John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 48:11

"Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remaineth in him, and his scent is not changed." — Jeremiah 48:11 (ASV)

Here he expresses more clearly what we have seen before: that Moab in vain promised itself perpetual impunity because it had been prosperous for a long time. Then the Prophet says that it would be suddenly destroyed when God would ascend His tribunal to execute His judgment.

He first says that Moab had been quiet from his childhood; for while the Israelites had often been harassed, Moab remained untouched and never experienced any disadvantage, as though fortified on all sides by its own defenses. They lived partly amidst mountains but also had a level country, as is well known, beyond the Jordan. It was a moderately fertile land, so that, enjoying continual peace, they accumulated great wealth.

But it was very hard for the Israelites, when God afflicted them with various calamities, to see the Moabites secure and safe from all trouble and all losses. Since, then, this thought might have grievously wounded the minds of the faithful, the Prophet here exhorts them not to envy the happiness of the Moabites, because God would at length stretch forth His hand against them. This is in keeping with David, who also exhorted the faithful to wait patiently for the day of the Lord when they saw the ungodly enjoying all kinds of pleasure and meeting with success according to their wishes (Psalms 37:1, 7, 8).

We now, then, understand the Prophet's objective.

He compares Moab to an old man who had passed his whole life in security, without any losses, without grief or sorrow. Quiet, then, has Moab been, or quiet from his childhood—that is, from the time it became a nation. For what was the childhood of Moab? It was from the time they expelled the giants and other inhabitants and settled in their land. Then success always attended them; and hence he says that they settled on their dregs, so that they underwent no change.

Here is another metaphor: as wine that remains in its own vessel and is never poured into another retains its taste, strength, and savor, so also the Prophet says that Moab had always enjoyed perpetual felicity, like wine that remains on its dregs. For the dregs preserve the wine, as is well known. Wine, when separated from its dregs, partly loses its strength and eventually becomes flat; but wine that is not poured off continues in its strength.

We see from this how apt the comparison is when the Prophet says that Moab had not been changed from vessel to vessel, but had settled on his dregs. And he explains himself plainly when he adds that Moab had not gone, or been removed, into captivity. Yet he intimates that this perpetual peace would avail the Moabites nothing, because, as the Lord had resolved to destroy them, He would cause Moab's strength to fail and all its wealth to be reduced to nothing.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that since we are so disposed to indulge sloth and so devoted to earthly things that we easily forget our holy calling unless You continually stimulate us—O grant that the afflictions by which You test us may effectually rouse us, so that, leaving the world, we may strive to come to You and devote ourselves wholly to Your service; and that we may so carry on the warfare under the various afflictions of the present life that our minds and all our thoughts may always be fixed on the hope of that eternal and blessed rest which Your only-begotten Son, our Lord, has promised as having been prepared for us in heaven—Amen.