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Isaiah 16

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A Call for Refuge and Asylum 1–5

1
Send ye the lambs for the ruler of the land from Selah to the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion. ​
2
For it shall be that, as wandering birds, as a scattered nest, so shall the daughters of Moab be at the fords of the Arnon. ​
3
Give counsel, execute justice; make thy shade as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; betray not the fugitive. ​
4
Let mine outcasts dwell with thee; as for Moab, be thou a covert to him from the face of the destroyer. For the extortioner is brought to nought, destruction ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the land. ​
5
And a throne shall be established in lovingkindness; and one shall sit thereon in truth, in the tent of David, judging, and seeking justice, and swift to do righteousness. ​

Moab's Pride and Deserved Destruction 6–12

6
We have heard of the pride of Moab, thathe is very proud; even of his arrogancy, and his pride, and his wrath; his boastings are nought. ​
7
Therefore shall Moab wail for Moab, every one shall wail: for the raisin-cakes of Kir-hareseth shall ye mourn, utterly stricken. ​
8
For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah; the lords of the nations have broken down the choice branches thereof, which reached even unto Jazer, which wandered into the wilderness; its shoots were spread abroad, they passed over the sea. ​
9
Therefore I will weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah; I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh: for upon thy summer fruits and upon thy harvest the battle shout is fallen. ​
10
And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the fruitful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither joyful noise: no treader shall tread out wine in the presses; I have made the vintage shout to cease.
11
Wherefore my heart soundeth like a harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kir-heres. ​
12
And it shall come to pass, when Moab presenteth himself, when he wearieth himself upon the high place, and shall come to his sanctuary to pray, that he shall not prevail. ​

The Imminent Fulfillment of Prophecy 13–14

13
This is the word that Jehovah spake concerning Moab in time past. ​
14
But now Jehovah hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of a hireling, the glory of Moab shall be brought into contempt, with all his great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and of no account. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Isaiah 16

Verse 1

Send ye the lamb — Kar is a fed lamb or ram, the tribute Moab owed. Mesha 'rendered unto the king of Israel an hundred thousand lambs' (2 Kgs 3:4), and the Moabites had 'brought gifts' to David (2 Sam 8:2). The lamb is sent to 'the ruler of the land' at Zion, 'from Sela' (sela, 'rock'), the rock-city of Edom (2 Kgs 14:7), 'to the wilderness'.

Verse 2

a wandering bird cast out of the nest — The picture is that of Prov 27:8, 'As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place.' The 'fords' (ma'abar, crossing-places) of Arnon lie on the river that was 'the border of Moab' (Num 21:13): the daughters of Moab are seen at their own frontier, driven out.

Verse 3

make thy shadow as the night — Moab is counselled to become a shade as dark as night 'in the midst of the noonday' for the fugitives, the cover pictured in Isa 32:2, 'the shadow of a great rock in a weary land'. 'Outcasts' is nadach, those pushed away; 'bewray' is to expose or give up.

Verse 4

Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab — The outcasts are the LORD's own ('mine'), and Moab is asked to be their 'covert' (sether, the hiding place of Ps 91:1), as it once sheltered David's parents (1 Sam 22:3–4). 'The extortioner' (muts, the word occurs only here) 'is at an end', so the refuge is for a time of danger that passes.

Verse 5

in the tabernacle of David — The throne stands 'in mercy' (chesed, covenant love), and its occupant judges 'in truth' (emeth), 'seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness'. 'The tabernacle of David' is his fallen house, which Amos 9:11 promises to raise and James cites in Acts 15:16; the angel told Mary of 'the throne of his father David' (Luke 1:32–33).

Verse 6

the pride of Moab — One root fills the verse: 'pride' (ga'on), 'proud' (ge', found only here), 'haughtiness' (ga'avah), 'pride' again. Jeremiah repeats it almost word for word (Jer 48:29–30). 'His lies' (bad) are empty boasts, and they 'shall not be so': the boasting will not bring about what it claims (cf. Jer 48:30, 'his lies shall not so effect it').

Verse 7

the foundations of Kirhareseth — Kirhareseth is the city where, in the war of 2 Kgs 3:25, 'only in Kirharaseth left they the stones thereof'; it is Kirharesh in v.11 and Kirheres in Jer 48:31. 'Foundations' (ashish, found only here) means the ruined base of the city. The howling is 'Moab… for Moab': the nation mourns itself.

Verse 8

the vine of Sibmah — Heshbon, once 'the city of Sihon' (Num 21:26), Elealeh and Sibmah (Shibmah) were built by Reuben (Num 32:37–38), and Jazer (Jaazer) by Gad (Num 32:34–35). 'The lords of the heathen' (ba'ale goyim, masters of nations) have broken the 'principal plants', and the vine's branches are 'gone over the sea'.

Verse 9

the weeping of Jazer — The 'shouting' (heydad) is the cry of the grape-treaders, and it comes again in v.10 and in Jer 25:30; 48:33. Where harvest was celebrated with it, 'summer fruits' (qayits) and 'harvest' now fall silent. Jeremiah repeats the mourning for Sibmah and Jazer (Jer 48:32).

Verse 11

my bowels shall sound like an harp — 'Bowels' (me'im) are the inward parts, the seat of feeling, and 'sound' (hamah) is to moan or murmur like the strings of the kinnor, the harp. Jeremiah has the same grief with 'pipes' (Jer 48:36). The same picture is used of the LORD in Isa 63:15, 'the sounding of thy bowels'; Kirharesh is the Kirhareseth of v.7.

Verse 12

come to his sanctuary to pray — Moab 'is weary on the high place' (bamah) and goes to its 'sanctuary' (miqdash) to pray, but 'he shall not prevail' (yakol, be able). Its god was Chemosh, 'the abomination of Moab' (1 Kgs 11:7); the people of Chemosh are named in Num 21:29. Jeremiah foretells the end of offering 'in the high places' (Jer 48:35).

Verse 13

since that time — Me'az means 'from then', 'of old'. The same word marks what the LORD declares beforehand: 'have not I told thee from that time' (Isa 44:8; 'from the beginning' in 48:3, 5). Whatever has been spoken about Moab in chs. 15–16 is not new; the LORD now fixes the time in v.14.

Verse 14

as the years of an hireling — A hireling's term is counted exactly, neither longer nor shorter: 'according to the time of an hired servant' (Lev 25:50; cf. Job 7:1). Isaiah gives the same measure to Kedar, 'Within a year, according to the years of an hireling' (Isa 21:16). Moab's 'glory' is 'contemned' (qalah, made light) and 'the remnant shall be very small'.