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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Isaiah 16:1 - 16:5
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The Conditions of Deliverance
v. 1. Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land from Sela to the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion, Moab here, having found refuge in Petra of Idumea, being admonished to send its tribute of lambs to the ruler of the land, to the king reigning at Jerusalem, the road to this capital, whose most important section was Mount Zion, leading through the wilderness south and west of the Dead Sea. To submit to Judah, in both the physical and the spiritual sense, was Moab's only hope.
v. 2. For it shall be that, as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, like birds aimlessly fluttering, like a nest whose occupants have suddenly been turned out, so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon; for here, at the boundary of their land, they assemble in huddled bands, looking for help and deliverance. To this appeal the prophet answers:
v. 3. Take counsel, execute judgment, planning deliverance instead of oppression, as heretofore; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday, thereby concealing all those who trust in this shadow as completely as if the darkness of night enclosed them; hide the outcasts, those who are driven from home without cause; bewray not him that wandereth, betraying him into the hands of the enemies.
v. 4. Let Mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler, thus giving shelter to all people who might become fugitives from Judah in the uncertain circumstances obtaining at that time. The reason for this admonition is now given. For the extortioner is at an end, the great world-power which made it a practice to destroy and tread under foot was itself overcome, the spoiler ceaseth, destruction is no longer to be found, the oppressors are consumed out of the land. Jerusalem was delivered from the Assyrian affliction, which represented, at the same time, all the forces of evil arrayed against the Church of God.
v. 5. And in mercy shall the throne, that of Judah, of the Messiah, be established, prepared and confirmed; and He, the Messiah Himself, shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, one in whom the truth of the Lord's promise is fulfilled, one who Himself is the Truth, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness, for those are the principles of His government. There is only one way for Moab to escape the threatening everlasting Judgment, and that is by throwing itself upon the mercy of this King.