2 He is gone up H5927 to Bajith, H1006 and to Dibon, H1769 the high places, H1116 to weep: H1065 Moab H4124 shall howl H3213 over Nebo, H5015 and over Medeba: H4311 on all their heads H7218 shall be baldness, H7144 and every beard H2206 cut off. H1438
Against Moab H4124 thus saith H559 the LORD H3068 of hosts, H6635 the God H430 of Israel; H3478 Woe H1945 unto Nebo! H5015 for it is spoiled: H7703 Kiriathaim H7156 is confounded H3001 and taken: H3920 Misgab H4869 is confounded H3001 and dismayed. H2865
And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell H1314 there shall be stink; H4716 and instead of a girdle H2290 a rent; H5364 and instead of well set H4639 hair H4748 baldness; H7144 and instead of a stomacher H6614 a girding H4228 of sackcloth; H8242 and burning H3587 instead of beauty. H3308
Cut off H1494 thine hair, H5145 O Jerusalem, and cast it away, H7993 and take up H5375 a lamentation H7015 on high places; H8205 for the LORD H3068 hath rejected H3988 and forsaken H5203 the generation H1755 of his wrath. H5678
They shall also gird H2296 themselves with sackcloth, H8242 and horror H6427 shall cover H3680 them; and shame H955 shall be upon all faces, H6440 and baldness H7144 upon all their heads. H7218
For every head H7218 shall be bald, H7144 and every beard H2206 clipped: H1639 upon all the hands H3027 shall be cuttings, H1417 and upon the loins H4975 sackcloth. H8242 There shall be lamentation H4553 generally upon all the housetops H1406 of Moab, H4124 and in the streets H7339 thereof: for I have broken H7665 Moab H4124 like a vessel H3627 wherein is no pleasure, H2656 saith H5002 the LORD. H3068 They shall howl, H3213 saying, How is it broken down! H2865 how hath Moab H4124 turned H6437 the back H6203 with shame! H954 so shall Moab H4124 be a derision H7814 and a dismaying H4288 to all them about H5439 him.
Therefore will I howl H3213 for Moab, H4124 and I will cry out H2199 for all Moab; H4124 mine heart shall mourn H1897 for the men H582 of Kirheres. H7025
Ye shall not round H5362 the corners H6285 of your heads, H7218 neither shalt thou mar H7843 the corners H6285 of thy beard. H2206 Ye shall not make H5414 any H3793 cuttings H8296 in your flesh H1320 for the dead, H5315 nor print H5414 any marks H7085 upon you: I am the LORD. H3068
Therefore shall Moab H4124 howl H3213 for Moab, H4124 every one shall howl: H3213 for the foundations H808 of Kirhareseth H7025 shall ye mourn; H1897 surely they are stricken. H5218
Then Job H347 arose, H6965 and rent H7167 his mantle, H4598 and shaved H1494 his head, H7218 and fell down H5307 upon the ground, H776 and worshipped, H7812
And their coast H1366 was from Aroer, H6177 that is on the bank H8193 of the river H5158 Arnon, H769 and the city H5892 that is in the midst H8432 of the river, H5158 and all the plain H4334 by Medeba; H4311 Heshbon, H2809 and all her cities H5892 that are in the plain; H4334 Dibon, H1769 and Bamothbaal, H1120 and Bethbaalmeon, H1010
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Isaiah 15
Commentary on Isaiah 15 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 15
Isa 15:1-9. The Fifteenth and Sixteenth Chapters Form One Prophecy on Moab.
Lowth thinks it was delivered in the first years of Hezekiah's reign and fulfilled in the fourth when Shalmaneser, on his way to invade Israel, may have seized on the strongholds of Moab. Moab probably had made common cause with Israel and Syria in a league against Assyria. Hence it incurred the vengeance of Assyria. Jeremiah has introduced much of this prophecy into his forty-eighth chapter.
1. Because—rather, "Surely"; literally, "(I affirm) that" [Maurer].
night—the time best suited for a hostile incursion (Isa 21:4; Jer 39:4).
Ar—meaning in Hebrew, "the city"; the metropolis of Moab, on the south of the river Arnon.
