Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 48:2
[There shall be] no more praise of Moab: in Heshbon they have devised evil against it; come, and let us cut it off from [being] a nation. Also thou shalt be cut down, O Madmen; the sword shall pursue thee.
2. in Heshbon they have devised ] There is a play on the two Hebrew words thus rendered ( b’eshbon ash’bu) which might be represented in English by in Devizes they have devised. Heshbon, one of the chief cities of Moab, lay to the N. E. of the Dead Sea, and was considered the N. boundary of Moab till Reuben, on entering Palestine, claimed the territory between it and the Arnon which enters the Dead Sea about the middle of its E. side. Of the cities assigned (Jos 13:15 ff.) to Reuben many are here mentioned as occupied by Moab. Hence the constant hostility between Moab and Israel (Jdg 3:12 ff.; 1Sa 14:47, etc.).
O Madmen, shalt be brought to silence ] Here again there is a play on the sound in the Hebrew which is, Madmn, tiddmmi. But perhaps we should read with the LXX and Syr. thou (i.e. Moab) shalt be utterly brought to silence.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
No more praise of Moab – literally, The glory of Moab is no more, i. e., Moab has no more cause for boasting.
Heshbon – This town now belonged to the Ammonites Jer 49:3 but was on the border. The enemy encamped there arranges the plan of his campaign against Moab.
In the original there is a play of words upon the names Heshbon and Madmen.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 2. No more praise of Moab] “The glory of Moab, that it had never been conquered,” (Dahler,) is now at an end. Dr. Blayney translates: –
“Moab shall have no more glorying in Heshbon;
They have devised evil against her (saying.)”
And this most certainly is the best translation of the original. He has marked also a double paronomasia in this and the next verse, a figure in which the prophets delight; becheshbon chashebu, “in Cheshbon they have devised,” and madmen tiddommi, “Madmena, thou shalt be dumb.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Heshbon was formerly the city of Sihon, Num 21:26; it became afterward one of the principal cities of the Moabites, as appeareth from Isa 15:4; which maketh the learned author of our English Annotations think our translation not so good; for why should they devise evil in Heshbon against Moab, unless the enemies sat there in council, when they had taken it, against the other parts of the country? But possibly the sense is, they shall no more in Heshbon magnify Moab, or Moab shall no more glory of Heshbon, for the enemies had contrived the ruin of it.
Madmen was another city in the country of Moab. Some think the same with Ptolemys Madiama. To that city also the prophet threateneth ruin and destruction by the sword.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. no more praise (Isa16:14).
in HeshbonThe foehaving taken Heshbon, the chief city of Moab (Jer48:45), in it devise evil against Moab (“it”)saying, Come, c. Heshbon was midway between the rivers Arnon andJabbok it was the residence of Sihon, king of the Amorites, andafterwards a Levitical city in Gad (Nu21:26). There is a play on words in the Hebrew, “Heshbon,Hashbu.” Heshbon means a place of devising orcounsel. The city, heretofore called the seat of counsel,shall find other counsellors, namely, those who devise itsdestruction.
thou shall be cut down . . .Madmenrather, by a play on words on the meaning of madmen(“silence”), Thou shalt be brought to silence, so aswell to deserve thy name (Isa15:1). Thou shalt not dare to utter a sound.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
[There shall be] no more praise of Moab,…. It shall be no more commended for a rich, populous, and fruitful country, being now laid waste; though the next phrase,
in Heshbon, or “concerning Heshbon” b, should be read in connection with this; and then the sense is, there shall be none any more in Heshbon to praise the country of Moab, what a fine and fertile country it is, since that city will be destroyed also; or there will be no more a Moabite to boast of his being an inhabitant in Heshbon, such an utter destruction will be made of it; or there will be no more boasting of Moab, or of any Moabite concerning Heshbon, what a famous, opulent, or strong city that is, since it is no more. Of this city
[See comments on Isa 15:4];
they have devised evil against it; that is, the Chaldeans devised evil against Heshbon, to besiege it, take and destroy it: there is in the expression a beautiful allusion to the name of the city of Heshbon, which has its name from a word that signifies to devise and consult c;
come, and let us cut it off from [being] a nation: this is what the Babylonians consulted together against Heshbon; and not only against that, a principal city; but against the whole country of Moab, to make such an entire desolation of it, that it should be no more a nation: that which the Moabites with others devised against the people of Israel is now devised against them; a just retaliation this; see
Ps 83:4;
also thou shalt be cut down, O Madmen; or utterly destroyed: it may be rendered, “shall become silent” d; the voice of man shall not be heard in it, especially the voice of praise, of boasting, and rejoicing: there is in this clause also an elegant allusion to the name of the place, which comes from a root that signifies to “cut down”, or “be silent” e. This is thought by Grotius to be the Madiama of Ptolemy f:
the sword shall pursue thee; after it has destroyed other cities, it should come in great haste and with great force to Madmen; or it should pursue after the inhabitants, of it, that should make their escape, or attempt to do so. The Targum is,
“after thee shall go out those that slay with the sword.”
