The High Sin of Moab: Pride's Inevitable Crash Text: Jeremiah 48:18-20
Introduction: The Unseen Rot of Nations
We live in an age that has forgotten how to think about nations. We think in terms of economics, geopolitics, and demographics, which is all well and good. But we have forgotten that God thinks in terms of righteousness and sin, humility and pride. God is the sovereign ruler over all nations, not just a chaplain for our preferred political party. He raises up nations, and He casts them down. And as the Scriptures repeatedly testify, the sin that most certainly provokes His judgment against a people is the high sin of pride.
Pride is the original sin, the native language of the fallen heart. It is the refusal to acknowledge the Creator/creature distinction. It is man standing on his own little dirt clod, puffing out his chest, and declaring his autonomy from the God who gives him the very breath he uses to defy Him. And when this personal sin becomes a national characteristic, when a nation becomes arrogant, self-reliant, and contemptuous of God and His law, that nation is ripe for judgment. It is not a matter of if, but when.
In this forty-eighth chapter of Jeremiah, the prophet delivers the "burden of Moab." Moab was Israel's cousin, descended from Lot. They were a prosperous, settled, and proud people. They had been "at ease from his youth" (v. 11), like wine settled on its lees, undisturbed and complacent. They trusted in their works, their treasures, and their strongholds (v. 7). And they were exceedingly proud, lofty, arrogant, and haughty of heart (v. 29). They also held God's people, Israel, in derision (v. 27). Because of this, God announces their complete and total humiliation. The judgment described in this chapter is not a slap on the wrist. It is utter ruin.
The passage before us this morning is a snapshot of this coming judgment. It is a vivid picture of glory being turned to dust, of security being turned to panic, and of proud boasts being turned to shameful wails. This is not just a history lesson about a long-dead nation. It is a perennial warning. What God does to Moab, He can and will do to any nation that walks in Moab's proud steps. We would do well to listen, because the scent of Moab's pride is thick in the air of our own nation.
The Text
Come down from your glory And inhabit the parched ground, O inhabitant of the daughter of Dibon; For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you, He has ruined your strongholds. Stand by the road and keep watch, O inhabitant of Aroer; Ask him who flees and her who escapes And say, 'What has happened?' Moab has been put to shame, for it has been shattered. Wail and cry out; Declare by the Arnon That Moab has been destroyed.
(Jeremiah 48:18-20 LSB)
The Divine Demotion (v. 18)
The oracle begins with a direct, devastating command.
"Come down from your glory And inhabit the parched ground, O inhabitant of the daughter of Dibon; For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you, He has ruined your strongholds." (Jeremiah 48:18)
This is the voice of God, the sovereign King, issuing a demotion. "Come down from your glory." Moab's glory was its wealth, its military strength, its high places, its cultural achievements. They had built their identity on these things. But God says it is time to descend. The command is not a suggestion; it is a fiat. Your time in the penthouse is over. Your new address is the gutter.
Where are they to go? To "inhabit the parched ground." This is a picture of utter reversal. Moab was a fertile land, but they are being sent to a place of thirst, barrenness, and desolation. This is what happens when a creature seeks a glory that belongs only to the Creator. God will strip away the false glory and reveal the creature's true state apart from Him: dust and thirst. This is a return to the basics. You thought you were a god; I will remind you that you are but dust.
The command is addressed to the "daughter of Dibon." Dibon was a major city in Moab, a center of their pride. And notice the reason for this demotion: "For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you." This destroyer, in the immediate historical context, was Babylon. But we must understand that Babylon is merely the axe in the hand of the divine woodsman. God is the one wielding the instrument. God judges nations, and He often uses other wicked nations to do it. This doesn't let the wicked instrument off the hook, as we see in Jeremiah's later prophecies against Babylon itself. But it does establish the absolute sovereignty of God over all military and political affairs. He is the Lord of hosts, the commander of every army, whether they salute Him or not.
And what does this destroyer do? "He has ruined your strongholds." The very things Moab trusted in for security are the very things that are being dismantled. Their fortresses, their high walls, their military installations, are all coming down. This is a fundamental lesson. Whatever you trust in apart from God will become the epicenter of your ruin. If you trust in money, you will face a financial crash. If you trust in military might, your armies will be scattered. If you trust in your own intellect, God will make your wisdom foolishness. God is a jealous God, and He will not give His glory to another, least of all to the mud-brick fortresses of a proud nation.
