Chapter Sixteen

1–5. Moab seeks help from the Judean king. 6–12. The fate of Moab. 13–14. The determination of the time of Moab’s destruction.

Isaiah 16:1. Send lambs to the ruler of the land from Sela in the wilderness to the mount of the daughter of Zion. Isaiah 16:2. For the daughters of Moab will be like a wandering bird, driven out of the nest, at the fords of Arnon. The Moabites, in fear of invasion by enemies (the Assyrians), will turn to the Judean king for help. They will humbly ask him to give them shelter, as they must leave their country for a time. “Send.” The prophet gives his advice to the Moabites. Even in the time of King Mesha, the Moabites were sending annually to the Israelite king a hundred thousand sheep and a hundred thousand unsheared rams (2 Sam 3:4). Now the prophet advises them to send this tribute to the ruler of the land, that is, to the king of Judah who has retained his power over his land (according to Condamin, the passage here speaks of sending the daughter (bath, not bar lamb) of the Moabite prince to Zion, where she might find shelter from the insults of the conquerors). “Sela” – the chief city of Edom, otherwise called Petra (the Greek word corresponding to the Hebrew word sela – rock). But since it was not this city, but Zoar that served as the extreme point to which the Moabites were striving (Ps 41:7), it is better to understand the word Sela as a common noun in its usual meaning: stone, cliff, rock (cf. Jer 48:28) and to understand here the mountain plains of the land of Moab, to which the Moabites, together with their herds, were fleeing from enemies. “Mount of the daughter of Zion,” that is, the mountain where the population of Zion or Jerusalem dwells. “Daughters of Moab,” that is, Moabite cities (Jer 48:4), where, of course, after the men had departed for war, only women remained, so the prophet mentions only the daughters and does not name the sons of Moab. The prophet’s thought is this: the population of the Moabite cities will wander like a bird whose nest is destroyed.

Isaiah 16:3. “Take counsel, make a decision; shade us in the middle of the day as in the night with your shadow; hide the exiles, do not deliver up the fugitives. Isaiah 16:4. Let my exiles, the Moabites, dwell with you; be a shelter for them from the robber, for the oppressor will cease, the robbery will end, the ones trampling will vanish from the earth. Isaiah 16:5. And a throne will be established in mercy, and one will sit upon it in truth, in the tent of David, a judge, seeking justice and striving for righteousness. Here the Moabite envoys who have come to the Judean king are introduced as speakers. “Take counsel” – consult with your ministers. “Shade them” – give them rest with you, under your protection, as a traveler exhausted by heat rests under a great spreading tree. “My” – the speech is on behalf of the Moabite king. “The oppressor will cease,” that is, the enemies will go home or perhaps will be destroyed in some way. “And a throne will be established,” that is, your power, your significance, O king of Judah, will be elevated still more through your noble treatment of us, the Moabites. “A judge” – this is probably the Messiah expected by the Jews (Isa 2:2), of whom, of course, the Moabites could have heard from the Jews, and into whose mouth the prophet therefore had good reason to put such a speech. Isa 16:6-12. The counselors of the Judean king, according to the prophet, will find it impossible to satisfy the request of this treacherous Moabite people. The Moabites, under the pressure of dire circumstances, ask for an alliance with them, but later, when the danger has passed, they can easily break their promises. Left without help, Moab will afterward be completely weakened by enemies. The prophet sees the devastation of the most fertile regions of the land of Moab, and his soul suffers from this, although the Moabites are ancient enemies of the Jews.

Isaiah 16:6. “We have heard of the pride of Moab, his excessive pride, of his arrogance and haughtiness and fury; his words are insincere. Isaiah’s description of the Moabites as a proud people is confirmed also by the prophet Jeremiah, who says that “Moab from his youth... has been at ease, settled on his dregs and not poured out from vessel to vessel, and has not gone into captivity; therefore his taste has remained in him and his aroma has not changed” (Jer 48:11). By these words the prophet points to the relative security in which Moab found itself compared to the Hebrews, and because of this he now hopes for a favorable outcome from the difficulties in which he finds himself. Therefore, probably, although the Moabites sought an alliance with the Judean king, they did not attach particular seriousness to this matter and did not think at all about the obligations which they should have assumed upon themselves since the conclusion of such an alliance.

