15-16. Isaiah Chapters Fifteen and Sixteen

Isaiah Chapters 15, 16

These chapters contain the Divine oracle concerning Moab, Isaiah mourns over its doom. For fuller details of this see Jeremiah 48:1-47, which ends with a promise of eventual restoration in the Millennial day. Accordingly the prophet’s heart is roused to pity, unlike his pronouncements concerning Assyria and Babylon. Moab’s pride procured its punishment (Isaiah 15:6). In Isaiah 15:5 Zoar, a fortress in the south, is described as "an heifer [or ox] of three years old," i.e., an ox in the fullness of its powers (cp. Jeremiah 46:20; Jeremiah 50:11). To this unconquered stronghold Moab’s fugitives would flee from the northern foe. In Isaiah 16:1 "the ruler of the land" is the occupant of the throne of David, to whom the tribute of lambs is to be paid by Moab, here represented by Selah (or Petra). This tribute had been sent to Samaria (2 Kings 3:4); now the lambs must be sent to Jerusalem and this will be the case, by way of Gentile tribute, when Christ comes to deliver Israel (see Isaiah 16:5). The exhortation to Moab to be a refuge for the outcasts of Israel, that is to say, the godly remnant, is deeply significant prophetically. The time indicated is that of the future great tribulation, "the time of Jacob’s trouble." At the end of the warfare of Har-Magedon, the king of the north will pass through Palestine, "the glorious land," on his way to conquer Egypt, but Edom, Moab and Ammon will "be delivered" (Daniel 11:41, r.v.). Satan will have instigated the Antichrist to lead the armies of the Roman power to endeavor to exterminate the Jewish people, and particularly the godly remnant. These will have fled to the mountains of Moab from Jerusalem, fulfilling the Lord’s word in Matthew 24:16 to flee from Jerusalem to the mountains. They are to be guarded and nourished there for three and a half years (Revelation 12:14, with Isaiah 16:5). The serpent will cause a flood, perhaps symbolic of a military expedition, to rush forth, with the endeavor to destroy them (v. 15), but the earth (probably the desert region between Palestine and the mountains) will swallow up the army. The sandy nature of the district could easily be made to accomplish this. The very nature of the deep rocky gorges in that region of the mountains, enormous depths where kings of ancient times have had their palaces, as, e.g., at Petra, will afford a complete refuge to the thousands of this remnant of Jews, appointed to form the very nucleus of the race when Christ comes in glory at His Second Advent, to set up His Kingdom on earth (cp. Jeremiah 48:47). This explains the decree, "Let Mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler," the Antichrist (Isaiah 16:4). The fact that David put his father and mother in Moab to safeguard them from Saul, was a typical foreshadowing of this (1 Samuel 22:3). The Antichrist oppressors will be consumed. The throne will be established in mercy, and One will sit thereon, "judging, and seeking judgment [or rather, zealous for right] and hasting [or practicing] righteousness" (Isaiah 16:5).

Thus, as so constantly, the prophecy looks on from the near fulfillment to the final accomplishment at the end of this age and the establishment of Messiah’s Kingdom.

Isaiah 16:6-14 revert to the impending doom of Moab, as a result of his pride, wrath and lying. "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall" (Proverbs 16:18). At the end of Isaiah 16:10 God speaks in fellowship with Isaiah, who thereupon resumes his lamentations.

Moab’s prayers to his idols would be unavailing. Judgment would come in three years, "as the years of a hireling," i.e., exactly at the time predicted; for a hireling does not exceed his period of labor, and his employer will not allow him to leave earlier.