“Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his lees, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither has he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remains in him, and his scent is not changed.
Parallel Translations
-
“Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his lees, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither has he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remains in him, and his scent is not changed.
-
Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed.
-
Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity; therefore his taste remaineth in him, and his scent is not changed.
Cross-references (14)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 48:11 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Zephaniah 1:12 It will happen at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are settled on their dregs, who say in their heart, “Yahweh will not do good, neither will he do evil.”
- Jeremiah 48:29 “We have heard of the pride of Moab. He is very proud in his loftiness, his pride, his arrogance, and the arrogance of his heart.
- Zechariah 1:15 I am very angry with the nations that are at ease; for I was but a little displeased, but they added to the calamity.”
- Ezekiel 16:49-50 “ ‘ “Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters. She also didn’t strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. They were arrogant, and committed abomination before me. Therefore I took them away when I saw it.
- Nahum 2:2 For Yahweh restores the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel; for the destroyers have destroyed them, and ruined their vine branches.
- Psalms 55:19 God, who is enthroned forever, will hear and answer them. They never change, who don’t fear God.
- Psalms 73:4-8 For there are no struggles in their death, but their strength is firm. They are free from burdens of men, neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride is like a chain around their neck. Violence covers them like a garment. Their eyes bulge with fat. Their minds pass the limits of conceit. They scoff and speak with malice. In arrogance, they threaten oppression.
- Psalms 123:4 Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scoffing of those who are at ease, with the contempt of the proud.
- Isaiah 16:6 We have heard of the pride of Moab, that he is very proud; even of his arrogance, his pride, and his wrath. His boastings are nothing.
- Isaiah 24:3 The earth will be utterly emptied and utterly laid waste; for Yahweh has spoken this word.
- Proverbs 1:32 For the backsliding of the simple will kill them. The careless ease of fools will destroy them.
- Isaiah 25:6 In this mountain, Yahweh of Armies will make all peoples a feast of choice meat, a feast of choice wines, of choice meat full of marrow, of well refined choice wines.
- Jeremiah 51:34 “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me. He has crushed me. He has made me an empty vessel. He has, like a monster, swallowed me up. He has filled his mouth with my delicacies. He has cast me out.
- Nahum 2:10 She is empty, void, and waste. The heart melts, the knees knock together, their bodies and faces have grown pale.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (18 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain Here he expresses more clearly what we have before…
Here he expresses more clearly what we have before seen, that Moab in vain promised to himself perpetual impunity, because he had for a long time been prosperous. Then the Prophet says that he would be suddenly destroyed, when God ascended his tribunal to execute his judgment.
He first says, that he had been quiet from his childhood, because when the Israelites had been often harassed, that nation remained untouched, and never felt any disadvantage, as though fortified on all sides by their own defences; for they dwelt in part amidst mountains, but had a level country, as it is well known, beyond Jordan. It was a land in a moderate degree fertile, so that as they enjoyed continual peace, they collected great wealth. But it was very hard for the Israelites, when God afflicted them with various calamities, to see the Moabites secure and safe from all trouble and all losses. As, then, this thought might have grievously wounded the minds of the faithful, the Prophet here exhorts them not to envy the happiness of the Moabites, because God would at length stretch forth his hand against them, according to what was done by David, who also exhorted the faithful patiently to wait for the day of the Lord, when they saw the ungodly enjoying all kinds of pleasure, and meeting with success according to their wishes. (Psalm 37:1, 7, 8.) We now then understand the object of the Prophet.
Read full note →
He compares Moab to an old man, who had passed his whole life in security, without any losses, without any grief or sorrow. Quiet, then, has Moab been, or quiet from his childhood, even from the time he became a nation. For what was the childhood of Moab? even from the time they expelled the giants and other inhabitants and dwelt in their land. Then success ever attended them; and hence he says, that they settled on their dregs, so that they underwent no change. Here is another metaphor: as wine which remains in its own vessel, and is never changed into another, retains its taste, its strength, and its savor; so also the Prophet says that Moab had always been in the enjoyment of perpetual felicity, like wine which remains on its own dregs. For the dregs preserve the wine, as it is well known; for the wine, being taken off from its dregs, loses in part its own strength, and at length becomes vapid; but wine, being not changed, continues in its own strength.
We hence see how apt is the comparison, when the Prophet says, that Moab had not been changed from vessel to vessel, but had settled on his dregs And he explains himself without a figure when he adds, that he had not gone, or removed, into captivity He yet intimates that this perpetual peace would avail the Moabites nothing, because as the Lord had resolved to destroy them, he would cause the strength of Moab to fail and all his wealth to be reduced to nothing.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Hath not been removed as the Jews have, but…
Hath not been removed as the Jews have, but have lived at ease, and as a wine that feedeth itself on his lees.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 48:11 Moab hath been at ease from his…
Jer 48:11 Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed.
Ver. 11. Moab hath been at ease from his youth.] And his ease hath destroyed him. {as Pro 1:32} He dwelleth near the mare mortuum, and is become a very mare mortuum, i.e., a dead sea. Because he hath had no changes, therefore he feareth not God. {Psa 55:19} Sibi constat in facultatibus, &c., he is rich and testy. Here is good booty for the soldiers, who should therefore bestir them.
Read full note →
And he hath settled on his lees.] As having never been turned out of his country, which may well be called his mother, as the lees are called the mother of wine. But now his time is come to be transvasated, to be emptied from vessel to vessel, to be carried captive.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Moab hath been at ease from his youth; the…
Moab hath been at ease from his youth; the Moabites ever since they began to be a people have been a quiet people, not exercised with wars, and enemies making inroads upon them.
He hath settled on his lees; like to a cask of wine, that hath not been racked, but hath continued in the same state.
