Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary

Moab's haughtiness and deplorable fall. - Jer 48:26. "Make him drunk - for he hath boasted against Jahveh - so that Moab shall splash down into his vomit, and himself become a laughing-stock. Jer 48:27. Was not Israel a laughing-stock to thee, or was he found among thieves? for whenever thou spakest of him, thou didst shake thine head. Jer 48:28. Leave the cities and dwell in the rock, ye inhabitants of Moab; and be ye like a dove [that] builds its nest in the sides of the mouth of a pit. Jer 48:29. We have heard the very arrogant pride of Moab, his haughtiness, and his arrogance, and his high-mindedness, and his elation of mind. Jer 48:30. I know, saith Jahveh, his wrath, and the untruthfulness of his words; they have done what is untrue. Jer 48:31. Therefore will I howl over Moab, and for all Moab will I cry; they mourn for the people of Kir-heres. Jer 48:32. I will weep for thee [with more] than the weeping of Jazer, O vine of Sibmah, thou whose tendrils have gone over the sea, have reached even to the sea of Jazer; on thy fruit-harvest and thy vintage a spoiler has fallen. Jer 48:33. And joy and gladness are taken from the garden, and from the land of Moab; and I have caused wine to fail from the wine-vats: they shall not tread [with] a shout; the shout shall be no shout. Jer 48:34. From the cry of Heshbon as far as Elealeh, as far as Jahaz, they utter their voice; from Zoar as far as Horonaim and the third Eglath; for even the waters of Nimrim shall become desolations. Jer 48:35. And I will destroy from Moab, saith Jahveh, him that offers on a high place and burns incense to his gods." Through his pride, Moab has incurred the sentence of destruction to his power. In arrogance and rage he has exalted himself over Jahveh and His people Israel; therefore must he now be humbled, Jer 48:26-30. The summons to make Moab drunk is addressed to those whom God has charged with the execution of the sentence; cf. Jer 48:10 and Jer 48:21. These are to present to the people of Moab the cup of the divine wrath, and so to intoxicate them, that they shall fall like a drunk man into his vomit, and become a laughing-stock to others (cf. Jer 13:13; Jer 25:15), because they have boasted against Jahveh by driving the Israelites from their inheritance, and by deriding the people of God; cf. Zep 2:8. ספק, to strike, frequently of striking the hands together; here it signifies to fall into his vomit, i.e., to tumble into it with a splash. No other explanation of the word can find support from the language used. Cf. Isa 19:14 and Isa 25:10. In the last clause of Jer 48:26, the emphasis lies on גּם הוּא: "he also (Moab, like Israel before) shall become a laughing-stock." This statement is enforced by the question put in Jer 48:27, "Was not Israel a laughing-stock to thee?" ואם־אם shows a double question, like ה־אם; and ואם in the first clause may be further strengthened by the interrogative ה before שׂחק, as in Gen 17:17. For other forms of the double question, see Psa 94:9; Job 21:4; Jer 23:26. On Dagesh dirimens in השּׂחק, cf. Ewald, 104, b. There is no sufficient reason for questioning the feminine form נמצאה in the Qeri; Israel is personified as a woman, just as Moab in Jer 48:20, where חתּה is found. On מדּי דב, cf. Jer 31:20, where, however, דּבּר בּ is used in another meaning. התנודד, to shake oneself, is a stronger expression than הניד בּראשׁ, to shake the head (Jer 18:16), a gesture denoting mockery and rejoicing over another's injury; cf. Psa 64:9.