11. settled on ... lees--(See on [Is 25:6]; [Zep 1:12]). As wine left to settle on its own lees retains its flavor and strength (which it would lose by being poured from one vessel into another), so Moab, owing to its never having been dislodged from its settlements, retains its pride of strength unimpaired.
emptied from vessel, &c.--To make it fit for use, it used to be filtered from vessel to vessel.
scent--retaining the image: the bouquet or perfume of the wine.
12. wanderers--rather, "pourers out," retaining the image of [Jr 48:11], that is, the Chaldeans who shall remove Moab from his settlements, as men pour wine from off the lees into other vessels. "His vessels" are the cities of Moab; the broken "bottles" the men slain [Grotius]. The Hebrew and the kindred Arabic word means, "to turn on one side," so as to empty a vessel [Maurer].
13. ashamed--have the shame of disappointment as to the hopes they entertained of aid from Chemosh, their idol.
Beth-el--([1Ki 12:27], )--that is, the golden calf set up there by Jeroboam.
15. gone up ... gone down--in antithesis.
out of her cities--Rather, "Moab ... and her cities are gone up," namely, pass away in the ascending smoke of their conflagration ([Jos 8:20], ; [Jud 20:40]). When this took place, the young warriors would go down from the burning citadels only to meet their own slaughter [Grotius]. English Version is somewhat favored by the fact that "gone out" is singular, and "cities" plural. The antithesis favors Grotius.
16. near--to the prophet's eye, though probably twenty-three years elapsed between the utterance of the prophecy in the fourth year of Jehoiakim ([2Ki 24:2]) and its fulfilment in the fifth year of Nebuchadnezzar.
17. bemoan--Not that Moab deserves pity, but this mode of expression pictures more vividly the grievousness of Moab's calamities.
all ye that know his name--those at a greater distance whom the fame of Moab's "name" had reached, as distinguished from those "about him," that is, near.
strong staff ... rod--Moab is so called as striking terror into and oppressing other peoples ([Is 9:4]; , ); also because of its dignity and power ([Psa 110:2]; [Zec 11:7]).
18. ([Is 47:1]).
dost inhabit--now so securely settled as if in a lasting habitation.
thirst--Dibon, being situated on the Arnon, abounded in water ([Is 15:9]). In sad contrast with this, and with her "glory" in general, she shall be reduced not only to shame, but to the want of the commonest necessaries ("thirst") in the arid wilderness ([Jr 48:6]).
19. Aroer--on the north bank of the Arnon, a city of Ammon ([De 2:36]; ). As it was on "the way" of the Moabites who fled into the desert, its inhabitants "ask" what is the occasion of Moab's flight, and so learn the lot that awaits themselves (compare [1Sa 4:13], ).
20. Answer of the fleeing Moabites to the Ammonite inquirers ([Jr 48:19]; [Is 16:2]). He enumerates the Moabite cities at length, as it seemed so incredible that all should be so utterly ruined. Many of them were assigned to the Levites, while Israel stood.
in Arnon--the north boundary between Moab and Ammon ([Jr 48:19]; [Nu 21:13]).
21. plain--([Jr 48:8]). Not only the mountainous regions, but also the plain, shall be wasted.
Holon--(Compare [Jos 15:51]).
Jahazah--([Nu 21:23]; [Is 15:4]).
Mephaath--([Jos 13:18]; ).
22. Beth-diblathaim--"the house of Diblathaim": Almon-diblathaim ([Nu 33:46]); "Diblath" ([Eze 6:13]); not far from Mount Nebo ([Nu 33:46], ).
23. Beth-gamul--meaning "the city of camels."
Beth-meon--"the house of habitation": Beth-baalmeon ([Jos 13:17]). Now its ruins are called Miun.
24. Kerioth--([Jos 15:25]; [Am 2:2]).
Bozrah--(See on [Is 34:6]); at one time under the dominion of Edom, though belonging originally to Moab ([Ge 36:33]; [Is 63:1]). Others think the Bozrah in Edom distinct from that of Moab. "Bezer" ([Jos 21:36]).
