“Make him drunk, for he has become arrogant toward the LORD; so Moab will wallow in his vomit, and he also will become a laughingstock…. Moab will be destroyed from being a people because he has become arrogant toward the LORD” (Jer 48:26, 42).
Jeremiah 48 is an oracle of God’s judgment against Moab. Twice in the chapter, Jeremiah accuses Moab of becoming “arrogant toward the LORD.” But how exactly had they acted arrogantly toward the LORD? The answer appears in verse 27: “Now was not Israel a laughingstock to you? Or was he caught among thieves? For each time you speak about him you shake your head in scorn.” The Hebrew is difficult to interpret, but the meaning is clear: Moab mocked Israel when it had fallen under God’s judgment and used the name in derision.
It is tragic that hostility toward Israel is becoming fashionable among believers whose understanding of the Middle East is shaped by antisemitic talking points.
The lesson is serious. God takes it personally when people mock His people, even when they are under His discipline. This truth is echoed in the New Testament. While Saul of Tarsus was attacking the church, Yeshua knocked him down and said: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting ME?” (Acts 9:4). There are times when God’s church deserves His judgment, but woe to the one who speaks with contempt about Yeshua’s bride.
In the same way, God will not long tolerate arrogance from the church toward the Jewish people. It is tragic that hostility toward Israel is becoming fashionable among believers whose understanding of the Middle East is shaped by antisemitic talking points. Israel is far from perfect, and all injustice must be confronted. Yet believers who do not mourn Israel’s spiritual darkness (see Rom 9:1-5), who do not pray for Israel’s salvation (Rom 10:1), and who boast that they are the true Israel in God’s plan (Rom 11:17-24) have ignored the Jewish apostle from the tribe of Benjamin (Rom 11:1-2) whom God called to bring them the gospel.
Let us, dear friends, speak of the church of God as well as the Israel of God with love, compassion, and utmost respect lest we find ourselves like Moab who had become arrogant toward the LORD.
“If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget her skill” (Psa 137:5).
