity of our social life have had on our national character and manners. In their eyes England is a perfect Moab, concerning which they are ever ready to

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prophesy after the manner of Jeremiah. The Hebrew Chronicler blamed Josiah because he would not listen to the advice and criticism of Pharaoh Necho. There may be warnings which we should do well to heed, even in the acrimony of foreign journalists.But any such suggestion raises wider and more difficult issues; for ordinary individuals and nations the discipline of calamity seems necessary. What degree of moral development exempts from such discipline, and how may it be attained? Christians cannot seek to compound for such discipline by self-inflicted loss or pain, like Polycrates casting away his ring or Brownings Caliban, who in his hour of terror,"Lo! Lieth flat and loveth Setebos!Maketh his teeth meet through his upper lip.Will let those quails fly, will not eat this monthOne little mess of whelks, so he may scape."But though it is easy to counsel resignation and the recognition of a wise, loving Providence in national as in personal suffering, yet mankind longs for an end to the period of pupilage and chastisement and would fain know how it may be hastened.PETT, "Verses 1-13The Destruction of Moab (Jeremiah 48:1-13).Note how, as in Isaiah 15, the towns and prominent places are mentioned by name. Some of them were towns that had been taken over from Israel (compare Meshas account of his conquests above referring to Nebo and Horonaim). Now these trophies will be theirs no more.Jeremiah 48:1Of Moab. Thus says YHWH of hosts, the God of Israel:Of Moab. A plain and succint heading indicating the country in mind in the prophecy. YHWH is then identified by His full official title as YHWH of hosts, the One Who is over all the hosts both of heaven and of earth, and as the God of Israel, the official God worshipped by Israel Who still acknowledges them as His people even though they have been unfaithful to Him.PETT, "Verses 1-47D). Prophecy Against Moab (Jeremiah 48:1-47).

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Whilst the Philistines were a constant trouble to Israel/Judah from the west, mainly troubling western Israel/Judah, eastern Israel/Judah, especially east of Jordan, suffered constantly at the hands of Moab when it was strong. Moab was situated east of the Dead Sea. This was partly due to the fact that in the time of Moses Israel had occupied territory which Moab saw as its own, territory which had been taken from Moab by the Ammonites prior to the arrival of Israel, and had subsequently been occupied by Israel on the defeat of Sihon. The consequence was that when it was strong Moab never ceased to trouble Israel as it sought to gain back what it saw as its own, and it would take advantage of that position in order to further its own wider interests. Such marauding against Israel had taken place in the days of Jehioiakim (Jeremiah 12:7-13; 2 Kings 24:2). A particularly good example of similar marauding is seen in the activities of King Mesha of Moab, as described by him in the Mesha Stele (Moabite Stone), as follows:I am Mesha, son of KMSYT (Chemosh[-yat]), the king of Moab, the Dibonite. My father was king over Moab thirty years, and I reigned after my father. And I built this high-place for Chemosh in QRH ("the citadel"), a high place of salvation because he saved me from all the kings (or "all the attackers"), and because he let me be victorious over all my adversaries. Omri was king of Israel and he oppressed Moab for many days because Chemosh was angry with his land. And his son replaced him; and he also said, "I will oppress Moab". In my days he spoke thus. But I was victorious over him and his house. And Israel suffered permanent destruction, And Omri had conquered the land of Madaba, and he dwelt there during his days and half the days of his son, forty years. But Chemosh dwelt in it in my days. So I rebuilt Baal Meon, and I put the water reservoir in it. And I built Qiryaten. The men of Gad had dwelt in Ataroth from of old; and the king of Israel built Ataroth for himself. But I fought against the city and took it. And I slew all the people [and] the city became the property of Chemosh and Moab. And I carried from there the ariel (altar) for its DVDH (possibly "its Davidic altar-hearth"?) and I dragged it before Chemosh in Qerioit, and I settled in it men of Sharon and men of Maharit. And Chemosh said to me, "Go! Seize Nebo against Israel." so I proceeded by night and fought with it from the crack of dawn to midday, and I took it and I slew all of them: seven thousand men and boys, and women and girls and female slaves because I had dedicated it to Ashtar Chemosh. I took from there the vessels of YHWH, and I dragged them before Chemosh. And the king of Israel had built Yahaz, and he dwelt in it while he was fighting with me, but Chemosh drove him out before me. so I took from Moab two hundred men, all captains. And I brought them to Yahaz, And I seized it in order to add (it) to Dibon. I (myself) have built the 'citadel', 'the wall(s) of the forest' and the wall of the 'acropolis'. And I built its gates; And I built its towers. And I built a royal palace; and I made the ramparts for the reservoir for water in the midst of the city. But there was no cistern in the midst of the city, in the 'citadel,' so I said to all the people, "Make [for] yourselves each man a cistern in his house". And I hewed the shaft for the 'citadel' with prisoners of Israel. I built Aroer, and I made the highway in the Arnon. I built Beth-Bamot, because it was in ruins. I built Bezer, because it was a ruin with the armed men of