The Anxious Watch (v. 19)
The scene then shifts from the heart of the nation to its border, from the experience of judgment to the first reports of it.
"Stand by the road and keep watch, O inhabitant of Aroer; Ask him who flees and her who escapes And say, 'What has happened?'" (Jeremiah 48:19)
Aroer was a city on the northern border of Moab, situated on the main road along the Arnon River. It was the gateway to the nation. The people there are commanded to take up the posture of an anxious, bewildered spectator. They are to stand by the road, the ancient equivalent of gluing yourself to the 24-hour news cycle, and watch the refugees stream out of their collapsing country.
They are to ask the frantic man and the terrified woman, "What has happened?" This is the question of those whose world has just been turned upside down. It is the cry of those who thought they were secure, who believed the propaganda of their own strength. Just yesterday, everything was normal. The markets were stable, the military was strong, and the gods were in their temples. Today, total chaos. What happened?
The answer is not ultimately found in troop movements or political failures. The answer is found earlier in the chapter and throughout the Bible. What happened is that God has visited His people. What happened is that pride has met its inevitable end. What happened is that reality has reasserted itself. The nation built on the sand of its own arrogance has collapsed when the storm of God's judgment arrived.
This is the posture of a world that does not know God. It sees the effects of His judgments, but it cannot diagnose the cause. They see the collapse, the chaos, the destruction, and they ask, "What has happened?" The Christian, with the Word of God in his hand, knows the answer. Sin has happened. Pride has happened. Rebellion against the Most High has happened. And this is the necessary result.
The Public Verdict (v. 20)
The final verse in our text gives the answer that the refugees are to give. It is the public announcement of the verdict.
"Moab has been put to shame, for it has been shattered. Wail and cry out; Declare by the Arnon That Moab has been destroyed." (Jeremiah 48:20)
The first part of the answer is shame. "Moab has been put to shame." Pride's end is always shame. The one who exalts himself will be humbled. The one who mocked Israel is now an object of ridicule. The glory they sought for themselves has curdled into disgrace. This is a profound spiritual law. You cannot defy the living God and come out of it with your dignity intact. He will see to it that your rebellion ends in public humiliation.
The reason for the shame is that Moab "has been shattered." The word implies being broken in pieces, utterly dismantled. This is not a mere military defeat; it is a national disintegration. The response is therefore not quiet grief, but loud, public lamentation: "Wail and cry out."
And this news is not to be whispered. It is to be a public proclamation. "Declare by the Arnon." The Arnon was the river that formed their border. The news is to be shouted from the boundary lines for all the surrounding nations to hear. God's judgments are object lessons for the world. When He brings a proud nation down, He intends for everyone to see it and take note. The message is simple and stark: "Moab has been destroyed." The verdict is in. The sentence has been carried out. The case is closed.
Conclusion: Come Down or Be Cast Down
The story of Moab is the story of every person, every institution, and every nation that builds its house on the proud bedrock of self. The message of Jeremiah is not complicated. There are two ways to come down from your glory. You can come down voluntarily in humility and repentance, or you can be thrown down by force in judgment.
The gospel presents us with this same choice. The call of the gospel is a call to "come down." It is a call to abandon your own self-righteousness, which is a form of spiritual pride. It is a call to come down from the throne of your own life and to bow the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a call to confess that your own strongholds cannot save you and that you are spiritually parched and barren apart from Him.
The good news is that God Himself has shown us the way down. In the incarnation, the Lord of Glory, Jesus Christ, "came down from His glory." He willingly emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant (Phil. 2:7). He came down all the way to the parched ground of our fallen world, all the way to the shame of the cross. He was shattered for our iniquities. He endured the ultimate humiliation so that proud rebels like us could be forgiven and lifted up into a glory that is not our own.
Therefore, the choice before us is clear. Will we be like Moab, clinging to our own glory until the Destroyer comes and ruins our strongholds? Will we wait until we are fleeing in terror, asking "What has happened?" Or will we heed the command of God now? Will we come down from our glory, inhabit the dust of repentance, and find our thirst quenched by the living water that only Christ provides? Come down willingly, or be cast down violently. There is no third option.