He is gone up to Bajith, and to Dibon, the high places, to weep: Moab shall howl over Nebo, and over Medeba: on all their heads [shall be] baldness, [and] every beard cut off.
Ver. 2. He is gone up to Bajith, and to Dibon.] Two chief places of their idolatrous service, whereunto they ran in their distress; but all in vain. The like at this day do the Papists to their Ladies of Loretto, Sichem, &c., and the Turks to their Mohammed at Mecca (situated in the same country as once Moab, and perhaps in the same place with one of these idol temples) by troops and caravans; but they do worse than lose their devotion.
To weep.] And to pray too, Isa 16:12 but to no good purpose, for want of a right object, principle, motive, end. So afterwards the Romans, in a like exigent, cum coniugibus ac liberis iussi sunt a senatu supplicatum ire, pacemque exposcere Deum, omnia delubra implent, a &c.; they were by the senate commanded to go with their wives and children into the temples of their gods, and there to pray, make their peace, and to seek for aid.
Moab shall howl over Nebo, and over Medeba.] Cities surprised and sacked by the enemy. But this chapter is so much the more obscure to us, because the cities here mentioned are long since destroyed, and the Scripture setteth not forth the manner of their location or downfall.
On all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard cut off.] This was commonly done in those eastern parts, in times and in token of lamentation. Job 1:20 Ezr 9:3 Eze 7:18 Alexander, mourning for the death of his friend Hephaestion, not only tore off his own hair, but clipped his horses' and mules' hair; yea, he plucked down also the battlements of the walls of the city, as Plutarch b writeth. Pudeat nos lachrymis delicta non abstergere, et spiritualia damna non deplorare, saith Oecolampadius. What a shame is it then for us Christians not to weep over our sins, and to bewail our spiritual wounds and wants!
a Liv., lib. iii.
b In Vita Pelopidae.