Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 48:25
The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, saith the LORD.
25. The horn is an emblem of strength, the arm of authority. For the former see Psa 75:4-5; Psa 75:10, for the latter ch. Jer 17:5.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The horn – i. e., his pride (marginal reference); his arm, i. e., his strength Jer 17:5.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Jer 48:25
The horn of Moab is cut off.
The history of Moab
The first charge brought against Moab is self-confidence, self-trust, self-sufficiency (Jer 48:7). This makes us contemporaries of the Moabites. We thought they were an ancient people, but behold how human they are, how English, how like ourselves and our children! They were so pleased with the stone wall they had put up; they measured it, and admired it, and said that it would save them from the high wind and the mighty storm. It was enough–high enough, broad enough, impenetrable, invincible. Now that is the kind of reasoning which God will not allow in human life. He demands that human life be lived in Himself, and not in things that our own hands have made. We are to be taught distinctly that we do not live in ourselves; that in ourselves we have actually no life; that we have nothing that we have not received, and in that spirit alone we are to hold life and to live. It would seem to be easy to put our whole trust in the living God, and yet it is the most difficult of all lessons. We will persist, even in opposition to many theories of our own to the contrary, that we are self-contained, self-consisting, and self-managing; and herein arises Gods perpetual controversy with mankind. There is, too, so much to favour the temptation. It looks as if we could do most things; that as we have so much we might easily have more. God says to us in every days providence, You are here for a purpose; you are here for a little time; you now but begin to be; every lesson you must learn, and every commandment you must keep. It is against that arrangement that we chafe, just as the little child chafes against parental authority and loving restraint. From the history of Moab we see that even blessings may be perverted, and sacred privileges may be turned into occasions of self-destruction (Jer 48:11). Too much ease, too little upset, too little anxiety, too little trouble will kill any soul. To come into a business made to your hands, to have a fortune left you, and to have everything prearranged, is to be exposed to very peculiar and urgent temptation. Thank God for the rough places in your lives. They are unpleasant, but they are disciplinary. They are like steep hills, but remember that great temples and blessed sanctuaries stand at the top of them. When discipline is not endured gradually it is brought to bear upon the life as an overwhelming judgment. This is the burden of the text. Two classes of persons should consider this. First, those who have daily discipline; they should say, Better have discipline a little at, a time, as we are able to bear it. Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth. No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. These daily chafings and frettings are nard to bear, these daily disappointments are sharp thorns thrust into the very eyes; yet who knows what the judgment would be were it all to come at once? I will rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him: no temptation has happened unto me but such as is common to men; by and by the explanation will come, and then I shall be able to say, He hath done all things well. Then the lesson should be well considered by those who seem to escape discipline of God. The volcano is a long time in gathering all its fiery energy, but the outburst is momentary, and who can measure the destruction which follows? Christ may well say, What I say unto one, I say unto all, Watch,–even those who have apparently least necessity to watch, should not relax their vigils for a moment. Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall See how frightful m the humiliation to which God can bring a man or a people. Look at the picture of Moab–horn cut off, the arm broken, the man drunk but not with wine, and reeling in helplessness, the proud one wallowing in his vomit and laughed to derision! We cannot, however, rest here: for the mercy of the Lord endureth for ever. Mercy triumphs over judgment. The destruction, therefore, was not arbitrary, but moral, being based upon an assigned reason. Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. We should say, therefore, that this verse was the concluding verse in the whole history of Moab. What can there be after destruction? With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. The chapter does not end with the forty-second verse, but with the forty-seventh, and this is how it reads, Yet will I bring again, &c. One would fain construe these words into a hopeful omen. Out of what extremities cannot God deliver mankind? Let the most desponding rekindle their hope, and the most distant prodigal hear his fathers voice. Who can set bounds to the mercy of God? Yet must there be no trifling, even with a Gospel of hope. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 25. The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken] His political and physical powers are no more.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
That is, the beauty and the strength of Moab. So these two terms often signify in holy writ, the horn being much the beauty of some beasts, and that part of their bodies by which they both do injury to others, and defend themselves from the assaults of others. God here declares that Moab should both lose its glory and beauty, and also all the power it formerly had to defend itself, or offend others.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
25. hornthe emblem ofstrength and sovereignty: it is the horned animal’s means of offenseand defense (Psa 75:5; Psa 75:10;Lam 2:3).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The horn of Moab is cut off,…. The kingdom of Moab, high and strong, his power and strength, by which he defended himself, and offended others, as a beast with his horns; his powerful kingdom, and the glory of it:
and his arm is broken, saith the Lord; so that he cannot hold a sword, or manage any weapon of war against the enemy, or do anything to annoy him, or in his own defence. The Targum is,
“the kingdom of Moab is cut off, and their rulers are broken, saith the Lord;”
and so Ben Melech interprets it of his princes, and his armies, which were the arm of the king, and of the people.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
By another metaphor he expresses the same thing. By horn he means power, as all who are in any measure acquainted with Scripture well know that by this word is set forth power, strength, or any defense for the protection of a nation. He then says that the horn of Moab was cut off; and he adds afterwards as all explanation, that his strength was broken Hence by this second clause we understand what the Prophet meant when he said, that the horn of Moab was cut off. But he again introduces God as the speaker, because the Moabites thought that their horn could not be broken. As then Jeremiah would not have obtained credit, had he spoken in his own name, he again brought forward God as declaring his own words. It now follows, —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(25) The horn of Moab.The horn of animals was naturally the symbol of their strength, and it was as natural that the symbolism should be extended to men and nations. (Comp. 1Sa. 2:1; Psa. 92:10; Lam. 2:3; Dan. 7:7-8; Luk. 1:69.) The figure of the broken arm, powerless to grasp sword or sceptre, meets us again in Eze. 30:21.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Jer 48:25 The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, saith the LORD.
Ver. 25. The horn of Moab is cut off, ] i.e., His strength, power, glory, kingdoms; his sultans and princes, saith the Chaldee.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
horn: Psa 75:10, Lam 2:3, Dan 7:8, Dan 8:7-9, Dan 8:21, Zec 1:19-21
and his: Num 32:37, Job 22:9, Psa 10:15, Psa 37:17, Eze 30:21-25
Reciprocal: Amo 2:3 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 48:25, When horn is used figuratively It is defined “power” in the lexicon. The power of Moab as a nation was to be taken from her by the Babylonians.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
48:25 The {n} horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, saith the LORD.
(n) That is, his power and strength.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Moab would lose its strength, as when an animal lost its horn or when a person broke his arm.