Read full note →
And hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel; he follows the metaphor of wine, which is drawn out from vessel to vessel, when it is drawn off the lees. It is expounded by the next words,
neither hath he gone into captivity. And this is the reason why they retain their old sins, pride, presumption, luxury, and old wickednesses, as wine while it remaineth in the lees retains more its nature, strength, and colour than when it is once racked.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Moab hath been at ease from his youth,.... Lived…
Moab hath been at ease from his youth,.... Lived in great peace and prosperity from the time they became a kingdom; being very little disturbed with wars by their neighbours, or very rarely; so that they were in very prosperous and flourishing circumstances, which occasioned that pride and haughtiness they were notorious for. This is an emblem of unregenerate men; who, though sinners from their birth, and liable to the curse of the law, subject to the stroke of death, and must come to judgment; yet stupid and quite at ease, having no sight of sin, nor feeling of the burden of its guilt, nor grief or trouble for it; no sense of danger, or fear of hell; but in the utmost security: all which arise from ignorance, hardness of heart, profaneness, and infidelity; thoughtlessness about their immortal souls; putting the evil day far from them; and being under the influence of Satan, who keeps his goods in peace:
and he hath settled on his lees; a metaphor taken from wine; which, the longer it remains on the lees, the better body it has, and the richer and stronger it is; and denotes the great tranquillity of the Moabites; the riches they were possessed of, and in which they trusted. The Targum renders it,
Read full note →
"quiet in their substance;''
herein they were an emblem of unconverted sinners, who are settled and hardened in the corruptions of their nature; and not at all disturbed at the evil of sin; the wrath of God; his judgments on men; the last and awful judgment; or at the terrors of hell; and likewise of such who trust in their own righteousness, and depend upon that for salvation:
and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel; like wine that has never been racked off from the vessel or vessels it was first put into: they were never removed from place to place, but always continued in their land; in which they were an emblem of such who have never seen their own emptiness, and their want of the grace of God, and have never been emptied of sin, nor of self-righteousness:
neither hath he gone into captivity; this explains in proper words the metaphor in the preceding clause: the Moabites had never been carried captive out of their own land into others; an emblem of such who have never seen their captive state to sin and Satan; or ever brought to complain of it, or become the captives of Christ;
therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed; his wealth, riches, and prosperity, continued without any change and alteration; and also his sins and vices, idolatry, pride, luxury, and which were the cause of his ruin; and for that reason are here mentioned; an emblem of unregenerate men, whose taste is vitiated by sin, and continues as it was originally; they relish sin, and disrelish everything that is good; and savour the things that be of man, and not the things of God; and so are in a most dangerous condition.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain At ease - The Moabites ever since they began…
At ease - The Moabites ever since they began to be a people, have been a quiet people. Settled - Like a cask of wine, that has not been racked but has continued in the same state. Not emptied - A metaphor of wine which is drawn out from vessel to vessel, when it is drawn off the lees. It is expounded by the next words. Therefore - And this is the reason why they retain their old sins, pride, presumption, and luxury.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 11. Moab hath been at ease] The metaphor…
Verse 11. Moab hath been at ease] The metaphor here is taken from the mode of preserving wines. They let them rest upon their lees for a considerable time, as this improves them both in strength and flavour; and when this is sufficiently done, they rack, or pour them off into other vessels. Moab had been very little molested by war since he was a nation; he had never gone out of his own land. Though some had been carried away by Shalmaneser forty years before this, he has had neither wars nor captivity.
Therefore his taste remained in him] Still carrying on the allusion to the curing of wines; by resting long upon the lees, the taste and smell are both improved. See Clarke on Isa 25:6.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Jer 48:11-12. Moab hath been at ease — Or,…
Jer 48:11-12. Moab hath been at ease — Or, hath been opulent, as the Chaldee renders שׁאנן, from his youth — Moab was an ancient kingdom, and had enjoyed great tranquillity, though a small country and surrounded with potent neighbours. It had now been in a state of peace and prosperity since the time of Shalmaneser, having experienced no particular calamity since the judgment foretold by Isaiah, and inflicted by that prince; so that there were forty years between that affliction and this here spoken of. The comparison between the state of the Moabites and that of wine is elegant, and is kept up with great propriety. All wines, it is said, ought to be kept for some time upon their lees, in order to preserve their strength and flavour; on which account the lees are expressed by a word that signifies the preservers. Wine is apt to be damaged by being drawn off too soon into other vessels. By this allegory, therefore, Moab is represented as having enjoyed singular advantages from having constantly remained in his own country ever since he became a people. And the prophet’s words imply, that the Moabites had increased in pride and insolence in proportion to the duration of their national tranquillity and prosperity. Behold, saith the Lord, I will send unto him wanderers — The Chaldean soldiers, that come out of a foreign country. These shall make a prey of him, and carry off as much of his wealth as they can, and spoil the rest. Blaney thinks the allegory begun in the preceding verse, is here continued and accordingly renders וצעים, tilters, observing, that the Chaldeans, who are here designed, “should lower the vessels of Moab, namely, the cities, and empty them; and also break to pieces their bottles or pitchers, that is, destroy the lesser towns and villages, dependant on the cities; to which the bottles, or pitchers, answer, being filled with the redundancy of the larger vessels.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Moab from the time it conquered the Emims Deu…
Moab from the time it conquered the Emims Deu 2:9-10, and so became a nation, had retained quiet possession of its land, and enjoyed comparative prosperity. From the Moabite Stone we gather that King Mesha, after the death of Ahab threw off the yoke of Israel; nor except for a short time under Jeroboam II was Israel able to bring the Moabites back into subjection. They gradually drove the Reubenites back, and recovered most of the territory taken from the Amorites by Moses, and which originally had belonged to them.
He hath settled on his lees - Good wine was thought to be the better for being left to stand upon its sediment Isa 25:6, and in all cases its flavor was rendered thereby stronger (marginal reference). “By being emptied from vessel to vessel” it became vapid and tasteless. So a nation by going into captivity is rendered tame and feeble. By his taste is meant the flavor of the wine, and so Moab’s national character.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Fruitful as a vine. --- Lees. The wine has…
Fruitful as a vine. --- Lees. The wine has not been disturbed. It was customary to keep it first in pits, (Mark xii. 1., and Isaias v. 1.) and afterwards in large earthen vessels. Vina bibes Tauro diffusa: "Thou shalt drink wine bottled off in the consulship of Taurus." (Horace i. ep. 5.) --- If the wine was weak, the vessels were put under ground. (Pliny, [Natural History?] xiv. 21.) --- The better sort was arranged in order, (ver. 12.) in some clean apartment, Canticle of Canticles ii. 4. (Homer, Odyssey B. 237.) --- Changed. He alludes to the wine. (Haydock) --- Moab has enjoyed a long peace and prosperity. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain settled on . . . lees--(See on Isa 25:6;…
settled on . . . lees--(See on Isa 25:6; Zep 1:12). As wine left to settle on its own lees retains its flavor and strength (which it would lose by being poured from one vessel into another), so Moab, owing to its never having been dislodged from its settlements, retains its pride of strength unimpaired.
emptied from vessel, &c.--To make it fit for use, it used to be filtered from vessel to vessel.
Read full note →
scent--retaining the image: the bouquet or perfume of the wine.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 11. The reason for these judgments is here given.…
11. The reason for these judgments is here given. Moab had remained at ease, and in the enjoyment of a prosperity which had vitiated her life. Hence she is compared to wine which has remained long on the lees — a process which improves good wine, but makes poor wine more harsh and thick. The teaching of the figure is, that if a people retain undisturbed possession of their country for a long time their characteristic national qualities will have a high development, but if they be emptied from vessel to vessel, the process may indeed purify them, but may also render them light, weak, and insipid. What is true of national life is true also of individual life; and what is true of life in its lowest conditions applies also to life in its highest aspects. (See, on this last, the most ingenious and admirable sermon of Dr. Horace Bushnell on The Necessity of Spiritual Dislodgments.)
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 11. Moab hath been at ease from his youth]…
11. Moab hath been at ease from his youth] He hath not been driven from his land hitherto. The feeling of horror at suffering expatriation, as compared with the consequences of a more ordinary defeat in battle such as the nation had often suffered in past time, is well exhibited by these verses.
settled on his lees] Wine improved by being allowed to rest upon its sediment (Isa_25:6; but contrast the use of the figure in Zep_1:12). Its “taste” and “scent” were unimpaired. If emptied from vessel to vessel it would become vapid, without fragrance and tasteless. Something like this was now to happen to the nation by being taken captives.