25. horn--the emblem of strength and sovereignty: it is the horned animal's means of offense and defense ([Psa 75:5], ; [La 2:3]).
26. drunken--(see on [Jr 13:12]; [Jr 25:17]). Intoxicated with the cup of divine wrath, so as to be in helpless distraction.
magnified ... against ... Lord--boasted arrogantly against God's people, that whereas Israel was fallen, Moab remained flourishing.
wallow in ... vomit--following up the image of a drunken man, that is, shall be so afflicted by God's wrath as to disgorge all his past pride, riches, and vainglory, and fall in his shameful abasement.
he also ... derision--He in his disaster shall be an object of derision to us, as we in ours have been to him ([Jr 48:27]). Retribution in kind.
27. ([Zep 2:8]).
a derision--The Hebrew has the article: referring to [Jr 48:26], "Was not Israel (the whole nation) the object of derision to thee?" Therefore, Moab is to suffer as formerly for its exultation over the calamity ([2Ki 17:6]) of the ten tribes under the Assyrian Shalmaneser ([Is 15:1-16:14]), so now for its exultation over the fall of Judah, under the Chaldean Nebuchadnezzar. God takes up His people's cause as His own (Ob 10-13).
was he ... among thieves--([Jr 2:26]). Proverbial. What did Israel do to deserve such derision? Was he detected in theft, that thou didst so exult over him in speaking of him? Though guilty before God, Israel was guiltless towards thee.
since--"since ever" thou didst begin speaking of him.
skippedst for joy--at Israel's calamity [Calvin]; or, "thou didst shake thy head" in "derision" [Maurer].
28. Doves often have their nests in the "sides" of caverns. No longer shalt thou have cities to shelter thee: thou shalt have to flee for shelter to caves and deserts ([Psa 55:6], ; [So 2:14]).
29. pride--([Is 16:6], ). Moab was the trumpeter of his own fame. Jeremiah adds "loftiness and arrogancy" to Isaiah's picture, so that Moab had not only not been bettered by the chastisement previously endured as foretold by Isaiah, but had even become worse; so that his guilt, and therefore his sentence of punishment, are increased now. Six times Moab's pride (or the synonyms) are mentioned, to show the exceeding hatefulness of his sin.
30. I know--Moab's "proud arrogancy" ([Jr 48:29]) or "wrath," against My people, is not unknown to Me.
it shall not be so--The result shall not be so as he thinks: his lies shall not so effect what he aims at by them. Calvin translates, "his lies are not right (that is, his vauntings are vain because God will not give them effect); they shall not do so" as they project in their minds, for God will set at naught their plans.
31. I will cry ... for ... Moab--Not that it deserves pity, but the prophet's "crying" for it vividly represents the greatness of the calamity.
Kir-heres--Kir-hareseth, in [Is 16:7]; see on [Is 16:7]. It means "the city of potters," or else "the city of the sun" [Grotius]. Here "the men of Kir-heres" are substituted for "the foundations of Kir-hareseth," in [Is 16:7]. The change answers probably to the different bearing of the disaster under Nebuchadnezzar, as compared with that former one under Shalmaneser.
32. with the weeping--with the same weeping as Jazer, now vanquished, wept with for the destruction of its vines. The same calamity shall befall thee, Sibmah, as befell Jazer. The Hebrew preposition here is different from that in [Is 16:9], for which reason Maurer translates, "with more than the weeping of Jazer." English Version understands it of the continuation of the weeping; after they have wept for Jazer, fresh subject of lamentation will present itself for the wasting of the vine-abounding Sibmah.
plants ... gone over ... sea of Jazer--As the Septuagint reads "cities of Jazer," and as no traces of a lake near Jazer are found, the reading of English Version is doubtful. Retaining the present reading, we avoid the difficulty by translating [Grotius], "Thy plants (that is, citizens: alluding to the 'vine') are gone over the sea (that is, shall be transported beyond the sea to Cyprus, and such distant lands subject to Babylon; and this, too, in summertime), whereas Jazer (that is, the men of Jazer) reached the sea" (shore only, but are not transported beyond the sea); so that worse shall befall thee than befalls Jazer.