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Dibon because all of Dibon was under orders and I ruled over [the] hundreds in the towns which I have annexed to the land. And I built Medeba and Beth-Diblaten and Beth-Baal-Meon, and I carried there my herdsmen to herd the small cattle of the land, and as for Horonain, in it dwelt --- [and] Chemosh said to me, "Go down, fight against Horonain". And I went down and I fought with the city and I took it and Chemosh returned it in my days. Then I went up from there ---.This is one example of how over the centuries Moab, when it was able, had consistently harried Israel, and annexed their land, something for which it now had to give a reckoning. But that is not the reason stated by Jeremiah for what is to happen. The reason for their judgment is rather to be seen as resulting from:a). Their trusting in their works and in their treasures (Jeremiah 48:7).b). Their derision at Israel/Judahs suffering (Jeremiah 48:27; Zephaniah 2:8-10).c). Their trusting in their god Chemosh (Jeremiah 48:7; Jeremiah 48:13; Jeremiah 48:46).For the whole passage compare Isaiah 15-16, and consider especially Isaiahs words we have heard of the pride of Moab (Isaiah 16:6; repeated in Jeremiah 48:29 below). Moab had exulted in itself and in its god Chemosh; had derided Israel in its sufferings; and had refused to turn to YHWH. It was thus ripe for chastening. For other prophetic references to judgment on Moab see Ezekiel 25:8-11; Amos 2:1-3, and Zephaniah 2:9. It was not to be the end of Moab, however. In the end they would find mercy (Jeremiah 48:47).PULPIT, "Jeremiah 48:1Against Moab; rather, concerning Moab. Nebo! Not, of course, the mountain range referred to in Deuteronomy 32:49 and Deuteronomy 32:34. I as that from which Hoses viewed the land destined for Israel, but a town in the neighbourhood, deriving its name, not from the mountain,but from the same old Semitic (and not merely Babylonian) deity. Kiriathaim. "The double city." A place of uncertain situation, but probably in the same district as Nebo; mentioned in Genesis 14:5, as the abode of the "terrible" aboriginal tribe called the Emim. Is confounded; rather, is brought to shame (as Jeremiah 46:24). Misgab; rather, the fortress. The connection shows that some definite fortress is intended, but it is difficult to say which. Graf thinks of Kir-heres (verses 31, 36) or Kir-hareseth (another form of the same name; comp. Isaiah 16:7; 2 Kings 3:25), generally identified with Kir-Moab, the chief fortified town of the Moabites.

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2 Moab will be praised no more; in Heshbon[b] people will plot her downfall: Come, let us put an end to that nation.You, the people of Madmen,[c] will also be silenced; the sword will pursue you.

BARNES, "No more praise of Moab - literally, The glory of Moab is no more, i. e., Moab has no more cause for boasting.

Heshbon - This town now belonged to the Ammonites Jer_49:3 but was on the border. The enemy encamped there arranges the plan of his campaign against Moab.In the original there is a play of words upon the names Heshbon and Madmen.CLARKE, "No more praise of Moab - The glory of Moab, that it had never been

conquered, (Dahler), is now at an end. Dr. Blayney translates: -Moab shall have no more glorying in Heshbon; They have devised evil against her (saying.)

And this most certainly is the best translation of the original. He has marked also a double paronomasia in this and the next verse, a figure in which the prophets delight; becheshbon chashebu in Cheshbon they have devised, and madmen tiddommi, Madmena, thou shalt be dumb.

GILL, "There shall be no more praise of Moab,.... It shall be no more commended for a rich, populous, and fruitful country, being now laid waste; though the next phrase, in Heshbon, or "concerning Heshbon" (b), should be read in connection with this; and then the sense is, there shall be none any more in Heshbon to praise the country of Moab, what a fine and fertile country it is, since that city will be destroyed also; or there will be no more a Moabite to boast of his being an inhabitant in Heshbon, such an utter destruction will be made of it; or there will be no more boasting of Moab, or of any Moabite concerning Heshbon, what a famous, opulent, or strong city that is, since it is no more. Of this city See Gill on Isa_15:4; they have devised evil against it; that is, the Chaldeans devised evil against Heshbon, to besiege it, take and destroy it: there is in the expression a beautiful allusion to the name of the city of Heshbon, which has its name from a word that signifies to

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devise and consult (c); come, and let us cut it off from being a nation: this is what the Babylonians consulted together against Heshbon; and not only against that, a principal city; but against the whole country of Moab, to make such an entire desolation of it, that it should be no more a nation: that which the Moabites with others devised against the people of Israel is now devised against them; a just retaliation this; see Psa_83:4; also thou shalt be cut down, O Madmen; or utterly destroyed: it may be rendered, "shall become silent" (d); the voice of man shall not be heard in it, especially the voice of praise, of boasting, and rejoicing: there is in this clause also an elegant allusion to the name of the place, which comes from a root that signifies to "cut down", or "be silent" (e). This is thought by Grotius to be the Madiama of Ptolemy (f): the sword shall pursue thee; after it has destroyed other cities, it should come in great haste and with great force to Madmen; or it should pursue after the inhabitants, of it, that should make their escape, or attempt to do so. The Targum is, "after thee shall go out those that slay with the sword.''

