Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 4.djvu/91

Rh by this, and then assure themselves that their state shall be established.

6. We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud: even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: but his lies shall not be so. 7. Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab, every one shall howl: for the foundations of Kir-hareseth shall ye mourn; surely they are stricken. 8. For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah: the lords of the heathen have broken down the principal plants thereof, they are come even unto Jazer, they wandered through the wilderness; her branches are stretched out, they are gone over the sea: 9. Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah: I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh; for the shouting for thy summer-fruits, and for thy harvest, is fallen. 10. And, gladness is taken away, and joy out of the plentiful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting: the treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses; I have made their vintage-shouting to cease. 11. Wherefore my bowels shall sound like a harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kir-haresh. 12. And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not prevail. 13. This is the word that the hath spoken concerning Moab since that time. 14. But now the hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of a hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned, with all that great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and feeble.

Here we have,

1.I. [sic] The sins with which Moab is charged, v. 6. The prophet seems to check himself for going about to give good counsel to the Moabites, concluding they would not take the advice he gave them. He told them their duty, (whether they would hear, or whether they would forbear,) but despairs of working any good upon them; he would have healed them, but they would not be healed. They that will not be counselled, cannot be helped. Their sins were, 1. Pride; this is most insisted upon; for perhaps there are more precious souls ruined by pride than by any one lust whatsoever. The Moabites were notorious for this; We have heard of the pride of Moab; it is what all their neighbours cry out shame upon them for; he is very proud; the body of the nation is so, forgetting the baseness of their original, and the brand of infamy fastened upon them by that Law of God, which forbade a Moabite to enter into the congregation of the Lord for ever, Deut xxiii. 3. We have heard of his haughtiness and his pride; it is not the rash and rigid censure of one or two concerning them, but it is the character which all that know them will give of them; they are a proud people: and therefore they will not take good counsel when it is given them, they think themselves too wise to be advised; therefore they will not take example by Hezekiah to do justly and love mercy; they scorn to make him their pattern, for they think themselves able to teach him. They are proud, and therefore will not be subject to God himself, nor regard the warnings he gives them. The wicked, in the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: they are proud, and therefore will not entertain and protect God's outcasts, they scorn to have any thing to do with them: but this is not all. 2. We have heard of his wrath too, (for those that are very proud, are commonly very passionate,) particularly his wrath against the people of God, whom therefore he will rather persecute than protect. 3. It is with his lies that he gains the gratifications of his pride and his passion; but his lies shall not be so, he shall not compass his proud and angry projects, as he hoped he should. Some read it, His haughtiness, his pride, and his wrath, are greater than his strength. We know that if we lay at his mercy, we should find no mercy with him, but he has not power equal to his malice; his pride draws down ruin upon him, for it is the preface to destruction, and he has not strength to ward it off.

II. The sorrows with which Moab is threatened; (v. 7.) Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab; all the inhabitants shall bitterly lament the ruin of their country, they shall complain one to another, every one shall howl in despair, and not one shall either see any cause, or have any heart, to encourage his friend. Observe,

1. The causes of this sorrow. (1.) The destruction of their cities; For the foundations of Kir-hareseth shall ye mourn; that great and strong city, which had held out against a mighty force, (2 Kings iii. 15.) should now be levelled with the ground, either burnt or broken down, and its foundations stricken, bruised and broken; so the word signifies; they shall howl when they see their splendid cities turned into ruinous heaps. (2.) The desolation of their country. Moab was famous for its fields and vineyards; but those shall all be laid waste by the invading army, (v. 8, 10.) See, [1.] What a fruitful, pleasant country they had, as the garden of the Lord, Gen. xiii. 10. It was planted with choice and noble vines, with principal plants, which reach even to Jazer, a city in the tribe of Gad; the luxuriant branches of their vines wandered, and wound themselves along the ranges on which they were spread, even through the wilderness of Moab, there were vineyards there; nay, they were stretched out, and went even to the sea, the Dead sea; the best grapes grew in their hedge-rows. [2.] How merry and pleasant they had been in it; many a time they had shouted for their summer-fruits, and for their harvest, as the country people sometimes do with us, when they have cut down all their corn. They had had joy and gladness in their fields and vineyards, singing and shouting at the treading of their grapes; nothing is said of their praising God for their abundance, and giving him the glory of it. If they had made it the matter of their thanksgiving, they might still have had it the matter of their rejoicing; but they made it the food and fuel of their lusts; see therefore, [3.] How they should be stripped of all; the fields shall languish, all the fruits of them being carried away, or trodden down; they cannot now enrich their owners as they have done, and therefore they languish. The soldiers, called here the lords of the heathen, shall break down all the plants, though they were principal plants, the choicest that could be got. Now the shouting for the enjoyment of the summer-fruits is fallen, and is turned into howling for the loss of them; the joy of harvest is ceased, there is no more singing, no more shouting, for the treading out of wine: they have