Isaiah 15:1

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹This is an oracle concerning Moab: Ar in Moab is ruined, destroyed in a night! Kir in Moab is devastated, destroyed in a night!²Dibon goes up to its temple to weep at its high places. Moab wails over Nebo, as well as over Medeba. Every head is shaved, every beard is cut off. ³In its streets they wear sackcloth; on the rooftops and in the public squares they all wail, falling down weeping. ⁴Heshbon and Elealeh cry out; their voices are heard as far as Jahaz. Therefore the soldiers of Moab cry out; their souls tremble within. ⁵My heart cries out over Moab; her fugitives flee as far as Zoar, as far as Eglath-shelishiyah; with weeping they ascend the slope of Luhith; they lament their destruction on the road to Horonaim.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

burden: This and the following chapter form one entire prophecy; which was most probably delivered, as Bp. Lowth supposes, soon after the foregoing - Isaiah 14:28-32, in the first year of Hezekiah, and accomplished in his fourth year when Shalmaneser invaded Israel. Isaiah 13:1, Isaiah 14:28

Moab: Isaiah 11:14, Isaiah 25:10, Jeremiah 9:26, Jeremiah 48:1-47, Ezekiel 25:8-11, Amos 2:1-3, Zephaniah 2:8-11

in the: Exodus 12:29, Exodus 12:30, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3

Ar: Numbers 21:28, Deuteronomy 2:9, Deuteronomy 2:18

brought to silence: or, cut off

Kir: Isaiah 16:7, Kir-hareseth, Isaiah 16:11, Kir-haresh, 2 Kings 3:25, Kir-haraseth, Jeremiah 48:31, Jeremiah 48:36, Kir-heres

Reciprocal: Numbers 21:15 - Ar Joshua 13:16 - General Nehemiah 13:1 - the Ammonite Job 34:25 - in the Isaiah 17:1 - burden Isaiah 22:6 - Kir Isaiah 23:1 - for it is Jeremiah 25:21 - Moab Jeremiah 48:2 - cut down Jeremiah 48:20 - confounded Jeremiah 51:55 - destroyed Nahum 1:1 - burden Zephaniah 2:9 - Surely Zephaniah 3:6 - cut Zechariah 5:7 - talent

Cross-References

Genesis 15:1
After these events, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward."

Genesis 15:2
But Abram replied, "O Lord GOD, what can You give me, since I remain childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?"

Genesis 15:3
Abram continued, "Behold, You have given me no offspring, so a servant in my household will be my heir."

Genesis 15:4
Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "This one will not be your heir, but one who comes from your own body will be your heir."

Genesis 15:5
And the LORD took him outside and said, "Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able." Then He declared, "So shall your offspring be."

Genesis 15:6
Abram believed the LORD, and it was credited to him as righteousness.

Genesis 15:10
So Abram brought all these to Him, split each of them down the middle, and laid the halves opposite each other. The birds, however, he did not cut.

Genesis 15:14
But I will judge the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will depart with many possessions.

Genesis 15:16
In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete."

Genesis 15:17
When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, behold, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the halves of the carcasses.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The burden of Moab,.... A heavy, grievous prophecy, concerning the destruction of Moab. The Targum is,

"the burden of the cup of cursing, to give Moab to drink.''

This seems to respect the destruction of it by Nebuchadnezzar, which is prophesied of in Jeremiah 48:1 for that which was to be within three years, Isaiah 16:14 looks like another and distinct prophecy from this; though some think this was accomplished before the times of Nebuchadnezzar, either by Shalmaneser king of Assyria, some time before the captivity of the ten tribes, as Vitringa and others; or by Sennacherib, after the invasion of Judea, so Jarchi.

Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste, [and] brought to silence; this was a chief city in Moab, perhaps the metropolis of it; see Numbers 21:28. Kimchi conjectures it to be the same with Aroer, which was by the brink of the river Arnon, Deuteronomy 2:36 Deuteronomy 3:12 and is mentioned with Dibon, as this, in Numbers 32:34 of which notice is taken, and not of Ar, in Jeremiah 48:19. Some versions take Ar to signify a "city", and render it, "the city of Moab", without naming what city it was; and the Targum calls it by another name, Lahajath; but, be it what city it will, it was destroyed in the night; in such a night, as Kimchi interprets it; in the space of a night, very suddenly, when the inhabitants of it were asleep and secure, and had no notice of danger; and so the Targum adds,

"and they were asleep.''

Some have thought this circumstance is mentioned with a view to the night work, that work of darkness of Lot and his daughter, which gave rise to Moab; however, in a night this city became desolate, being taken and plundered, and its inhabitants put to the sword, and so reduced to silence; though the last word may as well be rendered "cut off" n, utterly destroyed, being burnt or pulled down; two words are made use of, to denote the utter destruction of it:

because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste, [and] brought to silence; either in the same night, or rather in another. Kir, another city of Moab, met with the same fate as Ar. This is called Kirhareseth, and Kirharesh, in Isaiah 16:7 and so Kirheres in

Jeremiah 48:31 called Kir of Moab, to distinguish it from Kir in Assyria, Amos 1:5 and Kir in Media, Isaiah 22:6.

n נדמה "succisus", Pagninus, Montanus; "excisa", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. So Ben Melech interprets it by נכרת.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The burden of Moab - (see the note at Isaiah 13:1). This is the title of the prophecy. The Chaldee renders this, ‘The burden of the cup of malediction which is to come upon Moab.’

