1 The burden of Moab. Because in a night destroyed was Ar of Moab -- It hath been cut off, Because in a night destroyed was Kir of Moab -- It hath been cut off.
Thus said Jehovah: For three transgressions of Moab, And for four, I do not reverse it, Because of his burning the bones of the king of Edom to lime, And I have sent a fire against Moab, And it hath consumed the palaces of Kerioth, And dying with noise is Moab, With shouting, with voice of a trumpet. And I have cut off a judge from her midst, And all its heads I slay with him, said Jehovah.
Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because of the saying of Moab and Seir: Lo, as all the nations `is' the house of Judah; Therefore, lo, I am opening the shoulder of Moab -- From the cities -- from his cities -- from his frontier, The beauty of the land, Beth-Jeshimoth, Baal-Meon, and Kiriathaim, To the sons of the east, with the sons of Ammon, And I have given it for a possession, So that the sons of Ammon are not remembered among nations. And in Moab I do judgments, And they have known that I `am' Jehovah.
I have heard the reproach of Moab, And the revilings of the sons of Ammon, Wherewith they reproached My people, And magnify `themselves' against their border. Therefore, I live, An affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel, Surely, Moab is as Sodom, And the sons of Ammon as Gomorrah, An overrunning of nettles and salt-pits, And a desolation -- unto the age. A residue of My people do seize them, And a remnant of My nation inherit them. This `is' to them for their arrogancy, Because they have reproached, And they magnify `themselves' against the people of Jehovah of Hosts. Fearful `is' Jehovah against them, For He made bare all gods of the land, And bow themselves to Him, each from his place, Do all islanders of the nations.
Concerning Moab: `Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel: Wo unto Nebo, for it is spoiled, Put to shame, captured hath been Kiriathaim, Put to shame hath been the high tower, Yea, it hath been broken down. There is no more praise of Moab, In Heshbon they devised against it evil: Come, and we cut it off from `being' a nation, Also, O Madmen, thou art cut off, After thee goeth a sword. A voice of a cry `is' from Horonaim, Spoiling and great destruction. Destroyed hath been Moab, Caused a cry to be heard have her little ones. For the ascent of Luhith with weeping, Go up doth weeping, For in the descent of Horonaim Adversaries a cry of desolation have heard. Flee ye, deliver yourselves, Ye are as a naked thing in a wilderness. For, because of thy trusting in thy works, And in thy treasures, even thou art captured, And gone out hath Chemosh in a removal, His priests and his heads together. And come in doth a spoiler unto every city, And no city doth escape, And perished hath the valley, And destroyed been the plain, as Jehovah said. Give wings to Moab, for she utterly goeth out, And her cities are for a desolation, Without an inhabitant in them. Cursed `is' he who is doing the work of Jehovah slothfully, And cursed `is' he Who is withholding his sword from blood. Secure is Moab from his youth, And at rest `is' he for his preserved things, And he hath not been emptied out from vessel unto vessel, And into captivity he hath not gone, Therefore hath his taste remained in him, And his fragrance hath not been changed. Therefore, lo, days are coming, An affirmation of Jehovah, And I have sent to him wanderers, And they have caused him to wander, And his vessels they empty out, And his bottles they dash in pieces. And ashamed hath been Moab because of Chemosh, As the house of Israel have been ashamed Because of Beth-El their confidence. How do ye say, We `are' mighty, And men of strength for battle? Spoiled is Moab, and her cities hath one gone up, And the choice of its young men Have gone down to slaughter, An affirmation of the King, Jehovah of Hosts `is' His name. Near is the calamity of Moab to come, And his affliction hath hasted exceedingly. Bemoan for him, all ye round about him, And all knowing his name, say ye: How hath it been broken, the staff of strength, The rod of beauty. Come down from honour, sit in thirst, O inhabitant, daughter of Dibon, For a spoiler of Moab hath come up to thee, He hath destroyed thy fenced places. On the way stand, and watch, O inhabitant of Aroer, Ask the fugitive and escaped, Say, What hath happened? Put to shame hath been Moab, For it hath been broken down, Howl