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Commentary on Isaiah 16 verses 6–14
Here we have, I. The sins with which Moab is charged, Isa 16:6. The prophet seems to check himself for going about to give good counsel to the Moabites, concluding they would not take the advice he gave them. He told them their duty (whether they would hear or whether they would forbear), but despairs of working any good upon them; he would have healed them, but they would not be healed. Those that will not be counselled cannot be helped. Their sins were, 1. Pride. This is most insisted upon; for perhaps there are more precious souls ruined by pride than by any one lust whatsoever. The Moabites were notorious for this: "We have heard in both ears of the pride of Moab; it is what all their neighbours cry out shame upon them for. He is very proud; the body of the nation is so, forgetting the baseness of their origin and the brand of infamy fastened upon them by that law of God which forbade a Moabite to enter into the congregation of the Lord for ever, Deu 23:3. We have heard of his haughtiness and his pride. It is not the rash and rigid censure of one of two concerning them, but it is the character which all that know them will give of them. They are a proud people, and therefore they will not take good counsel when it is given them. They think themselves too wise to be advised; therefore they will not take example by Hezekiah to do justly and love mercy. They scorn to make him their pattern, for they think themselves able to teach him. They are proud, and therefore will not be subject to God himself nor regard the warnings he gives them. The wicked, in the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God. They are proud, and therefore will not entertain and protect God's outcasts; they scorn to have any thing to do with them." But this is not all: - 2. "We have heard of his wrath too (for those that are very proud are commonly very passionate), particularly his wrath against the people of God, whom therefore he will rather persecute than protect. 3. It is with his lies that he gains the gratifications of his pride and his passion; but his lies shall not be so; he shall not compass his proud and angry projects as he hoped he should." Some read it, His haughtiness, his pride, and his wrath, are greater than his strength. "We know that, if we lay at his mercy, we should find no mercy with him, but he has not power equal to his malice. His pride draws down ruin upon him; for it is the preface to destruction, and he has not strength to ward it off."
II. The sorrows with which Moab is threatened (Isa 16:7): Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab. All the inhabitants shall bitterly lament the ruin of their country. They shall complain one to another: Every one shall howl in despair, and not one shall either see any cause or have any heart to encourage his friend. Observe,
1.The causes of this sorrow. (1.) The destruction of their cities: For the foundations of Kir-haraseth shall you mourn. That great and strong city, which had held out against a mighty force (Kg2 3:25), should now be levelled with the ground, either burnt or broken down, and its foundations stricken, bruised and broken (so the word signifies); they shall howl when they see their splendid cities turned into ruinous heaps. (2.) The desolation of their country. Moab was famous for its fields and vineyards; but those shall all be laid waste by the invading army, Isa 16:8, Isa 16:10. See, [1.] What a fruitful pleasant country they had, as the garden of the Lord, Gen 13:10. It was planted with choice and noble vines, with principal plants, which reached even to Jazer, a city in the tribe of Gad. The luxuriant branches of their vines wandered, and wound themselves along the ranges on which they were spread, even through the wilderness of Moab. There were vineyards there. Nay, they were stretched out, and went even to the sea, the Dead Sea: the best grapes grew in their hedge-rows. [2.] How merry and pleasant they had been in it. Many a time they had shouted for their summer fruits, and for their harvest, as the country people sometimes do with us when they have cut down all their corn. They had had joy and gladness in their fields and vineyards, singing and shouting at the treading of their grapes. Nothing is said of their praising God for their abundance, and giving him the glory of it. If they had made it the matter of their thanksgiving, they might still have had it the food and fuel of their lusts; see therefore, [3.] How they should be stripped of all. "The fields shall languish, all the fruits of them being carried away or trodden down; they cannot now enrich their owners as they have done, and therefore they languish. The soldiers, called here the lords of the heathen, shall break down all the plants, though they were principal plants, the choicest that could be got. Now the shouting for the enjoyment of the summer fruits has fallen, and is turned into howling for the loss of them. The joy of harvest has ceased; there is no more singing, no more shouting, for the treading out of wine. They have not what they have had to rejoice in, nor have they a disposition to rejoice; the ruin of their country has marred their mirth." Note, First, God can easily change the note of those that are most addicted to mirth and pleasure, can soon turn their laughter into mourning and their joy into heaviness. Secondly, Joy in God is, upon this account, far better than the joy of harvest, that it is what we cannot be robbed of, Psa 4:6, Psa 4:7. Destroy the vines and the fig-trees, and you make all the mirth of a carnal heart to cease, Hos 2:11, Hos 2:12. But a gracious soul can rejoice in the Lord as the God of its salvation even when the fig-tree does not blossom and there is no fruit in the vine, Hab 3:17, Hab 3:18. In God therefore let us always rejoice with a holy triumph, and in other things let us always rejoice with a holy trembling, rejoice as though we rejoiced not.