b “nulla amplius gloriatio Moab in Chesbon”, Calvin; “non ultra laus, Moab in Chesbon”, Montanus; to the same purpose Vatablus. c a “cogitavit”, “excogitavit”. d “silebis”, Montanus; so R. Judah in Ben Melech; “ad silentium redigeris”; so some in Vatablus. e . f Geograph. l. 6. c. 7.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Prophet, as before, does not speak in an ordinary way, but declares in lofty terms what God had committed to him, in order that he might terrify the Moabites; not indeed that they heard his threatenings, but it was necessary that he should denounce vengeance in this vehement manner, that the Jews might know that the cruelty and pride of the Moabites, hereafter mentioned, would not go unpunished.
Hence he says, No more shall be the praise or the boasting of Moab over Heshbon We may learn from this place and from others, that Heshbon had been taken from the Moabites; for it was occupied by God’s people, because the Moabites had lost it, as Moses relates in Num 21:30, and in Deu 2:26, etc. But (as things change) when the Moabites became strong, they took away this city from the Israelites. Hence the Prophet says, that there would be no more boasting that they possessed that city; for he adds, They have thought, or devised, etc. There is here a striking allusion, for חשבון, chesbon, is derived from חשב, chesheb, to devise or to consult, as though it were a place of consultation or devisings. The Prophet then says, that as to Heshbon they consulted against it, חשבו עליה cheshbu olie He uses the root from which the name of the city is derived. Heshbon, then, hitherto called the place of consultation, was to have and find other counselors, even those who would contrive ruin for it. Come ye; the Prophet refers here to the counsel taken by the Chaldeans, Come ye, and let us cut her off from being a nation He then joins another city, And thou, Madmen, (4) shalt be cut off, for a sword shall go after thee, or pursue thee, as though the city itself was fleeing from the sword; not that cities move from one place to another; but when the citizens deliberate how they may drive away their enemies and resist their attacks, — when they seek aid here and there, — when they set up their own remedies, they are said to flee. But the Prophet says, “Thou shalt gain nothing by fleeing, for the sword shall pursue thee.” It follows, —
(4) None of the versions renders this a proper name, but as a participle from the verb which follows, and no such place is mentioned elsewhere. They must have read מרמה, instead of מדמן. Then the version would be,
Even silenced thou shalt be silenced, After thee shall go the sword.
To be silenced, in the language of the prophets, is to be subdued. See Isa 15:1, when the same thing is said of Moab. The word silence forms a contrast with the boasting of Moab mentioned at the beginning of the verse. After being subdued and removed elsewhere, still the sword would follow Moab. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(2) There shall be no more praise of Moab.The self-glorifying boasts of Moab (of which the Moabite Inscription discovered at Dibn in 1868 is a conspicuous instance, see Ginsburgs Moabite Stone and Records of the Past, xi. p. 163) seem to have been almost proverbial (Jer. 48:29; Isa. 16:6). Heshbon (the city is perhaps chosen on account of the similarity of sound with the word for devise ) was on the Ammonite or northern frontier of Moab (Jer. 49:3), and is represented therefore as the scene of the plans and hopes of the invading Chaldans. The site of Madmen is unknown, but the cognate form Madmenah is translated dunghill in Isa. 25:10, and may have been chosen by each prophet on account of its ignominious meaning. The name appears as belonging to a town in Benjamin (Isa. 10:31) and in Judah (Jos. 15:31). Here again there is an obvious assonance or paronomasia, the verb thou shalt be cut down, or better, thou shalt be brought to silence, reproducing the chief consonants of the noun. The LXX., Vulgate, and Syriac, indeed, take the words with this meaning, In silence thou shalt be made silent, but are probably wrong in doing so. If we take the word in somewhat of the same sense as in Isaiah, the words may point to the place being filled with the mouldering carcases of the silent dead.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. No more praise of Moab Literally, the boasting of Moab is gone.
