|
I
|
NTENSE sadness has a way of making us think that we surely
have heavier hearts than anyone has ever had before. Of course, such is not the
case. Trouble and sorrow are terribly
common in human history. It may be that you and I are not easily touched by the
pains of the ancient Moabites (as addressed here in Isaiah 15 & 16), but
that doesn't mean that their anguish was trivial. As Isaiah preached and
prophesied against Moab, he was communicating a "burden" that God had laid on him (Isaiah 15:1). The
Moabites were distant kin to the Jews. Abraham's nephew Lot had fathered 2 sons
by his own daughters shortly after the destruction of Sodom. Moab was born to his eldest surviving
daughter as the result of her desperate plan to preserve the family name
(Genesis 19:31-32).
Anyway, the Moabites were close neighbors to the
Jews, but they were certainly not worshippers of the God of the Jewish people.
They should have been. Their infamous ancestor had been. There were plenty of
reasons for them to know and to revere the truth, but historically they had not
in any way joined in on that. In fact, one of the most notorious spiritual
deviations of the Jews can be traced back to the actions of the Moabite king,
Balak (Numbers 22:3-6, 24:25 & 25:1-2). A people who should have
appreciated the children of Abraham, had despised them instead. So, the
Moabites were going to have to pay for their evils. Those who have greater
opportunities also have greater responsibilities, and the Moabites had been
privy to certain distinct privileges. So, an intense sadness and the eventual
dissolution of their nation was inevitable.
No comments:
Post a Comment