Commentari biblici

1. Send ye the lamb] R.V. the lambs. The imper. expresses dramatically the result of the deliberations of the Moabites. The word “lamb” is to be taken collectively; it denotes the tribute in kind which the Moabites had been accustomed to pay to the kings of Israel (2 Kings 3:4), but which they now propose to send to the king of Judah, the “ruler of the land” (of Edom).

from Sela to the wilderness] R.V. less appropriately “which is toward the wilderness.” The wilderness is the desert tract between Sela and Jerusalem which would have to be traversed by the messengers of Moab. Sela (“rock”), a city of Edom (2 Kings 14:7), is commonly supposed from the identity of the designations to be the later Petra. There is, however, no positive evidence in support of the identification; and Jdg 1:36 seems to point to a locality near the southern end of the Dead Sea (See Moore, Commentary on Judges, pp. 56 f.).

the mount … Zion] ch. Isaiah 10:32.

1–6. Arrived in Edom, the Moabitish refugees are within the sphere of Judah’s political influence (see Introd. Note). Their first anxiety, therefore, is to secure protection and the right of asylum by sending an embassy to Jerusalem.

2. The verse gives no good sense in its present position. Not only does it obscure the connexion between Isaiah 16:1 and Isaiah 16:3, but its language of prediction reveals an affinity with Isaiah 15:9. It has probably been misplaced (so Duhm), and the fact that the Moabites are represented as at “the fords of Arnon,” instead of in Edom, confirms the impression that we have here an addition to the original prophecy. The images of the wandering birds and the scattered nest (render as in R.V.) remind us of Isaiah (ch. Isaiah 10:14, Isaiah 31:5). The daughters of Moab are the provincial towns of Moab, or their inhabitants (cf. Psalm 48:11).

3. Take counsel, execute judgment] Or, apply counsel, perform arbitration; i.e. “adopt wise and effectual measures to defend us from our enemies.”

make thy shadow as the night …] Be to us as “the shadow of a great rock in a weary land” (ch. Isaiah 32:2).

bewray not] lit. “uncover not.”

3–5. The address of Moab, through its ambassadors, to the court of Judah. Most of the older commentators took a different view of these verses, holding that here the prophet points out to the Moabites the way of national salvation through the practice of righteousness, and exhorts them in particular to shew kindness to any Israelitish refugees who might seek a home in that country. This interpretation appears to be followed by the A.V. (see on Isaiah 16:4). But such an exhortation is altogether out of keeping with the tone of the prophecy, and would be very ill-timed in the circumstances to which Moab was then reduced. The continuity of thought is far better maintained on the view given above, which is that of most recent scholars.

4. Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab] Rather, Let the outcasts of Moab sojourn with thee (as protected guests). This implies a slight change of the vowel points, but has the authority of the chief ancient versions in its favour. The A.V. is a correct translation of the text as pointed, and far preferable to that of R.V., which joins the word Moab to the next clause, a construction unnatural in the extreme, although suggested by the Heb. accents. The vocative use of “Moab” in A.V., and probably also in the Massoretic text, implies that Isaiah 16:3-5 are conceived as an address to the Moabites.

for the extortioner is at an end …] The rest of the verse cannot, in this form, be uttered by the Moabites. We may either suppose with Dillmann that a word meaning “until” has been lost, or (better) with Hitzig take the clauses as protasis to Isaiah 16:5, “for when the extortioner, &c.” This is perhaps preferable to regarding it as a reflection of the prophet himself.

the spoiler] Strictly spoiling (R.V.).

5. And in mercy] If we follow Hitzig’s view of Isaiah 16:4 this would be rendered “then in mercy.” The phraseology of the verse is Messianic (see esp. ch. Isaiah 9:6) but not exclusively so (cf. Proverbs 8:28). In the lips of the Moabites the language is that of extravagant and (as Isaiah 16:6 appears to intimate) insincere adulation. It implies an offer of perpetual submission on the part of the Moabites to the Davidic dynasty, and therefore the question whether the throne be that of Judah or that of Moab is immaterial.

and he shall sit … judging] Better: and there shall sit upon it in faithfulness in the tabernacle of David (cf. Amos 9:11) one who judgeth, &c.

hasting righteousness] i.e. as R.V. has it, swift to do righteousness.

6. (Jeremiah 48:29-30.) The prayer is rejected. The writer, speaking in the name of his countrymen, exposes the hollowness of Moab’s professions of allegiance and submission, as altogether opposed to the arrogant spirit for which the nation was notorious. On the pride of Moab cf. (besides Jeremiah 48:29) ch. Isaiah 25:11; Zephaniah 2:8. The national spirit has found an enduring monument in the inscription of the Moabite Stone.

but his lies shall not be so] Better: the unreality of his pratings (a contemptuous word, cf. ch. Isaiah 44:25). R.V. “his boastings are nought.”

7. the foundations] R.V. renders rightly raisin-cakes. These cakes of compressed grapes are mentioned less as an article of commerce than as a delicacy used at religious feasts (cf. Hosea 3:1, R.V.). The word never means “foundations.” The parallel passage in Jeremiah substitutes the tamer “men.” Kir-hareseth is the same as Kir-heres (Isaiah 16:11) and perhaps identical with Kir of Moab (Isaiah 15:1).

surely they are stricken] Better, as R.V.: utterly stricken (apposition to “ye”).

7, 8. (Cf. Jeremiah 48:31-32.) Moab’s last hope being thus disappointed, the poet resumes his lament over the doomed people.

8. the fields] means here as in Deuteronomy 32:32 “vineyards.”

the vine of Sibmah] Sibmah, in the vicinity of Heshbon, must have been famous for a choice variety of vines, which are here described by a title resembling that used in ch. Isaiah 5:2 for the “choicest vine” of Jehovah’s vineyard.

the lords of the heathen … thereof] Better: whose choice grapes struck down (i.e. intoxicated) the lords of the nations. For the figure see ch. Isaiah 28:1. The wine of Sibmah was found on the tables of princes far and near, and its potent effects were well known.

The remainder of the verse celebrates the extensive cultivation of this variety of the vine on the east of the Jordan. The writer is not thinking of anything so prosaic as the export trade in the wine of Sibmah; he represents the whole vine culture of the district under the image of a single vine, which reached to Jazer in the north, strayed to the desert on the east, and passed to the (Dead) Sea on the west.