Isaiah 15 commentary

This prophecy coming to pass within three years, would confirm the prophet's mission, and the belief in all his other prophecies. Concerning Moab it is foretold, 1. That their chief cities should be surprised by the enemy. Great changes, and very dismal ones, may be made in a very little time. 2. The Moabites would have recourse to their idols for relief. Ungodly men, when in trouble, have no comforter. But they are seldom brought by their terrors to approach our forgiving God with true sorrow and believing prayer. 3. There should be the cries of grief through the land. It is poor relief to have many fellow-sufferers, fellow-mourners. 4. The courage of their soldiers should fail. God can easily deprive a nation of that on which it most depended for strength and defence. 5. These calamities should cause grief in the neighbouring parts. Though enemies to Israel, yet as our fellow-creatures, it should be grievous to see them in such distress. In 6-9, the prophet describes the woful lamentations heard through the country of Moab, when it became a prey to the Assyrian army. The country should be plundered. And famine is usually the sad effect of war. Those who are eager to get abundance of this world, and to lay up what they have gotten, little consider how soon it may be all taken from them. While we warn our enemies to escape from ruin, let us pray for them, that they may seek and find forgiveness of their sins.

1. The burden of Moab. Here the Prophet prophesies against the Moabites, who were neighbors to the Jews and related to them by blood; for we know that the Moabites were descended from Lot, who was Abraham’s nephew. (Genesis 11:31, 19:37.) Those nations being so closely related, humanity at least demanded that they should maintain some friendly intercourse with each other. But no relationship prevented the Moabites from cherishing hostility towards the Jews, or even from harassing them whenever it was in their power; which is an evidence of a savage and barbarous disposition. To them also, on account of their cruelty towards the people of God, to whom they ought to have conducted themselves with brotherly love, the Prophet therefore threatens destruction.

We ought to remember the design of these predictions. It cannot be believed that they were of any advantage to the Moabites, even though they had heard from the mouth of the Prophet himself the words which we read; but he neither addressed them with his voice, nor sent to them a written communication. It was therefore to believers, rather than to them, that the Prophet looked, and for two reasons. The first reason was, that when they saw so many changes taking place, cities overturned, kingdoms destroyed and succeeding one another, they might not think that this world is governed by the blind violence of fortune, but might acknowledge the providence of God. If nothing had been foretold, the minds of men, having a strong tendency to foolishness, and being strangely blind to the works of God, might have been disposed to attribute all this to chance; but when they had been forewarned by the Prophets, they beheld the judgments of God as from a lofty watch-tower. To us also in the present day Isaiah has, as it were, pointed out with the finger what was then hidden. In his predictions we behold God sitting on his judgment-seat, and regulating everything according to his pleasure; and although the wicked in various ways vented their mad rage, still the Lord made use of their agency to execute his judgments. The second design which the prophets had in view was, that while the whole world was shaken, the Jews might know that God took care of their safety, and that he testified the warmth of his affection for the Church, by taking vengeance on her enemies by whom she had been barbarously treated.

Ar-Moab. The Hebrew word ער (Ar) means a city; as קיר (kir) means a wall; but as ער מואב (Ar-Moab) was one of the chief cities of the Moabites, it is supposed to be here a proper name. We might indeed explain both words as appellatives, to convey a threatening of the overthrow of the fortified towns of which the Moabites are proud; but I rather adopt the ordinary interpretation. Here therefore Isaiah has given a description, that we may behold in it the overthrow of the Moabites, when their chief cities are destroyed.

In the night. By the night he means a sudden and unexpected occurrence, which the Moabites did not dread. Night being appropriated to rest, if anything happen at that time, it is viewed as sudden and unlooked for, and therefore excites violent alarm. Besides, he intended to rebuke the Moabites for being free from anxiety, considering themselves to be fortified by defences on every hand, and placed beyond the reach of all danger.

Is brought to silence. That is, is destroyed, and hence also Silence sometimes means Death. Others disregard the metaphor, and choose to render it, She is cut off; but I leave that point undecided. What Isaiah declares as to the Moabites, Scripture pronounces as to the reprobate, that destruction is at hand, and, when they are looking for nothing of that kind, will fearfully overwhelm them. (Jeremiah 23:19; 1 Thessalonians 5:2, 3.)

2. He shall go up into the house. He is gone up to Bajith. — Eng. Ver.

FT228 He is gone up to Moab into the house. — Jarchi. Breithaupt remarks that the Hebrew word הבית (habbaith) is sometimes viewed as a proper name, and that in the version of Junius and Tremellius it is rendered Bajith. — Ed

FT229 “Shaving the head and face are the eastern tokens of mourning for the dead. (Isaiah 3:24; Jeremiah 41:5; Micah 1:16.)” — Rosenmuller

FT230 In their streets. — Eng. Ver.

FT231 Weeping abundantly. (Heb. descending into weeping, or, coming down with weeping.) — Eng. Ver.

FT232 His life shall be grievous unto him. — Eng. Ver.

FT233 His fugitives shall flee unto Zoar, an heifer of three years old, (or, to the borders thereof, even as an heifer.) — Eng. Ver.

FT234 “Jonathan translates the word בריחה, (berechahh,) as if it had been written בורחים (borachim,) that is, those who flee; so that the meaning will be, ‘Some of them shall flee, in order to preserve themselves, even to Zoar, as Lot, their father, once did, (Genesis 19:23,) who fled to Zoar.’” — Jarchi

FT235 Therefore the abundance they have gotten. — Eng. Ver. Therefore the substance which they have saved. — Stock The riches which they have gained. — Lowth

FT236 For the cry is gone round about the borders of Moab. — Eng. Ver.

FT237 “Alluding to the name Dimon, which signifies Bloodtown.” — Rosenmuller

FT238 For I will bring more (Heb. additions) upon Dimon. — Eng. Ver.

FT239 “This I take to be the plague of lions, recorded in 2 Kings 17:25, which afflicted the new inhabitants of the land of Israel, and the remnant of the Moabites, suffered to continue there by Shalmanezer. Other interpretations are proposed; but it is best, in obscure local prophecies, to adhere to the little light afforded by the records of the times.” — Stock So far as relates to the words, some pass by the Hebrew noun בית, (baith;) but as it signifies a house and a temple, it is probable that it was the word commonly used for a temple, as in many other passages the house of God means the temple {Bogus footnote} (Exodus 23:19, 34:26; Deuteronomy 23:18; Joshua 9:23.) By representing the Moabites as bowing down before their idols, he at the same time condemns their superstition in worshipping their idol Chemosh, as may easily be inferred from 1 Kings 11:7, Jeremiah 48:7, 13. “The Moabites,” says Isaiah, “shall betake themselves to their god when matters are so desperate, but to no purpose; for they shall find in him no assistance.”

And to Dibon to the high places. This makes it still more evident that he is speaking of the Temple; and it is beyond a doubt that the Moabites had a fortress remarkable and celebrated above the rest, in which they had built high places in honor of their idol. Being ignorant of the true God, to whom they might betake themselves in adversity, we need not wonder that they betake themselves to an idol, in conformity to their ordinary custom. By doing this they increased their misery, and brought upon themselves an accumulation of all distresses; for they inflamed the wrath of God still more by those very means which they considered to be fitted for appeasing his wrath. He therefore wished to state more plainly the condition of the ungodly, who have no refuge in adversity; for as to those remedies which they think will be adapted to their diseases, nothing can be more destructive to them, since they excite more and more the Lord’s indignation.

Moab shall howl over Nebo and over Medeba. Nebo also was one of the cities of the Moabites. The Prophet has already named two of them, Ar and Kir; he now adds a third, Nebo; and lastly he mentions a fourth, Medeba; as if he had said that this destruction would not only seize the extremities of that country, but would reach its inmost recesses, so that not one corner could be exempted.

On every head. Every nation has its peculiar ceremonies to denote mourning or joy. The Italians and other western nations allowed the hair and beard to grow when they were in mourning; and hence arose the phrase, to lengthen the beard. On the other hand, the eastern nations shaved the head and beard, which they reckoned to be ornamental; and when they reversed their ordinary custom, that was a token of mourning. {Bogus footnote} Nothing else therefore is meant than that the condition of the whole kingdom will be so mournful, that the indications of mirth will be laid aside, and all will wear the tokens of grief and lamentation.

