Send the lamb of the ruler of the land from the rock to the wilderness, -- unto the mount of the daughter of Zion.
Isaiah 15 and 16 form one message: "the burden of Moab." Moab was a proud, prosperous nation next door to Israel. Now it is told to send a lamb to the ruler of the land. Two questions follow at once. What is this lamb, and why must it travel from a desert rock to the mount of the daughter of Zion?
Moab's story with Israel was long and bitter. One writer traces how their comfort and self-confidence, more than their armies, made them offensive to God:
In chapters 15 and 16 we have "the burden of Moab." Moab was Israel's neighbour among the surrounding peoples, a nation of shepherds, prosperous on the surface until now. What a picture of ruin and grief! It was felt all the more because it came so suddenly and unexpectedly. The Philistines took pleasure in Israel's disasters, and God found that offensive. The Moabites were no less offensive with their extreme self-confidence and pride. In the days of the judges, God allowed neighbouring peoples to harass Israel for their unfaithfulness, and Moab was one of them. That lasted until David subdued them. Later the ten tribes revolted, and Moab used the chance to throw off its subjection — first to Judah, and at last to Israel.
Many readers hear "the lamb" and think of Christ. The writers here read it differently. They point to a tribute Moab once paid Israel's king, and had stopped paying.
I see no reason at all to think that the lamb here points to the well-known picture of the Messiah. Still less does the verse call Him the Lamb, the Ruler of the earth, as if we were reading Revelation. This appears to be a reference to their ancient tribute to Israel. David subdued them long ago, and they sent him gifts… Later in their history the king of Moab kept great flocks. He used to pay the king of Israel a tribute of 100,000 lambs, and as many rams with the wool (2 Kings 3:4-5). Here the prophet seems to remind Moab of what it owes. If not, their daughters must get ready for still greater disasters to come.
Ruling that out does not push Christ out of the chapter. Another writer marks where He does appear, and where Moab's story returns:
The call in chapter 16:1 to send a lamb has nothing to do with Him who is "the Lamb of God." The instruction becomes clear when you read 2 Samuel 8:2 and 2 Kings 3:4-5. Christ, however, is in view in chapter 16, verse 5. A remnant of Moab is to be left, and in the time of the end we find Moab mentioned again. Read Isaiah 11:14 and Daniel 11:41.
Sela is a real place. Its name is the ordinary Hebrew word for rock.
The rock city of Edom, 2 Kings 14:7; Isaiah 16:1. The same Hebrew word is the one usually translated "rock." … Many judge it to be the same place as Petra, which appears in the margin of Isaiah 16:1. Petra is a remarkable place. It lies about two thousand feet above the sea. Mountain cliffs close it in, and you enter through a narrow ravine, where the river also winds.
The lamb is sent to "the mount of the daughter of Zion." The same message that brings Moab down also raises a throne there:
Here we have Moab laid waste and cut off with bitter sorrow. That was all the more humiliating after their pride. Yet the very burden that declares Moab brought down beyond hope also declares that David's throne will be set up in mercy. One will sit on it in truth, judging, seeking justice, and hurrying righteousness on.
The chapter closes with a blow falling within three years, yet its middle looks far past that date, and it hands Moab a second chance to act rightly:
The prophecy refers to judgment that would soon fall on Moab because of their haughty pride. The last verse of Isaiah 16 shows this. The opening verse of that chapter also refers to the tribute Moab used to pay, as we see in 2 Kings 3:4. Yet in part the prophecy also refers to the last days. Verse 5 looks on to a King "in the tent of David." His throne will be established, and He will be "swift to do righteousness." Before that hour strikes, God will have a people whom He calls His own, though they are "outcasts" in the earth. Moab will do well to shelter them.
That offer of shelter shapes how one dictionary reads the whole chapter:
In the prophecy of Isaiah 16 Moab is characteristic of the world in which outcast Israel is hidden.
- Tribute — the lamb is the payment Moab owed and withheld. David had subdued them, and their shepherd king once sent 100,000 lambs.
- Reminder — the prophet recalls the debt; refusal means still heavier disaster.
- Direction — the gift must travel from the rock city of Sela up to the mount of the daughter of Zion.
- Throne — the same burden that ruins proud Moab announces David's throne, set up in mercy, with One reigning in truth.
- Shelter — Moab pictures the world where God's outcasts hide. Its wisest act is to give them cover before that King comes.
And it shall be [that] as a wandering bird, [as] a scattered nest, so shall the daughters of Moab be at the fords of the Arnon.
The prophecy against Moab moves from a ruined land to ruined homes. Why are its women out at the river crossings, and what does God ask of a nation in that state?
In a land with no bridges, a ford was the common way across water.
Places where people could cross a brook or river on foot or by mule; they are sometimes called passages… As far as anyone knows, there were no bridges across the Jordan until Roman times… The fords of the Arnon are mentioned too.
The Arnon was no inland stream. It marked Moab's own border, so its crossings are the country's last edge.
A ravine, or valley, with its mountain torrent. It formed the border between Moab and Ammon, and is now known as Wady Mojib… Its stream runs almost east to west, rushes through a deep ravine, and falls into the Dead Sea.
