Isaiah 15: 7-9

⁷ Therefore the abundance which they have acquired and stored up
They carry off over the brook of Arabim.
⁸ For the cry of distress has gone around the territory of Moab,
Its wail goes as far as Eglaim and its wailing even to Beer-elim.
⁹ For the waters of Dimon are full of blood;
Surely I will bring added woes upon Dimon,
A lion upon the fugitives of Moab and upon the remnant of the land.

Even as the prophet weeps over Moab and documents the nation's coming lament over the days of desolation and famine, Isaiah says that there will be "added woes" beyond those already foretold (vs. 9).

Because of the loss of Moab's two major cities and the desecration of the land, the refugee population rises--people are on the move. "Therefore," begins verse 7, the people take all that they have with them, even over "the brook of Arabim," which can also be translated as the brook of willows or poplars. My study Bible suggests that the brook might have been the Zered River, which forms a border between Moab and Edom.

Matthew Henry brings up an interesting point in noting the attitude of the Moabites. Here are a people facing ruin, weeping, shaving their heads in grief--over their personal losses, not over the loss of God in their lives--yet carrying their entire "abundance" off to a foreign land.

"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."

--Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible

The "cry of distress" (vs. 8) from Moab is heard in the territory surrounding the nation. Eglaim is the northernmost part of Edom, and Beer-elim is the southernmost part of Edom. Moabite wailing covers a lot of auditory ground.

In verse 9, we read about Dimon. Depending on the original sources from which your Bible is translated, Dimon could be a place all its own or it could be an alternate spelling of Moab's idol capital, Dibon. Matthew Henry says, "Dimon signifies bloody; the place shall answer to its name." He references II Kings 3: 22 and 23, in which the Moabites see water that looks like blood. "Then they said, 'This is blood; the kings have surely fought together, and they have slain one another. Now therefore, Moab, to the spoil!'" (vs. 23) (Israel would then rise up in surprise to defeat them.) Here's what I read about the etymology of 'Dimon':

"The form of the name, Dimon, in Isa 15:9, may have been given to make it resemble the Hebrew dam, 'blood,' to support the play upon words in the verse...."

--International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

[It would be like Isaiah to use a play-on-words. Such a creative writer!]

But, given Moab's reliance upon idols and Dibon's propensity for them, it would be an equally plausible possibility that Isaiah was referring to the city itself. It is no wonder God would bring about additional woe upon the people in relationship to their activities at Dibon. Remember, "gods before Him" has always been the problem requiring the #1 Commandment. But the extent of the woes goes beyond Dibon to the fugitives themselves. One really does start to feel sad for this people in the end due to their cluelessness. We did wrong, but we won't own up to it. Instead, we'll cry over our ruin, take all that we own and cherish, and run away to start a new life [in an equally spiritually corrupt nation]! God would not have it. He would send "a lion." (vs 9)

It's a picture perhaps not unlike what Babylon would experience with the "desert creatures" taking over their houses, towers and palaces. (Isa. 13: 21 and 22) The cross-reference verse takes us back to another prophet's words--Amos--who warned that even when escape from the first obstacle is possible, there are more woes awaiting:

"Alas, you who are longing for the day of the Lord,
For what purpose will the day of the Lord be to you?
It will be darkness and not light;

As when a man flees from a lion
And a bear meets him,
Or goes home, leans his hand against the wall
And a snake bites him."

--Amos 5: 18 and 19

Perhaps the most striking contrast--and one that Judah should have seen--is that of "the remnant." [And did Isaiah choose that word on purpose or what?!] Moab's would not survive. Judah's would be preserved through the history of the world.

 

Where the scattered fugitives landed, as we begin Chapter 16. ...'Til next Wednesday!

Photo: www.warsawbiblicalgardens.org

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Next week:  Isaiah 16: 1-4
 
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 5: 26-30

²⁶ He will also lift up a standard to the distant nation,
And will whistle for it from the ends of the earth;
And behold, it will come with speed swiftly.
²⁷ No one in it is weary or stumbles,
None slumbers or sleeps;
Nor is the belt at its waist undone,
Nor its sandal strap broken.
²⁸ Its arrows are sharp and all its bows are bent;
The hoofs of its horses seem like flint and its chariot wheels like a whirlwind.
²⁹ Its roaring is like a lioness, and it roars like young lions;
It growls as it seizes the prey
And carries it off with no one to deliver it.
³⁰ And it will growl over it in that day like the roaring of the sea.
If one looks to the land, behold, there is darkness and distress;
Even the light is darkened by its clouds.

We conclude Isaiah, Chapter 5, far from the beautiful vineyard that opened this chapter. This reads more like a scene out of "Braveheart" than "A Walk in the Clouds."

