Jeremiah 48:39

They shall howl, saying, How is it broken down! how hath Moab turned the back with shame! so shall Moab be a derision and a dismaying to all them about him. HOW IS IT BROKEN DOWN. "It" - i:e., Moab. HOW ... HOW - prodigious, yet sure to happen. HOW HATH MOAB TURNED THE BACK - not daring to show her face. SO SHALL MOAB BE A DERISION, AND A DISMAYING TO ALL - a derision to some, a dismaying to others, in beholding such a judgment of God, fearing a like fate for themselves....

The Prophet still speaks in the person of others, and according to their feelings and not his own. He then says, that _howling_, they would say, through wonder, _How is it that Moab has been so broken_, that all had turned their backs, that Moab had become ashamed? He indirectly intimates, that though no one could then know God’s judgment, which he now foretells, yet God would by the event prove that he had said nothing but in earnest. This wonder then was expressed for this purpose, that the Jews might know, that though the calamity of Moab would fill all with astonishment, and make them cry out as respecting an extraordinary thing, “Whatcan this mean?” yet the fulfillment of his prophecy would be certain. This is the meaning of the words when he says, _Howling, they will cry out, How has Moab been broken? and how has he turned his neck, _or as they say, his back? _Moab is ashamed_; and...

14-47. The destruction of Moab is further prophesied, to awaken them by national repentance and reformation to prevent the trouble, or by a personal repentance and reformation to prepare for it. In reading this long roll of threatenings, and mediating on the terror, it will be of more use to us to keep in view the power of God's anger and the terror of his judgments, and to have our hearts possessed with a holy awe of God and of his wrath, than to search into all the figures and expressions here used. Yet it is not perpetual destruction. The chapter ends with a promise of their return out of captivity in the latter days. Even with Moabites God will not contend for ever, nor be always wroth. The Jews refer it to the days of the Messiah; then the captives of the Gentiles, under the yoke of sin and Satan, shall be brought back by Divine grace, which shall make them free indeed....

Literally, “How is it broken down! they wail! How hath Moab tutored the back in shame! Yea, Moab is become a laughter and a terror Jeremiah 17:17 to all who are round about him.”...

EXPOSITION This prophecy is so full of repetitions that the question has naturally arisen whether the most prominent of these may not be due to interpolation. For instance: 1.Jeremiah 48:29-24 recur in Isaiah 16:6; Isaiah 15:4, Isaiah 15:5, Isaiah 15:6; Isaiah 16:12, Isaiah 16:11;...

THEY SHALL HOWL, [SAYING], HOW IS IT BROKEN DOWN?.... Or, "how is it broken" or "thrown into consternation p? they howl"; that is, they howl out these words, or, while they are howling, say, how is Kirheres or Moab broken all to pieces; their strength, power, and glory; their cities, and their mighty men; and are in the utmost fright and confusion? Jarchi takes it to be an imperative, and paraphrases it, "howl ye over her q, and say, how is it broken!'' Kimchi says it may be taken either as in the past or in the imperative; HOW HATH MOAB TURNED THE BACK WITH SHAME? not being able to look their enemies in the face, but obliged to flee before them; SO SHALL MOAB BE A DERISION AND A DISMAYING TO ALL THEM ABOUT HIM; a derision to some, to their enemies, as Israel had been to them, and so they are paid in their own coin; and a consternation to others, their friends, who would fear sharing...

CHAPTER 48 Concerning Moab _ 1. The overthrow of Moab (Jeremiah 48:1) _ 2. The humiliation of Moab (Jeremiah 48:11) 3. Reaping what they sowed (Jeremiah 48:20) 4. Destroyed on account of its pride (Jeremiah 48:29) With these divisions the chapter may be studied in detail. Moab was of incestuous off spring Genesis 19:37. Israel is now exhorted to flee and save itself because Moab is to be destroyed. Moab's national deity was Chemosh, who was also worshipped by the sister nation, the

Moab's pride is without foundation, doomed to a fall which the prophet laments; comparing the past glory with the far-reaching tendrils of a choice vine (Jeremiah 48:32). There is no longer the joy of the ingathering; the shout of battle replaces that of the vintage (Jeremiah 48:33). The beginning of Jeremiah 48:34 is corrupt and yields no sense, but the general meaning is that there shall be widespread ruin. The _worship of the land is brought_ to an end (Jeremiah 48:35). Hence the prophet's sorrow for Moab, a land filled with mourning (Je

See introd. summary to the ch. The passage may contain some Jeremianic matter, but on the whole is late (see also on Jeremiah 48:37) and borrowed to a large extent from Is. 15., 16. (chs. which are perhaps earlier than Isaiah's time and republished by him. See Skinner, C.B. _ad loc_.)....

IV. THE ORACLE AGAINST MOAB Jeremiah 48:1-47 The Moabites occupied the region east of the Dead Sea and for the most part south of the river Arnon. The Arnon flows through a steep, twisting gorge in the mountains of Moab and was of great strategic importance in antiquity. In times of political decline the kingdom of Moab shrank to the area on the southern side of the river which thus became a natural border on the north. In more vigorous periods the kingdom expanded northward beyond the river. The Israelites first came into contact with the Moabites at the end of the period of wilderness wandering. At that time Balak, king of Moab, hired Balaam to curse Israel (Numbers 22-24). This was the beginning of a long history of enmity between the two nations.[381] The Moabite Stone as well as the Bible reflects the hostility between the Israelites and the Moabites.[382] [381] See...