What is the meaning of Jeremiah 48:9? Put salt on Moab Jeremiah 48:9 opens with the striking command, “Put salt on Moab.” Because Scripture is fully trustworthy in all it asserts, we understand this to be a real prophetic directive, not merely a metaphor. • In the ancient Near East, salting conquered territory rendered land unproductive and marked it for permanent judgment. Judges 9:45 records Abimelech doing the same to Shechem, while Deuteronomy 29:23 speaks of a cursed land that becomes “a burning waste of salt and sulfur.” • The picture is of deliberate, public, and irreversible ruin. God is underscoring that Moab’s sin has reached a point where restoration will not immediately follow the judgment. • Just as Lot’s wife became a pillar of salt (Genesis 19:26), Moab will stand as a cautionary monument to any nation that exalts itself against the Lord (Isaiah 16:6). for she will be laid waste The second phrase explains why salt is prescribed: total devastation is coming. • Jeremiah has already spelled out Moab’s arrogance (Jeremiah 48:26) and idolatry (Jeremiah 48:35). The Lord, who never exaggerates, declares that the outcome of such rebellion is wholesale ruin. • “Moab will be destroyed as a nation because she defied the Lord” (Jeremiah 48:42). This literal removal from the map mirrors what would later happen to Edom (Obadiah 10). • The same principle appears in Proverbs 16:18—“Pride goes before destruction.” God’s justice never overlooks persistent sin, whether in Moab or in any modern society. her cities will become desolate The prophecy narrows from the nation to its urban centers. • Desolation means empty streets, toppled walls, and no functioning economy—conditions God earlier pronounced on Jerusalem when it rebelled (Jeremiah 4:26). • Isaiah 15:1–9 lists Moabite cities like Ar and Kir that would wail under judgment, confirming Jeremiah’s words. • Revelation 18:19 portrays a future, parallel scene when Babylon the Great falls—“In a single hour she has been laid waste!” God consistently judges wicked strongholds, whether ancient or yet to come. with no one to dwell in them The final clause emphasizes the completeness of the judgment: not even a remnant remains inside Moab’s towns. • Zephaniah 2:9 foretells Moab becoming “like Sodom… a place of weeds and salt pits, a perpetual wasteland”. • Jeremiah uses similar language about Judah’s ruined cities before the exile (Jeremiah 33:10), underscoring that God shows no favoritism; judgment follows unrepentant sin wherever it’s found. • Yet even here, the Lord’s larger plan is redemptive. Jeremiah 48:47 promises, “Yet in the latter days I will restore Moab from captivity.” Total depopulation is real, but not necessarily final—God can revive the very places He once emptied when repentance and His timing align. summary Jeremiah 48:9 delivers a sober, literal warning. Salting Moab pictures an irreversible verdict on a proud, idol-worshiping nation. Cities that seemed secure would lie silent and empty, proving that the Lord’s judgments are comprehensive and just. At the same time, the broader chapter reminds us that God’s purposes move beyond wrath to eventual mercy for the repentant. Trusting the absolute truthfulness of Scripture, we receive both the warning and the hope, learning to humble ourselves before the God who judges sin yet delights in restoration. |
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