Moab at Ease from His Youth

Next Part Moab at Ease from His Youth 2

"Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his lees, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither has he gone into captivity--therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed." Jeremiah 48:11

Moab represents a professor in the church of God destitute of divine grace. It will be my main object to unfold this to your view, that, with God's blessing, you may gather up instruction, encouragement, or if need be, warning, reproof, and admonition from it.

With God's help and blessing, then, in attempting to unfold the meaning of this striking description, I shall–

I. First, direct your attention to the general character of Moab.
II. Secondly, to the special features which are represented here as peculiar to him.
III. Thirdly, to the general effect and result of these features so strongly impressed upon him.

I. The GENERAL CHARACTER of Moab.

But in tracing out this description, I shall, as the Lord may enable, endeavor to compare with these features of Moab, corresponding or to speak more correctly, contrasting features in the Lord's family; and if I succeed in so doing, I shall not merely hold up to your view such a character as Moab is by way of warning, but take occasion from what is said of him to draw those peculiar features which distinguish the people of God, and which are all the more visible as standing in such striking contrast with this representative character.

1. His birth and parentage may be viewed as having an important bearing upon his general character. Who and what was he by birth? He was the offspring of an incestuous connection between Lot and his eldest daughter. He had therefore some natural connection, so to speak, with a good man; and yet what a dreadful connection it was; and how the passionate desire for offspring in Eastern women must have overpowered every right feeling to have prompted these two daughters of Lot to resort to such a way of obtaining progeny. This is a point worth noting. Not that I mean to extenuate their crime, which makes one almost shudder to think of; but it was not the bubbling up of animal passion, which was not characteristic to their own father; but a scheme that they might not die childless, and thus avoid that terrible reproach; for in that time and climate it was viewed as a mark of the curse of God. And how strong must this feeling have been, that they who had been preserved chaste in Sodom should have preferred incest to childlessness. But though it was a horrible scheme, and Moab and Ammon sprang from it, yet God had such tender regard to both these people, as being in some way sprung from Lot, that he would not allow the children of Israel to oppress or exterminate them, as they were commanded to do to the seven accursed nations of the land of Canaan.

Now does not Moab's very origin, birth, and parentage, connecting him with a good man, cast some light upon Moab as a representative character? I shall by and by show you thathe represents a professor in the church of God destitute of divine grace. I do not mean to lay it down as an absolute rule, but as a matter of general observation it may be remarked that there is usually some connection between a graceless professor and a gracious father or a gracious mother, or some one from whom he has got his creed without getting grace with it. Moab had the blood of Lot running in his veins, but he had not the grace of Lot working in his heart. So many a professor of religion may have the blood of a godly parent in his body, but not the grace of a godly parent in his soul.

2. But now look at Moab's character in another light. He lived in a very fertile land. If you cast your eye upon a map of Palestine, you will see the river Jordan separating it into two parts. On the west side was the land of Canaan, where the children of Israel were located; on the east side the two tribes Reuben and Gad, and half Manasseh. But Moab you will find at the south-east of the Dead Sea, just below the portion of Reuben, and the Ammonites a little higher up. If you still continue to examine the map, you will see next the portion of the tribe of Reuben, then that of Gad a little further north in the fertile land of Gilead, and then a little higher up that of half Manasseh nestling in the large and wealthy territory of Bashan, so celebrated for its pastures, producing those "bulls of Bashan" of which the Psalmist speaks.

Now there was this great difference between the country on the east of Jordan, which was not properly the land of Israel, and the country on the west side of Jordan, which was emphatically the land of Canaan or the promised land, that whereas Israel's portion was for the most part mountainous and sterile, Moab's portion, and in fact the whole of the east of Jordan, was eminently fertile, being well watered by rivers, and especially adapted to feed sheep and rear cattle. But what was the consequence of the difference of these two lands? Simply this. The children of Israel were poor, and the Moabites, Ammonites, and other occupants on the east of Jordan, wealthy and prosperous. You will perhaps recollect that it was David who first subdued them and made them pay tribute, as we read, "And he smote Moab, and measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground; even with two lines measured he to put to death--and with one full line to keep alive. And so the Moabites became David's servants--and brought gifts." 2Sa 8:2 Now this tribute was not only very heavy, but from its amount clearly shows the great wealth of that country; for we read that in the days of Ahab, at whose death the king of Moab shook off the yoke, that "Mesha, king of Moab, rendered unto the king of Israel a hundred thousand lambs and a hundred thousand rams with the wool." 2Ki 3:4 In reference to this tribute thus broken off, the prophet Isaiah sends a warning word to the people of Moab--"Send lambs as tribute to the ruler of the land, from Sela, across the desert, to the mount of the Daughter of Zion." Isaiah 16:1

But why do I mention this peculiar feature in the typical and representative Moab? Because it finds its counterpart in the character whom he represents. Moab of old was rich and prosperous. He had his portion in a fertile land, and was surrounded with flocks and herds. Similarly his typical descendant is for the most part prosperous in this world. He is not one of those of whom James speaks as poor in this world and rich in grace, but is thriving in business, successful in his schemes, and rarely encountering those reverses and disappointments which seem to be the appointed lot of the family of God. And indeed this is one of the reasons why he is so much at ease--a special feature in his character which I shall have presently occasion distinctly to trace.