Kir—literally, "a citadel"; not far from Ar, towards the south.
He—Moab personified.
Bajith—rather, "to the temple" [Maurer]; answering to the "sanctuary" (Isa 16:12), in a similar context.
to Dibon—Rather, as Dibon was in a plain north of the Arnon, "Dibon (is gone up) to the high places," the usual places of sacrifice in the East. Same town as Dimon (Isa 15:9).
to weep—at the sudden calamity.
over Nebo—rather "in Nebo"; not "on account of" Nebo (compare Isa 15:3) [Maurer]. The town Nebo was adjacent to the mountain, not far from the northern shore of the Dead Sea. There it was that Chemosh, the idol of Moab, was worshipped (compare De 34:1).
Medeba—south of Heshbon, on a hill east of Jordan.
baldness … beard cut off—The Orientals regarded the beard with peculiar veneration. To cut one's beard off is the greatest mark of sorrow and mortification (compare Jer 48:37).
3. tops of … houses—flat; places of resort for prayer, &c., in the East (Ac 10:9).
weeping abundantly—"melting away in tears." Horsley prefers "descending to weep." Thus there is a "parallelism by alternate construction" [Lowth], or chiasmus; "howl" refers to "tops of houses." "Descending to weep" to "streets" or squares, whither they descend from the housetops.
4. Heshbon—an Amorite city, twenty miles east of Jordan; taken by Moab after the carrying away of Israel (compare Jer 48:1-47).
Elealeh—near Heshbon, in Reuben.
Jahaz—east of Jordan, in Reuben. Near it Moses defeated Sihon.
therefore—because of the sudden overthrow of their cities. Even the armed men, instead of fighting in defense of their land, shall join in the general cry.
life, &c.—rather, "his soul is grieved" (1Sa 1:8) [Maurer].
5. My—The prophet himself is moved with pity for Moab. Ministers, in denouncing the wrath of God against sinners, should do it with tender sorrow, not with exultation.
fugitives—fleeing from Moab, wander as far as to Zoar, on the extreme boundary south of the Dead Sea. Horsley translates, "her nobility," or "rulers" (Ho 4:18).
heifer, &c.—that is, raising their voices "like a heifer" (compare Jer 48:34, 36). The expression "three years old," implies one at its full vigor (Ge 15:9), as yet not brought under the yoke; as Moab heretofore unsubdued, but now about to be broken. So Jer 31:18; Ho 4:13. Maurer translates, "Eglath" (in English Version, "a heifer") Shelishijah (that is, the third, to distinguish it from two others of the same name).
by the mounting up—up the ascent.
Luhith—a mountain in Moab.
Horonaim—a town of Moab not far from Zoar (Jer 48:5). It means "the two poles," being near caves.
cry of destruction—a cry appropriate to the destruction which visits their country.
6. For—the cause of their flight southwards (2Ki 3:19, 25). "For" the northern regions and even the city Nimrim (the very name of which means "limpid waters," in Gilead near Jordan) are without water or herbage.
7. Therefore—because of the devastation of the land.
abundance—literally, "that which is over and above" the necessaries of life.
brook of … willows—The fugitives flee from Nimrim, where the waters have failed, to places better watered. Margin has "valley of Arabians"; that is, to the valley on the boundary between them and Arabia-Petræa; now Wady-el Arabah. "Arabia" means a "desert."
8. Eglaim—(Eze 47:10), En-eglaim. Not the Agalum of Eusebius, eight miles from Areopolis towards the south; the context requires a town on the very borders of Moab or beyond them.
Beer-elim—literally, "the well of the Princes"—(so Nu 21:16-18). Beyond the east borders of Moab.
9. Dimon—same as Dibon (Isa 15:2). Its waters are the Arnon.
full of blood—The slain of Moab shall be so many.
bring more—fresh calamities, namely, the "lions" afterwards mentioned (2Ki 17:25; Jer 5:6; 15:3). Vitringa understands Nebuchadnezzar as meant by "the lion"; but it is plural, "lions." The "more," or in Hebrew, "additions," he explains of the addition made to the waters of Dimon by the streams of blood of the slain.