Read full note →
11–19. See introd. summary to the ch.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (11) He hath settled on his lees.—The image, found…
(11) He hath settled on his lees.—The image, found also in Zep_1:12, is drawn from the practice of pouring wine from one vessel into another to clarify it and improve its flavour. Wine not so treated retained its first crude bitterness. So, the prophet says, it is with nations. It is not good for them to remain too long in a prosperity which does but strengthen their natural arrogance. There is a wholesome discipline in defeat, even in exile. In Jer_48:47 we have the hope of the prophet that the discipline will do its work. The “vessels” and “bottles” of Jer_48:12 are, of course, the cities and villages of Moab. (Comp. the imagery of Jer_19:10.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Moab hath been at ease from his youth. The…
Moab hath been at ease from his youth. The "youth" of Moab dates from its subjugation of the aboriginal Emim (Deu_2:10) Since that event, though often at war, sometimes tributary and sometimes expelled from a part of the territory claimed by them (see the inscription on the Moabite Stone), yet they had never been disturbed in their ancestral homes to the south of the river Amen. He hath settled on his less. It was the custom to leave wine for a time on its lees or sediment, in order to heighten its strength and flavour. (comp. Isa_25:6)
Emptied from vessel to vessel. Thevenot, an old traveller in Persia, remarks of the Shiraz wine that, after it is separated from the lees, it is apt to grow sour. "The wine is put into large earthen jars, each holding from ten or twelve to fourteen carabas; but when a jar has been opened, it must be emptied as soon as possible, and the wine put into bottles or carabas, otherwise it spoils and becomes sour". ("Voyages," 2:245, quoted by Lowth Isa_25:6) In the application of the figure, the "taste" of Moabmeans obviously the national character.
Read full note →
"Wine on the lees.
This is a figure of a people left for ages in a condition of ease. They are like wine settled on its lees, unchanged and unpurified.
I IT IS BAD FOE A PEOPLE TO REMAIN LONG IN A CONDITION OF EASE.
1. Evil is not purged out. The wine is still on its lees. In times of quiet we settle down contented with ourselves as well as with our surrounding. We say Why disturb the air with cries for change while all is still and calm and dreamy as a summer noon? The old ruin stands unshaken in the fair weather. But presently the tempest rises, the wind howls, and the broken walls tremble to their foundations. Then we see that repairs must be executed or a new building erected.
2. Progress in good is stayed. Wine should improve with keeping. But of this wine it is said, "His taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed." Progress needs the stimulus of conflict. Trouble promotes reflection and urges to improved action in the future. "Woe unto you when all men shall speak welt of you!". (Luk_6:26)
3. Corruption and decay are induced. Ease means stagnation, and stagnation decomposition. If the vital functions are arrested, the body will not remain like a marble statue. Very soon other actions are set up, and the quiet of death gives place to a horrible scene of rapid corruption. The stagnant soul becomes the dead soul, and this a mass of moral rottenness.
II THE EVILS OF A CONDITION OF EASE BELONG TO ALL CLASSES OF LIFE.
1. The nation. Moab had lived for ages amongst her hills and fertile fields beyond the surging tide of the world"s restless changes which swept along the western side of the Jordan between Egypt and the northern nations. She was not the better for this isolation. Wars, invasions, revolutions, turn out to be ultimately serviceable to the cause of human progress.
2. The Church. The Middle Ages, when the Church was all-powerful and at ease, were the dark ages of Christendom. The disturbance of the Reformation was a new birth to the Church, in the good of which even the Roman Catholics shared by the stimulus it brought to zeal and the check it put on the paganizing spirit prevalent in Italy in the fifteenth century.
3. The individual Christian. In times of ease we tend to become worldly, and our devotion cools. Trouble drives us to prayer and wakens the deeper instincts of the soul. (Heb_12:11)
HOMILIES BY A.F. MUIR Vers. 11-13. The ease of Moab.
A figure: wine casks long undisturbed, whose contents improve and mellow in their taste, at length tilted by the coopers so that the wine is spilled.
I WORLDLY PROSPERITY IS OFTEN VERY GREAT AND UNINTERRUPTED.
1. Frequently remarked. Heathen nations, whose very backwardness and barbarism have isolated them from the disturbing stream of the world"s life; and empires that seem to be based upon irreligion and wrong, and that are nevertheless in the van of civilization. The men who make the colossal fortunes of modern times are not, as a rule, distinguished for their religious virtues. Sins that immediately destroy some are committed with impunity by others. Many of the most ancient and lucrative vested interests of the world are owned by persons without moral character, and are prostituted to the basest purposes.
2. The moral perplexity of this. When wealth and influence almost phenomenally great are thus acquired and used, they cannot fail to trouble the minds of good men. The difficulties of a moral and religious life are so great that such a spectacle tempts and saddens. Israel had been afflicted from her youth, (Psa_129:1-3) whilst Moab was at ease. David was envious when he saw the prosperity of the wicked. (Psa_73:3)
II SINNERS ARE THEREBY CONFIRMED IN THEIR EVIL HABITS AND BELIEFS. The material wealth and secular position of Moab were doubtless greatly advanced by this long security, and a kind of prestige attached to him amongst neighbouring nations. His customs gradually acquired a fixed and immovable authority. The national character, with all its inherent vices, developed a strong individuality: "His taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed." One trait of this character, for which Moab was notorious and intolerable, was his pride (ver. 29). His attachment to idolatry was also intense; his inhabitants were the "people of Chemosh" (ver. 46). To add to the cup of his transgression, he "magnified himself against the Lord" (ver. 42). All this is in strict analogy with what may be observed anywhere under similar circumstances. National pride grows with impunity and conquest; and prejudice strengthens itself in the apparent success of its policy of life and the blessing that seems to attach to its religious observances. Israel was a derision to Moab (ver. 27).
III BUT THEIR POSITION IS INSECURE, AND DESTRUCTION, THOUGH DELAYED, WILL BE THE MORE CERTAIN AND COMPLETE. The uncertainty of worldly prosperity is represented frequently and under many figures in Holy Writ. It is "that which moth and rust corrupt, and thieves steal;" it "takes to itself wings and flies away;" the whole life of which it is the material embodiment, is "even as a vapour, which appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away". (Jam_4:14) Here the metaphor is that of a tilted vessel. There will come a day when the cup of a nation"s or individual s iniquity will be full; then will they be as Sodom and Gomorrah, whose cry was great and their sin very grievous. (Gen_19:20) It is just this confidence, born of long impunity, that becomes intolerable to God and provokes his wrath. The rich fool. M. (Luk_12:16-21)
Much ease, much peril.
"There is a reference here to wine, or to the process by which it is prepared and finished. It is first expressed from the grape, when it is a thick discoloured fluid or juice. It is then fermented, passing through a process that separates the impurities and settles them as lees at the bottom. Standing thus upon its lees or dregs in some large tub or vat, it is not further improved. A gross and coarse flavour remains, and the scent of the feculent matter stays by and becomes fastened, as it were, in the body of the wine itself. To separate this and so to soften or refine the quality, it is now decantered or drawn off into separate jars or skins. After a while this is done again and then again; and so, being emptied from vessel to vessel, the last remains of the lees or sediment are finally cleared, the crude flavours are reduced, the scent itself is refined by ventilation, and the perfect character is attained." Now, the prophet affirms here that Moab had been at ease from his youth. It is difficult in the face of the somewhat checkered history of Moab to see the exact meaning of this. Probably he refers to the long lapse of time since their great and awful defeat told of in 2Ki_3:21. Some two centuries and a half had rolled away since that dread day, and in that interval Moab regained all, and more than all, of its former prosperity. For the land was beautiful and rich in the extreme. Its pastures were covered over with sheep and its valleys with corn. The very name "Moab" is thought to mean the land of desire, that is, the desirable land. Now, during these long periods, the description here given is applicable. They had enjoyed much ease, and the natural evils engendered by their cruel idolatrous system had become more fixed and settled; "their scent had not changed." The truth, therefore, which is here taught is that prolonged and abundant ease, however coveted by men, is full of peril to their higher nature, and tends continually to the deterioration of character and the hardening of the habit of evil. Now, we note that
I GOD IS EVER TEACHING US THIS TRUTH.
