Jeremiah 48:26-35 - Exposition

And what is Moab's crime? At an earlier point the prophet said that it was the callousness produced by long prosperity ( Jeremiah 48:11 ); but here another sin is mentioned—Moab's haughty contempt of Jehovah. "For this it deserves that its contempt should be thrown back upon itself, by its being made, like a drunken man, the scorn of all" (Ewald). The figure is, no doubt, a coarse one, but not unnatural in the oratory (we must put aside inspiration, which leaves the forms of speech untouched) of a rude people like the Jews. It occurs not unfrequently elsewhere; see especially Isaiah 19:14 ; Habakkuk 2:15 , Habakkuk 2:16 ; and, for milder examples of the figure, Jeremiah 13:13 and Jeremiah 13:25 .