Isaiah 15: A prophecy against Moab

• v.1-4 How central and northern Moab will suffer
• v.5-9 How the south will suffer

[Preliminary Comment: Moab, on the east side of the Dead Sea, to the south of the tribal area of Reuben, now comes under the divine spotlight with a warning of destructive judgment that is coming to both the central and northern areas, but also the far south. The reader should not be put off by many unknown place names, but just recognize that for Isaiah, in his day, they were known places that had meaning to them.]

v.1-4 How central and northern Moab will suffer

v.1  A prophecy against Moab:

Ar in Moab is ruined,
    destroyed in a night!
Kir in Moab is ruined,
    destroyed in a night!

v.2 Dibon goes up to its temple,
    to its high places to weep;
    Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba.
Every head is shaved
    and every beard cut off.

v.3 In the streets they wear sackcloth;
    on the roofs and in the public squares
they all wail,
    prostrate with weeping.

v.4 Heshbon and Elealeh cry out,
    their voices are heard all the way to Jahaz.
Therefore the armed men of Moab cry out,
    and their hearts are faint.

[Notes: The two main strongholds of Moab will be destroyed. The worship in the capital city of Moab will suffer and Moabite cities further north & east will be included.]

v.5-9 How the south will suffer

v.5  My heart cries out over Moab;
    her fugitives flee as far as Zoar, [south of the Dead Sea]
    as far as Eglath Shelishiyah.
They go up the hill to Luhith,
    weeping as they go;
on the road to Horonaim
    they lament their destruction.

v.6  The waters of Nimrim are dried up
    and the grass is withered;
the vegetation is gone
    and nothing green is left.

v.7  So the wealth they have acquired and stored up they carry away over the Ravine of the Poplars.

v.8  Their outcry echoes along the border of Moab;
    their wailing reaches as far as Eglaim,
    their lamentation as far as Beer Elim.

v.9 The waters of Dimon are full of blood,
    but I will bring still more upon Dimon –
a lion upon the fugitives of Moab
    and upon those who remain in the land.

[Notes: People will flee this country for even in the far south of Moab the very land will suffer. Their plundered wealth that was taken south will be gone, so their anguish will be heard even in the south and the blood of slaughter will pollute their rivers.]

For those who may wish to make a study of this chapter, to perhaps think some more about what you have been reading, use the link below: