Isaiah 16:1-14 - Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

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Bible Comments

The Moabites now in Sela, a city of Edom (2 Kings 14:7 *; cf. Judges 1:36, mg.*), exhort each other to send the tribute of lambs once paid to Israel (2 Kings 3:4) to Jerusalem to secure her protection and shelter, since Edom was under the suzerainty of Judah. Judah can protect the Moabites, for it is under a righteous government. But the prayer is rejected, for the arrogance of Moab (Isaiah 25:11) is such that its flattery of Judah must be insincere. So Moab must mourn still more, lamenting for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth (in Isaiah 16:11 Kir-heres, probably identical with Kir of Moab). The vineyards of Heshbon, the vines of Sibmah languish, whose vintage was so choice that it was drunk by monarchs, so strong that it overcame them, accustomed though they would be to powerful intoxicants. The poet shares the grief of Jazer (15 miles N. of Heshbon), for the vintage is all ruined. Though the poet's compassion is moved at the desolation, the prayers of the doomed people cannot avert it.

Isaiah 16:2. Out of place. The Moabites are here back at the fords of Arnon (Numbers 21:13 *), timid and irresolute. It breaks the connexion between Isaiah 16:1 and Isaiah 16:3.

Isaiah 16:7. raisin-cakes: grapes pressed together in the form of a cake used at religious festivals (p. 99, Hosea 3:1 *).

Isaiah 16:8. Poetically the author describes the vines under the figure of a single vine branching out to Jazer on the north, to the desert on the east, and the Dead Sea on the west.

Isaiah 16:9 f. The word rendered battle shout is the same as that rendered vintage shout. It is the technical name for the shout of the wine-treaders as they press the grapes. There will be a vintage shout, but it will be that of the soldiers as they trample the vineyards down; cf. Jeremiah 48:33, the shouting shall be no shouting.

Isaiah 16:11. As the harp responds to the touch of the musician, so the poet's heart is moved by the sorrows of Moab.

Isaiah 16:13 f. The preceding prophecy was spoken in time past, but now in three years precisely the glory of Moab shall be brought low, and only an insignificant remnant be spared.

Isaiah 16:14. The hired servant serves for the stipulated period exactly. The master sees to it that it shall be no less, the servant takes care that it shall be no more.

Related Commentaries of Isaiah 16:1

Isaiah 16:1-14

1 Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land from Selaa to the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion.

2 For it shall be, that, as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon.

3 Takeb counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; betray not him that wandereth.

4 Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler: for the extortionerc is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the land.

5 And in mercy shall the throne be established:d and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness.

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 Kirhareseth shall ye mourn;e 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 shoutingf 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 an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kirharesh.

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 an hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned, with all that great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and feeble.g