Concerning 1aMoab.Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel,“Woe (judgment is coming) to the city of 2bNebo, for it has been destroyed!cKiriathaim has been shamed, it has been captured;Misgab the high fortress has been shamed, broken down and crushed. Is 15-16; 25:10-12; Ezek 25:8-11; Amos 2:1-3; Zeph 2:8-11The Moabites were descendants of Lot through his elder daughter. Chemosh was the primary god of the territory of Moab. The territory of Moab was located east of the Dead Sea.The towns of Nebo and Kiriathaim were located in the rich pasturelands allotted to the tribe of Reuben. Their exact location, as well as that of the other towns mentioned, is uncertain.Is 15:1; Ezek 25:9Num 32:3, 38; Jer 48:22Num 32:37; Jer 48:23; Ezek 25:9
2 “The glory of Moab is no more;In 1aHeshbon they planned evil against her,Saying, ‘Come, let us cut her off from being a nation!’You also, O city of Madmen, shall be silenced;The sword will pursue you.A border town between territories of Reuben and Gad, east of the Jordan River.Num 21:25; Jer 48:34, 45; 49:33 “The sound of an outcry from aHoronaim,‘Desolation and great destruction!’Is 15:5; Jer 48:5, 344 “Moab is destroyed;Her little ones have called out a cry of distress to be heard as far as Zoar.5 “For the Ascent of aLuhithWill be climbed by successive groups of fugitives with continual weeping;For on the descent of HoronaimThey have heard the distress of the cry of destruction.Is 15:56 “aRun! Save your lives,That you may be like a juniper in the wilderness.Jer 51:67 “For because you have atrusted in your works your hand-made idols and in your treasures instead of in God,Even you yourself will be captured;And 1bChemosh your disgusting god cannot rescue you, but will go away into exile along with the fugitivesTogether with his priests and his princes.Chemosh was the national god revered by the Moabites. Burning children as a sacrifice was part of the ritualistic worship. Solomon, in response to requests from his Moabite wives, established an altar to Chemosh on a hill east of Jerusalem (1 Kin 11:7). This repulsive idol remained in place for nearly three hundred years.Ps 52:7; Is 59:4; Jer 9:23Num 21:29; 1 Kin 11:33; Jer 48:13, 468 “And the destroyer will come upon every city;No city will escape.The Jordan valley also will be ruinedAnd the aplain will be devastated,As the LORD has said.Josh 13:9, 17, 219 “Give a agravestone to Moab,For she will fall into ruins;Her cities (pastures, farms) will be bdesolate,Without anyone to live in them.Ps 11:1; Is 16:2; Jer 48:28Jer 44:2210 “aCursed is the one who does the work of the LORD bnegligently,And cursed is the one who restrains his csword from blood in executing the judgment of the LORD.Jer 11:31 Kin 20:39, 40, 42; 2 Kin 13:19Jer 47:6, 7 11 “Moab has been aat ease from his youth;He has also been undisturbed, and bsettled like wine on his dregs,And he has not been cemptied from one vessel to another,Nor has he gone into exile.Therefore his flavor remains in him,And his scent has not changed.Jer 22:21; Ezek 16:49; Zech 1:15Zeph 1:12Nah 2:2 12 Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “when I will send to Moab those who will tip him over and who will empty his vessels and break his earthenware jars in pieces. 13 And Moab shall be aashamed of bChemosh his worthless, disgusting god, as the house of Israel was ashamed of cBethel, their misplaced confidence. 1+@Kin 12:28, 29Is 45:16; Jer 48:39Judg 11:241 Kin 12:29; Hos 8:5, 6