3. Another general feature in the character of Moab is that he was a very great snare to the children of Israel. Balaam could not bring the wrath of God down upon the children of Israel by curses and imprecations, but was even compelled to bless when he would gladly have cursed them. But with all the subtle malice of a baffled and disappointed limb of Satan, he devised an effectual way of moving against them the anger of God. And this was by entangling them with Moabitish women. We have an account in Numbers 25 of the sin of the children of Israel in this matter, and of the anger of the Lord in consequence, so that twenty-four thousand died of the plague, besides the heads of the people, who, as they were first in rank, appear to be first in sin, and therefore, as a special mark of God's fierce anger, were taken and hanged up before the Lord against the sun.

And have not Moabitish women been in all ages snares to the Israel of God? For these women appear to have inherited the charms of the daughter of Lot from whom they sprang, and, as dwelling in so rich a land, being well fed and housed, were singularly attractive to the men of Israel, who had before their eyes only the sunburnt and dried up women who had come with them out of Egypt, and who were probably as black as the tents of Kedar.

But what provoked the Lord even more than their guilty connection with these fascinating daughters of Moab was that they made them partakers of their filthy idolatries for we read that "they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods--and the people did eat and bowed down to their gods, and Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor." Now this Baal-peor was worshiped in such a way as cannot be named with any due regard to modesty. The prophet Hosea therefore says, "They went to Baal-peor, and separated themselves unto that shame;" or, as it means, shameful idol; "and their abominations were according as they loved." Hosea 9:10.

How strong is the language of the prophet. First they fell in love with the women, then they separated themselves from the worship of God to bow down before the shameful idol, Baal-peor; and thus the filth of their abominations was in proportion to the measure and fury of their abandoned love. How carefully need we watch the first movement of our heart from God when such and similar temptations are cast in our path. Well has Solomon said, "Let not your heart decline to her ways; go not astray in her paths. For she has cast down many wounded--yes, many strong men have been slain by her." Pr 7:25-6.

Who so strong as Samson? Who so wise as Solomon? But Moabitish women overthrew the strongest and the wisest, for the strength of sin is stronger than the strongest, and the subtlety of sin is subtler than the wisest.

In, then, these three points of view, Moab is a general representative of a professor in the visible church, without the grace of God in his heart. He has an indirect connection with the family of God; he is for the most part well to do in the world; and he or his daughters are ever spreading snares and temptations in the path of the just, and what is worse, too often succeed in entangling their feet so as to bring down upon them the just displeasure of God.

II. The SPECIAL FEATURES which are represented here as peculiar to Moab.

But the Holy Spirit is not content with merely setting before us Moab as a representative character generally in what I may call a broad outline such as I have sketched, and which perhaps might demand some study and thought, and examination of the word of God rightly to apprehend. He has also stamped upon him for our instruction certain very peculiar marked features of simpler and easier observations, which I shall now endeavor to bring before you.

Of these peculiar features as distinct from the broad general outline, two are positive, and two are negative.

The two positive features are–
1. that "he had been at ease from his youth;"
2. that "he has settled on his lees."

The two negative features are–
1. that "he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel;"
2. "neither has he gone into captivity."

We will, with God's help and blessing, examine these features in the order that I have named, and contrast them as we go on with the dealings of God in the souls of his people, that we may see more distinctly from them–
–what a man is in a profession without the grace of God;
–what a man is in a profession with the grace of God.

THE TWO POSITIVE FEATURES

1. "Moab has been at ease from his youth."

We gather from these words that Moab was now no longer young. The character then whom he typically represents is not one only just in a profession of religion, but who for many years has lived in it. And it would appear from the text that his profession, such as it was, began very early in life. Now I am not against what I may call a youthful religion, for I said very lately, if you remember it, that I believed for the most part God began the work of grace upon the souls of his people when they were young. But without limiting the grace of God or denying that there are such beginnings, I confess myself very suspicious of that profession which begins in the Sunday school; and more than suspicious if its beginning be such as is here ascribed to Moab as being "at ease from his youth;" in other words, that he began with ease, has gone on with ease, and is now established in ease.

His religion came to him from the first very easily. It did not begin with any degree of soul trouble. There were no arrows of the Almighty in his conscience, no wrath of God found or felt in his soul, or fear of hell living or moving in his heart. He took his religion from his father as he would his father's business, and got his father's creed without getting his father's godliness, for many of these professors, at least in our chapels and among our people, are sons and daughters of gracious parents who were not at ease from their youth, but who had to get their religion in the fire. But their children took an easier path. Thus, Moab's religion came to him very easily--it fit him like an old glove in which he could put his hand even from the first without any difficulty and without any stretching of the fingers.

Now the child of God does not get his religion in this way. He is not at ease at any time of his life, still less in his youth. He does not take his profession up because his father was a good man before him, nor does he pick it up at a Sunday school, nor is he persuaded into it by teachers and tutors. I do not say a word against a Sunday school, for I am much in favor of it; but I am very much against making it a nursery for religious hypocrites, and blazing forth the pious death of Sunday scholars as if they were almost necessary fruits of a Sunday school, and the almost certain result of a religious education. At any rate it is not God's usual way.