1. In his Word. Cf. Psa_55:19, "Because they have no changes," etc. Cf. also Hebrews 12, where the writer urges the acceptance of the Divine chastisements on the ground that no child of God is without them. "For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?" And as we go over the roll of names of patriarchs, prophets, apostles, saints, and above all the Son of God not one was without chastisement. Of Christ it is said, "The chastisement of our peace was upon him". (Isa 53) And so in the history of the chosen people. How they were moved from vessel to vessel! What changes and adversities, what agitation and tossing about by wars, rebellions, invasions, captivities, etc., they had to endure! And so of the history of the Church! What a checkered and often tumultuous and much tried career was allotted to her! All these illustrations from God"s Word, showing the determination of God that his people should not suffer the peril of overmuch ease and become as Moab, and as they who because they have no changes, therefore, etc.
2. By analogy. God suffers nothing to be without change. Even the rocks and hills, the solid globe, all have experienced, and do and will experience, change. The seasons alternate in their orderly change. Storm and tempest cleanse the air which, as in the Swiss valleys, would otherwise become stagnant. The great sea one prophet describes as "the troubled sea," because it can never be quiet. And yet more is this refusal of ease and quiet, this law of change, seen in all forms of life.
(1) In vegetable life. "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die," etc. And it springs up, "First the blade, then the ear, then," etc. All the varied and ever acting processes of change in the whole plant world are in proof.
(2) In animal life. Change is ever proceeding there. Even when we are asleep the work still goes on. For it to be otherwise is dissolution and death.
(3) In mental life. Not to have that aroused, stirred by the study of fresh truth and the readjustment of old, would be to condemn to feebleness and semi-idiocy.
(4) In social life. "The old order changeth, giving place to new .... Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.
(5) In ecclesiastical life. What was the Reformation but the tempest storm that rushed through the valleys of the Church life of that day, where the air had become stagnant and so corrupt and poisonous that men could not breathe it and live? But the wild storm came and the air was made pure, not in the reformed lands alone, though there chiefly, but in those also that cling to the old faith. Such corruption and abominableness as characterized the ante-Reformation Church were not again possible.
(6) In political life. Where that is healthy, overmuch ease is not possible. It has not been so with us. It has in the empires of the East, China, etc., and see the result.
(7) In moral life. Virtue must be tried, there must be conflict and struggle if it is to continue and grow more truly itself. Hence, as in all other forms of life, we should conclude that the moral law would hold good in the spiritual life. And that this is so we learn also:
3. By experience. We do not glide into heaven. We are not translated, whilst in a trance, out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God. But the often severe spiritual conflicts of repentance and confession and striving against sin. "Yea, we must fight if we would win." And God"s providence without us as well as his Spirit within is ever forbidding our being at ease continually. Sorrows and losses, temptations and trials, changes and adversities, they are ever "moving us from vessel to vessel." God forces on us "changes," lest we fear not his Name.
II BUT WHY IS ALL THIS? Because in our nature there are rooted evils which can only be got rid of by the action of this law of change. Such evils are:
1. Self-will. You have seen a mountain stream come brawling along over its stony bed. But on it goes, heeding not until, right in mid-stream, there is a huge rock. Down comes the stream full tilt against it, as if it were saying, "Just you get out of my way." But that is precisely the thing the rock does not do, and so the stream comes right against it. And then what a fuss, and a froth, and a foam there arises! but the rook does not move, and after a moment you will see the stream gliding softly, smoothly, quietly round the rock, and going more gently on its way. That is one of the ten thousand natural parables with which the world is full. That stream of our self-will, determined to go its own way, rushes on its course. The rock of God"s law of change and adversity and trial stands in its way and will not move, and the stream of self-will is broken against it, as God intended it should be. Only by this law can this evil be cured.
2. Pride. Trial forces men to call on God.
3. Unbelief. This law of trouble and change shatters the materialism and atheism of the present day. They break down, and the soul in the day of its trouble calls upon God.
4. Selfishness. Ease fosters this, as it fosters all those other evils named. But trial, adversity, teach men to be "touched with the feeling" of their brethren"s infirmities.
5. Love of the world; and
6. Indolence. These which ease fosters, God"s law of change does much to cure.
III HOW, THEN, SHOULD WE BEAR OURSELVES TOWARDS THIS LAW OF CHASTENING CHANGE? Cf. Heb 12, which teaches:
1. That we do not despise it. By denying it, or by defying it. Some do this and persevere in the sins which it was designed to amend.
2. That we do not "faint" under it. We are not to give up in despair, letting the hands hang down and the knees totter and become feeble. But we are to take this law as a spur and lash and ask, "Wherefore dost thou contend with me?" and see to it that we amend. But:
3. Submit ourselves unto God. "Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father," etc.? Let his will be ours; let his way our way. "He always wins who sides with thee; No chance by him is lost; Thy will is sweetest to him when It triumphs at his cost. (Faber.)
Then let us welcome whatever God sends, trying though it be, remembering the peril of ease and the sure profit of trial. C.
Vers. 11, 12. Moab settled, on the lees.
Here we find a not uncommon difficulty in the Old Testament, namely, that of an illustration which to us is by no means so clear as the thing to be illustrated. The words are spoken with regard to a wine country. This will be seen on looking at the references in vers. 32, 33 to the wine of Sibmah, the spoiled vintage, the wine that has failed from the wine presses, the silence where once was shouting of those who trod the grapes. An illustration drawn from the process of making wine perfect was, therefore, most appropriate. It would be understood and convey its lesson at once to those of the right disposition. We, however, must go to the underlying truth at once, without pretending to see the propriety of the illustration in all its parts. Moreover, we must look on Moab itself as representative of individuals. We have to look at individuals, at the possibilities of their life, at the experiences they ought to pass through, and the results which come from missing those experiences.
I THE POSSIBILITIES OF LIFE. "Moab hath settled on his lees." Moab is, therefore, compared to wine. There are sour grapes with which nothing can be done; but there are also grapes of splendid natural quality, that have had the best culture of the vineyard and have come to all due ripeness. That which is to become perfect wine starts from a fruit of which much is expected. The wine producer knows that his wine will be according to his grapes. Now, from Moab much was expected; this truth being involved in the very comparison to wine. There was something that had in it the making of an exquisite taste and an exquisite scent.
II HOW THE POSSIBILITIES ARE MISSED. There is the chance of ease, enjoyment, and self-indulgence, and this chance is ignobly accepted. Of some men the character is tried by difficulties and repeated discouragements; the strength and worth that lie deep in them are manifested by their perseverance. Other men are tried by the absence of difficulties. They are born to a competency. As children they have whatever money can provide for in the way of instruction and pleasure. Everything external to them is made as easy as it can be made. Many voices, near to them every day and all day long, say, "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years: take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry." Everything depends on the way the young man, placed in such circumstances, looks.