3. In his streets. {Bogus footnote} He proceeds with the same subject, describing more fully the tokens of mourning, in which the eastern nations abound more than others; for, having quicker understandings and keener feelings, they express their emotions by outward signs more than others do, who, being slower in apprehension, are likewise slower in movement and gesture. It was no doubt faulty in them that they indulged in so many ceremonies and gesticulations; but the Prophet spoke of them as what was known and common, only for the purpose of describing the grief which would follow the desolation of that country.

Every one shall howl and descend to weeping. {Bogus footnote} It was with good reason that he added this description; for we are never moved by predictions, unless the Lord place them, as it were, before our eyes. Lest the Jews should think that these matters might be lightly passed by, when he described that destruction, he determined to mention also mourning, weeping, and howling, that they might see almost with their own eyes those events which appear to be incredible, for the Moabites were at that time in a state of profound peace, and believers had the more need of being confirmed, that they might not call this prophecy in question. By the same means he points out the despair to which unbelievers are liable in adversity, for the support on which they rely is insecure.

4. And Heshbon shall cry, and Elealeh. Here he names other cities; for his design is to bind up, as it were, in a bundle all the cities of that country, that they may be involved in the general destruction; as if he had said, that none at all shall be exempted.

Therefore the light-armed soldiers of Moab shall howl. Though על כן (gnal ken) literally signifies therefore, yet some think that a reason is not here assigned; but that is of little importance. The Prophet shows that there will be none that does not howl; for he declares that the bold and courageous shall mourn. Next he adds, the soul of every one shall howl to him. {Bogus footnote} Every one shall be so engrossed with his own grief, that he will not think of his neighbors.

5. My heart shall cry out for Moab. At length he assumes the character of a mourner. But it may be thought to be strange and inconsistent in him to bewail the calamity of the Moabites; for he ought rather to have lamented the destruction of the Church, and to have rejoiced at the ruin of her enemies. It is customary with the prophets, however, to assume in this manner the character of those whose calamities they foretell, and thus to exhibit their condition, as it were, on a stage; by which means they produce a stronger impression than if they delivered their instruction in a direct form. Yet there can be no doubt that the prophets shuddered at the judgments of God, even against the wicked; though the meaning which I have stated is simpler and more appropriate, and may easily be inferred from frequent usage.

His fugitives to Zoar, {Bogus footnote} a heifer of three years old. He calls them fugitives who shall escape from it; for he means that those who shall escape from Moab will come even to Zoar {Bogus footnote} Now, he compares Zoar to a heifer of three years old, which is in full vigor, and has not felt the pangs of birth, or toil, or the yoke, but revels in the buoyancy of mirth and wantonness. When men are hard pressed by an invading army, they flee to cities which have not been attacked, and which appear to be the farthest removed from danger. Such was Zoar, for it had never been attacked by enemies. Yet, if it be thought better to view it as applying to the whole country, I have no objection; for Jeremiah appears to speak in general terms, though he borrows many statements from Isaiah. (Jeremiah 48:34.) But perhaps in that passage also he names both Zoar and Horonaim, or rather the whole of the country between them.

If you extend it to the whole nation, the meaning will be, “The Moabites have enjoyed the highest luxury, and every kind of abundance, and hitherto have suffered no distress. Hence has arisen their stubbornness, and, in order to subdue them, they must be banished and driven even to Zoar.” Now Zoar was a town very far removed from the Moabites; and, therefore, he means that they cannot provide for their safety but by fleeing to a distance. Here all with whom the Lord deals tenderly are taught not to exalt themselves, or to provoke God by their wantonness, but to be modest even amidst the highest prosperity, and likewise to be prepared for every change, when the Lord shall be pleased to throw them down from their prosperity.

By the going up of Luhith. He describes other parts of the country of Moab, and delineates the flight and mourning of that nature which should spread throughout the whole land.

By the way of Horonaim they shall raise the cry of sorrow. The words which we have translated, they shall raise up a cry, some render, they shall bruise or break themselves by crying, and think there is a transposition of the letters, and that ע (ain) is doubled; and thus the root of the verb would be רעה, (ragnah.) But as it made little difference in the meaning of the passage, I have adhered to the commonly received opinion, that יעערו (yegnogneru) is derived from the verb עור, (gnur.) If it be thought better to make the verb signify break, the meaning will be, “There shall be a shaking, and, as it were, a breaking of the members of the body, when arm is dashed against arm.”

6. The waters of Nimrim. By an exaggerated form of expression he gives a more enlarged view of this desolation. He says that the grass is withered, which takes place when God leaves any soil destitute of all nourishment. The waters will be taken away, which probably were highly necessary for that dry and parched country; for soils of that kind produce nothing without irrigation. Though the style is exaggerated, yet nothing is stated but what is strictly true; for the Prophet did not go beyond proper bounds, but found it necessary to use bold expressions to suit the ignorance of the people, in order to inform them that a land which is deprived of the blessing of God will be like a desert without any beauty.

7. Therefore what every one hath left. {Bogus footnote} This corresponds to the ordinary expression, (Ce qu’il aura espargne,) Whatever he shall have spared. He means the riches that are laid up, and describes what usually happens in countries which are invaded by an enemy. All the inhabitants are wont to convey their riches elsewhere, and to lay them up in some safe place, that they may afterwards bring them back when peace has been restored.

To the brook of the willows. He means that they will have no storehouse, no fortress in which they can lay them up with safety; so that they will be compelled to hide them among the willows. This certainly is the lowest wretchedness, when the enemy is attacking us, and we can find no storehouse for laying up those things which we have collected with great industry. These willows were probably situated in some remote and sequestered place. Others explain it as referring to enemies, that they will bring the fruits of their robbery to the brook, to divide among themselves the general plunder.

8. The cry is gone round about the borders of Moab. {Bogus footnote} כי, (ki,) for, is added for the sake of ornament. He means that every part of that country all around shall be full of crying and howling; because that destruction reaches from one extremity to another. Besides the crying he twice mentions the howling, to denote the excess of grief, as men who are in despair surrender themselves entirely to lamentation.

9. For the waters of Dimon shall be filled with blood. {Bogus footnote} Here he describes not only grief and howling, flight or trembling, or the covetousness of enemies in plundering their wealth, but the slaughter of men. How great must this have been, when large and magnificent rivers, such as Dimon was, are filled with blood!

For I will lay upon Dimon additions. {Bogus footnote} By additions he means that the Lord, in whose name he speaks, will multiply the murders; so that the dead bodies shall be heaped up, and there shall be no end to cruelty and slaying. Now, though the Assyrians were cruel in this slaughter, yet the Lord was not cruel; for he justly punished the barbarity of the Moabites which they basely exercised towards the Jews, on whom they ought to have had compassion. It was right that they should suffer the same punishment which they had inflicted on others.

To those who have escaped of Moab lions. These also are the additions of which he spake, or, at least, a part of them. This may be regarded as the copestone of that calamity; so that if any detachments of the enemy attempted to escape, and to rescue themselves from the slaughter, they had to encounter lions {Bogus footnote} and wild beasts, by which they were devoured. “They will, indeed,” says he, “rescue themselves from the slaughter, but they will not on that account be safe, nor will they escape the hand of God.” And this is the true meaning of the Prophet, if we carefully examine the scope of the whole passage; for he intended to deepen the picture of that distressing calamity by adding, that even the small remnant which shall be rescued from the slaughter will fall into the jaws of lions. The hand of the Lord pursues the wicked in such a manner that they cannot in any way escape; for if they avoid one danger, they immediately meet with another. Let us remember that these things are spoken by the Prophet for the consolation of the godly, that they may fortify their minds by some promise against the cruelty of their enemies, who shall at length be destroyed, and shall nowhere find a refuge either in their gods, or in fortresses, or in lurking-places, or in flight.

CHAPTER 16

Isaiah Chapter 16:1-14

1. Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land from Sela to the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion.

1. Mittite agnum dominatori terrae de petra deserti ad montem filiae Sion.

2. For it shall be, that as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon.

2. Erit autem sicut avis emissa, recedens e nido: ita erunt filiae Moab ad transitus Arnon.

3. Take counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noon-day; hide the outcasts; bewray not him that wandereth.

3. Cogite consilium, facite judicium; pone sicut noctem umbram tuam in medio meridiei; absconde expulsos, profugum ne prodas.

4. Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler: for the extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the land.

4. Peregrinentur apud te ejecti mei. Moab, sis illis latibulum a facie vastatoris; quoniam cessavit emunctor, finitus est vastator, consumptus est conculcator e terra.

5. And in mercy shall the throne be established; and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness.

5. Et praeparabitur in misericordia solium, sedebitque super ipsum in firmitate, in tabernaculo David qui judicet, et quaerat judicium, et acceleret justitiam.

