Jeremiah 48:40-47. Today we finish the message to the Moabites. Yesterday we saw God in great pain because of the trouble that he was going to send or allow in the life of these people. We also saw that the source of evil in our world is us. God allows us to follow our own path for the most part without interfering, but he does use it to teach us why there is bad stuff in the world (because we are rebellious toward Him, we “sin” (a word that means we missed the bull’s-eye)). He also hopes we will learn the lesson and turn back to him; for forgiveness, for help, for eternity with him. No one has greater sadness than God because of all of this.

Yesterday’s reading ended with the people of Moab being sad too (or actually going to be since the message was a prediction of events in their future). They had turned their back and were ashamed. It’s unclear whether this is saying they had turned their back on God and were ashamed or that they were looking back at their ruined towns as they were being taken into exile and were ashamed as the people around them were laughing at them. It was probably both; some were completely surprised at how their peaceful life had been destroyed and others were realizing that they had done something wrong with respect to God, or at least some god somewhere. Verse 39 ended with them being laughed at by the world.

Today’s reading starts with a reminded that this message is from Yahweh (LORD in all capitals in most English translations translates a proper name for the one true God. If the word is translated directly it is translated Jehovah in older translations and probably more properly as Yahweh in newer ones).   As I mentioned before we don’t know a lot about all of the places mentioned in this prophecy (see “What Profit?”) but they were real places. Kerioth is one of the places mentioned on an ancient “statue” that archaeologists call the Moab Stone.   If God wanted us to know more about these places he would have made sure we could find the information. I think what is important is the detail. The details show us how closely God is involved in our world.

In Genesis 18:16-33 there is a story about Abraham having a discussion about a city named Sodom. Abraham’s nephew Lot lived in the city. The city was very evil and Yahweh came personally to destroy it. Before he destroyed it (which he did) he had a conversation with Abraham and told him he was going to destroy the city. Abraham stuck his neck way out and challenged God about the decision. In verse 23 Abraham asked God, “Will you destroy the people who are right with you along with the wicked people?   Suppose there are 50 good people in Sodom?” God’s answer what that for 50 people he would not destroy the city. Abraham pushed further and in the course of the conversation got the number down to 10. In Genesis 19:15 we learn that Lot had two daughters, who were engaged, and a wife. That amounts to six people who we could hope were honoring God with their lives. The end of the story is sad. Lot left the city with his wife and two daughters. The sons-in-law did not go with him. As they left they were warned not to look back at the destruction, Lot’s wife did look back (Moses used a word that might suggest that she looked back with sadness, wanting to stay) and she was transformed into a “pillar of salt”. We might say she was turned into a “monument” of salt. There are two interesting things about salt. First it is a seasoning, something that makes flavor more distinct or obvious and second it melts in liquid. Her transformation, which can be understood only as a miraculous unnatural act of God, would certainly make it more obvious to Lot and his daughters how serious God is about dealing with disobedience and rebellion (sin). But the monument that she was to God’s purity and power would not last forever. I think the details of this story are similar to those of Jeremiah’s prediction of about Moab.   It shows us that there are consequences for sin but it also shows us that God is concerned for anyone who will try to honor him.

In Jeremiah 48:41 we see an important detail about the destructon of Moab, the strongholds (think forts) were destroyed. It is possible that Kerioth was one of these or maybe a capital or major city or both. The soldiers of Moab were very upset, their pain is describe like a woman in labor. The main thing most people think about when they think about a woman in labor is loud screaming. These soldiers were probably screaming like that. The fact that the forts were gone would have been particularly important to the soldiers of Moab since it seems like they were not really used to going out to battle.

In verse 42 we are reminded that the destruction coming on Moab was because of their pride. The word used here is translated arrogant or magnified and that is what it means, it’s like the Moabites were flexing their muscles saying, “Look how strong I am”. The real problem is that they were using Yahweh as their comparison, “Check this out, I’m stronger than Yahweh”. Verses 43-44 tell us what the outcome of that challenge are, first the people would be “terrorized” or very fearful. Back in verse 40 we were told that ”one” was coming who would be like an eagle swooping in to catch it’s prey. The terror or fear was probably from this invasion. The people who ran from the fear would fall into a pit. Pits are sometimes used in hunting as a way of catching animals. These pits would be almost impossible to escape from, another scary situation (remember Jeremiah had been thrown into a muddy cistern which is like a pit and he had to be pulled out by several guys with ropes). Finally if anyone did manage to escape from the pit they would be caught in a snare, a type of animal trap that catches a leg and springs the prey up in the air on a rope. It is clear that there would be no escape from this punishment. God wanted them to learn who really has the power. At the end of verse 44 we see that this is in fact “punishment”. The King James Version translates that word as “visitation”. It means to visit, pay attention to, watch over, muster (a military term that includes the ideas of making sure the troops are all there and are prepared), inspect. We see here the idea of being checked out and that kind of test can be unpleasant, but in the end the goal is being properly prepared and ready for what is ahead. Verse 44 ends where verse 40 began, this is from Yahweh.

