Isaiah 16:1-14 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Isaiah 16:1-14. Let’s go!
Isaiah 16:1-5 (NIV)
1 Send lambs as tribute to the ruler of the land, from Sela, across the desert, to the mount of the Daughter of Zion.
2 Like fluttering birds pushed from the nest, so are the women of Moab at the fords of the Arnon.
3 “Give us counsel, render a decision. Make your shadow like night– at high noon. Hide the fugitives, do not betray the refugees.
4 Let the Moabite fugitives stay with you; be their shelter from the destroyer.” The oppressor will come to an end, and destruction will cease; the aggressor will vanish from the land.
5 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.
On verses 1-5: Isaiah 16 continues Isaiah’s oracle concerning Moab. In Isaiah 15, the Moabites were pictured fleeing from their own country because of an attack, possibly by Assyria. Now in Isaiah 16, the Moabites are pictured as refugees fleeing to their neighbours in Judah for safety. To show that they come in peace and in exchange for protection from Judah, the Moabites are urged to “send lambs as tribute…to the daughter of Zion [i.e. Judah]” (v1), much like the king of Moab did in 2 Kings 3:4. In verses 2-3, the Moabite women are pictured looking to Judah for protection.
By the middle of verse 4, after looking to Judah for shelter, the Moabites are given a hopeful assurance: “the oppressor will come to an end, and destruction will cease; the aggressor will vanish from the land” (v4). Why is that? That’s because, as verse 5 says, there is a king from the house of David, whose throne is established in love, and who fights for justice and righteousness. In fact, justice and righteousness are two words that keep coming up when Isaiah describes the Messiah (see Isaiah 9:7 and 11:4). In other words, verses 4-5 are pointing the Moabites back then, and us today, to how God would one day provide a good king, a Messiah, who would rescue people from their oppressor. It is by finding refuge not just in the people of God, but more importantly in this just and righteous king of God’s people, that they will find safety and hope.
Similarly, when Satan our oppressor was attacking us, when all we can really do was run for our lives, praise God that we can find refuge where God’s people are: under the rule of Jesus the Messiah, the good king. It is Jesus whose throne is established in love and who fights for justice and righteousness. Jesus is that king under whose shadow we find protection, assurance and hope.
Also, the fact that Isaiah is pointing the Moabites to place their trust in the Messiah whom God has promised suggests that God’s promised Messiah is not only for the people of Judah, but for all people of all backgrounds.
Isaiah 16:6-14 (NIV)
6 We have heard of Moab’s pride– her overweening pride and conceit, her pride and her insolence– but her boasts are empty.
7 Therefore the Moabites wail, they wail together for Moab. Lament and grieve for the men of Kir Hareseth.
8 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.
9 So I weep, as Jazer weeps, for the vines of Sibmah. O Heshbon, O Elealeh, I drench you with tears! The shouts of joy over your ripened fruit and over your harvests have been stilled.
10 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.
11 My heart laments for Moab like a harp, my inmost being for Kir Hareseth.
12 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.
13 This is the word the LORD has already spoken concerning Moab.
14 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.”
On verses 6-14: Despite the offer of protection and hope that this good king of Judah would bring, the Moabites seem to reject His offer out of pride (v6). Maybe that’s because the Moabites cannot accept the conditions of His rule or because they prefer to cling to their own gods (v12). As a result, verses 7-14 are all about mourning what will happen to Moab, how within three years Moab will be reduced to very little (v14). In verses 9-11 the argument can be made that it is not just Isaiah weeping but God weeping for Moab, since verse 9 is more likely a reference to God than to Isaiah.
What can we learn from this?
1. Just as the pride of Moab would lead to their downfall, so pride leads to our downfall, a recurring theme in the book of Isaiah.
2. When we reject God’s offer of protection and prefer something else, we will only suffer in the end.
3. God has a heart for the different nations of the world. He is not only the God of Israel, but He cares for the well being of every nation and every person in it.
Although Moab would be attacked by Assyria a number of times (according to scholars once by King Sargon in 720 B.C. and again in 715 B.C.), it is tough to know the exact date or historical event that this prophecy was set in.
Jesus, thank You that when Satan was oppressing me, I could run to You and find refuge and protection under Your rule. You are the good king, whose throne is established in love and who fights for justice and righteousness. Thank You that under Your shadow I find protection and hope. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