6. We have heard of the pride of Moab, (he is very proud,) even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: but his lies shall not be so.

6. Audivimus superbiam Moab (superbus est valde) superbiam ejus, et arrogantiam ejus, et insolentiam (vel, indignationem) ejus. Sed non rata erunt mendacia ejus.

7. Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab, every one shall howl: for the foundations of Kir-hareseth shall ye mourn; surely they are stricken.

7. Propterea ululabit Moab ad Moab, totus ululabit, propter fundamenta Kir-hareseth; gemetis tantum percussi.

8. For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah: the lords of the heathen have broken down the principal plants thereof; they are come even unto Jazer, they wandered through the wilderness: her branches are stretched out, they are gone over the sea:

8. Quoniam vites Hesbon excisae sunt, vitis Sibma. Domini gentium conculcarunt eximias ejus propagines (vel, palmites) quae usque ad Iazer pervenerant; erraverant usque ad desertum, nobiles ejus plantae prostratae sunt, quae transibant mare.

9. Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah: I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh; for the shouting for thy summer-fruits, and for thy harvest, is fallen.

9. Propterea flebo in fletu Iazer vitis Sibma; inebriabo te lachrymis meis Hesbon et Eleale; quoniam super collectionem tuam, et super messem tuam irruet (vel, cadet) canticum.

10. And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the plentiful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting: the treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses; I have made their vintage-shouting to cease.

10. Sublatum est gaudium et exultatio ab agro fertili; in vineis non exultabitur, nec jubilabitur. Vinum in torcularibus non calcabit calcator, canticum quiescere feci.

11. Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kir-haresh.

11. Propterea viscera mea super Moab quasi cithara sonabunt, et interiora mea super Kir-hareseth.

12. And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not prevail.

12. Et erit cum apparuerit fatigatum esse Moab super excelsa, tunc veniet ad sanctuarium precandi causa; nec proficiet.

13. This is the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning Moab since that time.

13. Hoc est verbum quod protulit Iehova super Moab ab hoc tempore.

14. But now the Lord hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of an hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned, with all that great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and feeble.

14. Nunc, inquam, locutus est Iehova, dicens, Tres anni, quasi anni mercenarii; et tunc in ignominiam vertetur gloria Moab, in tota multitudine ejus, quamvis multa; et reliquiae ejus paucae, exiguae, et invalidae.

CHAPTER 15

Is 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 (Is 21:4; Jr 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" (Is 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 (Is 15:9).

to weep--at the sudden calamity.

over Nebo--rather "in Nebo"; not "on account of" Nebo (compare Is 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 Jr 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 Jr 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 Jr 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 Jr 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 (Jr 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 (Is 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; Jr 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.

Because in the night - בליל beleil. That both these cities should be taken in the night is a circumstance somewhat unusual; but not so material as to deserve to be so strongly insisted upon. Vitringa, by his remark on this word, shows that he was dissatisfied with it in its plain and obvious meaning, and is forced to have recourse to a very hard metaphorical interpretation of it. Noctu vel nocturno impetu; vel metaphorice, repente, subito, inexpectata destructione: placet posterius. Calmet conjectures, and I think it probable, that the true reading is כליל keleil, as the night. There are many mistakes in the Hebrew text arising from the very great similitude of the letters ב beth, and כ caph, which in many MSS., and some printed editions, are hardly distinguishable.

Admitting this reading, the translation will be, - "Because Ar is utterly destroyed, Moab is undone!

Because Kir is utterly destroyed, Moab is undone!"

He is gone to Bajith, and to Dibon - עלה הבית alah habbayith, should be rendered, he is gone to the House, i.e., to their chief temple, where they practiced idolatry. Dibon was the name of a tower where also was an idolatrous temple; thither they went to weep and pray before their idols, that they might interpose and save them from their calamities. So R. D. Kimchi. Me is gone to Bajith and to Dibon: but Bishop Lowth reads Beth Dibon; this is the name of one place; and the two words are to be joined together, without the ו vau intervening. So the Chaldee and Syriac. This reading is not supported by any MS. or Version: but some MSS., instead of ער ar, have עיר ir, a city, others have עד ad, unto, and some editions have על al, upon. But all these help little, though they show that the place puzzled both the scribes and the editors.

On all their heads shall be baldness, etc." On every head there is baldness," etc. - Herodotus, 2:36, speaks of it as a general practice among all men, except the Egyptians, to cut off their hair as a token of mourning. "Cut off thy hair, and cast it away," says Jeremiah, Jer 7:29, "and take up a lamentation." Τουτο νυ και γερας οιον οἱζυροισι βροτοισι Κειρασθαι τε κομην, βαλεειν τ' απο δακρυ παρειων.

Hom. Odyss. 4:197. "The rites of wo

Are all, alas! the living can bestow;

O'er the congenial dust enjoined to shear

The graceful curl, and drop the tender tear."

Pope.

On every head. - For ראשיו roshaiv, read ראש rosh. So the parallel place, Jer 48:37, and so three MSS., one ancient. An ancient MS. reads על כל ראש al col rosh. Five read בכל ראש bechol rosh, on every head, with the Septuagint and Arabic. And every head. The ו vau, and, is found in thirty MSS., in three editions, and in the Syriac, Vulgate, and Chaldee.

Cut off "Shorn" - The printed editions, as well as the MSS., are divided on the reading of this word. Some have גדועה geduah, shorn, others גרעה geruah, diminished. The similitude of the letters ד daleth and ר resh has likewise occasioned many mistakes. In the present case, the sense is pretty much the same with either reading. The text of Jer 48:37 has the latter, diminished. The former reading is found in twelve of Dr. Zennicott's MSS., forty of De Rossi's, and two of my own. A great number of editions have the same reading.

With sackcloth - שק sak. The word is in the plural שקים sakkim, sacks, in one of De Rossi's MSS.

The armed soldiers "The very loins" - So the Septuagint, ἡ οσφυς, and the Syriac. They cry out violently, with their utmost force.

My heart shall cry out for Moab "The heart of Moab crieth within her" - For לבי libbi, my heart, the Septuagint reads לבו libbo, his heart, or לב leb; the Chaldee, לבו libbo. For בריחיה bericheyha, the Syriac reads ברוחה berocheh; and so likewise the Septuagint, rendering it εν αυτῃ, Edit. Vat: or εν ἑαυτῃ, Edit. Alex. and MSS. I., D. II.

A heifer of three years old "A young heifer" - Hebrew, a heifer three years old, in full strength; as Horace uses equa trima, for a young mare just coming to her prime. Bochart observes, from Aristotle, Hist. Animal. lib. 4 that in this kind of animals alone the voice of the female is deeper than that of the male; therefore the lowing of the heifer, rather than of the bullock, is chosen by the prophet, as the more proper image to express the mourning of Moab. But I must add that the expression here is very short and obscure; and the opinions of interpreters are various in regard to the meaning. Compare Jer 48:34.

Shall they go it up "They shall ascend" - For יעלה yaaleh, the Septuagint and a MS. read in the plural, יעלו yaalu. And from this passage the parallel place in Jer 48:5 must be corrected; where, for יעלה בכי yaaleh bechi, which gives no good sense, read יעלה בו yaaleh bo.

"Shall perish" - אבדו abadu or אבדה abadeh. This word seems to have been lost out of the text: it is supplied by the parallel place, Jer 48:36. The Syriac expresses it by עבר aber, praeteriit, "he hath passed;" and the Chaldee by יתבזזון yithbazezun, diripientur.

To the brook of the willows "To the valley of willows" - That is, to Babylon. Hieron. and Jarchi in loc., both referring to Psa 137:2. So likewise Prideaux, Le Clerc, etc.

The waters of Dimon - Some have Dibon, others have Ribon and Rimon. St. Jerome observes that the same town was called both Dibon and Dimon. The reading is therefore indifferent.

Upon him that escapeth of Moab, etc. "Upon the escaped of Moab, and Ariel, and the remnant of Admah" - The Septuagint for עריה aryeh, read אריאל ariel. Ar Moab was called also Ariel or Areopolis, Hieron. and Theodoret. See Cellarius. They make אדמה Admah, also a proper name. Michaelis thinks that the Moabites might be called the remnant of Admah, as sprung from Lot and his daughters, escaped from the destruction of that and the other cities; or, metaphorically, as the Jews are called princes of Sodom, and people of Gomorrah, Isa 1:10. Bibliotheque Orient. Part v., p. 195. The reading of this verse is very doubtful; and the sense, in every way in which it can be read, very obscure. - L. Calmet thinks there may be a reference to 1Chr 11:22, where it is said, "Benaiah slew two lion-like men of Moab," or the two Ariels of Moab, and would therefore translate, "I will bring down the remnant of Moab like Ariel, (which Benaiah smote), and them that are escaped like Adamah." They shall be exterminated, as were the inhabitants of those two cities. Ariel was a double city - the river Arnon dividing it in two. This is the two Ariels of Moab - not two lion-like men, much less two lions. See Calmet on this place.

