Jeremiah 48:8

And the spoiler shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape: the valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed, as the LORD hath spoken. THE VALLEY ... SHALL PERISH - i:e., those dwelling in the valley....

He confirms the previous verse; nor ought he to be deemed too wordy, for this prophecy was not announced, that it might cherish the hope and patience of the faithful only for a few days; but it was necessary for them to rest dependent for a long time on this promise, which God had given them many years before. This, then, is the reason why the Prophet confirms at large a truth in itself sufficiently clear. _Come_, he says, _shall a waster to all the cities _It now appears more clearly why he mentioned some of the cities, though, as we shall see, they were many, even that the Israelites might know that all the land of Moab was to be given up to desolation: _Nor shall a city escape, for destroyed shall be the valley and the plain, as Jehovah has spoken _It follows, —...

THE VALLEY - The lowlands on the east bank of the Jordan, and at the top of the Dead Sea. THE PLAIN - An upland pasture; it answers very much to downs: so in Jeremiah 48:21....

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;...

AND THE SPOILER SHALL COME UPON EVERY CITY,.... That is, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and his army. The Targum is, the spoilers, who came against and took every city of Moab, and wasted them. Josephus n makes particular mention of Nebuchadnezzar subduing the Ammonites and Moabites: AND NO CITY SHALL ESCAPE; the spoiler, and destruction by him: THE VALLEY ALSO SHALL PERISH, AND THE PLAIN SHALL BE DESTROYED, AS THE LORD HATH SPOKEN; not only the cities, and the inhabitants of them; but the inhabitants of the valleys and plains, as the Targum paraphrases it, should be destroyed; and also the corn that grew upon them, and the flocks and herds that grazed there, exactly as the Lord had foretold. n Antiqu. l. 10. c. 9. sect. 7....

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 48. MOAB (the territory E. of the Dead Sea, from Wady Kerak in the S. to the neighbourhood of Heshbon in the N.). Many of the numerous places named in this prophecy will be found on G. A. Smith's map, though some of his identifications are disputable; others such as Misgah (Jeremiah 48:1) are quite unknown. Much of this chapter is almost certainly later than Jeremiah, as it incorporates parts of Isaiah 15 f. (note _mgg.),_ an elegy apparently of the fifth century. JEREMIAH 48:1. The spoiling of the cities of Moab, and the end of her glory (praise, Jeremiah 48:2), are declared. The lamentation of the Moabites is described ...

_the valley_ the valley of the Jordan towards the Dead Sea. _the plain_ the tableland of Moab....

AND THE SPOILER SHALL COME— That is Nebuchadrezzar. This character is frequently given him in Scripture. See ch. Jeremiah 51:48 and Isaiah 33:1; Isaiah 33:24....

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...