III THE RESULT OF NEGLECTED DISCIPLINE. Possessions give opportunities of service, opportunities denied to many, who see the needs of others, have the will to meet them, and lack the power. Is it not a righteous thing that God should deal severely with those whose circumstances give them the means and the time for doing great good, and yet who fill their lives with selfish pleasure? Such lives will come out at last in pitiable contrast with what they might have been. To change the figure: "If the salt have lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? henceforth it is good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men." Note how the vessels that should have been used toward the perfection of the wine, and the bottles that should have held them, become at last useless. If we will not use our opportunities for God"s purpose, God will secure, in due time, that we should not use them for our own. Y.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Moab hath been at ease from him youth, and…
Jer_48:11-12
Moab hath been at ease from him youth, and he hath settled on his lees.
Read full note →
The shrill trumpet of admonition
For a considerable season the country of Moab had been free from the inroads of war and the terrors of pestilence. The nation had, therefore, become so conceitedly secure, that the lord said, We have heard the pride of Moab (he is exceeding proud), his loftiness, and his arrogancy, and his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart. The people became vain, hectoring, and boastful, and mocked at their afflicted neighbours the Israelites, manifesting ungenerous joy in their sorrows. For was not Israel a derision unto thee? was he found among thieves? for since thou spakest of him, thou skippedst for joy. From this pride sprang luxury and all those other vices which find a convenient lair in the repose of unbroken prosperity. The warriors of Moab said, We are mighty and strong men for the war; as vainglorious sinners, they defied all law and power; trusting in Chemosh, they despised Jehovah, and magnified themselves against the Lord. The prophet compares that country to wine which has been allowed to stand unstirred and unmoved: it settles on its lees, grows strong, retains its aroma, and gathers daffy fresh body and spirit. But, saith he, the day shall come when God shall shake this undisturbed liquor, when He shall send wandering bands of Chaldeans that shall waste the country, so that the bottles shall be broken and the vessels shall be emptied, and the proud prosperity of Moab shall end in utter desolation. The fact that continued prosperity breeds carnal security, is not only proved by the instance of Moab, but is lamentably confirmed in the history of others.
I. I shall first speak to the unconverted, the godless, the prayerless, the Christless.
1. The bold offenders who are at ease in open sin. They began life with iniquity, and they have made terrible progress in it. They go from iniquity to iniquity, as the vulture from carcass to carcass; they labour in the way of evil, as men dig for hid treasure; And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the Most High? And if He doth know, say they, what care we? Who is Jehovah, that we should obey Him? Who is the Almighty, that we should tremble at His word? Yet, Oh, ye haughty ones, take heed, for Pharaoh, who was your prototype in the olden days, found the way of pride to be hard at the end.
2. A far more common form of that carelessness which is so destructive, is that of men who give themselves wholly up to the worlds business. Such men, for instance, as one whom Christ called Fool. Gain is the worlds summum bonum, the chief of all mortal good, the main chance, the prime object, the barometer of success in life, the one thing needful, the hearts delight. And yet, Oh, worldlings, who succeed in getting gain, and are esteemed to be shrewd and prudent, Jesus Christ calls you fools, and He is no thrower about of hard terms where they are not deserved. Thou fool, said He, and why! Because the mans soul would be required of him; and then whose would those things be which he had gathered together?
3. A third case is more common still, the man who forgets God and lives in slothful ease. It is not enough to abstain from outward sin, and so to be negatively moral; unless you bring forth fruits unto righteousness, you have not the life of God in you; and however much you may be at ease, there shall come a rough awakening to your slumbers, and the shrill sound of the archangels trumpet shall be to you no other than the blast of the trumpet of condemnation, because ye took your ease when ye should have served your God.
4. There are many in the professing Christian Church Who are in me same state as Moab. They have the virgins lamp, but they have no oil in the vessel with their lamps; and yet so comfortable are these professors, that they slumber and sleep. Remember, you may think yourself a believer, and everybody else may think so too, and you may fail to find out your error until it is too late to rectify it; you may persevere for years in the way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Be ye not, Oh, ye professors, like Moab, that had settled upon his lees!
5. Equally true is this of the mass of moral men who are destitute of faith in Jesus. I have no doubt but what it will be all right with me at last. I pay my neighbours their own; I give a guinea to a hospital, when they ask me for it; I am a first-rate tradesman. Of course, I have sown a few wild oats, and I still indulge a little; but who does not? Who dares deny that I am a good-hearted fellow? Do you envy him? You may sooner envy the dead in their graves because they suffer no pain.
II. We speak to the believer. A Christian man finds himself for a long time without any remarkable trouble: his children are spared to him, his home is happy, his business extremely prosperous--he has, in fact, all that heart can wish; when he looks round about him he can say with David, The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage. Now, the danger is that he should think too highly of these secondary things, and should say to himself, My mountain standeth firm, I shall never be moved. He has not been poured from vessel to vessel; he has not been sternly tried by Providence, or sorely tempted by the devil; he has not been led to question his own conversion, he has fallen into a profound calm, a deep dead peace, a horrible lethargy, and his inmost heart has lost all spiritual energy. The great disease of England is consumption, but I suppose it would be difficult to describe the causes and workings of consumption and decline. The same kind of disease is common among Christians. It is not that many Christians fall into outward sin, and so on, but throughout our Churches we have scores who are in a spiritual consumption--their powers are all feeble and decaying. The rapid results of this consumption are just these: a man in such a state soon gives up communion with God; it is not quite gone at first, but it is suspended. His walk with God is broken and occasional. His prayers very soon suffer. By degrees, his conversation is not what it used to be. He was once very earnest for Christ, and would introduce religious topics in all companies. He has become discreet now, and holds his tongue. He is quite ready to gossip about the price of wheat, and how the markets are, and the state of politics, and whether you have been to see the Sultan; but he has no words for Jesus Christ, the King in His beauty. Spiritual topics have departed from his general conversation. And now, strange to say, the minister does not preach as he used to do: at least, the back-slider says so. The reason why I think he is mistaken, is, that the Word of God itself is not so sweet to him as it once was; and surely the Bible cannot have altered! After a while the professor slackens a good deal in his liberality; he does not think the cause of God is worth the expense that he used to spend upon it; and as to his own personal efforts to win souls, he does not give up his Sunday-school class, nor his street preaching, nor distributing of tracts, perhaps, but he does all mechanically, it is a mere routine. He might just as well be an automaton, and be wound up, only the fault is, that he is not wound up, and he does not do his work as he should do; or, if he does it outwardly, there is none of the life of God in what he does. Very much of this sluggishness is brought on by long-continued respite from trouble. It were better to be in perpetual storms, and to be driven to-and-fro in the whirlwind, and to cling to God, than to founder at sea in the most peaceful and halcyon days. The great secret danger coming out of all this is, that when a man reaches the state of carnal security, he is ready for any evil. We have heard of two negroes who were accustomed to go into the bush to pray, and each of them had trodden a little path in the grass. Presently one of them grew cold, and was soon found in open sin; his black brother warned him that he knew it would come to that, because the grass grew on the path that led to the place of prayer. Ah! we do not know to what we may descend when we begin to go down hill; down, down, down, is easy and pleasant to the flesh, but if we knew where it would end, we should pray God that we might sooner die than live to plunge into the terrors of that descent. I must pass on to observe Gods cure for this malady. His usual