The burden - A prophecy of the destruction of the Moabites, the inveterate enemies of the Jews, begun by the Assyrian, and finished by the Babylonian emperors. In a night - Suddenly and unexpectedly. Ar - The chief city of Moab. Kir - Another eminent city of Moab.

Bajith - Which signifies an house. It is supposed to be some eminent house or temple of their idols. Dibon - Another city of Moab. To weep - To offer their supplications with tears to their idols for help. Medeba - Two considerable cities, anciently belonging to the Moabites. Beard - The hair of their heads and beards was shaved, as was usual in great mournings.

On the tops - Which were made flat, to which men used to go up, to cry to God in heaven, or to men for help.

Heshbon - Two other Moabitish cities. Jahaz - Another city in the utmost borders of Moab. Soldiers - Who use to be the most courageous.

Moab - Tho' they are a most vile nation. Zoar - Zoar was a town bordering upon Moab. Of destruction - Such a cry as men send forth when they are just falling into the pit of destruction.

Waters - Watery grounds being very fruitful, are commonly most inhabited; but now they also, much more the dry and barren grounds, shall be desolate and without inhabitant.

They - Their enemies. Brook - Possibly he means some such river which ran into Euphrates, and so gave them opportunity of carrying their spoils by water unto Babylon.

The cry - Their cry fills all the parts of the country.

More - More than hath been already mentioned. Lions - God shall send lions to find out those that escape the fury of men.

THe burden of Moab : Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence ; because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence:

A Prophecy of the Destruction of the Moabites, the inveterate and implacable Enemies of the Iews, begun by the Assyrian, and finished by the Babylonian Emperours.

Or, in a night, suddenly and unexpectedly; for Men sleep securely in the Night, and therefore the Evils which then overtake them, are most terrible to them.

The chief City of Moab, Numb. 21. 28. Deut. 2. 9.

Or rather, is cut off, as the Word oft signifies, as Ier. 47. 5. Hos. 10. 9, 15. and elsewhere.

Another eminent City of Moab, called more largely and fully Kir-heres, and Kir-Haresheth, Isa. 16. 7, 11. Ier. 48. 31, 36.

Marginal references: Ezek. 25. 8. Amos 2. 1.; Or, cut off.

2 He is gone up to Bajith , and to Dibon , the high places, to weep : Moab shall howl over Nebo, and over Medeba , on all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard cut off .

Which signifies an house. It is supposed to be the Name of a Place so called from some eminent House or Temple of their Idols which was in it. It is called more fully Beth-baal-meon, that is, The house of Baals habitation, Ios. 13. 17.

Another City of Moab, as is manifest from Ier. 48. 18, 22. where also was their other eminent High places. To these two Places they used to resort in case of great Difficulties and Troubles.

To offer their Supplications with Tears to their Idols for help.

Two considerable Cities, anciently belonging to the Moabites, from whom they were taken by the Amorites, and from them by the Israelites, and possessed by the Reubenites, Numb. 21. 30. & 32. 3, 38. but were, as it seems, recovered by the Moabites, in whose hands they now were, as is evident, for Nebo, Ier. 48. 1, 22. and for Medeba, from this Text.

The Hair of their Heads and Beards (which was their Ornament) was shaved, as was usual in great Mournings, as hath been oft observed upon di[illegible: 1+ letters]ers preceding Texts. See on Levit. 19. 27, 28. & 21. 5.

Marginal references: Jer. 47. 5. & 48. 37, 38. Ezek. 7. 18.

3 In their streets they shall gird themselves with sack-cloth : on the tops of their houses , and in their streets , every one shall howl weeping abundantly.

This was another Practice of Mourners.

Which were made flat, Deut. 22. 8. to which men used to go up, either to walk, or to cry to God in Heaven or to Men for Help.

Publickly, without shame; whereas in ordinary Sorrows men are wont to seek secret Places for their Mourning.

Marginal references: Heb. descending into weeping, or, coming down with weeping.

4 And Heshbon shall cry, and Elealeh : their voice shall be heard even unto Jahaz : therefore the armed souldiers of Moab shall cry out, his life shall be grievous unto him .

Two other Moabitish Cities; of which see Numb. 21. 25, 26. & 32. 3. 37.

Another City in the utmost Borders of Moah, Numb. 21. 23. called also Iahazah, Ios. 21. 36.

Who should be and use to be the most couragious.

The Moabites shall generally long for death, to free themselves from those dreadful Calamities which they perceive unavoidably coming upon them.

5 My heart shall cry out for Moab , his fugitives shall flee unto Zoar , an heifer of three years old : for by the mounting up of Luhith with weeping shall they go it up: for in the way of Horonaim, they shall raise up a cry of destruction .

Their Destruction approaching is so dreadful, that although they are a most vile Nation, and by their implacable Enmity against God and his People do abundantly deserve it, yet the Respect which I have to Humane Nature fills me with Horrour at the very thoughts of it. Compare Isa. 16. 11.

Or, his bars, as others render it, and as this Word is frequently taken, as Exod. 26. 26, 27. Psal. 107▪ 16. &c. whereby he may understand their valiant Men, or their Princes and Rulers, who as they are called the shields of the earth, Psal. 47. 9. because, like Shields, they do or should defend their People; so for the same reason they may be called bars, because Bars are the Strength of the Gates of Cities or Castles, and therefore are mentioned as such Psal. 147. 13. Prov. 18. 19. Ier. 51. 30.

Or, shall cry unto Zoar; either shall cry as they go along the way, even till they come to Zoar; or, shall cry so as they may be heard to Zoar: which may easily be understood out of the foregoing Verse. Zoar was a Town bordering upon Moab; of which see [illegible: 1+ letters]en. 19. 20, 21, 22. & Deut. 34. 3.

Which some understand of the City of Zoar, so called for her Strength and Wantonness. But such a Description of Zoar seems very improper and impertinent in this place. The Words therefore are to be translated here, as they are by our Translators, Ier. 48. 34. as an▪ heifer of three years old; and so they belong to their Cry, and signifie that it is strong and loud, like that of such an Heifer.

He signifies, that the Cry should be universal, in all Places where they come, and reaching from one side of the Country to another. Of Luhith see Ier. 48. 4, 5.

Such a Cry as men send forth when they are just falling into the Pit of Destruction.

Marginal references: Or, to the borders thereof, even to Zoar, as an heis[illegible: 1+ letters]r.; Heb. breaking.; Jer, 48. 5. 34.

6 For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate: for the hay is withered away, the grass faileth, there is no green thing .

Either, 1. properly, they shall be dried up; or, 2. figuratively, the Waterish Grounds, as waters seem to be taken, Eccles. 11. 1. Isa. 32. 20. These being very fruitful, are commonly most inhabited and cultivated; but now they also, and much more the dry and barren Grounds, shall be desolate, and without Inhabitant.

By the just and special Judgment of God. Thus God and Man conspire together to destroy them.

Marginal references: Heb. desolations.

7 Therefore the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have laid up, shall they carry to the brook of the willows .

To wit, their Enemies; which is plainly implied.

Unto some Brook or River having great numbers of Willows growing by it, by which they might convey them to some eminent and strong City built upon the same River. Possibly he means some such River which [illegible: 1+ letters]an into Euphrates, and so gave them opportunity of carrying their Spoils by Water unto Babylon. Though the Words may be rendred, into the vally of the Arabians; whither the Spoils might be first carried, in order to their Transportation into Assyria or Chaldaea: for part of Arabia lay between Moab and those Countries. But the former Translation seems better, because these very Words are so rendred, Levit. 23. 40.

Marginal references: Or, valley of the Arabians.

8 For the cry is gone round about the borders of Moab: the howling thereof unto Eglaim, and the howling thereof unto Beer-elim.

Their Cry fills all the Parts of the Country.

9 For the waters of Dimon shall be full of Blood: for I will bring more upon Dimon, lions upon him that escapeth of Moab, and upon the remnant of the land.

