Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Prayer Meeting Lesson Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/pm/pm20051102.htm

JEREMIAH: STAYING UPRIGHT AMIDST EVIL PRESSURES
Part XIII: Prophecies Against The Sinful Nations Around Judah
C. Prophecies Against Judah's Relatives
1. Prophecy Against Moab For Her Value Of Materialism Over Her Relatives And God
(Jeremiah 48:1-47)
  1. Introduction
    1. Christ's call in Matthew 22:37-40 for man to love God with his whole being and his neighbor as himself is uniquely applicable to man's relationship to his kinfolk.
    2. One of the relative nations of Judah, Moab, held a haughty spirit toward Judah and Judah's God as a result of her errant elevation of materialism, a sin for which she was judged with a lesson for us all (as follows):
  2. Prophecy Against Moab For Her Value Of Materialism Over Her Relatives And God, Jer. 48:1-47.
    1. The prophecy against the land of Moab in Jeremiah 48:1ff is leveled against a relative nation of Judah, for the Moabites were descendants of Lot, the nephew of the patriarch, Abraham, cf. Gen. 19:30-38; 11:27.
    2. The reasons God judged Moab are developed in this prophecy, a development we summarize as follows:
      1. The Moabites had lived safely for centuries, not being invaded by other nations, Jeremiah 48:11.
      2. Instead of honoring God for this blessing, Moab had come to view her settled life as the result of her own works, the riches attained by her efforts and her pagan god, Chemosh, Jeremiah 48:7.
      3. However, such a false trust had led Moab to magnify herself against Israel's true God, Jer. 48:26a; this exaltation was evidenced through Moab's verbal derision of the nation Israel (composed of Israel and Judah), for in deriding Israel, Moab scoffed at God Who had established Israel as a nation, Jer. 48:27.
      4. Jeremiah 48:29 thus focused on the resulting great arrogance of the people of Moab.
      5. Accordingly, in having responded to centuries of peace by coming to come to trust in her material works, treasures and false god to sustain that peace, the Moabites had exalted themselves against her relative nation, Israel and against Israel's God; in the end, the Lord would judge Moab by undoing her peaceful lifestyle and its blessings by means of a destructive enemy invasion, Jeremiah 48:42.
    3. In sharp imagery, God through Jeremiah detailed this traumatic fall of Moab for her sins (as follows):
      1. In the opening verses of Jeremiah's prophecy against the nation, Moab's material fortresses in which she had put so much trust were predicted to be destroyed, Jeremiah 48:1-3.
      2. As the painful result, the people of Moab would weep and cry for having errantly trusted in these things, a trust that had led to her errant trust in her false god, Chemosh, Jeremiah 48:4-7a,b.
      3. The entire land would be laid waste in God's judgment so that all in which the Moabites had trusted in their complacency and had thus been led to become so proud would be destroyed, Jeremiah 48:8-9.
      4. Indeed, God was so bent on destroying Moab that He put a curse on any invaders who held back their swords from administering their destruction upon the people of Moab, Jeremiah 48:10!
      5. God observed that the Moabites had become complacent in their trust in things because they had not been invaded and taken captive like other nations; like wine that had not been poured from vessel to vessel, the sediment in Moab's vessel of wine was all undisturbed at the bottom, Jeremiah 48:11. Accordingly, God would unsettle Moab's sediment and her errant reliance in her material possessions and works by an invading force that would check her pride, Jeremiah 48:12-25, 28, 30-41, 43-46.
      6. Yet, in grace, in the coming Messianic Kingdom, God would restore Moab as a nation, Jeremiah 48:47.
Lesson: For responding to the centuries of peace she enjoyed in errantly trusting in her treasures, works and false god instead of in the true God, Moab turned arrogant against her relative, Israel and God. Thus, God planned to destroy Moab's works and treasures by enemy invaders. In the end, God would graciously reestablish Moab as a nation in Christ's coming Messianic Kingdom.

Application: (1) May we not look upon "good times" we experience in pride, but realize they are a gift from God and so remain HUMBLE before our relatives and God! (2) May we accordingly humbly value our relationships with our relatives above our possessions and works [especially when it comes to issues of family inheritance or fame!]. (3) May we not seek or trust in riches or fame as our source of confidence, but trust in God as the True Giver of all such blessings, cf. 1 Timothy 6:17-19.