14 “How can you say, ‘We are agreat warriorsAnd valiant men in war?’Ps 33:16; Is 10:13-1615 “Moab has been made desolate and his cities have gone up in smoke and flame;And his chosen ayoung men have gone down to the slaughter,”Says the bKing, whose name is the LORD of hosts.Is 40:30, 31; Jer 50:27Jer 46:18; 51:57; Mal 1:1416 “The destruction of Moab will come asoon,And his disaster hurries quickly.Is 13:2217 “Show sympathy for him, all you nations who are around him,And all you distant nations who know his name;Say, ‘How has the mighty ascepter of national power been broken,And the splendid staff of glory!’Is 9:4; 14:518 “aCome down from your glory,O bDaughter living in 1cDibon,And sit on the parched ground among the thirsty!For the destroyer of Moab has advanced against you;He has destroyed your strongholds.Dibon, known today as Dhiban, stands on two hills. The famous Moabite Stone, a stela of black basalt, was found among the ruins of Dibon in 1868, and had been inscribed in 850 B.C. to commemorate certain accomplishments of King Mesha of Moab, including a victory in his revolt against Israel. Also recorded on the Moabite Stone was the fact that King Mesha built (or restored) the city of Aroer and made the road over the Arnon. The city of Aroer mentioned in this chapter (v 19) stood on the north side of the river Arnon (v 20), just south of Dibon. The inscriptions on the stone are written in a Phoenician dialect similar to an early form of the Hebrew language.Is 47:1Jer 46:19Num 21:30; Josh 13:9, 17; Is 15:2; Jer 48:2219 “O inhabitant of aAroer,Stand by the road and keep watch!bAsk of him who flees and ask of her who escapes,Saying, ‘What has happened?’Deut 2:36; Josh 12:21 Sam 4:13, 14, 1620 “Moab is shamed, for she has been broken down and shattered.Wail and cry out!Tell by the banks of the aArnonThat Moab has been destroyed.Num 21:13 21 “Judgment has come on the land of the plain—upon Holon, aJahzah, and against bMephaath,Num 21:23; Is 15:4; Jer 48:34Josh 13:18 22 against Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim, 23 against Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, and aBeth-meon,Josh 13:17 24 against aKerioth, Bozrah and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near.Jer 48:41; Amos 2:2 25 The ahorn (strength) of Moab has been cut off and his barm of authority is shattered,” says the LORD.Ps 75:10; Zech 1:19-21Job 22:9; Ps 10:15 26 “aMake him drunk, for he has bbecome arrogant and magnified himself against the LORD by denying Reuben’s occupation of the land the LORD had assigned him. Moab also will wallow in his vomit, and he too shall become a laughingstock. Num 22:1-7Jer 25:15Ex 5:2; Jer 48:42; Dan 5:23 27 For was not Israel a alaughingstock to you? Was he bcaught among thieves? For whenever you speak of him you cshake your head in scorn.Lam 2:15-17; Mic 7:8-10Jer 2:26Job 16:4; Jer 18:16
28 “You inhabitants of Moab,Leave the cities and live among the arocks,And be like the bdove that makes her nestIn the walls of the yawning ravine.Judg 6:2; Is 2:19; Jer 49:16; Obad 3Ps 55:6; Song 2:1429 “aWe have heard of the giddy pride of Moab, the extremely proud one—His haughtiness, his barrogance, his conceit, and his self-exaltation.Is 16:6; Zeph 2:8Job 40:11, 12; Ps 138:630 “I know his insolent awrath,” says the LORD,“But it is futile;His idle boasts in his deeds have accomplished nothing.Is 37:2831 “Therefore I will awail over Moab,And I will cry out for all Moab.I will sigh and mourn over the men of bKir-heres (Kir-hareseth) . Is 15:1; 16:7, 11Is 15:5; 16:7, 112 Kin 3:25; Is 16:7, 11; Jer 48:3632 “O vines of Sibmah, I will weep for youMore than the aweeping of bJazer over its ruins and wasted vineyards.Your tendrils of influence stretched across the sea,Reaching even to the sea of Jazer.The destroyer has fallenOn your summer fruits and your season’s crop of grapes.Is 16:8, 9Num 21:3233 “So joy and agladness are taken awayFrom the fruitful field and from the land of Moab.And I have made the wine bcease from the wine presses;No one treads the grapes