Daily Devotions
Jeremiah
"Moab shall be destroyed as a people"
Text: Jeremiah 48:42
THE DESTROYER OF MOAB
Moab thought it was invincible until it faced Babylon in the battle field. Moab was totally destroyed by the Babylonians.
“For thus says the LORD:
‘Behold, one shall fly like an eagle,
And spread his wings over Moab.
Kerioth is taken,
And the strongholds are surprised;
The mighty men’s hearts in Moab on that day shall be
Like the heart of a woman in birth pangs.
And Moab shall be destroyed as a people,
Because he exalted himself against the LORD.'”
Jeremiah 48:40-42
1. “For thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, one shall fly like an eagle,
and spread his wings over Moab'”
a) The LORD identified the power that destroyed Moab.
i) Babylon was compared to the swift eagle.
ii) Moab was simply the prey of the eagle.
b) Babylon was that powerful eagle that swooped down on Moab.
c) There was no escape from the talons of the powerful eagle.
2. “Kerioth is taken, and the strongholds are surprised; the mighty men’s hearts
in Moab on that day shall be like the heart of a woman in birth pangs”
a) Kerioth was a city of Moab.
b) The inhabitants worshipped Chemosh, a blood-thirsty god.
c) But Kerioth was defeated easily.
i) The sanctuary of Chemosh was destroyed.
ii) The strongholds were overrun by the Babylonians.
iii) The mighty men guarding the strongholds became like women giving birth
(worried and frantic).
3. “And Moab shall be destroyed as a people, because he exalted himself against the LORD”
a) Moab would cease to be a nation.
b) As a people (Moabites) they would be no more.
c) The reason given:
i) Moab had exalted itself against the LORD.
ii) It had rejected the LORD and embraced Chemosh as the preferred deity.