Isaiah 16King James Version
The lament continues. Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land. A quiet image of refuge: like wandering birds cast out of the nest, so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon. Hide them, cover them from the destroyer. The glory of Moab shall be contemned.
The oracle against Moab continues. Isaiah counsels Moab to send tribute to Zion and provide shelter for Moabite refugees. But Moab's pride is legendary and the prayer for mercy is too late. The throne of David is invoked as the source of justice. Moab's vineyards and agricultural abundance will be stripped. Isaiah mourns audibly. Within three years Moab's glory will be contemned.
Pride prevents the humility that would have invited help. Moab's arrogance is given an exact deadline: three years until the end.
verse: "Take counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; bewray not him that wandereth", the appeal to Zion for shelter positions Jerusalem as a potential refuge for Moabite survivors if they would humble themselves to ask.
Moab east of the Dead Sea, late eighth century BC. The wine culture of the region is specific: Heshbon, Sibmah, the vineyards where the shout of harvest once rang. Isaiah imagines that sound gone, replaced by the silence of stripped vines, and he mourns it as a real loss rather than a deserved punishment.
Isaiah the prophet, who mourns visibly for Moab. The fugitives of Moab. The daughter of Zion as the potential protector. The Davidic throne invoked as the seat of justice. No individual Moabite king is named.
The appeal in verses 3-4 to hide Moabite refugees in Zion is remarkable: an enemy nation is invited to seek asylum under the Davidic throne. This enlarges the Davidic ideal beyond ethnic exclusivity. The three-year deadline (v. 14) is one of the most specific temporal predictions in Isaiah's oracles against the nations.
Isaiah's grief for Moab's vineyard (v. 9, my heart shall sound like a harp for Moab) is not metaphorical distance. The prophet is genuinely moved, which makes the announcement of a deadline feel weighted, not triumphant.
1Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land from Sela to the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion.
2For it shall be, that, as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon.
3Take counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; bewray not him that wandereth.
4Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler: for the extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the land.
5And in mercy shall the throne be established: and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness.
6We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud: even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: but his lies shall not be so.
7Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab, every one shall howl: for the foundations of Kirhareseth shall ye mourn; surely they are stricken.
8For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah: the lords of the heathen have broken down the principal plants thereof, they are come even unto Jazer, they wandered through the wilderness: her branches are stretched out, they are gone over the sea.
9Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah: I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh: for the shouting for thy summer fruits and for thy harvest is fallen.
10And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the plentiful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting: the treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses; I have made their vintage shouting to cease.
11Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kirharesh.
12And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not prevail.
13This is the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning Moab since that time.
14But now the LORD hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of an hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned, with all that great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and feeble.