Prophetically, Jeremiah saw the devastation and ruin of the beautiful vineyard in the land of Moab. Distressed by what he saw, he lamented for Moab. So he described his distress in Jeremiah 48:31-39.
Here
we see the prophet having compassion for people he didn’t even know. From these
verses, we get the impression Moab where wine was once in abundance would be depleted
of it. The joyful sound of the people trampling on the grapes to produce wine
could no longer be heard. In place of their joyful shouts what was heard would
be the shouting of invaders trampling over the vineyard.
There
would be widespread cries of despair. The outcry of people in distress would be
heard from one end to the other. They could be heard from “…Heshbon even
to Elealeh, even to Jahaz …and their voice, from Zoar even to
Horonaim and to Eglath-shelishiyah. All worship, sacrifices, and burnings of
incense to the gods in the cities of Moab would stop. God was going to put an
end to it.
There
will be great mourning in the land. The sound of the flute, an instrument that was
usually played at funerals, would be heard. There would be open mourning both in
the places where the worship of their gods was carried out and in the public. Hope
for Moab would be totally gone. Like a shattered
vessel, she would be discarded. They would become an object of shame and
scorned and be sneered and jeered at.
It
is a fearful thing to incur the wrath of God. Verses like these remind us of
what the Psalmist said in Psalm 1:4-5. “The
wicked would be like chaff which the wind drives away…the wicked will not
stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the
righteous.” We should instead seek instead to be like the blessed man described
in the same Psalm. Our delight should be in the law of the Lord and in His law let
us meditate day and night. Then we shall be like a fruitful tree firmly planted
by streams of water and yield our fruit and have lives that witness to the
goodness of God. Then in whatever we do, we shall prosper.
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