HENRY 2-6, " The instruments of it: Spoilers shall come (Jer_48:8), shall come with a sword, a sword that shall pursue them, Jer_48:2. 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 (Jer_48:2); 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 (Jer_48:10): 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_1:14. 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 (Jer_48:1) and cut down (Jer_48:2); they shall be desolate(Jer_48:9), 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 18

itself to the enemies' pity and favour. The country also shall be wasted, the valley shall perish, and the plain be destroyed, Jer_48:8. 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, Jer_48:2); 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 (Jer_48:13); 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 (Jer_48:3) and the cry is nothing but spoiling and great destruction. Alas! alas! Moab is destroyed, Jer_48:4. 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 (Jer_48:6); 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, Mat_24:16-18. 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 (Jer_48:9); 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.JAMISON, "no more praise (Isa_16:14).in Heshbon The foe having taken Heshbon, the chief city of Moab (Jer_48:45), in it devise evil against Moab (it) saying, Come, etc. Heshbon was midway between the rivers Arnon and Jabbok; it was the residence of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and afterwards a Levitical city in Gad (Num_21:26). There is a play on words in the Hebrew,

Heshbon, Hashbu. Heshbon means a place of devising or counsel. The city, heretofore called the seat of counsel, shall find other counselors, namely, those who devise its destruction.

thou shall be cut down ... Madmen rather, by a play on words on the meaning of madmen (silence), Thou shalt be brought to silence, so as well to deserve thy name 19

(Isa_15:1). Thou shalt not dare to utter a sound.CALVIN, "The Prophet, as before, does not speak in an ordinary way, but declares in lofty terms what God had committed to him, in order that he might terrify the Moabites; not indeed that they heard his threatenings, but it was necessary that he should denounce vengeance in this vehement manner, that the Jews might know that the cruelty and pride of the Moabites, hereafter mentioned, would not go unpunished.Hence he says, No more shall be the praise or the boasting of Moab over Heshbon We may learn from this place and from others, that Heshbon had been taken from the Moabites; for it was occupied by Gods people, because the Moabites had lost it, as Moses relates in Numbers 21:30, and in Deuteronomy 2:26, etc. But (as things change) when the Moabites became strong, they took away this city from the Israelites. Hence the Prophet says, that there would be no more boasting that they possessed that city; for he adds, They have thought, or devised, etc. There is here a striking allusion, for , chesbon, is derived from , chesheb, to devise or to consult, as though it were a place of consultation or devisings. The Prophet then says, that as to Heshbon they consulted against it, cheshbu olie He uses the root from which the name of the city is derived. Heshbon, then, hitherto called the place of consultation, was to have and find other counselors, even those who would contrive ruin for it. Come ye; the Prophet refers here to the counsel taken by the Chaldeans, Come ye, and let us cut her off from being a nation He then joins another city, And thou, Madmen, (4) shalt be cut off, for a sword shall go after thee, or pursue thee, as though the city itself was fleeing from the sword; not that cities move from one place to another; but when the citizens deliberate how they may drive away their enemies and resist their attacks, when they seek aid here and there, when they set up their own remedies, they are said to flee. But the Prophet says, Thou shalt gain nothing by fleeing, for the sword shall pursue thee. It follows, Even silenced thou shalt be silenced,After thee shall go the sword.To be silenced, in the language of the prophets, is to be subdued. See Isaiah 15:1, when the same thing is said of Moab. The word silence forms a contrast with the boasting of Moab mentioned at the beginning of the verse. After being subdued and removed elsewhere, still the sword would follow Moab. Ed. TRAPP, "Jeremiah 48:2 [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.Ver. 2. There shall be no more praise of Moab.] This may be taken either of a city so called, (a) or of the whole country, as now Muscovia is oft put for all Russia.

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In Heshbon they have devised evil against it.] Or better thus, De Heshbone, &c. As concerning Heshbon, they, the Chaldees, have devised evil against it. There is an elegant allusion in the original to the names of the places both in Heshben and in Madmen. (b) ELLICOTT, "(2) There shall be no more praise of Moab.The self-glorifying boasts of Moab (of which the Moabite Inscription discovered at Dibn in 1868 is a conspicuous instance, see Ginsburgs Moabite Stone and Records of the Past, xi. p. 163) seem to have been almost proverbial (Jeremiah 48:29; Isaiah 16:6). Heshbon (the city is perhaps chosen on account of the similarity of sound with the word for devise ) was on the Ammonite or northern frontier of Moab (Jeremiah 49:3), and is represented therefore as the scene of the plans and hopes of the invading Chaldans. The site of Madmen is unknown, but the cognate form Madmenah is translated dunghill in Isaiah 25:10, and may have been chosen by each prophet on account of its ignominious meaning. The name appears as belonging to a town in Benjamin (Isaiah 10:31) and in Judah (Joshua 15:31). Here again there is an obvious assonance or paronomasia, the verb thou shalt be cut down, or better, thou shalt be brought to silence, reproducing the chief consonants of the noun. The LXX., Vulgate, and Syriac, indeed, take the words with this meaning, In silence thou shalt be made silent, but are probably wrong in doing so. If we take the word in somewhat of the same sense as in Isaiah, the words may point to the place being filled with the mouldering carcases of the silent dead.PETT, "Jeremiah 48:2Woe to 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 (hshb) evil against her.Come, and let us cut her off from being a nation.You also, O Madmen, will be brought to silence (dmm),The sword will pursue you.Note the play on words between the cities named and the verbs used of their judgment, something beloved of Hebrew poetry. Moab was noted for its pride (Isaiah 16:6), and its judgment is described accordingly. Thus it is to be put to shame, it is no more to be praised, it is to be brought to silence. It is to be

