Isaiah 16: 6-9

⁶ We have heard of the pride of Moab, an excessive pride;
Even of his arrogance, pride, and fury;

His idle boasts are false.
⁷ Therefore Moab will wail; everyone of Moab will wail.
You will moan for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth
As those who are utterly stricken.
⁸ For the fields of Heshbon have withered, the vines of Sibmah as well;
The lords of the nations have trampled down its choice clusters
Which reached as far as Jazer and wandered to the deserts;

Its tendrils spread themselves out and passed over the sea.
⁹ Therefore I will weep bitterly for Jazer, for the vine of Sibmah;
I will drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh;
For the shouting over your summer fruits and your harvest has fallen away.

Despite Isaiah's counsel and compassion, Moab remains senseless in its response to the prophet. The destruction to come will be fulfilled, and Isaiah describes the nation's losses and his continued grief over the situation in our passage today.

Moab might have seen a mighty act of redemption had it dealt with the long-term issue of its heart--pride, which Isaiah describes as "excessive." This is a nation proud of its pride!  #1 in arrogance! Best boasts by a boaster! You get the idea. With God, all things are possible. Without God, pride is a hard sin of which to repent; excessive pride...woo....

"It is not the rash and rigid censure of one or 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."

--Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible

["Too wise to be advised." There is a young lady of note (??) who made blazing headlines in entertainment news this week. Perhaps there is something in this message for her.]

"Therefore...," (vs. 7) trouble is coming, and no one will escape its coming. The nation will "wail" and "howl," (King James Version). Mourning will beset Moab. In the capital, Kir (the likely city meant by Kir-hareseth), the people will "moan for raisin cakes." This is the first reference Isaiah makes concerning a chief business of Moab--grape production. The nation was widely known for its growing of grapes as well as its manufacturing of wines. (Jerusalem was one of its key importers.) Raisin cakes were made from dried grapes, as you would expect, into a granola bar of sorts. The Encyclopedia of the Bible calls them "an imperishable food." Soldiers took them out into the field with them. If the Moabites would not even have their emergency box go-to food available, things would be awful.

With verse 8, we read of the destroying of the grape crop, which can just as well be read metaphorically of Moab itself. The vines in Heshbon, the prominent Moabite city in the north that we looked at in Isaiah 15, will be withered, as will those in Sibmah, a suburb of Heshbon to the northwest. In the Assyrian attack on the nation, the "choice clusters," that which would have spawned a new crop, will be trampled. The tendrils of the vines--the coils that reached out to support the plant--had once stretched from Jazer at the furthest point north, to the deserts east and south, to the Dead Sea. No longer!

Isaiah weeps (vs. 9), and "bitterly" so, over the loss of this great resource and gift, as well as over the nation's plight, "drenching" the cities of Heshbon and Elealah, who, otherwise, would have celebrated over a great harvest. "...For upon your summer fruits and your harvest the shout [of alarm and the cry of the enemy] has fallen." (Amplified Bible) 

Once again, it is a study of contrasts, Moab and Judah--and, remember, Isaiah is speaking to Judah, even as he is speaking to Moab. Judah would know redemption, in the near future with Hezekiah at the hand and mercy of God, and in the future in the final coming of a Savior:

"The people who walk in darkness
Will see a great light;
Those who live in a dark land,
The light will shine on them.

You shall multiply the nation, 

You shall increase their gladness;
They will be glad in Your presence
As with the gladness of harvest,
As men rejoice when they divide the spoil.

For You shall break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders,
The rod of their oppressor, as at the battle of Midian."

--Isaiah 9: 2-4

But gladness at the time of harvest--both in its defeat by Assyria and in the final days--will remain an unknown joy of Moab.

“According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity
And those who sow trouble harvest it.

'By the breath of God they perish,
And by the blast of His anger they come to an end.'"

--Job 4: 8 and 9

"...And his remnant will be very small...." The prophet's grief over the loss of a nation. ...'Til next Wednesday!

Photo: www.bio.brandeis.edu , www.calvaryfullerton.org

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Next week:  Isaiah 16: 10-14
 
Note: I read from the New American Standard Bible translation,
specifically, The MacArthur Study Bible (NASB).
I will quote other sources if used in a post.
I also use Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
(with notes from the King James Version).

Isaiah 15: 4-6

⁴ Heshbon and Elealeh also cry out,
Their voice is heard all the way to Jahaz;
Therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud;
His soul trembles within him.
⁵ My heart cries out for Moab;
His fugitives are as far as Zoar and Eglath-shelishiyah,
For they go up the ascent of Luhith weeping;
Surely on the road to Horonaim they raise a cry of distress over their ruin.
⁶ For the waters of Nimrim are desolate.
Surely the grass is withered, the tender grass died out,
There is no green thing.