This seems to be the same place with Dibon mentioned v. 2. here called Dimon for the great bloodshed in it, as it here follows; such changes of a Letter being not unusual in Proper Names, as in Merodach for Berodach, Isa. 39. 1.

Either, 1. more than upon other parts of the Country, that being one of their High-places, v. 2. or rather, 2. more than hath been already mentioned.

God shall send Lions to find out those who escape the Fury of Men.

Marginal references: Heb. additi [illegible: 1+ letters]s.

Isa 15:1

There is no other prophecy in the book of Isaiah in which the heart of the prophet is so painfully affected by what his mind sees, and his mouth is obliged to prophesy. All that he predicts evokes his deepest sympathy, just as if he himself belonged to the unfortunate nation to which he is called to be a messenger of woe. He commences with an utterance of amazement. “Oracle concerning Moab! for in a night 'Ar-Moab is laid waste, destroyed; for in a night Kir-Moab is laid waste, destroyed.” The ci (for) is explanatory in both instances, and not simply affirmative, or, as Knobel maintains, recitative, and therefore unmeaning. The prophet justifies the peculiar heading to his prophecy from the horrible vision given him to see, and takes us at once into the very heart of the vision, as in Isa 17:1; Isa 23:1. 'Ar Moab (in which 'Ar is Moabitish for 'Ir; cf., Jer 49:3, where we find 'Ai written instead of 'Ar, which we should naturally expect) is the name of the capital of Moab (Grecized, Areopolis), which was situated to the south of the Arnon, at present a large field of ruins, with a village of the name of Rabba. Kir Moab (in which Kir is the Moabitish for Kiryah) was the chief fortress of Joab, which was situated to the south-east of Ar, the present Kerek, where there is still a town with a fortification upon a rock, which can be seen from Jerusalem with a telescope on a clear day, and forms so thoroughly one mass with the rock, that in 1834, when Ibrahim Pasha resolved to pull it down, he was obliged to relinquish the project. The identity of Kir and Kerek is unquestionable, but that of Ar and Rabba has been disputed; and on the ground of Num 22:36, where it seems to be placed nearer the Arnon, it has been transposed to the ruins on the pasture land at the confluence of the Lejûm and Mujib (= “the city that is by the river” in Deu 2:36 and Jos 13:9, Jos 13:16 : see Comm. on Num 21:15) - a conjecture which has this against it, that the name Areopolis, which has been formed from Ar, is attached to the “metropolis civitas Ar,” which was called Rabba as the metropolis, and of which Jerome relates (on the passage before us), as an event associated with his own childhood, that it was then destroyed by an earthquake (probably in 342). The two names of the cities are used as masculine here, like Dammesek in Isa 17:1, and Tzor in Isa 23:1, though it cannot therefore be said, as at Mic 5:1, that the city stands for the inhabitants (Ges. Lehrgebäude, p. 469). “In a night” (ליל absolute, as in Isa 21:11, not construct, which would give an illogical assertion, as shuddad and nidmâh are almost coincident, so far as the sense is concerned) the two pillars of the strength of Moab are overthrown. In the space of a night, and therefore very suddenly (Isa 17:14), Moab is destroyed. The prophet repeats twice what it would have been quite sufficient to say once, just as if he had been condemned to keep his eye fixed upon the awful spectacle (on the asyndeton, see at Isa 33:9; and on the anadiplosis, Isa 15:8; Isa 8:9; Isa 21:11; Isa 17:12-13). His first sensation is that of horror.

Isa 15:2-4

But just as horror, when once it begins to reflect, is dissolved in tears, the thunder-claps in Isa 15:1 are followed by universal weeping and lamentation. “They go up to the temple-house and Dibon, up to the heights to weep: upon Nebo and upon Medebah of Moab there is weeping: on all heads baldness, every beard is mutilated. In the markets of Moab they gird themselves with sackcloth; on the roofs of the land, and in its streets, everything wails, melting into tears. Heshbon cries, and 'Elâle; even to Jahaz they hear their howling; even the armed men of Moab break out into mourning thereat; its soul trembles within it.” The people (the subject to עלה) ascend the mountain with the temple of Chemosh, the central sanctuary of the land. This temple is called hab-baith, though not that there was a Moabitish town or village with some such name as Bêth-Diblathaim (Jer 48:22), as Knobel supposes. Dibon, which lay above the Arnon (Wady Mujib), like all the places mentioned in Isa 15:2-4, at present a heap of ruins, a short hour to the north of the central Arnon, in the splendid plain of el-Chura, had consecrated heights in the neighbourhood (cf., Jos 13:17; Num 22:41), and therefore would turn to them. Moab mourns upon Nebo and Medebah; ייליל, for which we find יהיליל in Isa 52:5, is written intentionally for a double preformative, instead of ייליל (compare the similar forms in Job 24:21; Psa 138:6, and Ges. §70, Anm.). על is to be taken in a local sense, as Hendewerk, Drechsler, and Knobel have rendered it. For Nebo was probably a place situated upon a height on the mountain of that name, towards the south-east of Heshbon (the ruins of Nabo, Nabau, mentioned in the Onom.); and Medebah (still a heap of ruins bearing the same name) stood upon a round hill about two hours to the south-east of Heshbon. According to Jerome, there was an image of Chemosh in Nebo; and among the ruins of Madeba, Seetzen discovered the foundations of a strange temple. There follows here a description of the expressions of pain. Instead of the usual ראשיו, we read ראשיו here. And instead of gedu‛âh (abscissae), Jeremiah (Jer 48:37) has, according to his usual style, geru'âh (decurtatae), with the simple alteration of a single letter.At the same time, the Masora on this passage before us is for geru‛ah with Resh, and we also find this reading in Nissel, Clodius, Jablonsky, and in earlier editions; whilst Sonc. 1486, Ven. 1521, and others, have gedu‛ah, with Daleth.

All runs down with weeping (culloh, written as in Isa 16:7; in Isa 9:8, Isa 9:16, we have cullo instead). In other cases it is the eyes that are said to run down in tears, streams, or water-brooks; but here, by a still bolder metonymy, the whole man is said to flow down to the ground, as if melting in a stream of tears. Heshbon and Elale are still visible in their ruins, which lie only half an hour apart upon their separate hills and are still called by the names Husban and el-Al. They were both situated upon hills which commanded an extensive prospect. And there the cry of woe created an echo which was audible as far as Jahaz (Jahza), the city where the king of Heshbon offered battle to Israel in the time of Moses (Deu 2:32). The general mourning was so great, that even the armed men, i.e., the heroes (Jer 48:41) of Moab, were seized with despair, and cried out in their anguish (the same figure as in Isa 33:7). על־כן(, thereat, namely on account of this universal lamentation. Thus the lamentation was universal, without exception. Naphsho (his soul) refers to Moab as a whole nation. The soul of Moab trembles in all the limbs of the national body; ירעה (forming a play upon the sound with יריעוּ), an Arabic word, and in יריעה a Hebrew word also, signifies tremere, huc illuc agitari - an explanation which we prefer, with Rosenmüller and Gesenius, to the idea that ירע is a secondary verb to רעע, fut. ירע. לו is an ethical dative (as in Psa 120:6 and Psa 123:4), throwing the action or the pathos inwardly (see Psychology, p. 152). The heart of the prophet participates in this pain with which Moab is agitated throughout; for, as Rashi observes, it is just in this that the prophets of Israel were distinguished from heathen prophets, such as Balaam for example, viz., that the calamities which they announced to the nations went to their own heart (compare Isa 21:3-4, with Isa 22:4).