Verse 2 follows from the call in verse 1. William Kelly reads that call as a reminder of an old debt, not as a picture of Christ. Ignore the reminder, and worse follows.
I see no reason at all for the idea that the lamb here is the well-known picture of the Messiah… It seems rather to refer to the old tribute Moab paid to Israel. David conquered them long ago, and they brought him gifts… Later in the history we find that the king of Moab kept sheep, and used to pay the king of Israel a tribute of 100,000 lambs and as many rams with the wool (2 Kings 3:4-5). The prophet seems to be reminding Moab here of what it owes; if not, its daughters must prepare for even greater disasters to come.
Reaching the border does not end the danger. And the prophet who announces the blow does not gloat over it.
Even those who escaped would meet fresh disaster and destruction from the LORD. Extreme humiliation is the discipline of excessive pride. But the prophet feels this deeply, and Jeremiah felt it no less. That feeling completely disproves the heartlessness that unbelieving critics charge Isaiah with.
The verses that follow ask Moab to hide Israel's outcasts. The plea goes to a people who had once sheltered David's own family.
In the prophecy of Isaiah 16, Moab stands for the world where outcast Israel finds a hiding place. Elimelech and Naomi fled there from the famine. And when Saul was persecuting David, he trusted his father and mother to Moab's king.
Darby is not sure which invader struck the blow. He reads the prophecy as reaching far past it, and sees another group of refugees still ahead:
Moab is judged, like everything else inside the promised Land. The main prophecy moves on to the setting up of the throne of David (Christ). It looks back to David's own history, since he sent his parents there, and to the tribute Moab paid to the kings of Israel. It also looks on to the fugitives of Judah in the last days. Moab's present fate is announced too — I think at the hands of the Assyrian, though it may be at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar.
The same prophecy that leaves Moab's daughters at a river crossing also announces a throne.
Here we have Moab laid waste and cut off with bitter sorrow, all the more humiliating after their pride. And the very burden that declares Moab brought low beyond hope also declares that David's throne will be set up in mercy, with One sitting on it in truth, judging, seeking justice, and quick to do righteousness.
- Pride — Moab's fall answers Moab's own pride: "Extreme humiliation is the discipline of excessive pride."
- Flight — the scattered nest pictures people already running; even those who get away "meet fresh disaster."
- Frontier — the fords are wading places on the Arnon, Moab's border river; the flight has reached the country's last edge.
- Plea — right there, Moab must shelter God's outcasts; in this chapter Moab stands for the world where outcast Israel hides.
- Throne — the same prophecy that leaves Moab homeless announces a throne set up in mercy, with One sitting on it in truth.
Bring in counsel, execute justice; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of noonday; hide the outcasts, discover not the fugitive.
Isaiah's message to Moab turns from ruin to a plea: shelter Israel's fleeing people instead of handing them over. How Moab treats those refugees will shape how God treats Moab.
The prophet asks for cover at the hottest, most exposed hour of the day. One writer turns the appeal into a question: what did Moab actually do?
In his second counsel the prophet touches on Moab's serious offence in Jehovah's eyes. Had he sheltered the outcasts of Israel? Or had he used their distressed flight as a chance to strike and betray them? The prophetic Spirit looks through Hezekiah to the true Son of David, who will reign in righteousness when the last oppressive destroyer has come to his end.
Older translations end the verse with "bewray not him that wandereth." That old word names one act in particular.
Bewray: to accuse or betray. Isa. 16:3; Prov. 27:16; Prov. 29:24; Matt. 26:73. From the Anglo-Saxon.
So the plea has two halves. Hide them, and do not inform on them.
The people asking for cover are homeless and hunted. Yet God still calls them His own. One writer sees the promise reaching beyond Isaiah's own day.
Judgment would soon fall on Moab because of their haughty pride, as the last verse of Isaiah 16 shows... Yet in part the prophecy also refers to the last days. Verse 5 looks on to a King "in the tent of David." His throne will be established, and He will be "hastening righteousness." Before that hour strikes, God will have a people whom He calls His, though they are "outcasts" in the earth, and Moab will do well to give them shelter. That Moab will exist in the last days is made clear in Daniel 11:41.
Why would a prophecy turn on one act of hospitality? Because of a principle that runs through these chapters.
From the moment God is in Israel He identifies Himself with His people. As a result God treats each nation according to how it treated Israel. "As you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me," says the King. The moment they touch Israel, they touch the apple of His eye. In all these chapters we see Israel's relations with the nations. God judges the nations because they trampled down His people. Yet He also used them to punish His people.
Moab's land had been a hiding place before. That earlier history gives the appeal its shape.
In the prophecy of Isaiah 16 Moab stands for the world in which outcast Israel is hidden. Elimelech and Naomi fled there from the famine. David, when Saul was persecuting him, entrusted his father and mother to their king. During his later reign David defeated them and made them tributary. 1 Sam. 22:3-4; 2 Sam. 8:2; 1 Chr. 18:2.
The prophecy that brings Moab down also holds the chapter's brightest promise. Isaiah calls a message like this a "burden."