We continue to look at the judgment on Moab this week in Isaiah, Chapter 15. We are loaded with place names today, as you can see. I always like to look at the vocabulary, so let's figure out the proper nouns before we put things in proper perspective. (Background and Scripture cross-references from The Encyclopedia of the Bible.)

Heshbon--The city, east of the Dead Sea, had a history of takeover by various countries. At one time, Israel, under Moses' direction, captured the city:

"Israel took all these cities and Israel lived in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all her villages. For Heshbon was the city of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken all his land out of his hand, as far as the Arnon."

--Numbers 21: 25 and 26

Elealeh--This city is very close to Heshbon and even closer to the Dead Sea. Nations wrestled over its ownership as well throughout history. At one point, the city was given to the tribe of Reuben [of Israel] who rebuilt the city.

"The sons of Reuben built Heshbon and Elealeh and Kiriathaim, and Nebo and Baal-meon—their names being changed—and Sibmah, and they gave other names to the cities which they built."

--Numbers 32: 37 and 38

But, not long after, Moab reclaimed Elealeh, though they carried on a dispute over the city with Ammon.

Jahaz--This city was located some 20 miles south of Heshbon, on the Arnon River, and northeast of Moab's idol capital, Dibon. In the same battle that saw the Amorites' King Sihon lose Heshbon to Israel, Jahaz was also turned over.

Zoar--This city may have been located on the southern end of the Dead Sea, though Biblical scholars are not in agreement on this. We read about Zoar in Genesis in the account of Lot and his fleeing Sodom and Gomorrah in the time of God's wrath unleashed upon the cities. 

"The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar.... Thus it came about, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot lived."

--Genesis 19: 23 and 29

Eglath-shelishiyah--Not on our map, it's a city whose location is not clearly known, though mentioned in both Isaiah's and Jeremiah's prophecies concerning Moab. The King James Version actually reads, "...his fugitives shall flee unto Zoar, an heifer of three years old." Needed some help to understand that.

"In the former case strong and unconquered cities, Zoar and Horonaim, are compared to the heifer not yet broken to the yoke. Such use of 'heifer' is not infrequent (compare Jeremiah 46:20, Hosea 10:11, etc.). The majority of scholars, however, take it as a place-name."

--International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

I will be siding with the majority when we read this passage through momentarily.

Luhith--Possibly another city on the southern end of the Dead Sea, though this location is not for sure. Given how the passage containing the city reads, it may have been on a hill ("go up the ascent of Luhith," vs. 5).

Horonaim--Like Luhith, a possibly southern city, though unconfirmed.

Nimrim--'Nimrim' means basins of clear water. Again, the Biblical scholars are a bit all over the map, literally, in deciding where Nimrim was located. Most suggest it was a stream-oasis near the eastern coast of the Dead Sea.

Now, to our text. Isaiah is addressing the full nation of Moab, doing so through geographical reference points. He begins at the northern segment of the territory, with Heshbon and Elealeh crying out southward to Jahaz. (vs. 4) The cry from the fall of these cities triggers despair by the armies of the men of Moab. Soul trembling by the nation's mightiest warriors. This should help us to understand the depth of devastation to come.

Verse 5: "My heart cries out for Moab." I admit to tripping and stumbling when I came to this statement. 'My' refers to Isaiah. Isaiah was crying out for Moab, not just to Moab--and, truly, he was speaking to Judah. He is the bearer of bad news, but he does not put himself in a position of saying, "God told you this would happen if you didn't behave." This is a window into Isaiah's character--a man of compassion. Thinking back on Jonah and his relationship with Nineveh, we can see a very different man of prophecy.

"...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."

--Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible

Continuing with verse 5, Moab's fugitives flee as far as to its southernmost cities. They weep climbing the hill of Luhith, and on the road to Horonaim, they continue to cry out over its ruin. It is nationwide destruction and grief! On top of that, "...the waters of Nimrim are desolate." (vs. 6) As is not uncommon in these situations, there is a drought and famine accompanying Moab's already dreadful situation. "There is no green thing."

Times in Joel's days of prophecy were just as desperate for Judah and they were for Moab. No doubt, what Isaiah was describing of Moab would be a particularly vivid memory for Judah:

"The field is ruined,
The land mourns;
For the grain is ruined,
The new wine dries up,
Fresh oil fails.
Be ashamed, O farmers,
Wail, O vinedressers,
For the wheat and the barley;
Because the harvest of the field is destroyed.
The vine dries up
And the fig tree fails;
The pomegranate, the palm also, and the apple tree,
All the trees of the field dry up.
Indeed, rejoicing dries up
From the sons of men."

--Joel 1: 10-12

"...For the cry of distress has gone around...." Finishing up Chapter 15. ...'Til next Wednesday!

Photo: www.calvaryfullerton.org

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Next week:  Isaiah 15: 7-9
 
Note: I read from the New American Standard Bible translation,
specifically, The MacArthur Study Bible (NASB).
I will quote other sources if used in a post.
I also use Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
(with notes from the King James Version).