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humbled in the dust.Various towns and cities in Moab are identified, and it is noteworthy that they are conurbations which had once been a part of Israel. Note, for example, that Nebo was mentioned in the Moabite Stone (see above) as taken by Mesha from Israel. Heshbon was the leading city of Sihon, King of the Amorites (Numbers 21:25-30), and had been taken over by the tribe of Reuben on his defeat (Numbers 32:37). The fact that it was now Moabite speaks for itself. Kiriathaim, the plural ending probably indicating an upper and lower city, was also formerly a Reubenite city (Joshua 13:19). See Numbers 32:37-38; Joshua 13:17-19 for the whole. Madmen is unknown although there were towns with a similar name in Judah and Benjamin (Joshua 15:31; Isaiah 10 31). But it may refer to Dibon (Dimon in Isaiah 15:9) which was another Israelite city seized by Moab (m is often used to turn a verbal root into a noun). Thus there had been a considerable annexation of land by Moab from Israel and it is salutary that the very cities that the Moabites had annexed and now proudly called their own, would now be destroyed.PULPIT, "There shall be no more praise of Moab; rather, Moab's glory (or, glorying) is no more (comp. Jeremiah 48:29). In Heshbon they have devised evil, etc. There is a word play in the Hebrew, which may be reproduced thus: "In Plot-house they plot evil against it" (so J. F. Smith's Ewald). Against it (literally, her) means "against Moab." Heshbon was at the time an Ammonitish town (it had in days gone by been Amoritish, Numbers 21:26); see Jeremiah 49:3; but was on the border of Moab. O Madmen. There seems to be again a word play, which has been to some extent reproduced thus: "Thou shalt become still, O Still house." The name Madmen does not occur again, though an allusion to it has been fancied in Isaiah 25:10, where the Hebrew for "dunghill" is madmenah.

3 Cries of anguish arise from Horonaim, cries of great havoc and destruction.

BARNES, "Omit shall be. Spoiling and great destruction, literally breaking, is the cry heard from Horonaim Isa_15:5.

CLARKE, "Horonaim - Another city of Moab, near to Luhith. At this latter place the hill country of Moab commenced. It is a place, says Dahler, situated upon a height between Areopolis and Zoar.

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GILL, "A voice of crying shall be from Horonaim,.... Another city of Moab. The word is of the dual number; and, according to Kimchi and Ben Melech, there were two Horons, the upper and the lower; of this place See Gill on Isa_15:5; this also should be destroyed; and so a cry of the inhabitants of it should be heard out of it: spoiling, and great destruction; because the city was spoiled, and a great destruction made in the inhabitants and riches of it.

JAMISON, "Horonaim the same as the city Avara, mentioned by Ptolemy. The word means double caves (Neh_2:10; Isa_15:5).

K&D 3-4, "Jer_48:3-4A cry is heard from Horonaim against violence and destruction. The words are

to be taken as the cry itself; cf. Jer_4:20; Jer_20:8. The city of Horonaim, mentioned both here and in Isa_15:5 in connection with Luhith, lay on a slope, it would seem, not far from Luhith. Regarding this latter place we find it remarked in the Onomasticon: est usque hodie vicus inter Areopolim et Zoaram nomine Luitha (). As to , the Onomasticon says no more than (ed. Lars. p. 376). The destruction over which the outcry is made comes on Moab. By "Moab" Graf refuses to understand the country or its inhabitants, but rather the ancient capital of the country, Ar-Moab (Num_21:28; Isa_15:1), in the valley of the Arnon, which is also simply called Ar in Num_21:15; Deu_2:9. But, as Dietrich has already shown (S. 329ff.), the arguments adduced in support of this view are insufficient to prove the point.

(Note: The mention of Moab among names if cities in Jer_48:4, and in connection with Kir-heres in Jer_48:31 and Jer_48:36 proves nothing; for in Jer_48:4 Moab is not named among towns, and the expression in Jer_48:31 and Jer_48:36 is analogous to the phrase "Judah and Jerusalem." Nor can any proof be derived from the fact that Rabbath-Moab is merely called "Moab" in the Onomasticon of Eusebius, and Mb in Abulfeda, and Rabbath-Ammon, now merely "Amman;" because this mode of speaking will not admit of being applied for purposes of proof to matters pertaining to Old Testament times, since it originated only in the Christian ages,at a time, too, when Rabbath had become the capital of the country, and when Rabbath-Moab could easily be shortened by the common people into "Moab." Rabbath (of Moab), however, is not mentioned at all in the Old Testament.)- ,to break,of a nation or a city (Jer_19:11; Isa_14:25, etc.), as it were, to ruin , is here used of the country or kingdom. is for , as in Jer_14:3. The little ones of Moab, that raise a cry, are neither the children (Vulgate, Dahler, Maurer), nor the small towns (Hitzig), nor the people of humble condition, but cives Moabi ad statum miserum dejecti (Kueper). The lxx have rendered (i.e., which ,(reading is preferred by J. D. Michaelis, Ewald, Umbreit, Graf, Ngelsbach, but without sufficient reason; for neither the occurrence of Zoar in combination with Horonaim in Jer_48:34, nor the parallel passage Isa_15:5, will prove the point. Isa_15:5 is not a parallel to this verse, but to Jer_48:34; however, the train of thought is different from that before us here. Besides, Jeremiah writes the name of the town (not .cf. v ,(