In Heshbon they have devised evil Heshbon was the chief city on the border, about ten Roman miles east of the Jordan, opposite Jericho. “Heshbon” literally means devising. Hence there is here a play upon the word. In the following clause, also, there is a similar play on the term.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 48:2 [There shall be] no more praise of Moab: in Heshbon they have devised evil against it; come, and let us cut it off from [being] a nation. Also thou shalt be cut down, O Madmen; the sword shall pursue thee.
Ver. 2. There shall be no more praise of Moab. ] This may be taken either of a city so called, a or of the whole country, as now Muscovia is oft put for all Russia.
In Heshbon they have devised evil against it.
a Ariopolis dicta.
b Alludit fere propheta ad singularum civitatum nomina. – Jun.
Heshbon. Now Hesban. The capital of Sihon king of the Amorites. Rebuilt by Reubenites (Num 32:37. Compare Jos 13:17).
devised = counselled. Note Figure of speech Paronomasia. Heshbon, hashbu.
evil. Hebrew. ra’a’. App-44.
be cut down = be reduced to silence.
Madmen. Now Umm Deineh, a town in Moab twelve miles N. E. of Dibon.
no more: Jer 48:17, Isa 16:14
Heshbon: Jer 48:34, Jer 48:35, Num 21:25-30, Num 32:37, Isa 15:5, Isa 16:8, Isa 16:9
come: Jer 48:42, Jer 31:36, Jer 33:24, Jer 46:28, Est 3:8-14, Psa 83:4-8
thou shalt: Jer 25:15, Jer 25:17
cut down: or, brought to silence, Isa 15:1, Isa 25:10, *marg. Madmenah
pursue thee: Heb. go after thee
Reciprocal: Isa 10:34 – cut down Jer 12:12 – the sword Jer 49:25 – General Jer 49:37 – I will send the sword
Jer 48:2. Heshhon was another city In the land of Moab that was to be punished. They have devised evil against it means the forces whom God would see fit to use as his Instruments when the time came for the punishment predicted.
Jer 48:2-6. There shall be no more praise of Moab The glory of Moab shall be contemned, as Isaiah speaks, Isa 16:14. Every thing for which it was famous shall be destroyed. In Heshbon they have devised evil against it Heshbon was the capital city of the Moabites: when the Chaldeans made themselves masters of Heshbon, a place of great importance, they consulted how to carry on their conquests over the rest of the country. Thou shalt be cut down, or, brought to silence, Isa 15:1. O Madmen A city in Moab. Her little ones have caused a cry to be heard Or, sent forth a cry. Both small and great were involved in this calamity, but the word , signifies great as well as little: and the Chaldee paraphrast renders it here lords; which seems to be the sense in which it is used. For in the going up, &c. The ascent of Luhith is in tears, and their weeping is increased, because, in the descent of Horonaim, the enemies have heard the cry of the sufferers: see Isa 15:5. Flee, &c., and be like the heath Resort to the most solitary places, and continue in obscurity where no enemy can find you out.
48:2 [There shall be] no more praise of Moab: in Heshbon they have devised evil against it; {b} come, and let us cut it off from [being] a nation. Also thou shalt be cut down, {c} O Madmen; the sword shall pursue thee.
(b) Thus shall the Babylonians encourage one another.
(c) Read Isa 25:10 .
Heshbon, the ancient capital of the Amorites (Num 21:25-30), would be the place where an enemy would plan Moab’s destruction. It stood at the northernmost boundary of Moab during periods of Moab’s expansion. [Note: Smothers, p. 311.] "Madmen," another important Moabite town two miles northwest of Rabbah, would be the victim of warfare.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)