EVERYONE who is ‘PROUD’ against GOD will be DESTROYED!
August 22 Bible Reading: Jeremiah Chapters 46-48
EVERYONE who is ‘PROUD’ against GOD will be DESTROYED!
“We have heard the
pride of Moab (he is exceedingly proud), of his loftiness and arrogance and
pride, and of the haughtiness of his heart. And Moab shall be destroyed as a
people, because he exalted himself against the Lord.” (Jer. 48:29, 42)
In the above
passage, the coming destruction of Moab is being directed by God Himself as a
reward for her enormous ‘pride’ that she
exhibited against God and other people. This kind of ‘pride’ refers to the self-indulging,
self-honoring haughtiness by which one thinks of oneself as greater than others.
Moab’s chief sin was pride, considering herself greater than the God of Israel!
Punishment
would come to Moab due to self-exaltation against God and for despising the
country of Israel (v. 27). Like an eagle, the enemies of Moab would swoop down
and seize her, in its claws (v. 40). God reminded Moab of her eventual destruction
because she defied Him. God would make sure that everyone living in Moab would
feel the effects of her punishment.
The Moabites
were proud of their national culture,
their god Chemosh and their material wealth (48:7). However, God
promised to humble them and in the process humiliate their false-god Chemosh
(48:46). Moab will be made drunk with terror from God’s divine wrath (see
25:15–29), and was slated for invasion by Babylon through which all the Moabite
cities would be destroyed. The once-proud people are exhorted to flee to remote
hiding places for their lives! Their pride would be turned to fear and terror,
and then the nation would be taken captive by the enemy.
With the
simile of an unwanted pot (v. 38b), Jeremiah describes the destruction and
discarding of Moab. Balaam’s oracles (in Num. 21:28–29) against Moab that were
reiterated in verses 45–46 were now about to be fulfilled. The Moabites relied
on a false god and trusted in their material wealth, so their god was captured
and their wealth was plundered. They lost
all their defenses! “How she is
broken down!” (Jer. 48:39). This prophecy was fulfilled shortly after the
demise of Judah, when Nebuchadnezzar’s troops overran that country.
Had Moab
been broken before God in humility, she would not have been broken by God as a
punishment! God hates pride (Prov.
6:16-17), and pride is sin. "A haughty look, a proud heart, and the
plowing of the wicked are sin" (Prov. 21:4). "Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord"
(Prov. 16:5). Let us understand that God opposes the proud people: "God resists the proud, but gives grace
to the humble" (James 4:6), and everyone
who is proud against God (like Moab) will
eventually be destroyed one day!
