Jeremiah 48:1-17. Today’s message is to the nation of Moab. Moab was a nation or kingdom in the east side of the Dead Sea from about the middle to the bottom. It was between the Arnon River which empties into the Dead Sea about the middle and the Zered Stream which empties into the Dead Sea at the southern tip. The geography of the area is important to understand. The Jordan River flows through a cut in the earth’s surface called a rift. You might think of it as a canyon but canyons are usually low areas between hills or mountain. There are hills or mountains on both sides of the Jordan River rift but they do not define it. The Dead Sea is at the southern end of the rift and is the lowest elevation on earth that is not under water. The surface of the Dead Sea is about 1400 feet below sea level (while the sea itself is another 1000 feet deep).
On the west side of this gash in the earth are mountain ranges (although we might consider them more like hills). Jerusalem is on one of the mountains in these ranges. Further west is a plain that leads to the Mediterranean coast. You might think of the area kind of like where we live. The mountains are the Santa Ana Mountans (where Saddleback is) and the plain is where most of us live in Orange County. In the Judan Hills the highest elevation is about 3000 feet or one half the height of Saddleback. Earlier in our reading we read of two mountains further north one was Hermon and the other Carmel. Both were used as examples of something obvious and impressive. Mount Hermon is pretty impressive at a little over 9000 feet (not quite as high as Mount Baldy in the San Gabriel Mountains). Mount Carmel at 1700 feet is only about 1/3 the height of Saddleback. It is still impressive because the area around it is quite flat.
On the east side of the Jordan River rift is another mountain range that runs basically north and south parallel to the river and rift. These mountains, the Jordanian Highlands, are slightly higher that the mountains on the west side of the Jordan River. The mountains sit on a plateau that ranges in elevations from 2300-3900 feet. The climate is arid, like Southern California. The Jordanian Highlands receive about 11 inches of rain per year with the average in the surrounding region much lower. It is in these hills east of the Dead Sea that the kingdom of Moab existed.
Today’s reading is another in the messages to the “nations”. This one is to a “nation” called Moab. It is the second longest message at 47 verses after the message in chapters 50-51 To Babylon which is 110 verses. If you have read the “Old Testament Connection” you know that the Old Testament is a history of God using specific descendants of one man, Abraham, to help the world understand the problem between us and God and the only solution, Jesus. Abraham had a nephew who traveled with him when he started his adventure with God. That nephew, Lot, had two daughters. The older daughter became the mother of the people group known as Moabites while the younger daughter gave rise to the nation of Ammonites. The Ammonites lived just north of the Moabites East of the Jordan River and north-east of the upper tip of the Dead Sea. After leaving Egypt with Moses the Israeiltes spent forty years in the desert wilderness of the Arabian Peninsula. At one point during the forty years the Israelites wanted to pass through the territories of Moab and Ammon (who were related also and also allies or even part of a blended nation). Ammon was much more aggressive and stationed troops at the border of the combined territory, refusing to let Israel pass through. Moab seems to have been more passive and only made verbal refusals.
The king of Moab did take action in the form of trying to hire a prophet to curse the Israelites, a guy named Balaam. Balaam either could not or would not curse the Israelite, but he did inform them that they could “defeat” the Israelites by intermarrying with them and getting them to leave Yahweh, the one true God. This story is told in Numbers 20-25. In those chapters we find that the Moabite did have some “success” in distracting the Israelites from God. Through out the following centuries Israel and Moab had an on again off again relationship. On other occasions throughout the centuries Moab would use it’s “daughters” to try to distract the Israelites from living for God. Moab lived under the authority of Israel for many of these centuries and paid “tribute” to Israel (Tribute was a sort of tax honoring the ruling nation, in this case Israel). These times of rebellion seem to have always involved, at least, Ammon, and also Edom. What we have is a picture of a weak but tricky nations who used what influence they had to defeat the Israelites.
In today’s reading several places are named many of which have not been discovered by archaeologist. Remember thought that these towns existed over 2400 years ago, that is a lot of time for the sands of the desert to make those towns disappear. People who want to doubt the Bible could challenge it’s accuracy, saying that the stories are made up. Unfortunately the stories are not made up and one archaeological discovery confirms many of these places. In 850 BC king Mesha of Moab successfully rebelled against the Israelites and for a time his people were free. After his successful rebellion Mesha had a monument made to celebrate the victory he and his cities had over Israel, it is called the “Moab Stone” and it mentions many of the cities also mentioned here.