2.The concurrence of the prophet with them in this sorrow: "I will with weeping bewail Jazer, and the vine of Sibmah, and look with a compassionate concern upon the desolations of such a pleasant country. I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon! and mingle them with thy tears;" nay (Isa 16:11), it appears to be an inward grief: My bowels shall sound like a harp for Moab; it should make such an impression upon him that he should feel an inward trembling, like that of the strings of a harp when it is played upon. It well becomes God's prophets to acquaint themselves with grief; the great prophet did so. The afflictions of the world, as well as those of the church, should be afflictions to us. See Isa 15:5.
III. In the close of the chapter we have, 1. The insufficiency of the gods of Moab, the false gods, to help them, Isa 16:12. "Moab shall be soon weary of the high place. He shall spend his spirits and strength in vain in praying to his idols; they cannot help him, and he shall be convinced that they cannot." It is seen that it is to no purpose to expect any relief from the high places on earth; it must come from above the hills. Men are generally so stupid that they will not believe, till they are made to see, the vanity of idols and of all creature-confidences, nor will come off from them till they are made weary of them. But, when he is weary of his high places, he will not go, as he should, to God's sanctuary, but to his sanctuary, to the temple of Chemosh, the principal idol of Moab (so it is generally understood); and he shall pray there to as little purpose, and as little to his own case and satisfaction, as he did in his high places; for, whatever honours idolaters give to their idols, they do not thereby make them at all the better able to help them. Whether they are the dii majorum gentium - gods of the higher order, or minorum - of the lower order, they are alike the creatures of men's fancy and the work of men's hands. Perhaps it may be meant of their coming to God's sanctuary. When they found they could have no succours from their own high places some of them would come to the temple of God at Jerusalem, to pray there, but in vain; he will justly send them back to the gods whom they have served, Jdg 10:14. 2. The sufficiency of the God of Israel, the only true God, to make good what he had spoken against them. (1.) The thing itself was long since determined (Isa 16:13): This is the word, this is the thing, that the Lord has spoken concerning Moab, since the time that he began to be so proud, and insolent, and abusive to God's people. The country was long ago doomed to ruin; this was enough to give an assurance of it that it is the word which the Lord has spoken; and, as he will never unsay what he has spoken, so all the power of hell and earth cannot gainsay it, or obstruct the execution of it. (2.) Now it was made known when it should be done. The time was before fixed in the counsel of God, but now it was revealed: The Lord has spoken that it shall be within three years, Isa 16:14. It is not for us to know, or covet to know, the times and the seasons, any further than God has thought fit to make them known, and so far we may and must take notice of them. See how God makes known his mind by degrees; the light of divine revelation shone more and more, and so does the light of divine grace in the heart. Observe, [1.] The sentence passed upon Moab: The glory of Moab shall be contemned, that is, it shall be contemptible, when all those things they have gloried in shall come to nothing. Such is the glory of this world, so fading and uncertain, admired awhile, but soon slighted. Let that therefore which will soon be contemptible in the eyes of others be always contemptible in our eyes in comparison with the far more exceeding weight of glory. It was the glory of Moab that their country was very populous and their forces were courageous; but where is her glory when all that great multitude is in a manner swept away, some by one judgment and some by another, and the little remnant that is left shall be very small and feeble, not able to bear up under their own griefs, much less to make head against their enemies' insults? Let not therefore the strong glory in their strength nor the many in their numbers. [2.] The time fixed for the execution of this sentence: Within three years, as the years of a hireling, that is, at the three years' end exactly, for a servant that is hired for a certain term keeps account to a day. Let Moab know that her ruin is very near, and prepare accordingly. Fair warning is given, and with it space to repent, which if they had improved, as Nineveh did, we have reason to think the judgments threatened would have been prevented.
(Vers. 6, 7.) We have heard of the pride of Moab, he is exceeding proud: his pride, and his arrogancy, and his indignation, is more than his strength. Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab, every one shall howl: for the foundations of Kirhareseth shall ye mourn; surely they are stricken. 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. 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. 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. Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kirharesh. But through these [events] it shows both the power of former happiness and the blows of sudden overthrow.
