Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 48:27

"For was not Israel a derision unto thee? was he found among thieves? for as often as thou speakest of him, thou waggest the head." — Jeremiah 48:27 (ASV)

Was not Israel a derision unto thee? — The “derision” had been shown at an earlier stage in the history of Judah (Zephaniah 2:8), but was, we may well believe, reproduced when the Moabites heard of the disasters that fell on Israel in the days of Josiah and his successors. The question that follows, Was he found among thieves? implies an answer in the negative.

Israel had not been among the lawless, aggressive nations, the robbers of the earth. Compare 2 Samuel 3:33, where the question, Died Abner as a fool dieth? implies that he had not deserved his death as guilty of any crime. By some critics, however, the Hebrew interrogative is taken as meaning “when,” and so involving the admission that Israel had been guilty of unjust invasion, and had been led to that guilt by her alliance with the robber nations of the heathen.

Thou skippedst for joy. — The gesture described, like the wagging of the head of Jeremiah 18:16 or the shrugging of the shoulders, is one of triumphant malice. The symbolism of Middle Eastern gesture is, it may be noted, especially rich in expressions of this form of evil. (Psalms 22:7.)