Isaiah 16:7. Therefore Moab will wail over Moab, everyone will wail; lament over the fortresses of Kir-Hareseth: they are completely destroyed. Isaiah 16:8. The fields of Heshbon are ruined, also the vineyard of Sibmah; the rulers of the nations have destroyed the best of its vines, which reached to Jazer, stretched into the wilderness; their shoots spread out, crossed over the sea. “Therefore.” The prophet wants to say here that Moab will be refused help and will be left to its own fate. “Moab over Moab,” that is, one Moabite city over the fate of another, neighboring city.

Isaiah 15:1. “Kir-Hareseth” – the same as Kir-Moab (see Is.15:1). Instead of the word “fortresses” in Condamin we find the word “wine cakes,” (Hebrew aschischim cf. Hos 3:1), which probably constituted the most remarkable object of trade in Kir-Hareseth. “The fields of Heshbon” were distinguished for their fertility. One English traveler brought from there ears of grain containing 84 kernels each. “The vineyard of Sibmah.” Sibmah or Sima (Num 32:3) – a city in the tribe of Reuben (Josh 13:19), not far from Heshbon. “The rulers of the nations.” Here Orelli sees not the nominative case, but the accusative, and translates the whole phrase thus: “whose best vines subdued (in this lies the power and dignity of wine) the rulers of nations,” (cf. Isa 28:1). “Reached to Jazer.” Jazer – a city to the north of Sibmah. “Into the wilderness.” In ancient times the band of vineyards on the east of Palestine stretched very far, to the extreme limits of the land of Moab, bordering on the Arabian desert. “Across the sea” – this is the Dead Sea, which formed the western boundary of the land of Moab. Beyond this sea lay the valley of En-gedi, which was famous for its vineyards (Song 1:13).

Isaiah 16:9. Therefore I will also weep for the vine of Sibmah with the weeping of Jazer; I will water you with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh; for upon your harvest and your summer fruit, your shouting has ceased. Isaiah 16:10. Joy and gladness have vanished from the fruitful land, and in the vineyards there is no singing, no shouting; the vintner does not tread grapes in the winepresses: I have stopped the vintage. The prophet, in feeling compassion for the ruin of such beautiful vineyards and fields, mingles his tears with the tears of Jazer.

Isaiah 15:4. “Elealeh” – see Is.15:4. “For.” This subordinate clause is more accurately rendered from the Hebrew as follows: “for over your fruits and under your harvest the shout of the grape-treader has arisen” (Condamin). The enemy of Moab is like a grape-treader who eagerly treads grapes laid in a stone trough. “In the vineyards there is no singing, no rejoicing.” The time of grape-gathering in Palestine is as festive and joyful as the time of harvest. From all sides joyful songs resound. Indeed, during the gathering of fruit in the East, workers encourage each other with shouts. The winepresses, moreover, were usually made quite large; so that several grape-treaders could work at the same time in them. “I have stopped.” By these words God, as it were, restrains the prophet in his expression of compassion toward the land of Moab.

Isaiah 16:11. Therefore my heart cries out for Moab like a harp, and my innermost being for Kir-Hareseth. The prophet, hearing that this is a matter of righteous divine wrath against the Moabites, pities them all the more, because he realizes how grievous it is to fall under the wrath of the Most High. “My innermost being cries out” – the prophet’s lamentation is born, as it were, from within, comes from the depths of the heart. This is true sorrow (cf. Job 30:27).

Isaiah 16:12. Although Moab appears and exerts itself to the point of weariness on the high places, and comes to his sanctuary to pray, nothing will help him. “Appears,” that is, presents himself before the altar (cf. Isa 1:12). “Exerts himself to the point of weariness” – to implore help from his gods (cf. 1 Sam 18 and following Isa 15:2).

