Isaiah 16:6

ot a man of war or blood, who wastes his subjects' lives and treasures in contentions with neighboring nations, in order to satisfy his ambition by the extension of his territory. On the contrary, his whole life is occupied in the distribution of justice. 3. He seeketh judgment. He seeks out the poor distressed ones who cannot make their way to him, and avenges them on their oppressors. 4. He hastens righteousness. He does not suffer any of the courts of justice to delay the determination of the causes brought before them: he so orders that the point in litigation be fairly, fully, and speedily heard; and then judgment pronounced. Delays in the execution of justice answer little end but the enriching of unprincipled lawyers. Verse 6 We have heard of the pride of Moab "We have heard the pride of Moab" - For גא ge, read גאה geah; two MSS., one ancient, and Jer 48:29. Zephaniah, Zep 2:8-10, in his prophecy against Moab, the subject of which is the same with that of Jeremiah in his forty-eighth chapter, (see the note on Isa 15:1 (note)), enlarges much on the pride of Moab, and their insolent behavior towards the Jews: - "I have heard the reproach of Moab; And the revilings of the sons of Ammon: Who have reproached my people; And have magnified themselves against their borders. Therefore, as I live, saith Jehovah God of hosts, the God of Israel: Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, And the sons of Ammon as Gomorrah: A possession of nettles, and pits of salt, And a desolation for ever. The residue of my people shall spoil them, And the remnant of my nation shall dispossess them: This shall they have for their pride; Because they have raised a reproach, and have magnified themselves Against the people of Jehovah God of hosts." Verse 7 For the foundations of Kir-hareseth "For the men of Kirhares" - A palpable mistake in this place is happily corrected by the parallel text of Jer 48:31, where, instead of אשישי ashishey, foundations or flagons, we read אנשי anshey, men. In the same place of Jeremiah, and in Jer 48:36, and here in Isa 16:11, the name of the city is Kirhares, not Kirhareseth. Verse 8 Languish "Are put to shame" - Here the text of Jeremiah leaves us much at a loss, in a place that seems to be greatly corrupted. The Septuagint join the two last words of this verse with the beginning of the following. Their rendering is: και ουκ εντραπησῃ, τα πεδια Εσεβων. For אך ach they must have read אל al; otherwise, how came they by the negative, which seems not to belong to this place? Neither is it easy to make sense of the rest without a small alteration, by reading, instead of εντραπησῃ τα, εντραπησεται. In a word, the Arabic version taken from the Septuagint, plainly authorizes this reading of the Septuagint, and without the negative; and it is fully confirmed by MSS. Pachom. and 1. D. II., which have both of them εντραπησεται πεδια Εσεβων, without the negative; which makes an excellent sense, and, I think, gives us the true reading of the Hebrew text; אך נכלמו שדמות חשבון ak nichlemu shadmoth cheshbon. They frequently render the verb נכלם nichlam by εντρεπομαι. And נכלמו nichlemu answers perfectly well to אמלל umlal, the parallel word in the next line. The MSS. vary in expressing the word נכאים nechaim, which gives no tolerable sense in this place; one reads נוכאים nochaim; two others בכאים bechaim; in another the כ caph is upon a rasure of two letters; and the Vulgate instead of it reads מכותם mecotham, plagas suas. - L. For the men of Kirhares ye shall make a moan. For the fields of Heshbon are put to shame. This is Bp. Lowth's sense of the passage. Her branches are stretched out "Her branches extended themselves" - For נטשו nitteshu, a MS. has נגשו niggeshu; which may perhaps be right. Compare Jer 48:32, which has in this part of the sentence the synonymous word נגעו nagau. The meaning of this verse is, that the wines of Sibmah and Heshbon were greatly celebrated, and in high repute with all the great men and princes of that and the neighboring countries; who indulged themselves even to intemperance in the use of them. So that their vines were so much in request as not only to be propagated all over the country of Moab to the sea of Sodom, but to have scions of them sent even beyond the sea into foreign countries. הלמו halemu, knocked down, demolished; that is overpowered, intoxicated. The drunkards of Ephraim are called by the prophet, Isa 28:1, הלומי יין halumey yayin, drinkers of wine. See Schultens on Pro 23:25. Gratius, speaking of the Mareotic wine, says of it, Pharios quae fregit noxia reges. Cyneg. 