Isa 15:5-6

The difficult words in which the prophet expresses this sympathy we render as follows: “My heart, towards Moab it crieth out; its bolts reached to Zoar, the three-year-old heifer.” The Lamed in l'Moab is the same both here and in Isa 16:11 as in Isa 14:8-9, viz., “turned toward Moab.” Moab, which was masculine in Isa 15:4, is feminine here. We may infer from this that עד־צער בריחה is a statement which concerns Moab as a land. Now, berichim signifies the bolts in every other passage in which it occurs; and it is possible to speak of the bolts of a land with just as much propriety as in Lam 2:9 and Jer 51:30 (cf., Jon 2:7) of the bolts of a city. And the statement that the bolts of this land went to Zoar is also a very appropriate one, for Kir Moab and Zoar formed the southern fortified girdle of the land; and Zoar, on the south-western tongue of land which runs into the Dead Sea, was the uttermost fortress of Moab, looking over towards Judah; and in its depressed situation below the level of the sea it formed, as it were, the opposite pole of Kir Moab, the highest point in the high land itself. Hence we agree with Jerome, who adopts the rendering vectes ejus usque ad Segor, whereas all the modern translators have taken the word in the sense of fugitives. ‛Eglath sheilshiyyâh, which Rosenmüller, Knobel, Drechsler, Meier, and others have taken quite unnecessarily as a proper name, is either in apposition to Zoar or to Moab. In the former case it is a distinguishing epithet. An ox of the three years, or more literally of the third year (cf., meshullesheth, Gen 15:9), i.e., a three-year-old ox, is one that is still in all the freshness and fulness of its strength, and that has not yet been exhausted by the length of time that it has worn the yoke. The application of the term to the Moabitish nation is favoured by Jer 46:20, where Egypt is called “a very fair heifer” (‛eglâh yephēh-phiyyâh), whilst Babylon is called the same in Jer 50:11 (cf., Hos 4:16; Hos 10:11). And in the same way, according to the lxx, Vulg., Targum, and Gesenius, Moab is called juvenca tertii anni, h. e. indomita jugoque non assueta, as a nation that was still in the vigour of youth, and if it had hitherto borne the yoke, had always shaken it off again. But the application of it to Zoar is favoured (1.) by Jer 48:34, where this epithet is applied to another Moabitish city; (2.) by the accentuation; and (3.) by the fact that in the other case we should expect berı̄châh (the three-year-old heifer, i.e., Moab, is a fugitive to Zoar: vid., Luzzatto). Thus Zoar, the fine, strong, and hitherto unconquered city, is now the destination of the wildest flight before the foe that is coming from the north. A blow has fallen upon Joab, that is more terrible than any that has preceded it.

In a few co-ordinate clauses the prophet now sets before us the several scenes of mourning and desolation. “for the mountain slope of Luhith they ascend with weeping; for on the road to Horonayim they lift up a cry of despair. For the waters of Nimrim are waste places from this time forth: for the grass is dried up, the vegetation wasteth away, the green is gone.” The road to Luhith (according to the Onom. between Ar-Moab and Zoar, and therefore in the centre of Moabitis proper) led up a height, and the road to Horonayim (according to Jer 48:5) down a slope. Weeping, they ran up to the mountain city to hide themselves there (bo, as in Psa 24:3; in Jer 48:5 it is written incorrectly בּכי). Raising loud cries of despair, they stand in front of Horonayim, which lay below, and was more exposed to the enemy. יעערוּ is softened from יערערוּ (possibly to increase the resemblance to an echo), like כּוכב from כּבכּב. The Septuagint renders it very well, κραυγὴν συντριμμοῦ ἐξαναγεροῦσιν - an unaccustomed expression of intense and ever renewed cries at the threatening danger of utter destruction, and with the hope of procuring relief and assistance (sheber, as in Isa 1:28; Isa 30:26). From the farthest south the scene would suddenly be transferred to the extreme north of the territory of Moab, if Nimrim were the Nimra (Beth-Nimra, Talm. nimrin) which was situated near to the Jordan in Gilead, and therefore farther north than any of the places previously mentioned, and the ruins of which lie a little to the south of Salt, and are still called Nimrin. But the name itself, which is derived from the vicinity of fresh water (Arab. nemir, nemı̄r, clear, pure, sound), is one of frequent occurrence; and even to the south of Moabitis proper there is a Wadi Numere, and a brook called Moyet Numere (two diminutives: “dear little stream of Nimra”), which flows through stony tracks, and which formerly watered the country (Burckhardt, Seetzen, and De Saulcy). In all probability the ruins of Numere by the side of this wady are the Nimrim referred to here, and the waters of the brook the “waters of Nimrim” (me Nimrim). The waters that flowed fresh from the spring had been filled up with rubbish by the enemy, and would now probably lie waste for ever (a similar expression to that in Isa 17:2). He had gone through the land scorching and burning, so that all the vegetation had vanished. On the miniature-like short sentences, see Isa 29:20; Isa 33:8-9; Isa 32:10; and on היה לא (“it is not in existence,” or “it has become not,” i.e., annihilated), vid., Eze 21:32.

Isa 15:7-9

As Moabitis has thus become a great scene of conflagration, the Moabites cross the border and fly to Idumaea. The reason for this is given in sentences which the prophet again links on to one another with the particle ci (for). “Therefore what has been spared, what has been gained, and their provision, they carry it over the willow-brook. For the scream has gone the round in the territory of Moab; the wailing of Joab resounds to Eglayim, and his wailing to Beeer-Elim. For the waters of Dimon are full of blood: for I suspend over Dimon a new calamity, over the escaped of Moab a lion, and over the remnant of the land.” Yithrâh is what is superfluous or exceeds the present need, and pekuddâh (lit. a laying up, depositio) that which has been carefully stored; whilst ‛âsâh, as the derivative passage, Jer 48:36, clearly shows (although the accusative in the whole of Isa 15:7 is founded upon a different view: see Rashi), is an attributive clause (what has been made, worked out, or gained). All these things they carry across nachal hâ‛arâbim, i.e., not the desert-stream, as Hitzig, Maurer, Ewald, and Knobel suppose, since the plural of ‛arâbâh is ‛arâboth, but either the Arab stream (lxx, Saad.), or the willow-stream, torrens salicum (Vulg.). The latter is more suitable to the connection; and among the rivers which flow to the south of the Arnon from the mountains of the Moabitish highlands down to the Dead Sea, there is one which is called Wadi Sufsaf, i.e., willow-brook (Tzaphtzâphâh is the name of a brook in Hebrew also), viz., the northern arm of the Seil el-Kerek. This is what we suppose to be intended here, and not the Wadi el-Ahsa, although the latter (probably the biblical ZeredHence the Targ. II renders nachal zered “the brook of the willows.” See Buxtorf, Lex. chald. s.v. Zerad.) is the boundary river on the extreme south, and separates Moab from Edom (Kerek from Gebal: see Ritter, Erdk. xv 1223-4). Wading through the willow-brook, they carry their possessions across, and hurry off to the land of Edom, for their own land has become the prey of the foe throughout its whole extent, and within its boundaries the cry of wailing passes from Eglayim, on the south-west of Ar, and therefore not far from the southern extremity of the Dead Sea (Eze 47:10), as far as Beer-elim, in the north-east of the land towards the desert (Num 21:16-18; עד must be supplied: Ewald, §351, a), that is to say, if we draw a diagonal through the land, from one end to the other. Even the waters of Dibon, which are called Dimon here to produce a greater resemblance in sound to dâm, blood, and by which we are probably to understand the Arnon, as this was only a short distance off (just as in Jdg 5:19 the “waters of Megiddo” are the Kishon), are full of blood,דם מלאוּ, with munach (which also represents the metheg) at the first syllable of the verb (compare Isa 15:4, לּו ירעה, with mercha), according to Vened. 1521, and other good editions. This is also grammatically correct. so that the enemy must have penetrated into the very heart of the land in his course of devastation and slaughter. But what drives them across the willow-brook is not this alone; it is as if they forebode that what has hitherto occurred is not the worst or the last. Jehovah suspends (shith, as in Hos 6:11) over Dibon, whose waters are already reddened with blood, nōsâphōth, something to be added, i.e., a still further judgment, namely a lion. The measure of Moab’s misfortunes is not yet full: after the northern enemy, a lion will come upon those that have escaped by flight or have been spared at home (on the expression itself, compare Isa 10:20; Isa 37:32, and other passages). This lion is no other than the basilisk of the prophecy against Philistia, but with this difference, that the basilisk represents one particular Davidic king, whilst the lion is Judah generally, whose emblem was the lion from the time of Jacob’s blessing, in Gen 49:9.

The Burden of Moab. (b. c. 725.)

1 The burden of Moab. Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence; because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence; 2 He is gone up to Bajith, and to Dibon, the high places, to weep: Moab shall howl over Nebo, and over Medeba: on all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard cut off. 3 In their streets they shall gird themselves with sackcloth: on the tops of their houses, and in their streets, every one shall howl, weeping abundantly. 4 And Heshbon shall cry, and Elealeh: their voice shall be heard even unto Jahaz: therefore the armed soldiers of Moab shall cry out; his life shall be grievous unto him. 5 My heart shall cry out for Moab; his fugitives shall flee unto Zoar, a heifer of three years old: for by the mounting up of Luhith with weeping shall they go it up; for in the way of Horonaim they shall raise up a cry of destruction.