Last time, we talked about God's hand being in total control of this situation. The judgment and consequences facing Judah were His doing. He would "lift up a standard,"--a flag, sail or sign [Strong's]--to a "distant nation." A signal flare of sorts was fired to a nation that was not part of Israel--likely, forces from the Assyrian Empire. ("These would be Syria, Assyria, Babylon, etc. The imperial Assyrian army was composed of mercenaries hired from all over the Assyrian Empire."--Reformation Study Bible). Strong's includes one more definition in an explanation of the Hebrew for 'standard'--token. God was handing off Judah as if someone were receiving a token for a high score in an arcade game. Here, catch....

"'Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and a glad heart, for the abundance of all things; therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in the lack of all things; and He will put an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you. 'The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as the eagle swoops down, a nation whose language you shall not understand....'"

--Deuteronomy 28: 47-49

Verse 26 says that God will "whistle" for this armament. This whistle is not a still small voice as Elijah would have heard in recognizing God. Again looking at the Hebrew, the word means "to be shrill, i.e., to whistle or hiss (as a call or in scorn)." [Strong's] More like the tea kettle at high boil kind of whistle! Or a hissing that would have sounded like a bee, as Assyria was noted for its bees. [International Standard Bible Encyclopedia] And once the call was issued, the forces would come "with speed swiftly," which certainly emphasizes the point.

Isaiah takes the next several verses to describe the army. Verse 27 describes a group dressed for battle with nothing of strength out of place. Not a one weary, stumbling, or sleepy. The phrasing chosen here reminds me immediately of Psalm 121: "He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep." (verses 3b and 4) The Lord was lifting up an army with Divine might.

"If God set up his standard, he can incline men’s hearts to enlist themselves under it, though perhaps they know not why or wherefore. When the Lord of hosts is pleased to make a general muster of the forces he has at his command, he has a great army in an instant...."

--Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible

The army of total preparedness has perfect equipment as well. Bows and arrows, groomed and at the ready. Horses with hooves that "seem like flint," (verse 28) meaning of great hardness, so that they would be prepared to ride the miles and withstand the attack to come. Their chariots would kick up the dust, as if a "whirlwind." It is with the reference to chariots that some commentaries I read suggested this entire passage might also refer to other times of judgment and invasion, such as the emergence of the Roman Empire. More on this thought in a moment....

Verse 29 goes figurative, as the invading force takes on the persona of a roaring lion. Isaiah describes the take-over of Judah as if a lion attacking its prey. It begins with a commanding roaring, moves to a satisfying growl, the seize and, finally, the unchallenged escape. Babylon invaded Jerusalem in 586 B.C., destroying the temple and leading a host of Jews back to exile. If only Isaiah's words had sounded to God's people as a roaring lion.

"Those who would not hear the voice of God speaking to them by his prophets, but stopped their ears against their charms, shall be made to hear the voice of their enemies roaring against them and shall not be able to turn a deaf ear to it."

--Matthew Henry

Finishing up with verse 30 out of the King James Version:

"And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof."

The idea of Scripture being applicable in more than one place and time (Assyrian Empire; Roman Empire; End Times) shouldn't surprise us. This is a living, active word! (Hebrews 4:12) Surely, in the exile of Judah and the destruction of the temple, there would be darkness in the heavens. I know what you're thinking, though: This was at God's hand! He could have intervened, done something different. But, as I hope we've learned from the little of Isaiah that we have tackled so far, we are talking about a people that had turned so far away from God that drastic measures were necessary. And, truly, when you read passages in Deuteronomy, like Chapter 28, this was the punishment to fit the disobedience. No surprises here!

It is hard to see this as a "tough love" situation, but, through discipline, God was trying to reach them and bring them back to Himself. This is a way He shows His love for us. And a time was coming in which there would be the greatest showing of His love ever known. Yet, history repeats itself....

"In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not."

--John 1: 4 and 5

The "darkness" did not understand, but led the true Light of the world to the cross. "And if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof."

"It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, because the sun was obscured...."

--Luke 23: 44-45a

"...The earth shook and the rocks were split. ...When they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, 'Truly this was the Son of God!'"

--Matthew 27: 51-54 (excerpts)

THINGS HAPPEN in the presence of God, even as the heavens are darkened and saddened at the will of those who do not see. Might we hear the roaring cry of the prophets, the roaring cry of our Savior--the Lion of Judah [How about that flip on a metaphor!?]--so that we will not continue to walk in darkness, but have the light of life? (John 8:12)

Before that Day of the last roaring?

"'There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.'"

--Luke 21: 25 and 26 (Jesus speaking) 

How Isaiah became a prophet. Chapter 6 begins.... 'Til next Wednesday!

Photo: twistedsifter.com

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Next week: Isaiah 6: 1-3

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).