For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Isaiah 16:1-7

1 Send lambs as tribute
    to the ruler of the land,
from Sela, across the desert,
    to the mount of Daughter Zion.
2 Like fluttering birds
    pushed from the nest,
so are the women of Moab
    at the fords of the Arnon.

3 ‘Make up your mind,’ Moab says.
    ‘Render a decision.
Make your shadow like night –
    at high noon.
Hide the fugitives,
    do not betray the refugees.
4 Let the Moabite fugitives stay with you;
    be their shelter from the destroyer.’

The oppressor will come to an end,
    and destruction will cease;
    the aggressor will vanish from the land.
5 In love a throne will be established;
    in faithfulness a man will sit on it –
    one from the house of David –
one who in judging seeks justice
    and speeds the cause of righteousness. 6 We have heard of Moab’s pride –
    how great is her arrogance! –
of her conceit, her pride and her insolence;
    but her boasts are empty.
7 Therefore the Moabites wail,
    they wail together for Moab.
Lament and grieve
    for the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth.

A. Find Out:

1. What were to be sent where? v.1 (see 2 Kings 3:4)
2. What were the women like, where? v.2
3. What were they asking Israel to do? v.3,4a
4. Yet what will happen? v.4b
5. And what will be the outcome? v.5
6. What is Moab known for, but what will happen? v.6,7

B. Think:

1. What is the ongoing picture conveyed?
2. Yet what hope is given?
3. But what will happen first and why?

C. Comment:

The word against Moab continues through chapter 16. Moab had given tribute to Israel (2 Kings 3) and had rebelled. No, says the prophet, you need to come back under the shelter of God’s people (v.1). When the invader from the north comes, your women will be seen fleeing south across the river Arnon (v.2), and they will come as refugees looking for help from Israel (v.3,4a).

But then comes a word of hope: the oppressor will come to an end. This will not go on for ever. (v.4b) An end has been decreed by God. Then comes an enigmatic promise: there is going to come a ruler from the line of David (v.5), who it seems will be the salvation of this people. However as we consider verse 5 there seems far more here than the description of a king of Israel. Observe the descriptions: love, faithfulness, justice and righteousness. This has the feel of the Messiah. Is this yet another of those words that break through Isaiah about the Coming One from God?

Nevertheless, in the present, the pride of Moab will be their downfall (v.6) and because of what is coming they will wail, lament and grieve (v.7). The word is clear: destruction is coming but salvation for Moab will be found in their relationship with Israel and, ultimately, through the Coming Messiah.

D. Application:

1. Even in judgement the Lord desires to bring blessing of salvation.
2. Yet repentance is still called for where there is the sin of pride.

Passage: Isaiah 16:8-14

8 The fields of Heshbon wither,
    the vines of Sibmah also.
The rulers of the nations
    have trampled down the choicest vines,
which once reached Jazer
    and spread towards the desert.
Their shoots spread out
    and went as far as the sea.
9 So I weep, as Jazer weeps,
    for the vines of Sibmah.
Heshbon and Elealeh,
    I drench you with tears!
The shouts of joy over your ripened fruit
    and over your harvests have been stilled.
10 Joy and gladness are taken away from the orchards;
    no one sings or shouts in the vineyards;
no one treads out wine at the presses,
    for I have put an end to the shouting.
11 My heart laments for Moab like a harp,
    my inmost being for Kir Hareseth.
12 When Moab appears at her high place,
    she only wears herself out;
when she goes to her shrine to pray,
    it is to no avail.

13 This is the word the Lord has already spoken concerning Moab. 14 But now the Lord says: ‘Within three years, as a servant bound by contract would count them, Moab’s splendour and all her many people will be despised, and her survivors will be very few and feeble.’

A. Find Out:

1. What has happened to the vines? v.8
2. What has been taken away? v.9,10
3. What does the Lord feel about Moab? v.11
4. What does Moab now do pointlessly? v.12
5. What has Isaiah been speaking? v.13
6. Now what will happen? v.14

B. Think:

1. What graphic picture is used to convey what will happen to Moab?
2. How does the Lord feel about it all?
3. How long have they got before it happens?

C. Comment:

Sometimes in these prophecies through Isaiah the truth of what is about to happen is spoken very graphically as if it either was happening or had already happened. That is because the prophet seems to operate outside of time, catching the heart of God in eternity.

The prophet has already said that Moab will wail and grieve (v.7) and now he paints a picture as to why that will be. He sees the fields and the vineyards of Moab and he sees that they will be devastated, trampled down by the invading armies (v.8). Where once these vines had flourished, now they are gone. Yet the language that is used seems to suggest that he means Moab as a whole was a vine that had spread with its influence, which now is going to be utterly cut back.

Whether it is literal or figurative, the picture continues and the Lord expresses His anguish over what has to happen. It is not something that He brings about joyfully. In verses 9 to 11 His anguish is mixed with the anguish of Moab. He feels with them. Whereas there should have been joy over the grape harvest, there will only be anguish (v.9,10) and their efforts to pray are pointless, the judgement has been decreed (v.12). The word has been spoken (v.13) and within three years (v.14) it will have come about. This is a picture of what will be. The Lord gives them time to repent, but will they?

D. Application:

1. The Lord doesn’t stand unfeeling even when He brings judgement.
2. The Lord would much rather judgment was avoided (2 Pet 3:9).