Jeremiah 48:11 - Exposition

Moab hath been at ease from his youth . The "youth" of Moab dates from its subjugation of the aboriginal Emim ( Deuteronomy 2:10 )' Since that event, though often at war, sometimes tributary and sometimes expelled from a part of the territory claimed by them (see the inscription on the Moabite Stone), yet they had never been disturbed in their ancestral homes to the south of the river Amen. He hath settled on his less. It was the custom to leave wine for a time on its lees or sediment, in order to heighten its strength and flavour (comp. Isaiah 25:6 ). Emptied from vessel to vessel. Thevenot, an old traveller in Persia, remarks of the Shiraz wine that, after it is separated from the lees, it is apt to grow sour. "The wine is put into large earthen jars, each holding from ten or twelve to fourteen carabas ; but when a jar has been opened, it must be emptied as soon as possible, and the wine put into bottles or carabas , otherwise it spoils and becomes sour" ('Voyages,' 2.245, quoted by Lowth on Isaiah 25:6 ). In the application of the figure, the "taste" of Moab means obviously the national character.