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34, as in Isa_15:5; Deu_34:3; Gen_13:10 ) occurs only in Gen_19:22, Gen_19:30); hence it is unlikely that has been written by mistake for .CALVIN, "By naming many cities, he shews that the whole land was doomed to ruin, so that no corner of it would be exempt from destruction. For the Moabites might have suffered some loss without much injury had they been moderately chastised; but the Prophet shews that they would be so reduced by the power of Nebuchadnezzar, that ruin would extend to every part of the land. We now then see why this catalogue of the cities is given.By the voice of crying he means howling, a loud lamentation, heard far and wide. He says that the voice of crying would go forth from Horonaim, which some think was so called, because the city consisted of two parts, a higher and a lower part. He then adds, desolation and great destruction He thus explains himself, for the citizens of Horonaim would in vain cry out, because desolation and breaking or destruction would constrain them, that is, make them cry out so as to howl for the bitterness of their grief. It follows, PETT, "Jeremiah 48:3-4The sound of a cry from Horonaim,Desolation and great destruction!Moab is destroyed,Her little ones have caused a cry to be heard.Moab no longer rings with shouts of pride, but with cries of destruction, as her people flee as refugees. All her little ones (her towns and villages) cry out. The idea of towns and cities as daughters is found regularly elsewhere. Horonaim was another annexed area and was another dual city that was to be destroyed. But it is then made clear that the destruction of these cities is synonymous with the destruction of Moab with all her towns.Some see her little ones as referring literally to children with the idea that even the children are involved in her suffering which is affecting the whole populace, but in context the restriction to little ones in this sense seems unlikely. There is no mention of fathers, or mothers, or people. What has been in mind are the towns and cities.

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4 Moab will be broken; her little ones will cry out.[d]

BARNES, "Moab - Probably the city elsewhere called Ar-Moab. See the Septuagint of this verse.GILL, "Moab is destroyed,.... Either the whole nation in general; so the Targum, "the kingdom of Moab is broken;'' and so Abarbinel; or a city so called, which some take to be the city Areopolis. Jerom (g)says, that Moab is a city of Arabia, now called Areopolis; and which also has the name of Rabbathmoab, or "grand Moab"; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard; seeing their parents killed, and they left desolate, and in the hands of the enemy; and not only so, but just going to be dashed in pieces by them. The Targum interprets it, her governors; and so Jarchi, who thinks they are so called, because they are lesser than kings. Kimchi and Ben Melech suggest, that these are called so by way of contempt. The word "tzeir" signifies both "little" and "great", as the learned Pocock (h) has abundantly proved.

JAMISON, "little ones ... cry heightening the distress of the scene. The foe does not spare even infants.CALVIN, "The Prophet speaks again generally of the whole country. It is said that the land of Moab was afflicted; not that it was so then; but to make certain the prophecy, he speaks of the event as having already taken place; for the prophets, as it is well known, speaking in the person of God, relate things as yet hidden, as though they had been completed. He says that the little ones of Moab so cried as to be heard. (5) This is much more emphatic than if he had said that men and women cried out; for children do not soon perceive what is going on, for their understanding is not great. Men and women howl when threatenings only are announced; but little children are not moved but by present evils, and except they are actually beaten, they are not affected; and then they hardly distinguish between some slight evil and death. Hence, when the Prophet says that the little ones of Moab were heard in their crying, he means that the grievousness of its calamity would be extreme, as that little children, as though wise before their time, would perceive the atrocious cruelty of their enemies. It follows, Broken is Moab, They made the cry heard at Zoar.This is substantially the version of Venema. Ed.

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TRAPP, "Jeremiah 48:4 Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard.Ver. 4. Moab is destroyed,] i.e., Shall be shortly.Her little ones have caused a cry to be heard.] While they either are forsaken of their parents, {as Jeremiah 47:3} or else see them to be slain or carried away captives.PULPIT, "Moab is destroyed. The mention of Moab in the midst of towns is certainly surprising. We should expect Ar-Moab. Her little ones. The received text, as it stands, is untranslatable, and our choice lies between the correction suggested by the vowel points, and the reading of the Septuagint and a few of the extant Hebrew manuscripts, "unto Zoar." In favour of the latter, which is adopted by Ewald and Graf, it may he urged that Zoar and Horenaim are mentioned together, not only in Jeremiah 48:34, but also in Isaiah 15:5, which has evidently been imitated in the following verse. It is not quite clear what "her little ones" in the first mentioned correction mean. Some think, the children; others, the poor; Hitzig prefers the small towns of Moab. On the site of "Zoar," see Smith's 'Dictionary of the Bible,' but compare Canon Tristram in 'The Land of Moab.'

5 They go up the hill to Luhith, weeping bitterly as they go;on the road down to Horonaim anguished cries over the destruction are heard.

BARNES, "Luhith was situated upon an eminence, and Jeremiah describes one set of weeping fugitives as pressing close upon another.

In the going down of Horonaim ... - Rather, in the descent of Horonaim they have heard the distresses of the cry of breaking, i. e., the cry of distress occasioned by the ruin inflicted by the enemy. It was situated in a hollow, probably near the Dead Sea.GILL, "For in the going up of Luhith continual weeping shall go up,.... This is another city, which was built on a high hill, which had a considerable ascent to it, whither those that escaped from Horonaim might flee for safety; but as they went up the hill would weep bitterly, and all the way they went, because of the loss of friends and sustenance, and the danger they themselves were still in. Of this place See Gill on Isa_15:5;

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for in the going down of Horonaim the enemies have heard a cry of destruction; a place before mentioned, which lay low, in the descent of which, the enemies, the Chaldeans, heard the cries of those that fled from Horonaim, and went up from thence to Luhith, which cry was as follows:JAMISON, "going up of Luhith ... going down of Horonaim Horonaim lay

in a plain, Luhith on a height. To the latter, therefore, the Moabites would flee with continual weeping, as a place of safety from the Chaldeans. Literally, Weeping shall go up upon weeping.