way is by pouring our settled wine from vessel to vessel. If we cannot bear prosperity, the Lord will not continue it to us. We may pamper our children and spoil them; but the Divine Father will not. Staying for a while in the valley of Aosta, in Northern Italy, we found the air to be heavy, close, and humid with pestilential exhalations. We were oppressed and feverish--ones life did not seem worth a pin. We could not breathe freely, our lungs had a sense of having a hundred atmospheres piled upon them. Presently, at midday, there came a thunder-clap, attended by big drops of rain and a stiff gale of wind, which grew into a perfect tornado, tearing down the trees; then followed what the poet calls sonorous hail, and then again the lightning flash, and the thunder peal on peal echoing along the Alps. But how delightful was the effect, how we all went out upon the verandah to look at the lightning, and enjoy the music of the thunder! How cool the air and bracing! How delightful to walk out in the cool evening after the storm! Then you could breathe and feel a joy in life. Full often it is thus with the Christian after trouble. What ought we to do if we are prospering? We should remember that prevention is better than cure, and if God is prospering us, the way to prevent lethargy is--be very grateful for the prosperity which you are enjoying; do not pray for trouble--you will have it quickly enough without asking for it; be grateful for your prosperity, but make use of it. Do all you possibly can for God while He prospers you in business; try to live very close to Him. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Ease injurious to Christian character
I have somewhere read the following incident in the life of a distinguished botanist. Being exiled from his native land, he obtained employment as an under-gardener in the service of a nobleman. While he was in this situation, his master received a valuable plant, the nature and habits of which were unknown to him. It was given to the gardener to be taken care of; and he, fancying it to be a tropical production, put it into the hothouse (for it was winter), and dealt with it as with the others under the glass. But it began to wither away and decay. And the strange under-gardener asked permission to examine it. As soon as he looked at it he said, This is an Arctic plant; you are killing it by the tropical heat into which you have introduced it. So he took it outside, and exposed it to the frost, and, to the dismay of the head-gardener, heaped pieces of ice around the flower-pot; but the result vindicated his wisdom, for straightway it began to recover, and was soon as strong as ever. Now, such a plant is Christian character. It is not difficulty that is dangerous to it, but ease. Put it into a hothouse, separate it from the world, surround it with luxury, hedge it in from every opposition, and you take the surest means of killing it. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
Emptied from vessel to vessel.
The blessing of disturbance
The illustration is taken from the manner in which wine is prepared. The juice of the grape, at first thick and impure, is allowed to ferment. Then it is left for a time undisturbed, until a sediment, here called lees, is precipitated. After that it is drawn off into another vessel so carefully that all the matter so precipitated is left behind, and this emptying of it from vessel to vessel is repeated again and again, until the offensive odour that came at first from the must is gone, and it becomes clear and beautiful. Now, by the analogy of this process, familiar even to the common people of a vine-growing country, the prophet accounts for the character and condition of Moab as a nation. In the providence of God nothing had come to unsettle that people. No external enemy had attacked them. No great national disaster had ever fallen on them. We have here explained to us the reason why we are, as we phrase it, so frequently upset in life. We complain that we are never allowed to become settled. Ever, as we think we have reached some place of rest, there comes a new upheaval to shake us up and out, so that we cry, Is there to be no end of these changes? As well talk of a ship as settled in the midst of the ever-restless, ever-changeful ocean, as talk of a man being settled in life. But, in the light of this verse, such repeated disturbance is recognised as a blessing.
I. What there is in these emptyings that fits them to promote our spiritual advancement.
1. Such dispensations have in them an influence which is well calculated to reveal us to ourselves. Sudden emergency is a sure opener of a mans eyes to his own defects. He may contrive to get on, in seasons of prosperity and outward calm, without becoming conscious of the weak points of his character; but let him be thrown, all at once, upon his own resources by the coming upon him of some crushing calamity, and he will then find out whether he has that within him that can stand the strain that has been put upon him. It was a shrewd remark of Andrew Fuller, that a man has only as much religion as he can command in the day of trial; and if he have no religion at all, his trouble will make that manifest to him. Just as the strain of the storm tells where the ship is weakest, and stirs up the mariner to have it strengthened there, so the pressure of trial reveals the defects of character which still adhere to the Christian. One affliction may disclose an infirmity of temper; another may discover a weakness of faith; a third may make it evident that the power of some old habit is not yet entirely broken; and thus, from this constant revelation to him of the evils that still remain in him, he is led, under the guidance of the Holy Ghost, to the attainment of a higher measure of holiness than other-wise he could have reached.
2. The frequent unsettlements which come upon us in Gods providence have a tendency to shake us out of ourselves. We find that where we thought ourselves wise we have been supremely foolish. Where we imagined that we had taken all possible contingencies into the account, we discover that we had left no place for God. So our most matured schemes have been abortive, our most cherished hopes have been blasted; yea, just when we conceived that now at length we had reached our ultimatum, and were beginning to congratulate ourselves on the prospect of repose, there came a sudden reverse, which emptied us out again, and we were compelled to begin anew. Thus we are brought to distrust ourselves. We find that it will not do to lean always to our own understanding. By many bitter failures we are made to acknowledge that it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps, and then by the Spirit of God we are led up to confidence in Jehovah. We have heard enough of the success of the millionaire; let us hear more now of the success of the unsuccessful--yea, of the success of soul that sometimes comes through the ruin of earthly fortune and the blighting of our fondest plans. Character is nobler than riches or position, and the growth of that in holiness and stability ought to be the highest aim, as it will be the noblest achievement of life.
3. These frequent unsettlements have a tendency to keep us from being wedded to the world, or from thinking of rooting ourselves permanently here. Some years ago, while rambling with a friend in the neighbourhood of Windermere, we came upon a house surrounded by the most beautiful shrubs I ever saw, and I was naturally led to make some inquiry concerning them. My companion informed me that, by a judicious system of transplanting, constantly pursued, the proprietor was able to bring them to the highest perfection. I thought at once of the manner in which God, by continuous transplanting, keeps His people fresh and beautiful, and prevents them from becoming too closely attached to the world. To be weaned from earth is one of the means of making us seek our spiritual food from heaven; and the trials of earth, transplanting us from place to place and from plan to plan, tend to prepare us for the great transplanting which is to take us from this world altogether, and root us in the garden of the Lord above.
II. The particular qualities of character which providential unsettlements are most calculated to foster.
1. Purity of motive and conduct; and where shall we find a better illustration of that than in the history of Jacob? He began life as a supplanter. He out-bargained Esau. He imposed on Isaac. He out-generaled Laban. We cannot admire him, and we are not drawn to him then. But when he lay on his death-bed, no characteristics strike us more than his honesty in dealing with his sons, and his sincerity in dealing with God. And how was that transformation wrought? By the Spirit of God, you answer, and you answer well; but I would supplement your statement by putting it thus, By the Spirit of God, through and in connection with the frequent unsettlements to which he was subjected.
2. They tend to foster strength, either for endurance or for action. Take for example, here, the case of Abraham. He was tried in Canaan and in Egypt; he was tested by the long delay in the fulfilment of the promise in regard to Isaac, and by the domestic discord that arose concerning Ishmael; and his wrestlings with these afflictions developed in him, by the grace of God, that spiritual might in which he conquered on the mount of the Lord, when he earned for himself the title of the father of the faithful.