312. Verse 9 With the weeping "As with the weeping" - For בבכי bibechi, a MS. reads בכי bechi. In Jer 48:32, it is מבכי mibbechi. The Septuagint read כבכי kibeki, as with weeping, which I follow. For thy summer fruits and for thy harvest is fallen "And upon thy vintage the destroyer hath fallen" - ועל קצירך הידד נפל veal ketsirech heidad naphal. In these few words there are two great mistakes, which the text of Jer 48:32 rectifies. For קצירך ketsirech, it has בצירך betsirech; and for הידד heidad, שדד shoded; both which corrections the Chaldee in this place confirms. As to the first, "Hesebon and Eleale, and The flowery dale of Sibmah, clad with vines," were never celebrated for their harvests; it was the vintage that suffered by the irruption of the enemy; and so read the Septuagint and Syriac. הידד heidad is the noisy acclamation of the treaders of the grapes. And see what sense this makes in the literal rendering of the Vulgate: super messem tuam vox calcantium irruit, "upon thy harvest the voice of the treaders rushes." The reading in Jer 48:32 is certainly right, שדד נפל shoded naphal, "the destroyer hath fallen." The shout of the treaders does not come in till the next verse; in which the text of Isaiah in its turn mends that of Jer 48:33, where instead of the first הידד heidad, "the shout," we ought undoubtedly to read, as here, הדרך haddorech, "the treader." Verse 10 Neither shall there be shouting "An end is put to the shouting" - The Septuagint read השבת hishbeth, passive, and in the third person; rightly, for God is not the speaker in this place. The rendering of the Septuagint is πεπαυται γαρ κελευσμα, "the cry ceaseth;" which last word, necessary to the rendering of the Hebrew and to the sense, is supplied by MSS. Pachom. and 1. D. II., having been lost out of the other copies. Verse 12 When it is seen that Moab, etc. "When Moab shall see," etc. - For נראה nirah, a MS. reads ראה raah, and so the Syriac and Chaldee. "Perhaps כי נראה ki nirah is only a various reading of כי נלאה ki nilah." Secker. A very probable conjecture. Verse 14 Within three years - בשלש beshalish כשלש keshalish, according, or in or about three years, is the reading of nine of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., and two ancient editions. But the present reading may well stand: "Now, the Lord hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of a hireling." It seems as if this prophecy had been delivered before, without any time specified for its fulfillment; but now the time is determined" in three years, as the years of a hireling" - for, as a hireling counts even to a single day, and will not abide with his employer an hour beyond the time agreed on; so, in three years, even to a day, from the delivery of this prophecy, shall destruction come upon Moab. This is the import of the present text; but if we take כשלש keshalish, AS in three years, or in about three years' time, the prophecy is not so definite. These three years, says Calmet, are mentioned from the death of Ahaz, see Isa 14:28, and end the third year of Hezekiah, three years before the taking of Samaria by Shalmaneser. This conqueror did not ruin Moab so completely as not to leave a man in the land; the final desolation of Moab was reserved for Nebuchadnezzar, five years after the taking of Jerusalem. Feeble "And without strength" - An ancient MS., with the Septuagint, reads ולא velo, "and not." Introduction Judgments of God upon Damascus, Isa 17:1-3; and upon Israel, Isa 17:4-6. Good effects of these judgments on the small remnant or gleaning that should escape them, Isa 17:7, Isa 17:8. The same judgments represented in other but stronger terms, and imputed to irreligion and neglect of God, Isa 17:9-11. The remaining verses are a distinct prophecy, a beautiful detached piece, worked up with the greatest elegance, sublimity, and propriety; and forming a noble description of the formidable invasion and sudden overthrow of Sennacherib, exactly suitable to the event, Isa 17:12-14. This prophecy by its title should relate only to Damascus; but it full as much concerns, and more largely treats of, the kingdom of Samaria and the Israelites, confederated with Damascus and the Syrians against the kingdom of Judah. It was delivered probably soon after the prophecies of the seventh and eighth chapters, in the beginning of the reign of Ahaz; and was fulfilled by Tiglath-pileser's taking Damascus, and carrying the people captives to Kir, ( 2Kgs 16:9 ), and overrunning great part of the kingdom of Israel, and carrying a great number of the Israelites also captives to Assyria; and still more fully in regard to Israel, by the conquest of the kingdom, and the captivity of the people, effected a few years after by Shalmaneser. - L. Verse 1 The burden of Damascus - Which is, according to the common version, The cities of Aroer are forsaken. It has already been observed by the learned prelate that the prophecy, as it relates to Damascus, was executed in the beginning of the reign of Ahaz, probably about