K&D, "Jer_48:5In Jer_48:5 this idea is further elucidated. The inhabitants flee, weeping as they go, towards the south, before the conquering enemy advancing from the north, up the ascent of Luhith, and down the descent of Horonaim. The idea is taken from Isa_15:5,

but applied by Jeremiah in his own peculiar manner; is changed into ,and the notion of weeping is thereby intensified. We take as an adverbial accusative, but in fact it is to be rendered like the preceding ; and stands with an indefinite nominative: "one ascends = they ascend," not "weeping rises over weeping," as Hitzig, Graf, and others take it. For, in the latter case, could not be separated from ,nor stand first; cf. the instances adduced by Graf , and The form . for is either an error of transcription or an optional form, and there is no ground for taking the word as appellative, as Hitzig does, "the ascent of boards, i.e., as boards tower one above another, so does weeping rise," - an unnatural figure, and one devoid of all taste. The last words of the second member of the verse present some difficulty, chiefly on account of , which the lxx have omitted, and which Ewald and Umbreit set down as spurious, although (as Graf rightly remarks) they do not thereby explain how it came into the text. To suppose, with the Rabbinical writers, that the construct state stands for the absolute, is not only inadmissible, as being against the principles of grammar, but also contrary to the whole scope of the passage. The context shows that the clamour cannot proceed from the enemy, but only from the fugitive Moabites. Only two explanations are possible: either must be taken in the sense of angustiae, and in connection with , "straits, distress of crying," a cry of distress, as De Wette does; or, "oppressors of the cry of distress," as Ngelsbach takes it. We prefer the former, in spite of the objection of Graf, that the expression "distress of crying," for "a cry of distress," would be a strange one: for this objection may be made against his own explanation, that means the bursting open of the mouth in making a loud cry; and is a loud outcry for help.CALVIN, "Here Jeremiah uses another figure, that the weeping would be everywhere heard in the ascent to Luhith. It is probable, and it appears from the Prophets words, that this city was situated on a high place. He then says, that men would go up with weeping in the ascent to Luhith; literally, In (or with) weeping shall weeping ascend But some read as though it were written , beke, weeping;

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nor is there a doubt but that the verb , iole, refers to a person. But Jeremiah seems to have mentioned weeping twice in order to show that men would not only weep in one place, but during the long course of their ascent, as though he had said, They who shall be near the city shall weep, and they in the middle of their course, and those at the foot of the mountain; that is, there shall be weeping in every place. We now then perceive the meaning of the Prophet.He afterwards says, In the descent to Horonaim It hence appears that this city was situated in a low place or on a plain; and therefore I know not why they say that one part of it was higher than the other. It might indeed be that it had a hill in it; but the place was in a level country, and had mountains around it, as we learn from the Prophets words, In the descent to Horonaim the enemies shall hear a cry of distress By saying that enemies would hear a cry, (6) he means that the citizens of Horonaim and their neighbors would become frantic through grief. For fear restrains weeping, and when any one sees an enemy near, the very sight of him checks him, so that he dares not openly to show his grief; and then shame also restrains tears as well as sighings, for an enemy would deride our weepings in our misery. There is no doubt then, but that the Prophet here amplifies the grievousness of their sorrow, when he says, that though the citizens of Horonaim had enemies before their eyes, they would yet break forth with weeping and loud crying, and that the reproach and derision of enemies would not restrain them.For in the ascent to Luhith,With weeping ascends weeping;For in the descent to Heronaim,The distress of the cry of ruin have they heard.This version materially corresponds with Isaiah 15:5. Weeping ascending with weeping, shews that all wept as they ascended. The distress of the cry is a Hebraism for distressing cry Ed. COFFMAN, ""For by the ascent of Luhith with continual weeping shall they go up; for at the descent 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 destroyer shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape; the valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed; as Jehovah 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 Jehovah negligently; and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood.""Ascent of Luhith... descent of Horonaim ..." (Jeremiah 48:5). Whether fleeing to a high mountain or descending into the caves at Horonaim, the people would hear the cry of destruction. "`Luhith' is unknown";[10] but the mention of "ascent" suggests that it was some kind of summit, or high place.

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"Flee, save your lives, be like the heath in the wilderness ..." (Jeremiah 48:6). Textual uncertainties in Jeremiah 48:6 have led to several different translations here. "The word here rendered `heath' is also rendered as `tamarisk,' `sand-grouse,' or `wild ass' (See KJV, ASV, the English Revised Version (1884), the New English Bible, the Jerusalem Bible, and LXX).[11]"Chemosh shall go forth into captivity ..." (Jeremiah 48:7). "Chemosh is referred to on the Moabite Stone as Ashtar-Kemosh. Ashtar in Canaan was the god of the morning star."[12] Thus we have another example of the Israelites and their kinsmen "worshipping the host of heaven" (Acts 7:42ff). In fact, many of the ancient gods and goddesses of paganism were identified with the sun, the moon, various stars and planetsChemosh, the national god of the Moabites, is here prophetically doomed to captivity, and that meant also that the whole nation of Moab would suffer in a similar way. Like all other manmade gods, Chemosh was of no help whatever to Moab in the day of their calamity.Jeremiah 48:10 here is a mystery, especially the last clause, of which Robinson said, ,'Here the prophet incites to the slaughter with a curse."[13] However, we reject that interpretation. The only true application of such a command would be to those instruments whom God commissioned to punish rebellious nations for their wickedness. Certainly, Pope Gregory VII's making this his favorite verse has no possible justification.[14]COKE, "Jeremiah 48:5. For in the going-up of Luhith Surely at the ascent of Luhith weeping shall go up after weeping; surely at the descent of Horonaim mine enemies have heard a cry of destruction. Houbigant reads, For they have ascended the height of Luhith with weeping: in the descent of Horonaim the enemies, &c. ELLICOTT, "(5) In the going up of Luhith.Here again we have an echo from Isaiah 15:5. Jerome (Onomast. s.v. Luith) describes it as between Zoar and Areopolis (= Rabbath-Moab). The ascent was probably to a local sanctuary. A various reading, Laboth, followed by the LXX., gives the meaning the ascent of planks, as though it were a wooden staircase. Alike in that and in the descent from Horonaim (possibly the fugitives who came down from the heights of the one city are represented as going up with wailing to the other) the enemies of Moab would hear the cry that proclaimed its downfall.PETT, "Jeremiah 48:5For by the ascent of Luhith,With continual weeping will they go up,