(Verse 6 and following) We have heard the pride of Moab: he is very proud. His pride, and his arrogance, and his indignation, are greater than his strength. Therefore Moab shall wail unto Moab, every one shall wail: to them that rejoice on the walls of the cooked brick, speak concerning his wounds: for the suburbs of Heshbon are desolate, the vine of Sibmah. LXX: We have heard the insolence of Moab: he is very contemptuous: his pride, and his insult, and his fury are not like your divine prophecy: Moab will not wail like this: indeed everyone in Moab will wail: concerning the inhabitants of Dibon you will meditate: and you will not be confounded: the fields of Heshbon will mourn for the vine of Sibmah. It is clear from the obscurities in this passage, as it can hardly be read, how involved it is according to the Septuagint interpreters. Let us therefore speak according to the Hebrew, which is the custom of the Scriptures, that after they have relieved the despair of the human mind with glad news, they may again warn and deter those who are negligent and unwilling to repent with the threat of punishment, lest the goodness of God harden our hearts. Let us present just one example of this matter. In the 144th Psalm we read: The Lord is sweet to all, and his mercy is upon all his works. And after a little while: The Lord sustains all who fall, and raises up all who are cast down. The eyes of all look to you, O Lord, and you give them food in due season. And when he had finished, the Lord kept all who loved him; lest he make the listener negligent, he added: And he will destroy all sinners. Therefore, after the Antichrist and his parent, the devil, who trampled upon the whole earth, have been consumed, it is prophesied that a throne is to be prepared in mercy, and he who will sit in the tabernacle of David, from the person of the saints who have been saved from Moab, and through their experience have learned his pride, the prophet speaks: You have heard the pride of Moab, or rather, the injury, as the Septuagint translated. For who among heretics is not arrogant? They despise the simplicity of the Church and treat its people like brute animals. They are so filled with pride and arrogance that they arm themselves against the Creator, attacking His prophets as if they were challenging the authority of the Gospel. In which the Savior says, 'All who came before me were thieves and robbers' (John 10:8). They even dare to call Moses, the servant of God, a murderer, and they slander Joshua, the son of Nun, as if he were a bloodthirsty man, despite his great holiness that caused the sun and moon to stand still at his command. They also call David, from whose lineage Christ was born (Matthew 1), a murderer and adulterer, without considering his repentance and gentleness which are compared to the mercy of God. But although he may be proud and arrogant, and although he may rejoice in his madness: nevertheless he dares more than his strength allows. Therefore Moab shall howl unto Moab, that is to say, one shall cry out against another: all the diversities, of heretics and of secular wisdom, shall roar against themselves, when they shall be in torments (III Kings VI). For this reason, those who have walls built not with squared stones, from which the Temple was built; and so polished, that the sound of hammer and axe has not been heard in the house of God, O masters of the Church, or you who have been saved from the error of Moab, announce your wounds, with which you have been wounded by the javelins of heretics. For all their thoughts, which Esebon signifies, do not pertain to the habitation of the Lord's city, of which it is written: The streams of the river make the city of God glad (Ps. 45:5); but they are suburban, so that they may be thought to pertain to the city of the Lord: these suburbs are deserted, without divine protection, or burned by divine fire, especially the vineyard of Sabama, which signifies raising up to a height, because it strives to rise up high and build its tower of pride up to heaven. However, what is stated in the Septuagint is not found in the Hebrew text of the inhabitants of Deseth; but instead it is read as Ares (), which means a tile or a fired brick.
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SUMMARY
Isaiah 16:7 presents a powerful prophetic lament, foretelling the profound and widespread desolation that will engulf the nation of Moab. It vividly depicts a scene of deep, communal mourning and despair, specifically highlighting the complete destruction of Kirhareseth, a formidable Moabite stronghold, as a poignant symbol of their irreversible downfall under divine judgment. The verse underscores the ultimate futility of human strength and pride when confronted by God's sovereign decree and righteous wrath.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Isaiah 16:7 masterfully employs several potent Literary Devices to convey its message of profound despair and divine judgment. The most striking is Repetition, particularly the emphatic doubling of "howl" ("Moab howl for Moab, every one shall howl"). This not only intensifies the emotional impact and underscores the pervasiveness of the lament but also creates a chilling sense of an inescapable, echoing sorrow that grips the entire nation. Hyperbole is evident in "every one shall howl," suggesting a universal and overwhelming grief that leaves no inhabitant untouched, emphasizing the totality of the catastrophe. The phrase "Moab howl for Moab" can be interpreted as a form of Personification, where the nation itself is depicted as both the subject and object of its own sorrow, internalizing its grief and despair. Furthermore, Kirhareseth functions as a powerful Symbolism. As a strong, heavily fortified city, its "foundations" being "stricken" symbolizes the complete and utter collapse of Moab's national security, pride, and indeed, its very existence. The mourning over its foundations underscores that the destruction is not superficial but penetrates to the very core of their being, representing the futility of human strength and self-reliance when confronted with divine judgment.