Jeremiah 48:36

Further lamentation over the fall of Moab. - Jer 48:36. "Therefore my heart sounds like pipes for Moab, and my heart sounds like pipes for the men of Kir-heres; therefore the savings which he has made are perished. Jer 48:37. For every head is baldness, and every beard is shorn; on all hands there are cuts, and on loins sackcloth. Jer 48:38. On all the roofs of Moab, and in its streets, it is all mourning; for I have broken Moab like a vessel, in which there is no pleasure, saith Jahveh." The prophet once more lifts up his lamentation over Moab (Jer 48:36 corresponds to Jer 48:31), and gives reason for it in the picture he draws of the deep affliction of the Moabites. Jer 48:36 is an imitation of Isa 16:11; the thought presented in v. 36b accords with that found in Isa 15:7. Isaiah says, "My bowels sound (groan) like the harp," whose strings give a tremulous sound when struck with the plectrum. Instead of this, Jeremiah puts the sounding of pipes, the instruments used in dirges (Mat 9:23). Moab and Kir-heres are mentioned together, as in Jer 48:31. על־כּן, in the second clause, does not stand for כּי על־כּן, "on this account that" (Kimchi, Hitzig, Graf, etc.), but is co-ordinated with the first על־כּן. The idea is not, "Therefore my heart mourns over Moab, because the savings are perished;" but because the sentence of desolation has been passed on the whole of Moab, therefore the heart of the prophet makes lament, and therefore, too, all the property which Moab has acquired is lost. יתרה, as a collective noun, is joined with the plural verb אבדוּ. On the construction יתרת עשׂה, cf. Gesenius, 123, 3, Rem. 1; Ewald, 332, c. The proof of this is given by the deep sorrow and wailing of the whole Moabite nation, Jer 48:37. On all sides are tokens of the deepest sadness, - he…

Moab is next set to the bar before Jeremiah the prophet, whom God has constituted judge over nations and kingdoms, from his mouth to receive its doom. Isaiah's predictions concerning Moab had had their accomplishment (we had the predictions Isa 15:1-9 and Isa 16:1-14 and the like Amo 2:1), and they were fulfilled when the Assyrians, under Salmanassar, invaded and distressed Moab. But this is a prophecy of the desolations of Moab by the Chaldeans, which were accomplished under Nebuzaradan, about five years after he had destroyed Jerusalem. Here is, I. The destruction foretold, that it should be great and general, should extend itself to all parts of the country (Jer 48:1-6, Jer 48:8, and again Jer 48:21-25, Jer 48:34), that spoilers should come upon them and force some to flee (Jer 48:9), should carry many into captivity (Jer 48:12, Jer 48:46), that the enemy should come shortly (Jer 48:16), come swiftly and surprise them (Jer 48:40, Jer 48:41), that he should make thorough work (Jer 48:10) and lay the country quite waste, though it was very strong (Jer 48:14, Jer 48:15), that there should be no escaping (Jer 48:42, Jer 48:45), that this should force them to quit their idols (Jer 48:13, Jer 48:35) and put an end to all their joy (Jer 48:33, Jer 48:34), that their neighbours shall lament them (Jer 48:17-19) and the prophet himself does (Jer 48:31, Jer 48:36, etc.). II. The causes of this destruction assigned; it was sin that brought this ruin upon them, their pride, and security, and carnal confidence (Jer 48:7, Jer 48:11, Jer 48:14, Jer 48:29), and their contempt of and enmity to God and his people (Jer 48:26, Jer 48:27, Jer 48:30). III. A promise of the restoration of Moab (v. 48).