Isaiah 16:1,2 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Send ye the lamb— After Isaiah, in the former part of this prophesy, had described the calamity and the lamentation of the Moabites, he here stands still, as on a sudden; then addresses the Moabites, and informs them as well of the causes of this judgment, as of the means which, if properly applied, might at least mitigate, if not wholly avert it. The prophet does not set forth these causes directly, but obliquely, by the way of prudent counsel; wherein they are admonished of their duty towards the king and people of the Jews, which they had shamefully and proudly neglected; but, foreseeing that the Moabites would not hearken to this counsel, he goes on to describe more fully their calamity. This part of the prophesy therefore is three-fold; first, we have the counsel given to the Moabites by the prophet, or the Jewish church, Isaiah 16:1-5 wherein a two-fold duty is recommended; the one to obtain the friendship of the Jews, which in their calamity would be of great use to them, by paying them their tribute, Isaiah 16:1. Isaiah 16:2 the other to treat with clemency and kindness the Jewish outcasts and exiles among them, for the sake of the great benefit which would redound to them from the Jews in its proper time. Secondly, the success or event of this counsel, that is to say, the contempt of it, whereof the pride and arrogance of the Moabites are shewn to be the cause. Thirdly, a repeated description of the calamity to be indited upon them for this and the preceding reasons, Isaiah 16:7-12. The meaning of the first and second verses is this: "Ye Moabites, who, subdued by David, and by him made tributary to his house and kingdom, have with pride and arrogance shaken off his yoke; placate in time, and render propitious to you the Jews and their king, by sending those lambs which you owe to them as a tribute, (2 Kings 3:4. 2 Samuel 8:2.) Send them from Sela, or Petra, [which was most celebrated for its flocks; 2 Kings 14:7.] towards the desart, the desart near Jericho, a medium place between Sela and mount Sion." Joshua 5:10. Some think that the passage might be rendered, from Sela, or Petra in the wilderness; but Vitringa strongly defends the former interpretation. He goes on: "Pay this tribute; for it shall most certainly come to pass, that the daughters of the Moabites, like a wandering bird, and a deserted nest, driven from their seats, must somewhere seek a place of safety in the great calamity which shall befal their nation: it is therefore now time to solicit the friendship of the Jews, and to remember the duty owing to them, but so long neglected; that, when expelled from your own habitations, you may be received kindly by them, and dwell hospitably in their land, and under the shadow of their kings." It is almost the same advice which is given upon another occasion, only in an infinitely more sublime sense, by our Lord. See Luke 16:9. The verses might be read thus: Send ye the lamb of the ruler of the land [the tribute of the king of Moab] from Petra towards the desart, to the mountain of the daughter of Sion; Isaiah 16:2. Because it shall come to pass, that as a wandering bird and a forsaken nest, shall the daughters of Moab be, &c. See Vitringa.