Jeremiah 48

The Explanation

There was a country next to Israel called Moab. Moab had hills, vineyards and strong city walls with names like Nebo, Dibon and Kerioth. And Moab had something else too: a big mouth.

Whenever the people of Israel had trouble, Moab laughed. God says it right out loud: "For as often as you speak of him, you shake your head." Picture that. Someone shaking their head at you and grinning, as if to say, look at you, loser.

Moab felt safe. God uses a strange picture for that. He says Moab is like a jar of wine that has stood still in a cellar for years and years. Nobody ever picked it up. Nobody ever poured it into another jar. It just sat there, quiet and comfortable, gathering dust. Moab thought: nothing can touch us. We have thick walls. We have treasure. We have our own god, a stone statue named Chemosh.

Then God speaks, and He is called Yahweh of Armies. And He says the jar is going to be lifted up at last, and poured out, and broken.

Now listen to what really happens in Moab. Armies come. People run out of the city gates. Up the hill of Luhith they climb, crying the whole way. And do you hear that sound in verse 4? "Her little ones have caused a cry to be heard." Children, crying. That is not a nice part of the story. It is not supposed to be nice. God tells the truth, even when the truth is heavy.

And the statue Chemosh? He cannot help anybody. He gets carried away on a cart, a god who has to be moved by someone else.

What Does This Mean?

Here is the thing that might surprise you. You would think God is standing there with His arms crossed, saying, serves you right.

He is not.

God says, "Therefore I will wail for Moab. Yes, I will cry out for all Moab." And then something even stranger: "my heart sounds for Moab like pipes." Pipes are flutes. In those days flutes were played at funerals, that low, sad, aching sound. God says: that is what My heart sounds like about Moab.

So God punishes proud Moab, and God cries over proud Moab, both at the same time. That is who He is. He hates it when people puff themselves up and shake their heads at others. And He never enjoys it when it goes wrong for them.

Why did it go wrong? Verse 42 tells you in one line: "because he has magnified himself against Yahweh." Moab made itself big and made God small. That is what pride is. Not being happy about something you did. Pride is standing up tall by pushing someone else down.

The Common Thread

Read the very last thing God says in this whole long chapter. After all the crying, all the broken walls, all the running: "Yet I will reverse the captivity of Moab in the latter days."

Moab is not Israel. Moab laughed at God's people. And God still says: one day I will bring them back.

That is the road that leads all the way to Jesus. He came for His own people, and He came for the ones outside, the ones who shook their heads. On the cross He was mocked by people shaking their heads at Him, and He prayed for them anyway. God's last word over Moab is not "broken." It is "back again."

For You

There is a small kind of Moab that can grow inside you. It sounds like this: "Ha, you missed it again!" Or a grin when someone else gets in trouble.

This week, try the opposite. When someone in your class messes up, say one kind thing instead of laughing. And if you already laughed at someone, go back and say sorry. You can do that. It only takes about eight words.

Talk About It

Why do you think God cried over Moab, even though Moab had laughed at His people?

When is it hardest for you not to laugh at someone who makes a mistake?

Praying Together

Lord God, You see everything, even the mean little laugh inside me. Thank You that You do not enjoy it when things go wrong for anybody. Help me to build people up instead of pushing them down. Amen.