Where there is a real work of grace upon the heart, God begins with man; not man with God. The very first movements of the work of God upon the soul are sovereign. Yes, it is the sole and sovereign work of God upon his heart, the sole and sovereign power of God put forth upon his soul, springing out of the alone good will and pleasure of the Lord God Almighty, and not granted on account of anything that we have done or can do to obtain his favor. And God will teach us to know this deeply and effectually, and sometimes by terrible things in righteousness.

We may lay it down then for the most part as a certain truth that a religion which saves the soul, a religion of which God is the Author, is for the most part, as regards us, though on God's part freely given, yet got at with great difficulty; and is usually attended with many forebodings, many fears, many convictions, much anxiety, and often great and painful distress of mind as to the result.

Now, if your religion began in any easy, smooth, quiet, lukewarm way, so that you can scarcely tell when or how it commenced, and have had no sharp exercises since or at any period of your religious career, you have very good reason to doubt whether you have got hold of that religion which will save your soul. It is a mark against you if you took up religion of yourself, and embarked upon a profession without any conviction, distress, anxiety, supplication, fears, or forebodings. I do not wish to set up any standard, or lay down a hard and fast line, as if I would prescribe to the Lord Almighty himself the exact course he must take. This indeed would be to dictate to Him, and, as Elihu speaks, to "enjoin him his way; for touching the Almighty we cannot find him out; he is excellent in power and in judgment." But taking the Scripture as our guide, and the experience of the saints in harmony with the Scripture, we may form some sound judgment of God's usual dealings with the children of men, and the effect of his teachings in the heart.

But Moab's case is not to be found thus sanctioned by Scripture or experience. It cannot be laid down in harmony for instance with the Psalms, in which we have so much description of soul exercise and trouble; and the general testimony is against those "who are not in trouble as other men, nor plagued like other men, whose eyes stand out with fatness and they have more than heart could wish." No, David complains bitterly that "his soul was exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease and with the contempt of the proud."

But Moab was always at ease, and that from his very youth. Nothing troubled him. Easy circumstances, good health, plenty of friends, and abundant prosperity made him as happy as the day was long. Sin never troubled him, the world never opposed or persecuted him, and Satan never thrust hurtfully at him; he had, therefore everything to make him easy. He had no fears of God; no dread of hell, no trembling apprehensions of the wrath to come; no sense of the Majesty of the Almighty, against whom and before whom he had sinned, and no tormenting, chilling conviction, or even anxious thought, but that it was as well with him in grace as it was in providence, and would be so to the end.

In a wicked book, for I must call it so, written to show young men how to make the best of both worlds, these Moabites are the very characters represented as proper and usual members of churches. I do not doubt that they are the usual members of the great body of general dissenters, but whether they are proper members of a true gospel church is another matter. At any rate they suit the general ministers of the day, and the general ministers well suit them. Those, whether ministers or members, who resemble Moab, and have bought their religion cheap, do not like those who have bought it dear; who have been pierced with powerful convictions, and brought into gospel liberty as it were over the very belly of hell. They think this may be the case now and then where a man has been a desperate, out of the way sinner, but is not the general type of Christians; that the general type of Christians consists of those who have got their religion they can scarcely tell how, scarcely tell when, scarcely tell where, and scarcely tell why; who have been drawn on by one thing after another until they find themselves in possession of a full blown religion, as a man in business gradually enlarges his connection by carrying it on successfully, and then retires as a prosperous man to enjoy, for the rest of his life, the fruits of his industry and skill.

Now, ease thus obtained and ease thus maintained never was and never will be the character of a child of God. Bunyan says, in his plain, homely language–

A Christian man is never long at ease,
When one fright is gone another does him seize.

Sin will never let him rest long, nor Satan let him rest long, nor God let him rest long, nor his own fears let him rest long. He cannot be at ease until his conscience is purged with the blood of sprinkling; until his soul has been blessed with a feeling sense and enjoyment of the love of God; until he has sweet manifestations of pardoning mercy, blessed revelations of Christ to his soul, with the voice and witness of the Spirit in his breast. This is not the ease of Moab, but the ease of which the Psalmist speaks when he says--"his soul shall dwell at ease" Ps 25:13. All ease but this is the sleep of the sluggard-carnal ease as opposed to spiritual. If then he drops into carnal ease, and for a time sin does not seem to plague, nor Satan tempt, nor the world persecute, the Christian man feels that he is getting wrong; he has lost a burden, but not in the right way, and would rather have the burden back than be left to have his portion among those who are at ease in Zion.

Now contrast your religion--I speak now to those who desire to fear God--with Moab's. Are you at ease? How does your religion sit upon you? Why, you will describe it perhaps somewhat in this way; "It is the most comforting and yet the most trying thing I have ever had to do with. Sometimes I don't know what to do with it, and sometimes I don't know what to do without it. It will never leave me alone nor can I leave it alone."

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