The Hangover of Pride Text: Jeremiah 48:21-27
Introduction: The Intoxication of Nations
We live in an age that is drunk on itself. Nations, like individuals, can become intoxicated with their own importance, their own strength, and their own supposed righteousness. They stumble about on the world stage, puffed up and belligerent, imagining themselves to be the center of the universe. They toast their own accomplishments, admire their reflection in their wine glasses, and laugh with contempt at those they deem lesser. This is the sin of pride, and it is a spiritual sickness that precedes a very hard fall. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. This is true for you and me, and it is just as true for entire civilizations.
The prophet Jeremiah is tasked with delivering God's sober judgment to the nations surrounding Judah, and in chapter 48, his attention turns to Moab. Moab was a cousin to Israel, descended from Lot, Abraham's nephew. They had a long and intertwined history, often marked by conflict and rivalry. But the central charge that God lays at Moab's feet is not primarily their idolatry, though that was present, or their specific military actions. The root of their condemnation is their colossal pride. They had magnified themselves against Yahweh. They had looked at God's covenant people, Israel, in their time of trouble and instead of showing familial sympathy, they had mocked them. They had become a laughingstock to Moab.
And so, God, through His prophet, announces a terrible reversal. The principle of divine justice is often one of measure for measure, what the Bible calls lex talionis. As you have done, so shall it be done to you. Moab made Israel a laughingstock, so Moab will become a laughingstock. Moab was drunk on pride, so God will make them drunk on the cup of His wrath until they wallow in their own vomit. This is not pretty language, but sin is not pretty, and God's judgment upon it is terrifyingly just. This is a warning to all nations, in all times, including our own. When a nation magnifies itself against the Lord, it is setting itself up for a devastating hangover.
We must understand that God is the sovereign over all history. He raises up kings and he removes them. He sets the boundaries of nations. And He judges them according to His perfect standard. The judgments described here are not random acts of violence; they are the methodical, righteous, and fitting response of a holy God to the corporate sin of a proud people.
The Text
"Judgment has also come upon the plain, upon Holon, upon Jahzah, and against Mephaath, and against Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim, and against Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon, and against Kerioth, Bozrah, and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near. The horn of Moab has been cut in pieces and his arm broken,” declares Yahweh. “Make him drunk, for he has magnified himself against Yahweh; so Moab will wallow in his vomit, and he also will become a laughingstock. Now was not Israel a laughingstock to you? Or was he caught among thieves? For each time you speak about him you shake your head in scorn."
(Jeremiah 48:21-27 LSB)
The Geography of Judgment (vv. 21-24)
We begin with the sweeping nature of the judgment.
"Judgment has also come upon the plain, upon Holon, upon Jahzah, and against Mephaath, and against Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim, and against Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon, and against Kerioth, Bozrah, and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near." (Jeremiah 48:21-24)
Jeremiah begins with a roll call of cities. For the original hearers, this would not have been a dry geography lesson. These were real places, centers of commerce, military strength, and religious life. Holon, Jahzah, Dibon, Nebo. Each name represented a place of Moabite pride and security. By listing them one by one, God is communicating the comprehensive and inescapable nature of His judgment. There is no corner of Moab that will be a safe house. There is no fortress that can withstand the siege of the Almighty. The judgment is not just on the capital city, but "upon the plain," "far and near."
This is a fundamental truth about God's dealings with men and nations. His judgment is thorough. Sin is not a localized problem, and therefore judgment cannot be either. When a nation's sins become pervasive, when pride infects the whole body politic, then the judgment must be just as extensive. You cannot quarantine God's wrath. He is not just judging a few bad actors in the government; He is judging "all the cities of the land of Moab." This is a corporate judgment for a corporate sin.
We in our individualistic age have a hard time with this concept. We want to believe that we are only responsible for our own little patch of ground. But the Bible teaches that nations have a corporate identity before God. A nation can sin as a nation, and it can be judged as a nation. This litany of cities is a stark reminder that no one is exempt when the culture itself has turned its back on God and given itself over to arrogance.
The Symbolism of Defeat (v. 25)
Next, Jeremiah uses powerful imagery to describe the totality of Moab's collapse.
"The horn of Moab has been cut in pieces and his arm broken,” declares Yahweh." (Jeremiah 48:25 LSB)
In the Old Testament, the "horn" is a potent symbol of strength, power, and pride. Think of a great bull or a ram, its horns are its glory and its weapon. To have one's horn cut off is to be utterly defeated, humiliated, and rendered powerless. It is to be de-fanged, de-clawed, and left helpless. Moab's military might, its political influence, its economic strength, all of it is being shattered.