Isaiah 16:13. Behold, the word which the Lord spoke concerning Moab in times past. Isaiah 16:14. But now the Lord says: Within three years, counting them as hired worker’s years, the glory of Moab will be brought low with all his great multitude, and the remainder will be very small and insignificant. This fate of Moab was generally known already from long ago. The prophet wants to indicate by these words either that he himself had already proclaimed the very prophecy about Moab (chapters 15 and 16, up to the 12th verse) long before, or that what is said in his prophecy represents only a repetition of the fundamental idea expressed earlier by Moses (Num 21:28-30) and the ancient prophet Amos (Amos 2:1-3). “Within three years.” The Lord indicates precisely the time when all the aforementioned calamities will fall upon Moab. It is most likely to suppose that here is indicated the time until the moment when Moab’s pride will be humiliated for the first time. The rest of the humiliation Moab will experience in subsequent time. That Isaiah did not point here to the complete fulfillment of his dire predictions about Moab is evident from the fact that Jeremiah, a hundred years after Isaiah, again prophesied about the judgment that will befall Moab (chapter 48). “Hired worker’s years” – this is the most precise and definite counting of time. A hired worker would certainly not remain in the service of his employer beyond the agreed period, and an employer would not for anything release a hired worker before the same period. Consequently, the prophet counts exactly three years – neither more nor less than this – until the time when the thunderstorm of God’s wrath will first break forth upon Moab. When and under what circumstances this prediction was fulfilled is difficult to determine, but already the Assyrian king Sennacherib, Isaiah’s contemporary, mentions the Moabite king Kamosh-nadab among those rulers who kissed his feet. Chapters 15 and 16 contain a complete poem in five strophes having the usual structure; two strophes symmetrical at the beginning and two at the end, and one strophe – the middle one – with its own particular meter. (Isa 15– introduction and Isa 16:13-14 – conclusion). First strophe – chapter 15, verses 2–5a – (2, 2, 3) Second strophe – chapter 15, verses 5b–9 – (2, 2, 3) Third strophe – chapter 16, verses 1–5 – (3, 3, 2, 2) Fourth strophe – chapter 16, verses 6–8 – (2, 2, 3) Fifth strophe – chapter 16, verses 9–12 – (2, 2, 3) Regarding the authenticity of this prophecy, the majority of modern critics express great doubt. The pathos with which the prophet speaks, the elegiac tone of the poem, purely human sympathy toward the suffering Moabites, the scarcity of religious ideas, the style – both verbose and ornate – these are the things on which opponents of the authenticity of this poem point. Furthermore, they point to individual expressions that do not correspond to the terminology usual for Isaiah’s speeches. Therefore, they say that we have before us the work of an unknown prophet, which Isaiah published, adding to it verses 13–14 of chapter 16, which undoubtedly belong to Isaiah. But the general impression produced by this poem is not at all such as to give grounds for denying its authenticity. Indeed, why could not Isaiah express his compassion toward the suffering Moabites in a purely human way? Could the fact that the prophet had to proclaim God’s judgment to Moab deprive him of the capacity for compassion, which was all the more natural in a Jewish prophet, since the Moabites were still related to the Hebrews? As for the language of this poem, the high antiquity to which, for example, Ewald pointed, is very doubtful. On the contrary, the poem contains expressions that are used in undoubtedly authentic speeches of Isaiah (cf. Isa 15 and Isa 21:11; Isa 15 and Isa 19:7; Isa 16 and Isa 5:19; Isa 16 and Isa 1:17). The thoughts and images of the poem are also found in other speeches of Isaiah (for example, Isa 15:1-2; Isa 9:28-32; Isa 16:9 and Isa 22:4; Isa 28:1; Isa 16 and Isa 14:32). Thus, there are sufficient grounds to deny the authenticity of this poem (see Yungerov. Authenticity of Isaiah’s prophecy about the Moabites. Orthodox Review 1886, no. 4).