The Haughty Are Abased

Jehovah saves those of his people who manifest humility.  However, Israel's neighbor Moab is proud, and Jehovah detests pride.  (Proverbs 16:18) Moab, therefore, is slated for humiliation.  "The hand of Jehovah will settle down on this mountain, and Moab must be trodden down in its place as when a straw heap is trodden down in a manure place. And he must slap out his hands in the midst of it as when a swimmer slaps them out to swim, and he must abase its haughtiness with the tricky movements of his hands.  And the fortified city, with your high walls of security, he must lay low; he must abase it, bring into contact with the earth, to the dust." -Isaiah 25:10-12.

Jehovah's hand will "settle down" on the mountain of Moab.  The result?  Haughty Moab is to be slapped and trodden down  as "in a manure place."  In Isaiah's time, straw is trampled into piles of dung to make fertilizer; so Isaiah foretells humiliation for Moab, despite her high seemingly secure walls.

Why does Jehovah single out Moab for such harsh counsel?  the Moabites are descendants of Lot, the nephew of Abraham and a worshiper of Jehovah.  Thus, they are not only neighbors of God's covenant nation but also relatives. Despite this, they have adopted false gods and manifested hard-set enmity toward Israel.  They deserve their fate.  In this, Moab is like the enemies of Jehovah's servants today.  She is especially like Christendom, which claims to have roots in the first-century Christian congregation but which, as seen earlier, is the principal part of Babylon the Great.

Next time: A Song of Salvation

From the Book Isaiah's Prophecy Light for all Mankind, 2000