Isaiah 16, Moabite Fugitives

After prophesying against Babylon and the Philistines, Isaiah turns to Moab. We continue a prophecy against Moab.

Isaiah 16:1-2, From Sela to Zion

Send lambs as tribute

    to the ruler of the land,

from Sela, across the desert,

    to the mount of Daughter Zion.

Like fluttering birds

    pushed from the nest,

so are the women of Moab

    at the fords of the Arnon.

Sela, once belonging to Edom (see 2 Kings 14:7) may have at one time been the capital of Moab (Grogan.) The gift of lambs from Moab to the northern kingdom was a practice for a time (see 2 Kings 3:4); it is likely (Motyer) that here Moab is seeking a protective alliance with Judah.

Isaiah 16:3-4a, Cover the fugitives

“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.

Let the Moabite fugitives stay with you;

    be their shelter from the destroyer.”

Moab seeks aid for her fugitives, to protect them from "the destroyer", the invading army.

Isaiah 16: 4b-5, A future throne

The oppressor will come to an end,

    and destruction will cease;

    the aggressor will vanish from the land.

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.

Grogan argues that these verses provide a response to Moab's request. There is indeed a rest for fugitives, at the future throne of David. If only Moab will seek it. (See also 14:32.) This throne of justice is described as begin created "in love"; the Hebrew word is hesed.

Isaiah 16: 6-8, Moab's pride

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.

Therefore the Moabites wail,

    they wail together for Moab.

Lament and grieve

    for the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth.

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 toward the desert.

Their shoots spread out

    and went as far as the sea.

Moab might not seek refuge under the protection of YHWH due to her arrogance. Her leaders boast in their power (as do all the kings around Israel and Judah) and yet her boasts are empty. Her rich fields and majestic vineyards will come to ruin.

Isaiah 16: 9-10, Treading grapes no more

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.

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.

The "shouts of joy" over the ripened fruit is a translation of the Hebrew word hedad, which, says Motyer, would have been "the joyous cry of those treading grapes." But that joyous cry is silenced, as the vineyards are abandoned and left in ruin. Jeremiah makes a very similar statement in Jeremiah 48:33.

Isaiah 16: 11-12, Lament like a lyre

My heart laments for Moab like a harp,

    my inmost being for Kir Hareseth.

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.

Moab's pride and dependence on useless shrines explains her downfall.

Isaiah 16:13-14, In three years

This is the word the Lord has already spoken concerning Moab. But now the Lord says: 

“Within three years, as a servant bound by contract would count them, Moab’s splendor and all her many people will be despised, and her survivors will be very few and feeble.”

The prophecy ends with a local, immediate prediction, intended presumably to validate the longer prophecy. The years as measured by a servant, under contract, indicates a clear length of time, not a vague approximation. Motyer suggests that this invasion occurred in the campaign of Assyrian king Sargon II around 711 BC.

Grogan sees a parallel prophecy in Amos 2:1-3.