Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Isaiah 16:6 - 16:14

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Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Isaiah 16:6 - 16:14


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

Moab's Pride and Ruin.

The Lord's invitation was issued to Moab also, for He wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. The appeal, however, was unavailing, and therefore the prophecy of punishment is once more resumed.

v. 6. We have heard of the pride of Moab,
its conceit and foolish dependence upon its own strength, Jer_48:14-29; he is very proud; even of his haughtiness and his pride and his wrath, his senseless anger against Israel; but his lies shall not be so, his false boasts would soon be shown to be vain.

v. 7. Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab,
lamenting its own ruin; every one shall howl; for the foundations of Kir-hareseth, the ruins of its strongest fortress, shall ye mourn, for this citadel of brick would be razed, or its grape-cakes would no more be available; surely they are stricken, rather, the people of Moab, utterly stricken by this calamity, would lament.

v. 8. For the fields of Heshbon languish and the vine of Sibmah,
their richest products being ruined by the invaders; the lords of the heathen have broken dawn the principal plants thereof, all the fine plants of the vine whose culture was so extensively carried on in this country; they, namely, the grape-vines, are come even unto Jazer, in the northern part of the country; they wandered through the wilderness, extending to the desert on the east; her branches are stretched out, they are gone over the sea, spreading out over the Dead Sea, to Engedi and Hebron. All these rich gifts of God's goodness were appointed to destruction.

v. 9. Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah,
the prophet's tears joining in pity and in lament with those of the rich districts of Moab; I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh, weeping on account of the hardness of heart shown by the Moabites, which resulted in such a terrible punishment; for the shouting for thy summer fruits and for thy harvest is fallen, rather, "for the vintage-shout (hedad) is fallen on thy fruits and on thy vintage," namely, the invader, whose shout of triumph accompanied his trampling the harvest of fruits and grapes into the ground.

v. 10. And gladness is taken away and joy out of the plentiful field,
out of the garden-land; and in thy vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting, as when the harvest was gathered in times of peace; the treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses; I have made their vintage-shouting to cease. The destruction wrought by the enemy has brought about the end of all happy harvesting; for what he does not destroy outright he plunders.

v. 11. Wherefore my bowels,
his whole heart, shall sound like an harp for Moab, like the sounding-board of a stringed instrument, which vibrates with the depth of his emotion, and mine inward parts for Kir-haresh. But the most pitiful aspect of the entire situation is now given:

v. 12. And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place,
when its people have lamented themselves weary, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray, turning to the high place consecrated to his god Chemosh and tormenting himself to utter fatigue; but he shall not prevail, for the god in whom he foolishly trusts is nothing but a dead idol. Such is ever the result when men place their confidence in an idol of their own invention.

v. 13. This is the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning Moab since that time,
that is, the prophecy recorded till now had been made some time before. The accurate time of its fulfilment is now added by the prophet:

v. 14. But now the Lord. hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of an hireling,
very carefully measured, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned, covered with shame, with all that great multitude, the whole mass of its inhabitants; and the remnant shall be very small and feeble, in no sense large, there would be but an insignificant remainder of the former mighty nation. The ruins of the places mentioned in this prophecy, whose names have been preserved even to this day, testify to both the inspiration of prophecy and the punitive justice of God.