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For at the descent of Horonaim,They have heard the distress of the cry of destruction.Compare here Isaiah 15:5 which may well have been in Jeremiahs mind. As the people of Moab flee before the enemy, seeking to escape as they laboriously climb the ascent of Luhith and make their way down the descent of Horonaim, (consider the difficulty that they must have faced, a long line of refugees, as they made their way up and down the passes bearing with them the possessions with which they fled) there is continual weeping and distress for the destruction that has come on their country and on their cities, the sound of which destruction is ringing in their ears from behind even as they seek to escape down the descent of Horonaim.PULPIT, "For in the going up of Luhith, etc. The verse is substantially taken from Isaiah (Isaiah 15:5), but with variations peculiar to this chapter. The most peculiar of these is that in the first verse half, which is literally, weeping goeth up (not, shall go up) with weeping, which is explained by Dr. Payne Smith to mean "one set of weeping fugitives pressing close upon another." To the present commentator (as also to Delitzschsee his note on Isaiah 15:5) there seems no reasonable doubt that b'ki, the word rendered "weeping," should rather be bo, "upon it," so that the passage will run, as in Isaiah, "for the going up of Luhith with weeping doth one go up if," Hitzig (whom for once we find agreeing with Delitzsch) remarks that the miswriting b'ki for bo may be easily accounted for by the fact that ki, "for," is the word which follows next. We have no right to ascribe to Jeremiah such an artificial and un-Hebraic an expression as that of the received text. Small as the matter may be in itself, it is not unimportant as suggesting to the Old Testament student a caution against the too unreserved adoption of the canon Lectioni faciliori praestat ardua. In the going down of Horonaim. An interesting variation from Isaiah. The older poet, less attentive to minutiae, had said vaguely, "in the road to Horonaim;" by a slight change of expression, the younger and more reflective writer produces a striking antithesis between the ascent to the hill-town, and the descent to the hollow in which Horonaim ("double cavern") appears to have been situated. It is possible, however, that Jeremiah has preserved the original reading, and that "the road" in Isaiah, l.c; is due to the carelessness of a scribe. The enemies have heard a cry of destruction. But why this reference to the enemies? The rendering, however, is ungrammatical. The text is, literally, the enemies of the cry of destruction have they heard. The prophecy in Isaiah omits "the enemies of," and has a different verb for "have they heard." Can the inserted words be an intrusion from the margin? The later scribes were accustomed to insert glosses in the margin on occasions where we should have thought them entirely unnecessary for the purpose of explanation. But then why "the enemies of"? It is an insoluble enigma.

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6 Flee! Run for your lives; become like a bush[e] in the desert.

BARNES, "Like the heath - Or, Like a destitute man. See the marginal reference note.

CLARKE, "Flee, save your lives - The enemy is in full pursuit of you.Be like the heath - caaroer, like Aroer; which some take for a city, others

for a blasted or withered tree. It is supposed that a place of this name lay towards the north, in the land of the Ammonites, on a branch of the river Jabbok; surrounded by deserts. Save yourselves by getting into the wilderness, where the pursuing foe will scarcely think it worth his while to follow you, as the wilderness itself must soon destroy you.

GILL, "Flee, save your lives,.... These are either the words of the Moabites, their cry of destruction mentioned in the latter part of Jer_48:5; who, seeing nothing but ruin before their eyes, advise one another to flee in all haste, and save their lives if possible, since nothing else could be saved: or else they are the words of the prophet, giving counsel to the Moabites to betake themselves to flight for the safety of their lives, these being in great danger; so Abarbinel; with whom others agree, only think they are spoken ironically; suggesting, that when they had endeavoured by flight to save their lives, it would be to no purpose; they should not escape the hands of their enemies; which seems to be the truest sense: and be like the heath in the wilderness; which is called "erice", or "ling", which grows in waste places. Kimchi and Menachem in Jarchi interpret it of a tree that grows in dry and desert places; a low, naked, barren, fruitless shrub; signifying, that, when they were fled from their habitations, they should be as solitary and stripped of all their good things as such a bare and naked shrub in a desert. Kimchi's note is, that when they had left their cities and fled, their cities would be as the heath in the wilderness. The Targum is, "and be ye as the tower of Aroer, "as they" who dwell in tents in the wilderness.'' Jarchi observes that the tower of Aroer was built in the wilderness, and there was no inhabitant round it but those that dwelt in tents; and, the tower standing where there was no inhabitant, it looked like a waste. The Septuagint version is very foreign, "as a wild ass in the wilderness"; which is followed by the Arabic version.

