Jeremiah 48

Bible Passage:  Jeremiah 48

Yesterday we read about God’s judgement upon Philistia.  Today, the attention is on Moab.

Do you remember who were the Moabites?  They were the descendants of Lot and, along with the Ammonites, the enemies of the Jews.

However, during the Babylonian crisis, both Moab and Ammon allied themselves with Judah in a vain and ill-fated attempt to defeat King Nebuchadnezzar.  And in this chapter, we read of 20 different places of Moab … it certainly shows how detailed God can be when He makes his prophecies.

The gist of this chapter is that Moab is a self-satisfied nation, feeling very secure, like wine aging in a jar and becoming tastier (vv. 11-13).  Because the nation had been comfortable and self sufficient, they were not prepared for what happened.  The Babylonians emptied the wine from jar to jar and then broke the jars!

Instead of sitting on their mountainous throne, the nation had to come down and grovel on the parched earth.

Again we learn that when God passes judgement, no hiding place will be available.

I know it is a lot to read in this chapter but there seems to be 3 reasons that God gave for why the Moabites have to face judgment.  And when we look at them and then look at ourselves… we are not very much different and can easily, commit the same sins too.  So let these 3 reasons be warnings for us today…

Reason 1

For because you have trusted in your works and your treasures,
You also shall be taken.
And Chemosh shall go forth into captivity,
His priests and his princes together.

~ Jeremiah 48:7

How many of us have failed and committed this sin?  The sin of trusting in our own works and treasure.

Way back in Jeremiah Chapter 2, when we first started reading about Jeremiah, we heard him saying…

“For My people have committed two evils:
They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters,
And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.

~ Jeremiah 2:13

Jeremiah had pointed out 2 evils of the Jews – they had turned away from God and was trying to security in the things they built themselves.

Moab was the same here… they had completely ignored God and were trusting in their own works and possessions.  This was where they thought they had peace and security.

Are we guilty of this as well?

Reason 2

“Moab has been at ease from his youth;
He has settled on his dregs,
And has not been emptied from vessel to vessel,
Nor has he gone into captivity.
Therefore his taste remained in him,
And his scent has not changed.

~ Jeremiah 48:11

I was trying to figure out what “emptied from vessel to vessel” meant and this was what one Bible reference book mentioned.

In the old days, when making wine, the newly pressed wine was first kept in a wineskin for a while.  The purpose is to allow the dregs (the sediments and other things that spoil the drinking of wine) settle down at the bottom.

After some time, this wine is poured into another wineskin, leaving the dreg behind.  But at the second wineskin, the same process happens again.  There will still be dregs and once it is settled down at the bottom, the wine is once again transferred to another wineskin.  And this process is repeated until the wine maker deem that the wine is clear and sweet – free from dregs.

So with this understanding, we see what Jeremiah was talking about.  Moab had not gone through the process of purging sin in the past and had allowed the “dregs” to remain.  Over time, the dreg still remained – due to the self-contentedness of the Moabites.  And this led them to this state that Jeremiah found them in.

I think the lessons are quite apparent for us.  There is a need for us to have the discipline to purify ourselves … taking the time and effort to remove all dregs in our lives.  Ignorance of the presence of sin or purposefully ignoring the sin within (just imagine… one cannot see the dregs inside the wineskin unless one pours out the wine) can make us like the Moabites.

And when that happens… only judgement awaits.

Reason 3

“Make him drunk,
Because he exalted himself against the Lord.
Moab shall wallow in his vomit,
And he shall also be in derision.

~ Jeremiah 48:26

The last reason I found was in verse 26 which stated that the Moabites exalted themsleves against God!

They against God!  I mean… come one… who would win?

But are we also guilty of this sin as well?

A lot of times instead of exalting God and praising Him in our prayers, we end up “telling” God what to do in our lives.  We expect God to listen to us.  We expect Him to cater to our needs first rather than we abide by His will.

But tell God we want things done this way. Not that way.

Maybe we don’t say it out loud but it certainly is in our minds.

Who are we to make these demands on God?  It is so absurd but a lot of times, that is what we do.

But God is a God of mercy…

We read in the last verse of this chapter…

“Yet I will bring back the captives of Moab
In the latter days,” says the Lord.

~ Jeremiah 48:47

This is the grace of God.  And what a wonderful grace.

After their punishment, God will bring the captives back to their own land.

I thought I would write a short posting today but as I read and contemplate on this chapter more carefully, there are indeed a lot of things for us to examine and consider.

May God have mercy on us.