Because in the night - The fact that this was to be done in the night denotes the suddenness with which the calamity would come upon them. Thus the expression is used in Job to denote the suddenness and surprise with which calamities come:

Terrors take hold on him as waters,

A tempest stealeth him away in the night.

Job 27:20

So a thief is represented as coming in the night - in a sudden and unexpected manner Job 24:14 :

The murderer in the night is as a thief.

See also Matthew 24:43; 1Th 5:2; 2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 3:3; Revelation 16:15.

Ar of Moab - This was the capital of Moab. it was situated on the south of the river Arnon. It was sometimes called “Rabbath Moab.” Isaiah Isaiah 16:7-11 calls it the city ‘with walls of burnt brick.’ Under the name of Areopolis it occurs in Eusebius and Stephen of Byzantium, and in the acts of many Synods of the fifth and sixth centuries, when it was the seat of a bishop (Reland’s “Palestine,” pp. 577, 578). Abulfeda says that in his time it was a small town. Jerome says that the city was destroyed by an earthquake when he was young, probably about 315 a.d. Burckhardt found a place called Rabba about twenty miles south of the river Arnon, which he supposed to be the ancient Ar. Seetsen found there ruins of considerable compass; especially the ruins of an old palace or temple, of which portions of the wall and some pillars are still standing. Legh says, ‘There are no traces of fortifications to be seen; but, upon an eminence, were a dilapidated Roman temple and some tanks.’

Is laid waste - That is, is about to be laid waste. This passed before the mind of Isaiah in a vision, and he represents it as it appeared to him, as already a scene of desolation.

And brought to silence - Margin, ‘Cut off.’ The word may mean either. The sense is, that the city was to be destroyed, for so the word דמה dâmâh often means Hosea 4:5-6; Hosea 10:7, Hosea 10:15; Jeremiah 6:2; Jeremiah 47:5; Zephaniah 1:11.

Kir of Moab - Probably this city was the modern Kerek or Karak. The Chaldee renders it by the name כרכא k^erakā', or ‘fortress,’ hence, the name Kerek or Karak. According to Burckhardt, it lies about three hours, and according to Abulfeda twelve Arabic miles, south of Ar Moab, upon a very high and steep rocky hill, from which the prospect extends even to Jerusalem, and which, formed by nature for a fortress, overlooks the whole surrounding country. In the wars of the Maccabees (2 Macc. 12:17) it is mentioned under the name of Κάρακα Karaka, and it is now known by the name of “Kerek” or “Karak.” In the time of the crusades, a pagan prince built there under king Fulco (in the year 1131) a very important castle, which was very serviceable to the Franks, and in 1183 it held out successfully against a formidable siege of a month by Saladin. Abulfeda speaks of it as so strong a fortress that one must abandon even the wish to take it. It has been visited in modern times by Seetsen, Burckhardt, and the company of English travelers referred to above. The place has still a castle, into which the whole surrounding country brings its grain for safe keeping. The small and poor town is built upon the remains of once important edifices, and is inhabited by Moslems and Christians. It is the seat of a bishop, though the bishop resides at Jerusalem (see Gesenius, “Commentary in loc.”)

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER XV

Prediction of very heavy calamities about to fall upon the

Moabites, 1-9.

This and the following chapter, taken together, make one entire prophecy, very improperly divided into two parts. The time of its delivery, and consequently of its accomplishment, which was to be in three years from that time, is uncertain; the former not being marked in the prophecy itself, nor the latter recorded in history. But the most probable account is, that it was delivered soon after the foregoing, in the first year of Hezekiah; and that it was accomplished in his fourth year, when Shalmaneser invaded the kingdom of Israel. He might probably march through Moab; and to secure every thing behind him, possess himself of the whole country, by taking their principal strong places Ar and Kirhares. - L. The authorized Version which we have followed in the margin, places the prophecy in this chapter fourteen years earlier than that contained in the two preceding,

Jeremiah has happily introduced much of this prophecy of Isaiah into his own larger prophecy against the same people in his forty-eighth chapter, denouncing God's judgment on Moab, subsequent to the calamity here foretold, and to be executed by Nebuchadnezzar; by which means several mistakes of transcribers in the present text of both prophets may be rectified.

NOTES ON CHAP. XV

Verse Isaiah 15:1. Because in the night — בליל beleil. That both these cities should be taken in the night is a circumstance somewhat unusual; but not so material as to deserve to be so strongly insisted upon. Vitringa, by his remark on this word, shows that he was dissatisfied with it in its plain and obvious meaning, and is forced to have recourse to a very hard metaphorical interpretation of it. Noctu vel nocturno impetu; vel metaphorice, repente, subito, inexpectata destructione: placet posterius. Calmet conjectures, and I think it probable, that the true reading is כליל keleil, as the night. There are many mistakes in the Hebrew text arising from the very great similitude of the letters ב beth, and כ caph, which in many MSS., and some printed editions, are hardly distinguishable. Admitting this reading, the translation will be, -

"Because Ar is utterly destroyed, Moab is undone!

Because Kir is utterly destroyed, Moab is undone!"