JAMISON, "They exhort one another to flee.heath or the juniper (see on Jer_17:6). Maurer translates, Be like one naked in the

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wilderness. But the sense is, Live in the wilderness like the heath, or juniper; do not trust in walls (Jer_48:7) [Grotius]. (Compare Mat_24:16-18).

K&D, "Jer_48:6Only by a precipitate flight into the desert can the Moabites save even their lives. The summons to flee is merely a rhetorical expression for the thought that there is no safety to be had in the country. To in Jer_48:6 we must supply as the subject: "your souls shall be." Ewald would change into ; but this proposal has against it the fact that the plural form is found in but a single case, Eze_13:20, and everywhere else: besides, is often used in the singular of several persons, as in 2Sa_19:6, and may further be easily taken here in a distributive sense; cf. ,Jer_51:6. The assumption of C. B. Michaelis, Rosenmller, Maurer, and of the translators of our "Authorized" English Version, that is the second person, and refers to the cities, i.e., their inhabitants, is against the context. cannot here be the name of a town, because neither Aroer in the tribe of Reuben, which was situated on the Arnon, nor Aroer of the tribe of Gad, which was before Rabbath-Ammon, lay in the wilderness; the comparison, too, of the fugitives to a city is unsuitable. The clause reminds us of Jer_17:6, and = the of that passage; the form found here is either an error of transcription caused by thinking of Aroer, or a play upon the name of the city, for the purpose of pointing out the fate impending over it.CALVIN, "Then he adds, Flee, save: this is the crying of distress; for miserable men, as the case is in extreme evils, mutually exhort one another, Flee, save your lives He then compares them to a tamarisk. The word ,oruor, designates a country, as it is probable, and there were also two cities of this name. However, ,oror, is a tamarisk, as we have already seen in Jeremiah 17:6. Some render it ,a tower; and the words of Isaiah in Isaiah 17:2, are perverted by some to maintain another meaning; for they think that ,oruor, means the cot of shepherds in the desert; but I prefer the opinion of those who render it tamarisk, or juniper, though the Prophet seems to me to allude to the city Aroer, or to a region of that name, but I rather think to the city. He then says, And ye shall be as a tamarisk in the desert: and it is known from other places that Aroer was in the land of Moab.We now then perceive what the Prophet means: that Moab would be like a juniper in the desert, that is, a barren tree, which never grows to any size; and then it is dry, because it is not cherished by any rain, nor fed by any moisture from the ground. It is in this sense, as we have stated, that our Prophet took the similitude in Jeremiah 17:5 :Blessed, he says, is the man who trusts in Jehovah, for he shall be like a tree planted near waters: cursed is the man who trusts in man, and who makes flesh his arm, and withdraws his heart from Jehovah; for he shall be as the tamarisk of the desert;

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that is, he shall be barren and dry, without any moisture or support. It now follows: ELLICOTT, "Verse 6(6) Be like the heath in the wilderness.Here, as in Jeremiah 17:6, the stunted solitary shrub in the desert is taken as the type of desolation. The LXX., which adopts the meaning in Jeremiah 17:6, here strangely enough gives as a wild ass in the wilderness. Psalms 11:1 gives us an example of a like comparison. Here probably there is, as before, a paronomasia on the name of the Moabite city Aroer, which closely resembles the Hebrew word for heath. In thus finding an ominous significance in the names of cities, Jeremiah follows in the wake of Micah 1.PETT, "Jeremiah 48:6-8Flee, save your lives,And be like the heath (vegetation) in the wilderness (semi-desert).For, because you have trusted in your works and in your treasures,You also will be taken,And Chemosh will go forth into captivity,His priests and his princes together.And the destroyer will come upon every city,And no city will escape,The valley also will perish,And the plain will be destroyed,As YHWH has spoken.The call to them is to flee and save their lives, something which will result for them in conditions here depicted in term of vegetation and shrubs in the semi-desert, something stunted and fighting for life. They share the plight of all refugees in a war situation. And this was because their trust had been in their own achievements (their work) and in their wealth (their treasures - mainly their vast numbers of sheep). Nor had Chemosh, their god in whom they had gloried (see again the Moabite stone inscription), been able to assist them. He too would be carried off into captivity, along with his priests and princes, to be ignominiously dealt with by his captors by being carried off helplessly on the backs of mules while the whole land

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was being destroyed. Compare the vivid picture of Babylonian deities being carried off by the invaders (probably the Assyrians) in Isaiah 46:1-2. Meanwhile no city would escape, and the countryside and valleys would bear their share of destruction. The whole land, city and countryside, would be devastated. And all this was because, in contrast with the helpless Chemosh, YHWH had spoken.Note the huge contrast here between Chemosh and YHWH. Outwardly it might have appeared that neither could defend their people, for both nations would have been pillaged, but Jeremiahs whole point is that YHWHs people have suffered at YHWHs hands as chastisement for their sins, precisely because they had turned to idols, and not because YHWH had been powerless to help them (had they obeyed YHWHs word through Jeremiah they would not have been devastated). And He would therefore deliver them again. It did not thus indicate that YHWH had been helpless. No one had carried YHWH off in a mule train. Rather it was in fact He Who had brought the situation about. And as seen here He was still in overall control of events both on behalf of His people and on behalf of surrounding nations. He was LORD of all.We should note here the very great difference between the Old Testament prophets, and the false prophets and the prophets of surrounding nations. The latter all assumed that their god would deliver, indeed that was the message that they were expected to g