48 Concerning Moab. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,
“Woe to Nebo, for it has been destroyed;
Kiriathaim has been put to shame, it has been captured;
The lofty stronghold has been put to shame and [a]shattered.
2 “There is praise for Moab no longer;
In Heshbon they have devised calamity against her:
‘Come and let us cut her off from being a nation!’
You too, [b]Madmen, will be silenced;
The sword will follow after you.
3 “The sound of an outcry from Horonaim,
‘Devastation and great destruction!’
4 “Moab is broken,
Her little ones have sounded out a cry of distress.
5 “For by the ascent of Luhith
They will ascend with continual weeping;
For at the descent of Horonaim
They have heard the [c]anguished cry of destruction.
6 “Flee, save your lives,
That you may be like a juniper in the wilderness.
7 “For because of your trust in your own achievements and treasures,
Even you yourself will be captured;
And Chemosh will go off into exile
Together with his priests and his princes.
8 “A destroyer will come to every city,
So that no city will escape;
The valley also will be ruined
And the plateau will be destroyed,
As the Lord has said.
9 “Give [d]wings to Moab,
For she will [e]flee away;
And her cities will become a desolation,
Without inhabitants in them.
10 “Cursed be the one who does the Lord’s work negligently,
And cursed be the one who restrains his sword from blood.11 “Moab has been at ease since his youth;
He has also been undisturbed, like wine on [f]its dregs,
And he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel,
Nor has he gone into exile.
Therefore [g]he retains his flavor,
And his aroma has not changed.
Now God shifts his attention to Moab, the homeland of Ruth, part of the lineage of King David, and thus also of Jesus Himself. Yet in Ruth’s story we see that she left behind her family and the gods they worshipped when she followed Naomi home to Israel. She made a choice to leave behind the idolatry of Chemosh (v. 7), but the rest of her people did no such thing.
Though they were on the very borders of Israel, they continued in their own ways, and were indeed a stumbling block to the Jews as well. Yet what really stands out to me is the name of this one odd city, Madmen. Now, it doesn’t actually mean what it sounds like, for that is the Hebrew word, but it means “dunghill”. How would you like to live there?
It is used in contrast to the rest of Moab, which has lofty strongholds and has received praise. Another contrast is found in v. 8, where every valley will be ruined, and the plateau destroyed. God sees them all, and unfortunately, Moab had refused to change (v. 11). All of Moab will be destroyed, from the highest of heights to the low of the low in Madmen.
Funny thing about God, despite Him being the highest and most lofty of anyone or anything. He cares about us, who were created out of the dust of the ground, and not just the big and important people, but every single one of us.
In our humanity, it is easy to fall into the trap of only worrying about the nice people, the pretty people, the ones who are easy to love. Yet we are to have God’s heart in all we do, and serve everyone equally, from the high to the low. And maybe especially the low, who might otherwise be forgotten. God has not forgotten, and He wants us to see every one the way He sees them.
Each person is a treasure to Him, and our earthly condition is temporary. The real treasure, the real beauty is inside, and whoever said you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover hit the nail on the head there. Be no “respecter of persons” just as God is not (Acts 10:34), and love people as God loves them. They are worth it, just as you are worth it, because God made you, “fearfully and wonderfully” (Psalm 139).