The Lord’s response to the arrogant complacency of Jeremiah 48:11 is that he will send to Moab pourers who will pour him, and empty his vessels and break his jars in pieces.
The Lord is sending the Babylonians to disrupt Moab’s sense of security. The one sent to do the pouring will not do it with care as would normally be the case. The wine will be emptied and the jars destroyed. The disruption will be total.
The result of this disruption will be that Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh.
Their god, Chemosh, will have totally failed them and been exposed as powerless and empty. This disillusionment is compared to Israel’s shame of Bethal. This is a reference to the place of worship that Jeroboam set up in northern Israel (1 Kings 12:25–33). It was a place of idolatry and one of the reasons that the Lord sent Assyria to destroy the northern tribes. This comparison between Moab’s shame and northern Israel’s is meant as a warning to Judah of what will happen because of her idolatry.1 Sadly, it was a warning that went unheeded.
13 Then Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.