As we read through today’s verses we see a pretty extensive and detailed destruction of the Moabites. Why is this judgment or punishment so important? I think there is a hint in verses 7 and 11-15. First in verse 7 we see two things mentioned as reasons for the exile of the Moabites; “trust in their own achievements and treasures” and trust in a false god called Chemosh. The first is pride and the second is idolatry (living for (worshipping) a false manmade “god”). In verses 11 we see Moab described as having an easy existence. The picture of wine is interesting. Wine is fermented fruit juice, in this case grapes. Dregs are like pulp that is in the bottles with the juice. After the wine is put in the bottles it is allowed to sit and ferment until it becomes alcoholic. Of course when the juice sits for a long time the pulp settles to the bottom . Experts in wine making say that the pulp is an important part of what gives wine it’s (good?) flavor (I wouldn’t know since I don’t like it and don’t drink it). If it is disturbed it loses it’s (good?) flavor. On the other hand if it sits too long undisturbed it can get ruined too. The point of this picture is that God is going to “shake up” the easy lives of the Moabites. As a result they will lose their unique “flavor”; we might say their “culture” would be lost. To us that seems tragic, we value different cultures.
In verse 10 we see an even more shocking part of the story, who ever God was going to use to destroy the culture and identity of the Moabites would be cursed if they did not make the destruction a bloody one. Seems more than tragic, it seems harsh. Verses 7 and 13 tell us why God is going to destroy the identity of this mostly “peaceful” people, it has to do with Chemosh. If you read “The Old Testament Connection” mentioned above you know that there is a far more important tragedy in our existence, the possibility of spending an eternity separated from God and his protection and provision (as well as his friendship. You know that “peace on earth, good will toward men” part of the Christmas song? It’s a quote from Luke 2:14 and it’s not about peace among men (although that is an ultimate result) it’s about peace between us and God made possible by the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus). The Moabites may not have been openly hostile, making war with Israel, but they were making war spiritually with Israel and that is way worse. Tempting the Israelites with their women to get them to honor Chemosh was the worst king of war. That is why the true king of the universe, Yahweh of the armies (hosts) made war with the Moabites and destroyed them. In verse 17 we see this idea of the deadly distraction hinted at when “all who live around [Moab]” are told to cry for his destruction. You see it’s about their very bad example. It didn’t matter how laid back they were it mattered what message they were sending to others about the truth about God. They easy life was not because of the power of Chemosh and God needed to make that very clear to all who might think of turning their love and life over to that false god or any other false god. In verse 13 we see that this warning is even for the Israelites who mad their own god and worshipped it at a place called Bethel. Ironically that name means “house of God” which it clearly wasn’t.
It can be very easy to fall in love with our own culture and think it is the best or right way to live. We invent “gods” who have given that great life and protect it for us. For some they really are “gods” that they have invented for others the “gods” may be certain ideas in their culture that they think have made it great. Here in the United States we “worship” health, hard work, education, freedom, independence and many other things and think that that is why we have a pretty good life.
I suppose there are others who have been disappointed by their own culture and look to another one in hope of a good life. Perhaps the Israelites looked at the Moabites from time to time and thought, “There are no cats in Moab and the streets are paved with cheese”, to borrow an lyric from a popular cartoon movie from many years ago (An American Tail, 1986). Certainly during a drought in the time of the Judges, Naomi and here family turned to Moab for help.
The bigger picture though is that there is a creator of the universe, one who made it a good place for mankind. One who only saw his creation as very good after he placed man in it. That God, Yahweh (LORD) is king of all and he wants us in his kingdom. He won’t force us in but he will make it very clear to us what life on the outside is like. One interesting think about all the wars and killing that we read about in the Bible, is that most of it if not all of it is the invention of men; we do this to each other. God doesn’t usually stop it because he wants us to see what we do and what life is like without him, just a little bit. Moab was a hang loose kind of place but they were leading people down a path that would leave them hanging in eternity, very uncool and I’m glad God brought it to our attention. A few posts ago I quoted a verse from Ecclesiastes 3:11. That verse tells us that God has given us a little reminder that we are supposed to be immortal, “eternity in our hearts”. But it also tells us that we won’t understand what God is doing in our world. Job was reminded of the same thing when he suffered for no reason related to him. He wanted to know why but was reminded of “who” he was dealing with, a huge powerful loving God who has a plan and is working it out for the good of the most people possible (2 Peter 3:9). In the mean time we need to trust him and honor him only, not your own power or culture or anyone else’s.
God thank you for loving us. Thank you form making us aware of eternity. Thank you for working so hard to help us see the truth about us and you. Help me trust your love, live each day for you , and help others see and understand your love too.