3. The recurrence of these emptying processes deepens the sympathy and widens the charity of the Christian. Indeed hazard the assertion that no man can be called complete in character who has not been subjected to them. It is in this very relation that our Lord Himself is said to have been made perfect through suffering, and each of us has doubtless had an experience of his own which enables him to understand what seems at first so strange. Experience is thus the mother of sympathy and charity. The older a Christian grows he learns to feel for others more, and to condemn them less, and he is a true son of consolation only in the proportion in which be is able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith he himself is comforted of God. What I have been saying, then, all tends toward these two propositions, namely, that unbroken prosperity would be a curse to a man, and not a blessing; and that providential unsettlements, when rightly interpreted and improved, are really favours, though they do come draped in sadness. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
The discipline of sorrow
I trust it is the wish of each of us that Gods will be done in us and about us: I trust it is our daily prayer, not so much that God would give us what we wish, as that He would teach us, simply and completely, to submit our will to His, and that He would give us grace and strength to bear whatever He may send. Let us seek that the utterance of our hearts may be that of the blind Galileo; who said, It has pleased God that it should be so; and it must please me too. And yet it is natural to us to wish that it might please God to lead us by as easy and pleasant a way as may be: that it might please God to appoint us as peaceful and happy a life as possible, and to send us just as little evil and sorrow as may suffice to work upon us the wholesome results of evil and sorrow. God has made us so, that we wish for what is pleasant, and shrink from what is painful. But it does not follow that the thing we like best is the best thing for us. And the text tells us that a life of unbroken ease, a life in which all goes well with us, is a most perilous thing. The kingdom of Moab had enjoyed long tranquillity, though there were troublesome neighbours near, and though it was a state of no great power: it had pleased God to order it so. Moab had been at ease from his youth. Then comes the comparison to wine: Moab had not been subjected to captivity, nor to other changes and troubles which are to a nation what pouring from one vessel to another is to wine: thus he had remained standing upon the lees, losing no part of his original strength and flavour. The suggestion is, that Moab was not good to start with: and he had not been tried with processes which might indeed have been painful, but in which he would have got rid of a good deal of the evil that was in him at the first. Moab had been secure in prosperity: and so he had remained the same as at the beginning,--all his bad qualities being only confirmed by time and use. Now the great lesson from all this is, that there is spiritual danger in the quiet lot, and in the quiet heart: that it is not Gods purpose that those He loves should enjoy entire worldly tranquillity; that there is something good for you and me, in care, unrest, disquiet, sorrow, bereavement, disappointment, perplexity--in all that breaks up that perilous calm, in which we grow too well satisfied with this world, and in which we feel ourselves too little dependent on our Saviour and our Comforter; and in which we come too much to feel as if things went on in their own way, forgetting that God directs them all; and in which we fail to realise it, that the one thing needful is something quite different from worldly enjoyment or worldly gain. So you see, how in love and mercy, and tender consideration for our best good, our Father sends us trouble. Philosophers vex and bewilder themselves in trying to explain how there is such a thing as evil in this world: we do not pretend to understand that, but one thing we do know perfectly, we know why evil and sorrow have been sent into our own lot and heart. They have come to make sure that we shall not settle on our lees: they have come to keep this world from engrossing our affection: they have come to wean us from this world by making us feel its bitterness: they have come to teach us the grand, all-comprehending lesson, that if we want what will satisfy our souls, we must go to Christ and find it there. Yes, it is not good for us in this world to be evenly at peace: and thus sorrow is Gods discipline, and disappointment, and bereavement,--in short, everything that is painful and disquieting,--all being sanctified by the Holy Spirit of God. And here is a truth we cannot remember too seriously. In all our troubles we cannot too earnestly and constantly pray for the presence and influence of the Holy Ghost. For sorrow does not necessarily sanctify; it is just as likely to sour, if left to its natural tendencies. You who have known many trials: you who have watched by the dying bed, and bent over the grave: you who set your heart on things which God said were never to be: you whose sensitive nature makes the little worries of daffy life sit very heavily on you, and whose quick heart and fancy eat the enjoyment out of your life by suggesting a hundred anxieties and fears: let me ask, Have all these things been sanctified to wean you from this world, and make you feel that your portion must be in Christ and seek it there: or do you still cling to the earth, and refuse to profit by your Heavenly Fathers teaching through all these trials and cares? Every grief that these hearts have ever known was a sharp lesson given by the best Teacher: and was meant to show us that this world will not do; and that if we want peace and rest for our souls, we must look for them in our Saviour. Now, do you accept that lesson heartily? (A. K. H. Boyd, D. D.)
Spiritual dislodgments
Observe--
1. How God manages, on a large scale, in the common matters of life, to keep us in a process of change, and prevent our lapsing into a state of security such as we desire. The very scheme of life appears to be itself a grand decanting process, where change follows change, and all are emptied from vessel to vessel. Here and there a man, like Moab, stands upon his lees, and commonly with the same effect. Fire, flood, famine, sickness in all forms and guises, wait upon us, seen or unseen, and we run the gauntlet through them, calling it life. And the design appears to be to turn us hither and thither, allowing us no chance to stagnate m any sort of benefit or security. Even the most successful, who seem, in one view, to go straight on to their mark, get on after all, rather by a dexterous and continual shifting, so as to keep their balance and exactly meet the changing conditions that befall them. Nor is there anything to sentimentalise over in this ever-shifting, overturning process, which must be encountered in all the works of life; no place for sighing--vanity of vanities. There is no vanity in it, more than in the mill that winnows and separates the grain.
2. That the radical evil of human character, as being under sin, consists in a determination to have our own way, which determination must be somehow reduced and extirpated. Hence the necessity that our experience be so appointed as to shako us loose continually from our purpose, or from all security and rest in it. The coarse and bitter flavour of our self-will is reduced in this manner, and gradually fined away. If we could stand on our lees, in continual peace and serenity, if success were made secure, subject to no change or surprise, what, on the other hand, should we do more certainly than stay by our evil mind, and take it as a matter of course that our will is to be done; the very thing above all others of which we most need to be cured. It would not even do for us to be uniformly successful in our best meant and holiest works, our prayers, our acts of sacrifice, our sacred enjoyments; for we should very soon fall back into the subtle power of our self-will, and begin to imagine, in our vanity, that we are doing something ourselves.
3. That our evils are generally hidden from us till they are discovered to us by some kind of trial or adversity. What good man ever fell into a time of deep chastening who did not find some cunning infatuation by which he was holden broken up, and some new discovery made of himself? The veils of pride are rent, the rock of self-opinion is shattered, and he is reduced to a point of gentleness and tenderness that allows him to suffer a true conviction concerning what was hidden from his sight. Nor is anything so effectual in this way as to meet some great overthrow that interrupts the whole course of life; all the better if it dislodges him even in his Christian works and appointments. What was I doing, he now asks, that I must needs be thrown out of my holiest engagements? for what fault was I brought under this discipline?
4. That we are prepared in this manner for the gracious and refining work of the Spirit in us. Under some great calamity or sorrow, the loss of a child, the visitations of bodily pain, a failure in business, the slanders of an enemy, a persecution for the truth or for righteousness sake, how tender and open to God does the soul become!