The country of Moab was of small extent, but very fruitful. It bordered upon the lot of Reuben on the other side Jordan and upon the Dead Sea. Naomi went to sojourn there when there was a famine in Canaan. This is the country which (it is here foretold) should be wasted and grievously harassed, not quite ruined, for we find another prophecy of its ruin (Jer. xlviii.), which was accomplished by Nebuchadnezzar. This prophecy here was to be fulfilled within three years (ch. xvi. 14), and therefore was fulfilled in the devastations made of that country by the army of the Assyrians, which for many years ravaged those parts, enriching themselves with spoil and plunder. It was done either by the army of Shalmaneser, about the time of the taking of Samaria, in the fourth year of Hezekiah (as is most probable), or by the army of Sennacherib, which, ten years after, invaded Judah. We cannot suppose that the prophet went among the Moabites to preach to them this sermon; but he delivered it to his own people, 1. To show them that, though judgment begins at the house of God, it shall not end there,—that there is a providence which governs the world and all the nations of it,—and that to the God of Israel the worshippers of false gods were accountable, and liable to his judgments. 2. To give them a proof of God's care of them and jealousy for them, and to convince them that God was an enemy to their enemies, for such the Moabites had often been. 3. That the accomplishment of this prophecy now shortly (within three years) might be a confirmation of the prophet's mission and of the truth of all his other prophecies, and might encourage the faithful to depend upon them.

Now concerning Moab it is here foretold,

I. That their chief cities should be surprised and taken in a night by the enemy, probably because the inhabitants, as the men of Laish, indulged themselves in ease and luxury, and dwelt securely (v. 1): Therefore there shall be great grief, because in the night Air of Moab is laid waste and Kir of Moab, the two principal cities of that kingdom. In the night that they were taken, or sacked, Moab was cut off. The seizing of them laid the whole country open, and made all the wealth of it an easy prey to the victorious army. Note, 1. Great changes and very dismal ones may be made in a very little time. Here are two cities lost in a night, though that is the time of quietness. Let us therefore lie down as those that know not what a night may bring forth. 2. As the country feeds the cities, so the cities protect the country, and neither can say to the other, I have no need of thee.

II. That the Moabites, being hereby put into the utmost consternation imaginable, should have recourse to their idols for relief, and pour out their tears before them (v. 2): He (that is, Moab, especially the king of Moab) has gone up to Bajith (or rather to the house or temple of Chemosh), and Dibon, the inhabitants of Dibon, have gone up to the high places, where they worshipped their idols, there to make their complaints. Note, It becomes a people in distress to seek to their God; and shall not we then thus walk in the name of the Lord our God, and call upon him in the time of trouble, before whom we shall not shed such useless profitless tears as they did before their gods?

III. That there should be the voice of universal grief all the country over. It is described here elegantly and very affectingly. Moab shall be a vale of tears—a little map of this world, v. 2. The Moabites shall lament the loss of Nebo and Medeba, two considerable cities, which, it is likely, were plundered and burnt. They shall tear their hair for grief to such a degree that on all their heads shall be baldness, and they shall cut off their beards, according to the customary expressions of mourning in those times and countries. When they go abroad they shall be so far from coveting to appear handsome that in the streets they shall gird themselves with sackcloth (v. 3), and perhaps being forced to use that poor clothing, the enemy having stripped them, and rifled their houses, and left them no other clothing. When they come home, instead of applying themselves to their business, they shall go up to the tops of their houses which were flat-roofed, and there they shall weep abundantly, nay, they shall howl, in crying to their gods. Those that cry not to God with their hearts do but howl upon their beds, Hos. vii. 14; Amos viii. 3. They shall come down with weeping (so the margin reads it); they shall come down from their high places and the tops of their houses weeping as much as they did when they went up. Prayer to the true God is heart's ease (1 Sam. i. 18), but prayers to false gods are not. Divers places are here named that should be full of lamentation (v. 4), and it is but a poor relief to have so many fellow-sufferers, fellow-mourners; to a public spirit it is rather an aggravation socios habuisse doloris—to have associates in woe.

IV. That the courage of their militia should fail them. Though they were bred soldiers, and were well armed, yet they shall cry out and shriek for fear, and every one of them shall have his life become grievous to him, though it is characteristic of a military life to delight in danger, v. 4. See how easily God can dispirit the stoutest of men, and deprive a nation of benefit by those whom it most depended upon for strength and defence. The Moabites shall generally be so overwhelmed with grief that life itself shall be a burden to them. God can easily make weary of life those that are fondest of it.

V. That the outcry for these calamities should propagate grief to all the adjacent parts, v. 5. 1. The prophet himself has very sensible impressions made upon his spirit by the prediction of it: "My heart shall cry out for Moab; though they are enemies to Israel, they are our fellow-creatures, of the same rank with us, and therefore it should grieve us to see them in such distress, the rather because we know not how soon it may be our own turn to drink of the same cup of trembling." Note, It becomes God's ministers to be of a tender spirit, not to desire the woeful day, but to be like their master, who wept over Jerusalem even when he gave her up to ruin, like their God, who desires not the death of sinners. 2. All the neighbouring cities shall echo to the lamentations of Moab. The fugitives, who are making the best of their way to shift for their own safety, shall carry the cry to Zoar, the city to which their ancestor Lot fled for shelter from Sodom's flames and which was spared for his sake. They shall make as great a noise with their cry as a heifer of three years old does when she goes lowing for her calf, as 1 Sam. vi. 12. They shall go up the hill of Luhith (as David went up the ascent of Mount Olivet, many a weary step and all in tears, 2 Sam. xv. 30), and in the way of Horonaim (a dual termination), the way that leads to the two Beth-horons, the upper and the nether, which we read of, Josh. xvi. 3, 5. Thither the cry shall be carried, there it shall be raised, even at that great distance: A cry of destruction; that shall be the cry, like, "Fire, fire! we are all undone." Grief is catching, so is fear, and justly, for trouble is spreading and when it begins who knows where it will end?

The Burden of Moab. (b. c. 725.)

6 For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate: for the hay is withered away, the grass faileth, there is no green thing. 7 Therefore the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have laid up, shall they carry away to the brook of the willows. 8 For the cry is gone round about the borders of Moab; the howling thereof unto Eglaim, and the howling thereof unto Beer-elim. 9 For the waters of Dimon shall be full of blood: for I will bring more upon Dimon, lions upon him that escapeth of Moab, and upon the remnant of the land.

Here the prophet further describes the woeful and piteous lamentations that should be heard throughout all the country of Moab when it should become a prey to the Assyrian army. "By this time the cry has gone round about all the borders of Moab," v. 8. Every corner of the country has received the alarm, and is in the utmost confusion upon it. It has reached to Eglaim, a city at one end of the country, and to Beer-elim, a city as far the other way. Where sin has been general, and all flesh have corrupted their way, what can be expected but a general desolation? Two things are here spoken of as causes of this lamentation:—

I. The waters of Nimrim are desolate (v. 6), that is, the country is plundered and impoverished, and all the wealth and substance of it swept away by the victorious army. Famine is usually the sad effect of war. Look into the fields that were well watered, the fruitful meadows that yielded delightful prospects and more delightful products, and there all is eaten up, or carried off by the enemy's foragers, and the remainder trodden to dirt by their horses. If an army encamp upon green fields, their greenness is soon gone. Look into the houses, and they are stripped too (v. 7): The abundance of wealth that they had gotten with a great deal of art and industry, and that which they had laid up with a great deal of care and confidence, shall they carry away to the brook of the willows. Either the owners shall carry it thither to hide it or the enemies shall carry it thither to pack it up and send it home, by water perhaps, to their own country. Note, 1. Those that are eager to get abundance of this world, and solicitous to lay up what they have gotten, little consider what may become of it and in how short a time it may be all taken from them. Great abundance, by tempting the robbers, exposes the owners; and those who depend upon it to protect them often find it does but betray them. 2. In times of distress great riches are often great burdens, and do but increase the owner's care or the enemies' strength. Cantabit vacuus coram latrone viator—The penniless traveller will exult, when accosted by a robber, in having nothing about him.

II. The waters of Dimon are turned into blood (v. 9), that is, the inhabitants of the country are slain in great numbers, so that the waters adjoining to the cities, whether rivers or pools, are discoloured with human gore, inhumanly shed like water. Dimon signifies bloody; the place shall answer to its name. Perhaps it was that place in the country of Moab where the waters seemed to the Moabites as blood (2 Kings iii. 22, 23), which occasioned their overthrow. But now, says God, I will bring more upon Dimon, more blood than was shed, or thought to be seen, at that time. I will bring additions upon Dimon (so the word is), additional plagues; I have yet more judgments in reserve for them. For all this, God's anger is not turned away. When he judges he will overcome; and to the roll of curses shall be added many like words, Jer. xxxvi. 32. See here what is the yet more evil to be brought upon Dimon, upon Moab, which is now to be made a land of blood. Some flee, and make their escape, others sit still, and are overlooked, and are as a remnant of the land; but upon both God will bring lions, beasts of prey (which are reckoned one of God's four judgments, Ezek. xiv. 21), and these shall glean up those that have escaped the sword of the enemy. Those that continue impenitent in sin, when they are preserved from one judgment, are but reserved for another.

