Daily Devotions
Jeremiah
"I have broken Moab like a vessel"
Text: Jeremiah 48:38
THE DESTRUCTION OF MOAB
Nobody expected Moab to be destroyed, certainly not its citizens! Nevertheless, Moab would be no more! This was determined by the sovereign will of God!
“‘For every head shall be bald, and every beard clipped;
On all the hands shall be cuts, and on the loins sackcloth—
A general lamentation
On all the housetops of Moab,
And in its streets;
For I have broken Moab like a vessel in which is no pleasure,’ says the LORD.
‘They shall wail:
‘How she is broken down!
How Moab has turned her back with shame!’
So Moab shall be a derision
And a dismay to all those about her.'”
Jeremiah 48:37-39
1. “For every head shall be bald, and every beard clipped;
on all the hands shall be cuts, and on the loins sackcloth”
a) This was the way in which idolatrous Moab would mourn.
b) These were the common ways they mourned for the dead:
i) Heads were shaved completely.
ii) Every beard clipped (shaved).
iii) Cuts were made on hands.
iv) Sackcloth was worn on the loins.
2. “‘A general lamentation on all the housetops of Moab, and in its streets;
for I have broken Moab like a vessel in which is no pleasure,’ says the LORD”
a) Moab would stage a lamentation that would be nation-wide:
i) On housetops.
ii) In the streets.
b) All would lament that Moab was broken like a vessel of no pleasure.
c) This was the decree that God had issued against Moab.
3. “They shall wail: ‘How she is broken down! How Moab has turned her back with shame!’
So Moab shall be a derision and a dismay to all those about her'”
a) The wailing of the people would be heard.
i) That Moab is broken down.
ii) That the nation had shamefully turned her back to flee from the enemy.
b) Moab would suffer.
i) Derision from the enemies.
ii) Dismay among the Moabites.