with shouting.Their shouting is not joyful shouting but is instead, a battle cry.Is 16:10; Jer 25:10; Joel 1:12Is 5:10; Hag 2:16 34 aFrom the outcry at Heshbon even to bElealeh, even to Jahaz they have raised their voice, from cZoar even to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah; for even the waters of Nimrim will become desolations.Is 15:4-6Num 32:3, 37Gen 13:10; 14:2; Is 15:5, 6 35 Moreover, I will cause to cease in Moab,” says the LORD, “the one who ascends and offers sacrifice in the ahigh place and the one who bburns incense to his gods.Is 15:2; 16:12Jer 7:9; 11:13
36 “Therefore My aheart moans and sighs for Moab like flutes, and My heart moans and sighs like flutes for the men of Kir-heres (Kir-hareseth) ; therefore the remnant of the abundant riches they gained has bperished.Is 15:5; 16:11Is 15:7 37 For aevery head is shaven bald and every beard cut off; there are cuts (slashes) on all the hands and bsackcloth on the 1loins all expressions of mourning. Is 15:2, 3The midsection of the body between the lower ribs and the hips.Is 15:2; Jer 16:6; 41:5; 47:5Gen 37:34; Is 15:3; 20:2 38 On all the ahousetops of Moab and in its streets there is lamentation (expressions of grief for the dead) everywhere, for I have broken Moab like a bvessel in which there is no pleasure,” says the LORD.Is 22:1Jer 19:10, 11; 22:28; 25:34 39 “How it is broken down! How they have wailed! How Moab has turned his back in shame! So Moab will become a laughingstock and a horrifying aterror to all who are around him.”Ezek 26:16
40 For thus says the LORD:“Behold, one (Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon) will afly swiftly like an eagleAnd bspread out his wings against Moab. Ezek 17:3Deut 28:49; Jer 49:22; Hos 8:1; Hab 1:8Is 8:8
41 “Kerioth and the cities has been takenAnd the strongholds seized;And the ahearts of the warriors of Moab in that dayShall be like the heart of a bwoman in childbirth.Jer 49:22Is 13:8; 21:3; Jer 30:6; Mic 4:9, 1042 “Moab will be 1adestroyed from being a nation (people)Because he has bbecome arrogant and magnified himself against the LORD.Nebuchadnezzar (605-562 B.C.) subjugated the Moabites, but they continued to exist as a people into the first century A.D. (though the national existence of both Moab and Ammon seems to have ended long before the time of Christ). This in itself is a remarkable fulfillment of prophecy; but the fact that Moab’s fortunes are to be restored “in the latter days” (v 47) and have proceeded toward that end is even more amazing. Yet Moab is only one of the numerous nations whose fate was accurately written down in advance by the ancient prophets of God.Ps 83:4; Jer 48:2Is 37:23; Jer 48:2643 “aTerror and pit and snare are before you,O inhabitant of Moab,” says the LORD. Is 24:7Is 24:17, 18; Lam 3:4744 “The one who aflees from the terrorWill fall into the pit,And the one who gets up out of the pitWill be taken and caught in the trap;For I shall bring upon it, even upon Moab,The year of their bpunishment,” says the LORD.1 Kin 19:17; Is 24:18; Amos 5:19Jer 46:21 45 “In the shadow of HeshbonThe fugitives stand powerless helpless and without strength,For a fire has gone out from Heshbon,A aflame from the midst of bSihon;It has destroyed the cforehead of MoabAnd the crowns of the heads of the arrogant Moabites the ones in tumult.Num 21:28, 29Num 21:21, 26; Ps 135:11Num 24:1746 “aWoe (judgment is coming) to you, O Moab!The people of the pagan god called bChemosh have perished;For your sons have been taken away captiveAnd your daughters into captivity.Num 21:29Judg 11:24; 1 Kin 11:7; Jer 48:747 “Yet I will areturn the captives and restore the fortunes of MoabIn the latter days,” says the LORD.Jer 12:14-17; 49:6, 39 Thus far is the judgment on Moab.