12 Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will send to him those who tip vessels, and they will tip him over, and they will empty his vessels and shatter [h]his jars. 13 And Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.
14 “How can you say, ‘We are mighty warriors,
And men valiant for battle’?
15 “Moab has been destroyed and [i]men have gone up to [j]his cities;
His choicest [k]young men have also gone down to the slaughter,”
Declares the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.
16 “The disaster of Moab will soon come,
And his calamity has swiftly hastened.
17 “Mourn for him, all you who live around him,
Even all of you who know his name;
Say, ‘How has the mighty [l]scepter been broken,
A staff of splendor!’
18 “Come down from your glory
And sit [m]on the parched ground,
O daughter dwelling in Dibon,
For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you,
He has ruined your strongholds.
19 “Stand by the road and keep watch,
O inhabitant of Aroer;
Ask him who flees and her who escapes
And say, ‘What has happened?’
20 “Moab has been put to shame, for it has been [n]shattered.
Wail and cry out;
Declare by the Arnon
That Moab has been destroyed.
As the word against Moab continues, we see a word picture of vessels and jars being poured out and shattered. That wording is echoed in v. 20, but also the effects are seen in v. 18 with the parched ground. There’s nothing to water it, and so it has dried up. I think it interesting that previously God sent Jeremiah to the potter’s house (chapter 18), where the Israel and surrounding nations are compared to the ruined vessel.
In contrast, we can find the words of Paul to the church at Corinth, where he compared them to earthen vessels. “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves…” Similarly, Paul wrote in his second letter to Timothy, “Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.”
The Moabites had been blessed, and had filled their vessels to the full. Yet they were not interested in serving God or following His commands. An important part of that is sharing those blessings, as we think of the classic words in Psalm 23 where David says, “My cup overflows.” Well, that’s wasteful! No, the point is that it overflows onto other people and is shared and is a blessing to many.
I think also of the widow who had to borrow every last vessel in the village when God did a miracle with the little oil she had left over (2 Kings 4). Did she keep all the oil, just to make sure they would always have enough? No, it was sold and the whole village had plenty of oil, and she had plenty to live on, God saw to that.
Going back to Paul’s words, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels…” Now what? What will we do with it? Will we use it for His glory, being a “vessel for honor”? Will we share what God has given us with others, or hoard it all to ourselves? In contrast to David’s cup overflowing, Moab’s vessels were emptied and broken. It ought to be an easy choice, but our culture and our very human nature, tells us to hold on with clenched hands.
In the words of a silly song, “You’ve got to loosen ’em up, loosen ’em up man!” Whatever gift we hold in our vessels, it wants sharing so that others may be blessed through us. That was God’s original message to Abram, that his descendants were to be a blessing to all nations, and it is God’s message to us today. His blessings are not just for your or I–it is His treasure inside, waiting to be poured out on a broken and thirsty world.