Choices That Last Generations

JEREMIAH 48 v 1-25

What do the choices I make now affect in the future?

It all started with Lot and his daughter, through an incestual relationship he had with her. The Moabites came from this one incestual relationship (Genesis 19 v 30-37). The Moabites lead the Israelites into idolatry (Numbers 25 v 1-3). Moab was also part of the Babylonian army which destroyed Jerusalem, but this judgement on them soon came true and the Babylonians destroyed them as a nation. The main God the Moabites mainly worshipped was Chemosh who they sacrificed babies to.

I have picked out three key verses or points God is saying when to the Moabites which is also applicable to my life:

1)  A bush in the Desert (v 6)

2)  Salt on the city (v 9)

3)  Purity of the wine (v 11-12)

God described the Moabites being like a bush in the desert. A bush in the desert can be easily burnt because it is so dry, only barely stay alive, probably never fruit and unlikely for it to reproduce itself. Psalm 1 v 1-3 - "¹ Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, ² but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night. ³ That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither - whatever they do prospers." But Moab did not live like this Psalm commands us to live therefore it would not be planted by the stream but die in the desert. They were sinners and they were wicked in what they worshipped and did. God takes away all life from them. They were probably never next to the stream but they were successful by their own works. They as a nation made some bad choices. I am going to choose to live by the stream every day or try it on my own sometimes?

Salt was talked about in a different way to what Jesus describes it for in Matthew 5, the way God was using it was to show how destructive it can be to plants and crops. Judges 9 v 45 - " All that day Abimelek pressed his attack against the city until he had captured it and killed its people. Then he destroyed the city and scattered salt over it." This scattering of salt should the death and destruction of the city. Abimelek was out to conquer city after city. By scattering the salt he wasn't just making a symbol of destruction and his victory he was making sure nothing could grow there again. Which was also a sign to the nation and the city not just for their crops but for no growth or life for anything they did. God is doing exactly the same with Moab here in Jeremiah.

Purity is key to how final product of their wine was impure because they had left the dregs in it. They were inferior people to God in their hearts, this was depicted in the way they made their wine. 1 Timothy 4 v 12 - "Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity." This verse was really key for me growing up but one of the parts of it, the full understanding of the verse was the purity we are to keep. I believe it is important to keep a purity of heart each day. The Moabites didn't have purity of anything and God punished them for it.

These were the 3 key things that stuck out for me. The main overidding thing for me is that each point was a choice for the Moabites to be  rooted in God or not, to be destroyed by God or repent and to purify themselves before God or not. How do my choices effect the depth of my roots?