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Isaiah 16:7 powerfully illustrates the immutable theological principle that divine judgment inevitably follows national pride, arrogance, and rebellion against God. Moab's widespread wailing is not merely a consequence of military defeat but a profound spiritual lament over the shattering of their self-reliance and the utter futility of their earthly strongholds. The prophesied destruction of Kirhareseth serves as a stark and enduring reminder that no human edifice, no matter how strong, secure, or strategically important, can ultimately stand against the sovereign decree of the Almighty. This verse profoundly underscores God's ultimate authority and righteous dominion over all nations, demonstrating His unwavering justice in bringing low those who exalt themselves and stubbornly refuse to acknowledge His supreme sovereignty. It stands as a timeless warning that true security, lasting peace, and genuine prosperity are found not in human might, material possessions, or fortified cities, but solely in humility, repentance, and complete submission to the divine will.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Isaiah 16:7 serves as a poignant and challenging mirror for profound self-examination, urging us to deeply consider where our true and ultimate security lies. The profound lamentation of Moab over its fallen foundations challenges us to recognize the inherently transient and ultimately vulnerable nature of all earthly achievements, possessions, and even the perceived strengths upon which we might rely. If we place our ultimate trust in anything other than God—be it our career, financial stability, intellectual prowess, personal accomplishments, or even our relationships—we are, in essence, building our lives on foundations that are ultimately susceptible to being "stricken" and crumbling. This verse issues a powerful call to cultivate genuine humility, acknowledging God's absolute sovereignty and providential control over all aspects of life, both individual and communal. It serves as a stark reminder that pride invariably precedes a fall, and true wisdom involves recognizing our complete and utter dependence on divine grace. The wailing of Moab should prompt us to humbly repent of any self-reliance, arrogance, or idolatry in our own lives, turning instead to the Lord Jesus Christ as our ultimate refuge and unshakeable hope, thereby ensuring that our lives are built upon His eternal and unshakeable foundation.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Why was Moab subjected to such severe judgment, leading to this profound lament?
Answer: Moab's severe judgment, vividly depicted in Isaiah 16:7 and the surrounding chapters, was primarily a direct consequence of their persistent and deeply ingrained pride, arrogance, and idolatry. Isaiah 16:6 explicitly states, "We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is exceeding proud." Their haughtiness led them to defy the one true God and often to oppress or show contempt for His chosen people, Israel. Furthermore, Moab was deeply entrenched in the worship of pagan gods like Chemosh, engaging in practices that were utterly abhorrent to the Lord. The prophesied destruction of their strongholds, like Kirhareseth, symbolized God's righteous and unwavering judgment against their self-exaltation and their reliance on earthly power rather than on the true and living God. This judgment served as a powerful demonstration of God's absolute sovereignty over all nations and His divine intolerance for unrepentant rebellion and idolatry.
What is the significance of Kirhareseth in this verse?
Answer: Kirhareseth (also known as Kir Hareseth or Kir of Moab) was a strategically vital and heavily fortified city in Moab, often considered its capital or a primary stronghold. Its specific mention in Isaiah 16:7 is profoundly significant because it symbolizes the very core of Moab's national security, military strength, and deeply rooted pride. The phrase "the foundations of Kirhareseth shall ye mourn" indicates that the destruction would not be superficial but would penetrate to the very bedrock of their defenses, signifying a complete, utter, and irreversible collapse. It powerfully highlights the ultimate futility of human strength, fortified cities, and military might when arrayed against God's divine decree. The lament over Kirhareseth's foundations underscores that even the most formidable human constructions and strategic strongholds are utterly powerless when God's righteous judgment is enacted, serving as a powerful object lesson that ultimate security resides only in the Lord, not in transient earthly fortifications, a timeless theme powerfully echoed in Psalm 127:1.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
The lament over Moab in Isaiah 16:7, with its vivid imagery of utter despair and the collapse of seemingly impregnable earthly strongholds, finds its ultimate and profound Christ-centered fulfillment in several transformative ways. While Moab's wailing is a direct consequence of divine judgment against their pride and rebellion, it serves as a powerful foreshadowing of the universal human condition of spiritual brokenness and the inherent futility of seeking lasting security, meaning, or hope apart from God. In Christ, the "foundations" of human self-reliance, sin, and spiritual rebellion are truly "stricken" and exposed as inadequate (as articulated in Romans 3:23), leading to a profound recognition of our desperate need for a divine Savior. Unlike the temporary and ultimately doomed security offered by Kirhareseth, Jesus Christ is the unshakeable cornerstone and eternal foundation upon which all true and lasting hope, salvation, and spiritual security are built, as unequivocally declared in 1 Corinthians 3:11. The intense wailing of Moab for its lost earthly glory stands in stark contrast to the profound joy, abiding peace, and eternal comfort found exclusively in Christ, who promises a kingdom that cannot be shaken (Hebrews 12:28) and a glorious future where "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain" (Revelation 21:4). Thus, the severe judgment on Moab, while a historical reality, ultimately points forward to the greater judgment of sin at the cross, where Christ bore the full weight of divine wrath, and to the ultimate triumph of Christ, who offers eternal security, comfort, and an everlasting foundation to all who mourn their spiritual brokenness and build their lives on Him alone.