Jeremiah 48:26 Make ye him drunken; for he magnified himself against the LORD
Any time you have a group of people, maybe a group of people at college or in my case the summer staff who come for the summer at the Bill Rice Ranch, usually everyone is kind of sizing up everyone around them to find out what the pecking order is. Am I the prettiest person here? Am I the cleverest person here? Am I the most trusted person here? That is human nature. People just have this tendency to compare themselves among themselves to see who is the most important. Here is something important to note: pride is always a matter of comparison.
In Jeremiah 48:27 God is judging a proud people called Moab. Israel had been conquered by Babylon, and Moab felt smug because they hadn’t been conquered. God said to them, “For was not Israel a derision unto thee?” Later He says, “So shall Moab be a derision.” He is saying, “You compared yourself to Israel; you looked down your nose at Israel; you scoffed at other people and did not take heed to your own ways.”
Pride is comparison. There is a saying, “Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only having more of it than the other person.” So, I am not proud if I am clever. In fact, I don’t even know that I’m clever unless I compare myself to someone else. But once there is a comparison, I can either become jealous of that person or I can become proud over that person.
Someone has said, “It is the pride in me that gets irritated at the pride in you.” I think that is oftentimes true. I think it is not wrong to recognize arrogance and pride as sin, but many times it is precisely the pride in me that is irritated at the pride in somebody else. The people of Moab were the descendants of Lot and their pride was really unfounded. They had a shameful beginning as far as a nation is concerned, and their pride was a matter of comparison as it almost always is.
Now, pride is actually a variety of vices. In Jeremiah 48:29 it says, “We have heard the pride of Moab, (he is exceeding proud) his loftiness, and his arrogancy, and his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart.” All these words have different connotations, but they are all the same family. For instance, some people have almost a guileless sort of pride, which I know is almost a contraction in terms because pride is a sin. For some people it is almost like, “Hey, look at me. I’m important. I have a cool shirt. I have a cool job. Hey, notice me. I’m important.” Oftentimes they will talk about themselves and that can be annoying.
There is another kind of pride that says, “They don’t know what they are talking about. I don’t care if people like me or not. They are all dumb and I know what’s what.” It is different kind of pride.
So, you have scorning of other people. You have vanity, a fixation on self. You have arrogance. Pride is a variety of vices, but it is almost always a comparison. Here’s the thing, no matter to whom you are comparing yourself, pride is always a challenge against God because whether I am better or worse or weaker or stronger than someone else, all of us are creations of God. Verse 26 says, “For he [Moab] magnified himself against the LORD.” Moab didn’t think he was doing that. He just thought he was rejoicing and arrogant over Israel, but God says, “No, I created Israel; I created you.” Verse 42 says, “And Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he hath magnified himself against the LORD.”
The bottom line is to be who God made you and to be thankful for who God made you. There will always be someone who is not up to your standard and there will always be those who are far past you in beauty, intelligence, strength, or whatever. Any time you focus on yourself and others it always leads to pride or jealousy. It leads to a comparison that makes you lose your focus on what is important. What is important is not a what, it is a who. It is God.
So, pride is comparison, and pride is a variety of vices. Ultimately, no matter the form pride takes, it is a challenge against the God Who made you. Be who God made you and be thankful for who God made you, and you will live a better life.