and cry, declare ye in Arnon, For spoiled is Moab, And judgment hath come in unto the land of the plain -- unto Holon, And unto Jahazah, and on Mephaath, And on Dibon, and on Nebo, And on Beth-Diblathaim, and on Kirathaim, And on Beth-Gamul, and on Beth-Meon, And on Kerioth, and on Bozrah, And on all cities of the land of Moab, The far off and the near. Cut down hath been the horn of Moab, And his arm hath been broken, An affirmation of Jehovah. Declare ye him drunk, For against Jehovah he made himself great And Moab hath stricken in his vomit, And he hath been for a derision -- even he. And was not Israel the derision to thee? Among thieves was he found? For since thy words concerning him, Thou dost bemoan thyself. Forsake cities, and dwell in a rock, Ye inhabitants of Moab, And be as a dove making a nest in the passages of a pit's mouth. We have heard of the arrogance of Moab, Exceeding proud! His haughtiness, and his arrogance, And his pride, and the height of his heart, I -- I have known, an affirmation of Jehovah, His wrath, and `it is' not right, His devices -- not right they have done. Therefore for Moab I howl, even for Moab -- all of it, I cry for men of Kir-Heres, it doth mourn, With the weeping of Jazer, I weep for thee, O vine of Sibmah, Thy branches have passed over a sea, Unto the sea of Jazer they have come, On thy summer fruits, and on thy harvest, A spoiler hath fallen. And removed hath been joy and gladness From the fruitful field, Even from the land of Moab, And wine from wine-presses I have caused to cease, Shouting doth not proceed, The shouting `is' no shouting! Because of the cry of Heshbon unto Elealeh, Unto Jahaz they have given their voice, From Zoar unto Horonaim, A heifer of the third `year', For even waters of Nimrim become desolations. And I have caused to cease to Moab, An affirmation of Jehovah, Him who is offering in a high place, And him who is making perfume to his god. Therefore my heart for Moab as pipes doth sound, And my heart for men of Kir-Heres As pipes doth sound, Therefore the abundance he made did perish. For every head `is' bald, and every beard diminished, On all hands cuttings, and on the loins -- sackcloth. On all roofs of Moab, and in her broad-places, All of it -- `is' lamentation, For I have broken Moab as a vessel in which there is no pleasure, An affirmation of Jehovah. How hath it been broken down! they have howled, How hath Moab turned the neck ashamed, And Moab hath been for a derision. And for a terror to all round about her. For thus said Jehovah: Lo, as an eagle he doth flee, And hath spread his wings unto Moab. Captured have been the cities, And the strongholds are caught, And the heart of the mighty of Moab Hath been in that day as the heart of a distressed woman. And Moab hath been destroyed from `being' a people, For against Jehovah he exerted himself. Fear, and a snare, and a gin, `are' for thee, O inhabitant of Moab -- an affirmation of Jehovah, Whoso is fleeing because of the fear falleth into the snare, And whoso is coming up from the snare is captured by the gin, For I bring in unto her -- unto Moab -- The year of their inspection, An affirmation of Jehovah. In the shadow of Heshbon stood powerless have fugitives, For fire hath gone forth from Heshbon, And a flame from within Sihon, And it consumeth the corner of Moab, And the crown of the sons of Shaon. Wo to thee, O Moab, Perished hath the people of Chemosh, For thy sons were taken with the captives, And thy daughters with the captivity. And I have turned back `to' the captivity of Moab, In the latter end of the days, An affirmation of Jehovah! Hitherto `is' the judgment of Moab.
And it cometh to pass, at midnight, that Jehovah hath smitten every first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh who is sitting on his throne, unto the first-born of the captive who `is' in the prison-house, and every first-born of beasts. And Pharaoh riseth by night, he and all his servants, and all the Egyptians, and there is a great cry in Egypt, for there is not a house where there is not `one' dead,
And concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need of my writing to you, for yourselves have known thoroughly that the day of the Lord as a thief in the night doth so come, for when they may say, Peace and surety, then sudden destruction doth stand by them, as the travail `doth' her who is with child, and they shall not escape;
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.