the descendants of Lot

December 18, 2017

Against Moab and Ammon (Zeph 2:8-2:10)

“I have heard

The taunts of Moab.

I have heard

The reviling of the Ammonites.

They have taunted

My people.

They have made boasts

Against their territory.

Says Yahweh of hosts,

The God of Israel.

‘Therefore,

As I live,

Moab shall become

Like Sodom.

The Ammonites shall become

Like Gomorrah.

They will become

A land possessed

By nettles,

By salt pits,

A waste forever.

The remnant of my people

Shall plunder them.

The survivors of my nation

Shall possess them.

This shall be their lot

In return for their pride.

Because they scoffed.

They boasted

Against the people

of Yahweh of hosts.’”

Next Yahweh, via Zephaniah, rebuked Ammon and Moab, the east bank trans Jordan countries that were the descendants of Lot, via the incest with his two daughters.  Thus, they were to become like Sodom and Gomorrah as in Genesis, chapter 19.  These countries were taunting and berating Judah and Israel.  However, Yahweh himself decreed that they would become a wasteland with thorny plants and salt pits.  Those surviving and remaining from Yahweh’s people would plunder them and take their possessions.  The Ammonites and Moabites were too proud.  They had scoffed and boasted against the people of Yahweh.  Now it was their turn to be devastated.

October 31, 2017

Against Moab (Am 2:1-2:3)

“Thus says Yahweh.

‘For three transgressions

Of Moab,

And for four,

I will not revoke

The punishment.

Because he burned to lime

The bones

Of the king of Edom.

So,

I will send a fire

On Moab.

It shall devour

The strongholds

Of Kerioth.

Moab shall die

Amid uproar,

Amid shouting,

Amid the sound

Of the trumpet.

I will cut off

The ruler

From its midst.

I will kill

All its officials with him.’

Says Yahweh.”

Moab was the ancient enemy of Israel on the southeast side of the Jordan River. According to Genesis, chapter 19, the Moabites were the descendants of Lot through the incest he had with his daughter. Yahweh, via Amos, invoked the same language as he had used against Damascus, the Philistines, Tyre, Edom, and Ammon. He also used the same non-forgiving numeric formula of 3 and 4, as in Proverbs, chapter 30. The Moabites apparently burned the bones of the king of Edom in lime. Edom was their southern neighbors, so that this was a terrible insulting crime. Thus, Yahweh was going to punish the people of Moab by devouring their fortresses at Kerioth. Moab was going to die in a great tumult, with uproars, shouts, and trumpets. Yahweh would kill their ruler and all their officials. This clearly was an oracle of Yahweh, via Amos.