Jeremiah 48:43

Fear, and the pit, and the snare, shall be upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab, saith the LORD. FEAR, AND THE PIT, AND THE SNARE, SHALL BE UPON THEE - (note, Isaiah 24:17). "Fear" is the technical term for the cord with feathers of various colours which, when fluttered in the air, scare birds into the snare, and beasts into the pitfall. Verse 44. HE THAT FLEETH FROM THE FEAR SHALL FALL INTO THE PIT. When thou thinkest thou hast escaped one kind of danger a fresh one will start up....

By these words the Prophet skews, that though the Moabites should adopt many means of escape, yet they should be taken, for God’s hand would everywhere entrap them. He mentions _terror _first, then the _pit_, and thirdly, the _snare_, (24) that is, “Thou wilt be so frightened that terror will compel thee to flee; but when thou fleest, pits will be in the way into which thou wilt fall: but if thou wilt rise from the pit, snares will surround thee, and thou wilt be taken.” We then see that by these similitudes nothing else is meant but God’s judgment, which impended over the Moabites, so that it could by no means be averted by them; for no ways could be found out by which they could escape, because fear would force them to flee, and would, as it is usually the case, deprive them of mind and thought, and thus they would be driven here and there, and could not move from any place without mee...

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....

Verse Jeremiah 48:43. _FEAR, AND THE PIT, AND THE SNARE_] See the note on Isaiah 24:17....

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;...

FEAR, AND THE PIT, AND THE SNARE, [SHALL BE] UPON THEE,.... A proverbial expression, showing, that if they escaped one danger, or sore judgment, they should fall into another and greater: the words seem to be taken from Isaiah 24:17; Isaiah 24:17; O INHABITANT OF MOAB, SAITH THE LORD; what in the prophecy of Isaiah is said of the inhabitants of the earth in general, is here applied to the inhabitants of Moab in particular....

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

JEREMIAH 40-47. The foe swoops down vulture-like (Jeremiah 4:13) on Moab, destroyed because of pride against Yahweh. One disaster succeeds another in this time of punishment (visitation, Jeremiah 11:23; Jeremiah 23:12), and there is no asylum to be found in Heshbon, for a destructive flame proceeds from the house of Sihon (so read; _cf._ Numbers 21:26; Numbers 21:28) to destroy the temples of Moab's head. Moab goes into exile, but Yahweh will ultimately change her fortunes. The closing sentence ...

FEAR. Terror....

Cp. Isaiah 24:17 f. and probably a proverb in frequent use. We cannot reproduce in English the assonance _paḥad vâpaḥath vâpâḥ_. See on Lamentations 3:47....