Here we have Moab laid waste and cut off with bitter sorrow, all the more humiliating after all their pride. And the very burden that declares Moab reduced beyond hope also declares that God will prepare David's throne in mercy. One will sit on it in truth, judging and seeking justice and hastening righteousness.
- Shelter — The plea is practical: shade at noon, a hiding place, and silence toward pursuers. Hide the homeless, and never inform on the runaway.
- Betray — The old word "bewray" means to accuse or betray. Moab could sin by speech alone, without lifting a sword.
- Mine — God still calls the hunted people His own. Being homeless on earth has not changed who owns them.
- Measured — God measures the nations by how they treated Israel. To touch His people is to touch the apple of His eye. Christ says the same of the least of His brothers.
- Mercy — The same prophecy that levels Moab's pride announces a throne prepared in mercy. One will sit on it in truth, hastening righteousness.
Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the waster. For the extortioner is at an end, the wasting hath ceased, the oppressors are consumed out of the land.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And a throne shall be established in mercy and in the tent of David there shall sit upon it, in truth, one judging and seeking justice and hastening righteousness.
The burden of Moab is a prophecy of ruin — yet in the middle of it, verse 5 lifts the eye to a throne. Whose throne is this? Why does mercy hold it up? And what does Moab have to do with it?
The same prophecy that flattens Moab announces a throne going up.
Here we have Moab wasted and cut off with bitter sorrow, made all the more humiliating after all their pride. And the very burden that declares Moab ruined beyond hope also declares that David's throne will be prepared in mercy. One will sit on it in truth, judging, seeking judgment, and hurrying righteousness forward.
One writer separates two layers here: a blow about to fall, and a purpose far older than it.
I would judge me-atz (from of old) in verse 13 to mean "from ancient days." It points to His original, general purpose. Verses 4 and 5 connect that purpose with the setting up of the throne of the Son of David. But now comes the more immediate judgment, I suppose, by Nebuchadnezzar.
The words reach past the king of Isaiah's own day.
The prophetic Spirit looks through Hezekiah to the true Son of David. He will reign in righteousness when the last oppressive spoiler has come to his end. And who can have overlooked that Moab has a striking and moving place in the vast scene of judgment in Isaiah 24 — 25? To confine it to the past is far from spiritual understanding.
Not every image in the chapter points to Christ. Writers mark carefully where He does appear.
The call in chapter 16:1 to send a lamb has nothing to do with Him who is "the Lamb of God." The instruction becomes clear by reading 2 Samuel 8:2 and 2 Kings 3:4, 5. Christ, however, is in view in verse 5, chapter 16.
Mercy, not conquest, sets this throne up. Older translations say "in mercy" here; the ESV says "in steadfast love." The Greek Old Testament used a verb in this verse that also stands behind a New Testament phrase:
The word is diorthōsis, from "to amend, make right." So we get the "time of reformation," or "setting things right." The thought comes from the prophets, and the kingdom will fulfil it. It means putting things on earth in order according to the mind of God. Christianity is in view and anticipation of this. Hebrews 9:10. The Greek verb occurs in the Greek Old Testament at Isaiah 16:5; Isaiah 62:7; Jeremiah 7:3, 5.
Before this throne can rise, rival powers must fall.
But there are great obstacles in the way. Proud, lordly powers of ungodliness and wickedness dispute the setting up of this throne. So God must break "the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers" (Isaiah 14:5). And for this purpose God will gather the armies of His wrath and prepare the weapons of His indignation. The world powers must give way. The Lord Jesus must be enthroned in right and might.
The prophecy calls Moab to shelter God's scattered people. In the quote below, "the tabernacle of David" is the older wording for what the ESV calls "the tent of David."
Yet in part the prophecy also refers to the last days. Verse 5 looks on to a King "in the tabernacle of David." His throne will be established, and He will be "hurrying righteousness forward." Before that hour strikes, God will have a people whom He calls His, though they are "outcasts" in the earth. Moab will do well to give them shelter. That Moab will exist in the last days is made clear in Daniel 11:41.
Moab can take that offer or refuse it, and the refusal marks it out as foolish.
They are called to receive the outcasts while Antichrist oppresses. To do so looks forward to his destruction. To refuse shows their folly, and his destruction will prove it.
- Mercy first. The throne rests on mercy, not on conquest alone. The word behind it means setting things right — putting the earth in order according to the mind of God.
- Then truth. The One seated there "judges and seeks justice." The prophecy looks past Hezekiah to the true Son of David, reigning in righteousness.
- The oppressor must go. God breaks the rival powers that dispute this throne. Then the Lord Jesus takes it in right and might.
- Mercy tested on Moab. Before that hour, God has outcasts on the earth whom He calls His own. Moab can shelter them, or show its folly by refusing.
- The reach. The promise sits inside a prophecy of ruin. In one breath Moab falls and David's throne rises. Judgment on the proud and mercy on the throne belong to one purpose, held "from of old."
We have heard of the arrogance of Moab, -- [he is] very proud, -- of his pride, and his arrogance, and his wrath his pratings are vain.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.