Finally we want to notice that this punishment seems to have some sort of time limit to it. The mention of a year is probably not literal and it could be just the idea that their time had come, but it also could be kind of specific, meaning that the day of inspection would end at some point. When a person gets to start driving a car there are a lot of rules. If you break the rules there are people out there (police, Highway Patrol) ready to pull you over and punish you with a ticket or even jail time. Sometimes they pull you over because there is something wrong with your car, a broken window or burned out tail light, and they give you a ”fix it” ticket. You usually have a certain amount of time to fix the problem. Then you take the car into the police or whoever and let them make sure that it is fixed and you usually have to pay a fine too. When I think about the lessons we have learned about God in Jeremiah I think this might be a sort of “fix it” inspection or punishment for Moab. Remember all the times God talked to the Israelites and asked them to return to him, here we might have God saying turn to me. Sodom doesn’t seem to have ever seen God coming (although all of us are accountable to God. It is obvious from our created world that there is a pure and powerful God out there (see Romans 1:19-20). And they also had Lot for whatever example he might have been), I think here we have a warning shot from God in the lives of the Moabites (after all this was a predictive message by a prophet of Yahweh to them).

In verses 45-46 there is a contrast. I’m not sure what all of the images in these verses are about. Evidently a more literal translation of forehead is that the corners of their hair/head would be burned, also the hair on the top of their heads would be burned off, quite a difference from the burning and quick complete destruction that Sodom suffered. In verse 46 we see that the Moabites had put their trust in a false god, Chemosh. The “people of Chemosh” had perished. That word can mean were destroyed, lost, or broken. Since they were taken away as captives I don’t think this means “destroyed” but they were removed from their place, there “culture” would be lost or broken.

Verse 47 seems to support the idea that the “punishment” of Moab was a warning or sort of “fix it” ticket. In that verse we find very unusual word coming from a prophet of a foreign nation, but then the words aren’t from a prophet of a foreign nation they are from a prophet or messenger of Yahweh, the one true God. The message is that one day Yahweh would restore the fortunes of Moab. This would be in the later days. That can mean sometime later but it often means at the end of this period in history. Biblically speaking we are talking about a time when God will rule over the world and universe, he will be a king among us. This would also be the time when the kingdom, with a king from the house of David, promised to the Jewish people would become a reality (Jeremiah 22:4; 33:17). We sometimes call the first part of this new age, the Millennial Kingdom because it will start with a 1000 year reign of the Messiah (chosen one, Jesus) as king before some important events and a recreation of the world. It is important to see that Yahweh is the God of all people not just the Israelites and that he want people everywhere to turn back to him. I think this verse shows us that the shame of Moab (or at least some of the Moabites) was over turning away from the one true God, Yahweh. In the later days Moabites who realized that Chemosh was not god and Yahweh is would be restored (The Bible teaches that there will be restoration of life (resurrection) in the later days).

It is so cool that God loves people everywhere. It is cool that he would take the time to sent a message to people who were worshipping a false God. It is cool that he would send a “fix it” ticket to the Moabites, a people who for centuries tried to lure the Israelites away from him. God wants to forgive no matter what you have done. There may be a consequence, a fine, the Moabites lost their culture, their civilization, but they could keep a great eternity if they would turn to the one true God, Yahweh. We can be forgiven and restored too if we will do the same.

God thank you for loving me. Thank you for sending me messages. Thank you for loving all people, every single. man, woman and child enough to die on the cross (suffer physical and spiritual separation) in our place (1 John 2:2). Help me be a messenger for you to the nations. Help me show your standards, love and forgiveness to the nations. Let me help them see you as the one true God and Jesus as the path back to you, now and for eternity.