2 He hath gone up to Bajith and Dibon, The high places -- to weep, On Nebo and on Medeba Moab howleth, On all its heads `is' baldness, every beard cut off.
Concerning Moab: `Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel: Wo unto Nebo, for it is spoiled, Put to shame, captured hath been Kiriathaim, Put to shame hath been the high tower, Yea, it hath been broken down.
they do not make baldness on their head, and the corner of their beard they do not shave, and in their flesh they do not make a cutting;
And it hath been, instead of spice is muck, And instead of a girdle, a rope, And instead of curled work, baldness, And instead of a stomacher a girdle of sackcloth.
And Moses goeth up from the plains of Moab unto mount Nebo, the top of Pisgah, which `is' on the front of Jericho, and Jehovah sheweth him all the land -- Gilead unto Dan,
Cut off thy crown, and cast `it' away, And lift up on high places lamentation, For Jehovah hath rejected, And He leaveth the generation of His wrath.
And they have girded on sackcloth, And covered them hath trembling, And unto all faces `is' shame, And on all their heads -- baldness.
For every head `is' bald, and every beard diminished, On all hands cuttings, and on the loins -- sackcloth. On all roofs of Moab, and in her broad-places, All of it -- `is' lamentation, For I have broken Moab as a vessel in which there is no pleasure, An affirmation of Jehovah. How hath it been broken down! they have howled, How hath Moab turned the neck ashamed, And Moab hath been for a derision. And for a terror to all round about her.
Therefore for Moab I howl, even for Moab -- all of it, I cry for men of Kir-Heres, it doth mourn,
And on Dibon, and on Nebo, And on Beth-Diblathaim, and on Kirathaim, And on Beth-Gamul, and on Beth-Meon,
`Ye do not round the corner of your head, nor destroy the corner of thy beard. `And a cutting for the soul ye do not put in your flesh; and a writing, a cross-mark, ye do not put on you; I `am' Jehovah.
And call doth the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, In that day, to weeping and to lamentation, And to baldness and to girding on of sackcloth,
Therefore howl doth Moab for Moab, all of it doth howl, For the grape-cakes of Kir-Hareseth it meditateth, Surely they are smitten.
In its out-places they girded on sackcloth, On its pinnacles, and in its broad places, Every one howleth -- going down with weeping.
And Job riseth, and rendeth his robe, and shaveth his head, and falleth to the earth, and doth obeisance,
and the border is to them from Aroer, which `is' on the edge of the brook Arnon, and the city which `is' in the midst of the brook, and all the plain by Medeba, Heshbon, and all its cities which `are' in the plain, Dibon, and Bamoth-Baal, and Beth-Baal-Meon,
and Nebo, and Baal-Meon (changed in name), and Shibmah, and they call by `these' names the names of the cities which they have built.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Isaiah 15
Commentary on Isaiah 15 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 15
This chapter, and that which follows it, are the burden of Moab-a prophecy of some great desolation that was coming upon that country, which bordered upon this land of Israel, and had often been injurious and vexatious to it, though the Moabites were descended from Lot, Abraham's kinsman and companion, and though the Israelites, by the appointment of God, had spared them when they might both easily and justly have cut them off with their neighbours. In this chapter we have,
Isa 15:1-5
The country of Moab was of small extent, but very fruitful. It bordered upon the lot of Reuben on the other side Jordan and upon the Dead Sea. Naomi went to sojourn there when there was a famine in Canaan. This is the country which (it is here foretold) should be wasted and grievously harassed, not quite ruined, for we find another prophecy of its ruin (Jer. 48), which was accomplished by Nebuchadnezzar. This prophecy here was to be fulfilled within three years (ch. 16:14), and therefore was fulfilled in the devastations made of that country by the army of the Assyrians, which for many years ravaged those parts, enriching themselves with spoil and plunder. It was done either by the army of Shalmaneser, about the time of the taking of Samaria, in the fourth year of Hezekiah (as is most probable), or by the army of Sennacherib, which, ten years after, invaded Judah. We cannot suppose that the prophet went among the Moabites to preach to them this sermon; but he delivered it to his own people,
Now concerning Moab it is here foretold,
Isa 15:6-9
Here the prophet further describes the woeful and piteous lamentations that should be heard throughout all the country of Moab when it should become a prey to the Assyrian army. "By this time the cry has gone round about all the borders of Moab,' v. 8. Every corner of the country has received the alarm, and is in the utmost confusion upon it. It has reached to Eglaim, a city at one end of the country, and to Beer-elim, a city as far the other way. Where sin has been general, and all flesh have corrupted their way, what can be expected but a general desolation? Two things are here spoken of as causes of this lamentation:-