CHAP. XV.

Ver. 1. THe burthen of Moab] A burthen, ſaith Hierom, ever betokeneth ſad things to follow; A viſion doth joyfull; at laſt howſoever. The Chaldee paraphraſeth thus. The burthen of a cup of curſing for Moab to drink off. Moab was the brat of an inceſtuous birth, as his name alſo (De Patre) declareth. There is now no ſuch nation, their very name is rooted out, ever ſince they were deſtroyed, firſt by Salmaneſer, as is here fore-threatened; and then by Nebucadnezzar, as Jer. 48. (where we meet with many like paſſages as here) ſo that they live but by fame only, as they are mentioned in holy Scripture, but never for any good. Their deſtruction is foretold for a comfort to the poor afflicted Jews, to whom they were near-allyed, but very ill-affected.

[illegible: 1 letter]iſcat. Becauſe in the night] nocte intempeſtâ: the night is dark and dreadful: or in the night▪ i. e. ſubitò, derepentè, praeter opinionem, ſuddenly, unexpectedly. Theſe Moabites dwelt in a fruitful countrey (near to thoſe five Cities of the Plain) and giving themſelves up to looſe and luxurious living, ſaith Hierom, they worſhipped Chemoſh or Bacchus: as they had been inceſtuouſly begotten by Lot in his drink, ſo they proved accordingly. Ebrius te Pater genuit, ſaid One to a deſperate drunkard. Some think they are threatened with waſting in the night, in alluſion to that diſmal night-work, and that deed of darkneſs, the begetting of their father and founder Moab, Gen. 19. Whence other nations were wont to reproach the Moabites, as children of the night, ſaith Hierom.

Ver. 2. He is gone up to Baiith and to Dibon] two chief places of their Idolatrous ſervice, whereunto they ran in their diſtreſs, but all in vain. The like at this day do the Papiſts to their Ladies of Loretto, Sichem, &c. and the Turks to their Mahomet at Mecha (ſcituate in the ſame countrey, as once Moab, and perhaps in the ſame place with one of theſe Idol-temples) by troops and Caravans: but they do worſe then loſe their devotion.

To weep] and to pray too, chap. 16.12. but to no good purpoſe, for want of a right object, principle, motive, end. So afterwards the Romans, in a like exigent, cum conjugibus ac liberis juſſi ſunt à Senatu ſupplicatum ire, pacemque expoſcere Deum, Li[illegible: 1 letter]. lib. 3. omnia delubra implent, &c. they were by the Senate commanded to go with they wives and children into the temples of their gods, and there to pray, make their peace, and to ſeek for ayd.

Moab ſhall houle over Nebo and over Medeba] Cities ſurprized and ſacked by the enemy. But this chapter is ſo much the more obſcure to us, becauſe the Cities here mentioned are long ſince deſtroyed: and the Scripture ſetteth not forth the manner of their ſite or downfal.

On all their heads ſhall be baldneſs, and every beard cut off] This was commonly done in thoſe Eaſtern parts, in times and in token of lamentation, Job 1.20. Ezra. 9.3. Ezek. 7.18. Alexander mourning for the death of his friend Epheſtion, not only tore off his own hair, but clipped his horſes and mules hair: yea he plucked down alſo the battlements of the walls of the City, as Plutarch writeth.In vita Pelopidae. Pudeat nos lathrymis delicta non abſtergere, & ſpiritualia damna non deplorare, ſaith Oecolampadius: What a ſhame is it then for us Chriſtians not to weep over our ſins, and to bewail our ſpirituall wounds and wants?

Ver. 3. In their ſtreets they ſhall gird themſelves with ſackcloth] Saccum & cilicium non curat Deus: God careth not for theſe externals, where there is not an heart ſprinkled with the blood of his ſon. The ſacrifice of the wicked is abomination: how much more when he bringeth it with a wicked mind? Prov. 21.27.

On the tops of their houſes] thence, as it were, to require help from heaven.

Weeping abundantly] Heb. deſcending with weeping, Miſeros ergo Papicolas, qui & ip[illegible: 1 letter]i cum fletu ad divos divaſque ſuas aſcendunt, cum ululatu deſcendunt. Scultet. like as with weeping they aſcended: they get nothing of their Gods, though they cryed to them. But He that goeth to the true God with an honeſt heart and lawful petitions, is ſure to ſpeed: See Iſa. 45.19.

Ver. 4. And Heſhbon ſhall cry, and Elealeh] See on ver. 2.

The armed ſouldiers of Moab ſhall cry out] as being faint-hearted and unwilling to fight, becauſe to no purpoſe.

His life ſhall be grievous to him] Heb. his ſoul ſhall be ill-affected to him, or, for himſelf: that is, ſay ſome, all his care ſhall be for himſelf: let others ſhift as they can.

Ver. 5. My heart ſhall cry out for Moab] Let others do as they will,Heu quam d[illegible: 1 letter] leo corde toto. Oecol. ſaith the Prophet here, I can do no leſs then bewail the wofull condition of Moab, bad though they be.

Tu quibus iſta legis incertum eſt, Lector, ocellis: Ipſe quidem ſiccis ſcribere non potui.

His fugitives ſhall flee unto Zoar] Whither once their father Lot fled for refuge; but it was too hot to hold him. Or, His fugitives ſhall cry to Zoar.

An heifer of three years old] Which being in her prime loweth aloud, coelum mugitibus implens: ſo ſhall theſe fugitives ſet up their Note clamore fragoſ[illegible: 1 letter] boantes, as they paſs thorough the countreys, they ſhall even break or rend themſelves with crying.

Ver. 6. For the waters of Nimrim ſhall be deſolate] What theſe waters of Nimrim were, it doth not appear. Hierom ſaith that Nimrim is a Town near the dead Sea, where the waters are ſalt, and the countrey about it barren: ſo ſhould the Land of Moab now be forlorn and fruitleſs.

Ver. 7. Therefore the abundance they have gotten] Here the Prophet ſeemeth to tax the covetouſneſs of the Moabites, qui coacervandis theſauris operam dederint, who made it their work, to hoard and heap up riches.

And that which they have laid up] Heb. their viſitation, that is their treaſures which they often looked upon.

Shall they carry away to the brook of the willows] The Moabites ſhall caſt it into the water; as hoping there to find it again, when the enemy was gone: Or, ſhall they (the Aſſyrians) carry away to the valley of the Arabians, who were their confederates, and for ſuch good offices ſpared (as Herodotus ſaith Lib. 3.) that, that they might keep and convey home for them, the ſpoils they had taken from other nations.

Piſcat.Ver. 8. For the cry is gone round about, &c.] When the Prophet thus deſcribeth the mourning of the Moabites as exceſſive, and as a fruit of their unbelief, we muſt learn to moderate our mourning for outward loſſes and croſſes; and that out of hope of Gods mercy promiſed to his penitent ſuppliants.

The howling thereof unto Eglaim] See on ver. 2.

Ver. 9. For the waters of Dimon ſhall be full of blood] Non tingentur ſolum, ſed etiam inundabunt: and the bloody enemy ſhall haply be heard to cry out, as once Hannibal did when he ſaw a pit full of mans blood, O formoſum ſpectaculum! O brave ſight! The very name Dimon ſignifieth bloody: ſo called, as ſome think, on this occaſion, inſtead of Dibon the old name, ver. 2.

Additamenta plegarum. Haymo. I will bring more upon Dimon, Lions upon him that eſcapeth of Moab] Heb. I will put additions upon Dimon, i. e. additions of evils. viz. Lions, and other like fierce and cruel creatures, which ſhall prey upon the Moabites there, Chap. 35.9. 2 King. 17.25. Some ſay by Lion is here meant Nebuchadnezzar, Jer. 4.7. fitly compared to a Lion for his ſtrength and ſwiftneſs. Certain it is that God hath in ſtore plenty of plagues for evil-doers: and if they eſcape one miſchief, they ſhall fall into another: their preſervation is but a reſervation except they repent.