the third year. If we credit Midrash, the Damascenes were the most extensive and flagrant of all idolaters. "There were in Damascus three hundred and sixty-five streets, in each of these was an idol, and each idol had his peculiar day of worship; so that the whole were worshipped in the course of the year." This, or any thing like this, was a sufficient reason for this city's destruction. A ruinous heap - For מעי mei, "a ruinous heap," the Septuagint reads לעי lei, "for a ruin," the Vulgate כעי kei, "as a ruin." I follow the former. Verse 2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken "The cities are deserted for ever" - What has Aroer on the river Arnon to do with Damascus? and if there be another Aroer on the northern border of the tribe of Gad, as Reland seems to think there might be, this is not much more to the purpose. Besides, the cities of Aroer, if Aroer itself is a city, makes no good sense. The Septuagint, for ערער aroer, read עדי עד adey ad, εις τον αιωνα, for ever, or for a long duration. The Chaldee takes the word for a verb from ערה arah, translating it חרבו cherebu, devastabuntur, "they shall be wasted." The Syriac read עדועיר adoeir. So that the reading is very doubtful. I follow the Septuagint as making the plainest sense. Verse 3 The remnant of Syria "The pride of Syria" - For שאר shear, "remnant," Houbigant reads שאת seeth, "pride," answering, as the sentence seems evidently to require, to כבוד cabod, "the glory of Israel." The conjecture is so very probable that I venture to follow it. As the glory - בכבוד bichbod, "In the glory," is the reading of eight MSS., and ten editions. Verse 4 In that day - That is, says Kimchi, the time when the ten tribes of Israel, which were the glory of Jacob, should be carried into captivity. Verse 5 As when the harvestman gathereth "As when one gathereth" - That is, the king of Assyria shall sweep away the whole body of the people, as the reaper strippeth off the whole crop of corn; and the remnant shall be no more in proportion than the scattered ears left to the gleaner. The valley of Rephaim near Jerusalem was celebrated for its plentiful harvest; it is here used poetically for any fruitful country. One MS., and one ancient edition, has באסף beesoph, "In gathering," instead of כאסף keesoph, "AS the gathering." Verse 8

We - The prophet having spoken to the Moabites, now turns his speech to God's people. The sense is, I do not expect that my counsels will have any good effect upon Moab; they will still carry themselves insolently and outrageously. His lies - His vain imaginations, and false and crafty counsels, shall not take effect.

The Pride of Moab; The Threatening against Moab; The Doom of Moab. ( b. c. 725.) 6 We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud: even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: but his lies shall not be so. 7 Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab, every one shall howl: for the foundations of Kir-hareseth shall ye mourn; surely they are stricken. 8 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. 9 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. 10 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. 11 Wherefore my bowels shall sound like a harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kir-haresh. 12 And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not prevail. 13 This is the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning Moab since that time. 14 But now the Lord hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of a hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned, with all that great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and feeble. Here we have, I. The sins with which Moab is charged, v. 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, Deut. xxiii. 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 ( v. 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 ( 2 Kings iii. 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, v. 8 , 10 . See, [1.] What a fruitful pleasant country they had, as the garden of the Lord, Gen. xiii. 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, Ps. iv. 6, 7 . Destroy the vines and the fig-trees, and you make all the mirth of a carnal heart to cease, Hos. ii. 11, 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. iii. 17, 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 ( v. 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 ch. xv. 5 . III. In the close of the chapter we have, 1. The insufficiency of the gods of Moab, the false gods, to help them, v. 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, Judg. x. 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 ( v. 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, v. 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.