What is the meaning of Jeremiah 48:13? Then Moab will be ashamed – Jeremiah has just spent twelve verses (Jeremiah 48:1-12) outlining coming disaster for Moab. The nation has boasted in its strength (Jeremiah 48:7), but the Lord declares that defeat and exile will strip away its pride (Isaiah 16:6). – Shame here means public humiliation when everything Moab relied on collapses (Psalm 25:3). The coming Babylonian invasion (Jeremiah 27:1-7) will make Moab’s confidence look foolish. of Chemosh – Chemosh was Moab’s national god (Numbers 21:29; 1 Kings 11:7). Moabites believed he guaranteed victory and prosperity. – When Babylon overruns Moab, the people will see that Chemosh cannot save them (2 Kings 23:13). Their helpless “god” will travel into exile with them, mere baggage on a wagon (Jeremiah 48:7, 46). – The Lord’s judgment exposes idols as powerless (Isaiah 46:1-2), directing attention to the only true God (Jeremiah 10:10-11). just as the house of Israel was ashamed – Israel experienced identical embarrassment when its own false worship crumbled. Jeremiah points to a familiar national memory (Jeremiah 2:26). – Northern Israel had once trusted in political alliances (2 Kings 17:3-6) and calf worship, but Assyria shattered both, leaving the people disgraced (Hosea 8:5-6). – God’s discipline of Israel serves as a living illustration for Moab: if covenant people were not spared, neither will a pagan nation be. when they trusted in Bethel – After the kingdom split, Jeroboam set up a golden calf at Bethel to keep his subjects from going to Jerusalem (1 Kings 12:28-29). – Prophets repeatedly denounced that shrine (Amos 3:14; Hosea 10:5). When Assyria captured Samaria, the altar at Bethel fell silent and the people who “trusted” in it went into exile—just what Moab will now face (2 Kings 17:33-41). – Any worship that centers on human invention rather than God’s revealed commands ends in heartbreak and shame (Jeremiah 17:13; Romans 1:22-23). summary Jeremiah 48:13 draws a straight line between misplaced trust and inevitable disgrace. Moab will discover that Chemosh is no refuge, just as Israel learned that Bethel’s golden calf was an empty hope. The verse reminds every reader that only the Lord saves; every substitute, whether national pride, false religion, or self-reliance, will collapse when God’s righteous judgment arrives. |
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