5. Too great quiet and security, long continued, are likely to allow the reaction or the recovered power of our old sins, and must not therefore be suffered. Suppose a man is converted as a politician--there is nothing wrong certainly in being a politician--but how subtle is the power of those old habits and affinities in which he lived, and how likely are they, if he goes straight on by a course of prosperous ambition, to be finally corrupted by their subtle reaction. When he is defeated, therefore, a little further on, by untoward combinations, and thrown out of all hope in this direction, let him not think it hard that he is less successful now in the way of Christ, than he was before in the way of his natural ambition. God understands him, and is leading him off, not unlikely, to some other engagement, that He may get him clear of the sediment on which he stands. In the same way, doubtless, it is that another is driven out of his business by a failure, another out of his family expectations by death and bereavement, another out of his very industry and his living by a loss of health, another out of prayers and expectations that were rooted in presumption, another out of works of beneficence that associated pride and vanity, another out of the ministry of Christ, where, by self-indulgence, or in some other way, his natural infirmities were rather increased than corrected. There is no engagement, however sacred, from which God will not sometimes separate us, that He may clear us of our sediment and the reactions of our hidden evils.
Application--
1. It brings a lesson of admonition to the class of worldly men who are continually prospering in the things of this life. Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God. I commend it to your deepest and most thoughtful attention.
2. Others, again, have been visited by many and great adversities, emptied about from vessel to vessel all their lives long, still wondering what it means, while still they adhere to their sins. There is, alas! no harder kind of life than this, a life of continual discipline that really teaches nothing. Is it so with you, or is it not? There is no class of beings more to be pitied than defeated men, who have gotten nothing out of their defeat but that dry sorrow of the world which makes it only more barren, and therefore more insupportable.
3. It is necessary, in the review of this subject, to remind any genuine Christian what benefits he ought to receive in the trials and changes through which he is called to pass. Receive them meekly, rather, and bow down to them gladly. Bid them welcome when they come, and, if they come not, ask for them; lift up your cry unto God, and beseech Him that by any means He will correct you, and purify you, and separate you to Himself. (H. Bushnell, D. D.)
Alternations in religious experience
Transitions from elevation to depression of soul, from joy and peace in believing, to spiritual anxiety, arc beneficial as disturbing perilous security, as leading to such critical scrutiny of conduct and of the motives which underlie it, as reveals shortcomings which there would be no effort to detect were spiritual enjoyment to continue unbroken, In such ease of soul the feeling of security--though not, perhaps, finding audible expression in the words, I shall never be moved, Thou, Lord, of Thy goodness, hast made my hill so strong, might find in them a fitting description. Then, a season comes when God, for a time, hides His face and causes trouble, when the chastened soul is taught humility, and mercifully roused from a dangerous state of over-confidence. To be left, Moab-like, at ease, so as never to be subject to apprehensions and doubts, would indeed be detrimental to the health of the soul, and therefore, by wisely contrived changes, alternations experienced in that life which is hid with Christ in God, the Christian is experimentally taught that salvation is not promised to the experience of feelings, however ardent, but to patient continuance in well-doing, to endurance unto the end, to gradual progress in conformity to the will of Him who has made obedience to His commandments the test of the genuineness of professed discipleship. In the way by which heaven is to be reached, there are salutary changes from one kind to another of spiritual experience, and by their means invaluable lessons are conveyed to the soul. If there be a tendency to become less vigilant, to restrain prayer before God, to grow remiss in religious exercises, public and private, there is a change to the experience of some humiliating conviction. If, on the other hand, there be a tendency to spiritual dejection, which if too long dominant, would have the effect of paralysing effort, there is a change to an experience animating and consolatory. Whether God manifests His power in the soul by gladdening it with tokens of His favour, or depresses it with a painful sense of their withdrawal, He is, all the while, educating it for immortality. But further. For all who carefully observe it there is spiritual teaching in what the Church terms, in one of her comprehensive prayers, the sundry and manifold changes of the world. Evidences of mutability and uncertainty in the world external to us, are set before us in order that we may be disciplined for that life immortal, which is promised to those who walk by faith. The present state is designed to be one of pupilage for a higher and a nobler, and no sadder aspect of it can be imagined than when it is viewed as a season of opportunity wasted, a life in which nothing has been learned which is of profit to the imperishable soul. Of momentous import, therefore, is the consideration, whether you be really advantaged by the teaching of those mutabilities. The manner in which prosperity and adversity are borne, the effect which these opposite experiences produce upon character, the spirit in which benefits upon the one hand, and trials upon the other, are received--it is to that you must look if you be desirous of arriving at a reliable conclusion as to whether or not you be spiritually disciplined under Gods providential dispensations. May the mutable nature of all sublunary things be so impressed upon you, as an influential conviction, that the result may be the sure fixing of your hearts where true joys are to be found. (C. E. Tisdall, D. D.)
Divine plan in changes
Why these constant removals from town to town; from church to church; from situation to situation? Why this perpetual change and revolution in our plans? Why this incessant going into captivity to irksome and trying circumstances? All this is part of Gods manufacture of the wine of life. We must be emptied from vessel to vessel, else we should settle on our lees, and become thick and raw and unpalatable, when the next change comes in your life, do not fear it. The blessed God will see to it that no drop of the precious fluid shall be spilt on the ground. With the tenderest care He conducts the whole operation. Perhaps there is a counterpart to this incessant change from place to place in the perpetual flux of our emotions. We never feel the same for long together. We are constantly being emptied from one blessed frame into another, not quite so joyous or peaceful. We have to hold the most heavenly emotions with a light hand, not knowing how soon they may have passed. And it is well. Otherwise we should never lose the taste of our proud self-complacency. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Moab has felt secure since he was young ...…
Moab has felt secure since he was young ... He is ... his wine ... send him
Here Yahweh speaks of Moab as if it were a man. Here it represents the people of Moab. All occurrences of "he," "his," and "him" in Jer 48:11-12 can be stated as "they," "their," or "them." AT: "Even from their earliest times, the people of Moab have always felt secure ... They are ... their wine ... send them" (See: Personification)
Read full note →
He is like his wine that has never been poured from pot to pot
For wine to taste good, it has to be left undisturbed for a long time and not poured from one pot to another. Yahweh compares the people of Moab, who are prosperous because no one has ever conquered them and taken them as captives, to wine that is undisturbed and has a good flavor. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information and Simile)
So see, the days are coming
"Listen carefully because there will be a time"
this is Yahweh's declaration
Yahweh speaks of himself by name to express the certainty of what he is declaring. See how you translated this in Jeremiah 1:8. AT: "this is what Yahweh has declared" or "this is what I, Yahweh, have declared" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
I will send him those who will tip him over and pour out all his pots and shatter his jars
The enemy army defeating the people of Moab and taking them as captives is spoken of as if the people of Moab are wine and someone will come and pour them out and break the wine jars. AT: "I will send an army that will destroy them as if they were pouring out wine and breaking the jars" (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
Moab
wine
captive
Yahweh
declare
send
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 48:11-12 Moab had a long history of relative peace…
48:11-12 Moab had a long history of relative peace and a culture that its people highly valued. Vineyards were plentiful in Moab. After the juice was squeezed from the grapes, the wine was stored in clay flasks until it became fragrant and smooth.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.