Aroer was another important city in Moab, located on the Arnon River not far from Dobin. The inhabitants of Aroer are told to stand by and watch as a stream of refugees file past them. They are to ask these refugees, What has happened?
It seems the prophet is speaking of the people who had to flee from Dobin and who now make their way along the road past Aroer so that they can cross the Arnon River.1 What follows in Jeremiah 48:20 appears to answer the question asked of these refugees, Moab is put to shame, for it is broken; wail and cry!
This would have been devastating news to the people of Aroer, and in fact for the whole nation.
19 Stand by the way and watch, O inhabitant of Aroer! Ask him who flees and her who escapes; say, ‘What has happened?’