Zep 2:8-9 | KingComments | STEP | Moab and Ammon are connected by Zephaniah, as many other prophets do ( ). They are characterized by great arrogance towards Israel. This has become greater as the decay in Israel and Judah has increased. They taunt the people of God and try to enrich themselves and take advantage of the discipline that God brings upon His people. In Christianity we recognize them in people who say they are Christians, but are not born again. They claim they are alive, but they are dead ( ). They are confessors who confess to belong to the family of God while they are children conceived in lewdness. They are the proud Christian confessors who, with contempt, look down on anyone who wants to be guided only by God’s Word and emphasize the new birth as the only possibility to get eternal life. Their pride is condemned by Isaiah and Jeremiah in their prophecies ( ; ). The comparison of Moab and Ammon with Sodom and Gomorrah ( ) should come as no surprise when we think of their origins ( ). They originated from an incestuous relationship between Lot and his daughters, after he was got drunk by them. This happened after he and his daughters fled from Sodom. Although they may have left Sodom, Sodom did not leave them and is characteristic of their descendants. Their offspring, the Moabites and the Ammonites, behaved as wickedly as Sodom and Gomorrah. Therefore, the judgment on them will be the same as that of Sodom and Gomorrah. They will become “a place possessed by nettles and salt pits”, symbolizing desolation, infertility, and perpetual disaster ( ; cf. ; ; ; ; ). Because Moab and Ammon have acted in pride against God’s people, they will be judged by God. No people who harm God’s people, whether through domination or taunting, have a sense of how much God is grieved by this and how He will punish them for it. He will use His people to carry out that punishment. Israel will inherit the territory of Moab and Ammon, located east of the country.

‏ Zephaniah 2:8-9

The Judgment on Moab and Ammon

Moab and Ammon are connected by Zephaniah, as many other prophets do (Zep 2:8). They are characterized by great arrogance towards Israel. This has become greater as the decay in Israel and Judah has increased. They taunt the people of God and try to enrich themselves and take advantage of the discipline that God brings upon His people.

In Christianity we recognize them in people who say they are Christians, but are not born again. They claim they are alive, but they are dead (Rev 3:1b). They are confessors who confess to belong to the family of God while they are children conceived in lewdness. They are the proud Christian confessors who, with contempt, look down on anyone who wants to be guided only by God’s Word and emphasize the new birth as the only possibility to get eternal life. Their pride is condemned by Isaiah and Jeremiah in their prophecies (Isa 16:6 ; Isa 25:11; Jer 48:29-30).

The comparison of Moab and Ammon with Sodom and Gomorrah (Zep 2:9) should come as no surprise when we think of their origins (Gen 19:30-38). They originated from an incestuous relationship between Lot and his daughters, after he was got drunk by them. This happened after he and his daughters fled from Sodom. Although they may have left Sodom, Sodom did not leave them and is characteristic of their descendants.

Their offspring, the Moabites and the Ammonites, behaved as wickedly as Sodom and Gomorrah. Therefore, the judgment on them will be the same as that of Sodom and Gomorrah. They will become “a place possessed by nettles and salt pits”, symbolizing desolation, infertility, and perpetual disaster (Deu 29:23; cf. Gen 19:26; Num 18:19; Jdg 9:45; Psa 107:34; Eze 47:11).

Because Moab and Ammon have acted in pride against God’s people, they will be judged by God. No people who harm God’s people, whether through domination or taunting, have a sense of how much God is grieved by this and how He will punish them for it. He will use His people to carry out that punishment. Israel will inherit the territory of Moab and Ammon, located east of the country.