Jeremiah 48:7 Meaning For

Upādāna: Clinging Clinging is the grip that will not open. Moab's hands are full of what it built and stored, the walls, the wine vats, the silver laid by, and the grip on these is tighter than the grip on life. Fingers closed that hard around a chest go into captivity still holding it, which is why the owner is taken along with the hoard.

Māna: Conceit Conceit measures the self by what stands behind it. Moab's princes were somebody because of those treasuries and those works, and the carts now hauling both away are hauling off the measurement too. When the rank goes, the princes walk out of the gate in the same line as the priests, all of them together, no one at the head.

Saraṇa: Refuge Refuge is where you run when you are afraid. Moab ran to Chemosh, and Chemosh is out on the road under guard, which says plainly what the shelter was worth. A roof that can be carried off keeps no rain out, and the trust laid under it goes into exile with it.

Anicca: Impermanence Impermanence is the way of anything put together. Chemosh was carved, set on a base, and fed with offerings, and whatever is set up that way can be lifted down and loaded on a wagon. A god who has to be carried has already told you what he is made of.

Vipāka: The ripening of action Vipāka is the fruit an action grows into. "Because you have trusted" is the seed, and the taking is what comes up out of it, ripening in season with no hand needed to pull it. Works held as fortifications can be breached and emptied; works understood as deeds already sown in the ground cannot be unsown, and Moab is harvesting its own field.