The "arm" is likewise a symbol of active power, the ability to do, to build, to fight. A broken arm means impotence. Moab will no longer be able to lift a sword in its own defense or a hammer to build its proud cities. Yahweh Himself declares this. This is not a geopolitical accident. This is not the unfortunate result of shifting alliances. This is a direct act of the sovereign God. He is the one breaking the arm and cutting the horn.
Nations put their trust in their "horns" and their "arms," in their military hardware and their GDP. But God reminds us here that these things are fragile. He can break them in a moment. Any strength that is not derived from Him is a phantom strength, an illusion that will vanish when He speaks a word against it. The only true and lasting strength is found in submission to the Lord of Hosts.
The Intoxication of Wrath (v. 26)
Here we come to the heart of the judgment, and the reason for it.
"Make him drunk, for he has magnified himself against Yahweh; so Moab will wallow in his vomit, and he also will become a laughingstock." (Jeremiah 48:26 LSB)
This is a terrifying image. God commands the agents of His judgment, likely the Babylonians, to "make him drunk." This is not the pleasant buzz of a festival. This is the forced intoxication of judgment. The cup of God's wrath is a frequent theme in the prophets. God holds out a cup filled with the wine of His fury, and the nations who have defied Him are forced to drink it to the dregs. The result is staggering, confusion, helplessness, and utter degradation.
And why? The reason is stated plainly: "for he has magnified himself against Yahweh." This is the essence of pride. It is to make yourself large and God small. It is to live as though you are the center of reality and God is, at best, a peripheral figure. Moab's sin was not simply that they were proud, but that their pride was directed against the Lord Himself. Every act of national arrogance, every boast in human strength, every law that defies His law, is a magnification of self against Yahweh.
The result of this forced intoxication is humiliation. "Moab will wallow in his vomit." The thing that he gloried in, his pride, becomes the very substance of his shame. He will be covered in his own filth, a pathetic and disgusting spectacle. And the final outcome is poetic justice: "he also will become a laughingstock." The mocker will be mocked. The one who jeered will be jeered at. This is the unwavering principle of God's government.
The Justice of Retribution (v. 27)
God now makes the reason for this specific form of humiliation crystal clear. He holds up a mirror to Moab.
"Now was not Israel a laughingstock to you? Or was he caught among thieves? For each time you speak about him you shake your head in scorn." (Jeremiah 48:27 LSB)
This is a rhetorical question, and the expected answer is a resounding "yes." When God brought His judgment upon His own people, Israel, for their sins, Moab did not respond with sober fear or humility. They did not look at Israel's fall and think, "There but for the grace of God go I." No, they responded with mockery and scorn. They treated Israel like a common criminal, as though they were "caught among thieves." They wagged their heads in derision.
This reveals the deep wickedness in the heart of pride. Pride loves to see others fall. It feeds on the misfortunes of others because it makes the proud man feel superior by comparison. Moab's glee over Israel's destruction was a direct insult to the God who was carrying out that destruction. They misunderstood entirely what was happening. They thought Israel's fall was proof of their own superiority, when in fact it was proof of God's holiness. And if God would judge His own covenant people so severely, what did Moab think He would do to them?
So God says, "You laughed at my people in their time of judgment? Then the world will laugh at you in yours." The punishment fits the crime with a terrible and beautiful precision. This is not petty revenge. This is the perfect, symmetrical justice of a holy God. He is teaching the nations, and us, that you cannot mock the purposes of God without becoming a mockery yourself.
Conclusion: The Sobering Gospel
This is a hard word. It is a word of judgment against a pagan nation that lived three thousand years ago. What does it have to do with us? Everything. The principle is eternal. Any nation, any institution, any individual that magnifies itself against Yahweh is headed for the same end. When our nation celebrates what God condemns, when it boasts in its own power, when it mocks the people and the standards of God, it is drinking the wine of pride, and the cup of wrath will surely follow.
But this passage is not just a word of warning. It is also a backdrop that makes the gospel shine with brilliant light. There was one who drank the cup of God's wrath so that we would not have to. On the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ was made a laughingstock for us. They mocked Him, they shook their heads in scorn, they stripped Him of His dignity. He was broken for our transgressions. He drank the cup of God's fury down to the very last drop.
Why? Because we are all Moab. We have all magnified ourselves against Yahweh. We have all, in our pride, scorned the things of God. And we all deserve to wallow in our own filth for eternity. But Christ took our shame upon Himself. He drank the poison of our pride and exhausted the wrath of God against it.
Therefore, the call of the gospel is a call to sobriety. It is a call to repent of our pride and to stop magnifying ourselves. It is a call to look upon the one who was made a laughingstock for us, and to find in His humiliation our salvation. It is a call to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, so that in due time He may exalt us. For God still resists the proud, but He gives grace, endless grace, to the humble who come to Him through His Son.