John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 48:13

"And Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Beth-el their confidence." — Jeremiah 48:13 (ASV)

We may see more clearly from this verse that the Prophet does not so much address the Moabites as his own people, for he was not a teacher to the Moabites to promote their safety. On the contrary, he intended his doctrine for the benefit of the Jews, as in this instance.

Ashamed, he says, shall Moab be of his idol: for we have said that Chemosh was the god of the Moabites, as every nation had its own particular god, indeed its own invention. Now, the comparison made here shows that the Prophet wished to exhort the people to whom he was appointed a teacher to repentance, for he set before them the example of the ten tribes.

And we know that at the time Jeremiah announced this prophecy, the kingdom of Israel was destroyed. All the Israelites, then, had been driven into exile except the tribe of Judah and the half-tribe of Benjamin. Now, the ten tribes, as is well known, had, under Jeroboam, departed from the pure worship of God and had built for themselves an altar in Bethel.

Therefore, the Prophet now says, As ashamed were the Israelites of their superstitions, which they had devised for themselves, so a similar vengeance of God awaited the people of Moab. Thus, he shows the Jews what it means to trust in the only true God.

The Jews were not, indeed, involved in such gross superstition as to worship idols, at least publicly. But Ezekiel shows that they also were contaminated with this kind of pollution, and that the very sanctuary was defiled with idols, even while the worship of God according to the Law continued to be celebrated.

But the Jews had nothing but the external form: they had, indeed, the temple and the altar; they professed to worship the true God, but meanwhile, impiety and contempt of true religion prevailed among them, and they had begun to involve themselves in many ungodly superstitions, as we have seen before.

What, then, does Jeremiah now do? He sets before their eyes the ten tribes whom God had destroyed, though the Israelites, as well as the Jews, had descended from the same father, namely Abraham. Since God had inflicted such a heavy punishment on the kingdom of Israel, he now shows the Jews that the punishment of the Moabites was no less probable. And why? Because they have, he says, their idol.

God shows that this was a most atrocious wickedness by which the Moabites had provoked His anger, for there is nothing more intolerable than for men to transfer the glory of God to their own inventions, to statues, to logs of wood, to stones, or to idols of gold and silver. So now we understand the Prophet's purpose.