A¹ F 15:1. Past. Devastation of Moab. G¹ t¹ 15:2-5. Moab. Cry. u¹ 15:6,7. Reason. t² 15:8. Moab. Cry. u² 15:9. Reason. G² t³ 16:1. Moab. Advise. u³ 16:2. Reason. t4 16:3,4-. Moab. Advise. u4 16:-4,5. Reason. G³ t5 16:6. Moab. Pride. u5 16:7,8. Result. u6 16:9-11. Result. t6 16:12. Moab. Pride. F 16:13,14. Future. Enfeeblement of Moab.
15)
649 - 588 B.C.
1 The burden (1st of 7) of Moab (had been subdued by Saul [1 Sam.14:47] and David [2 Sam.8:2]; and paid tribute to Ahab [2 Kings 1:1; 3:3,4]; Jehoshaphat gained victories [2 Chron.20:1-30, and 2 Kings 3:4-27]. Tiglath-pilesar carried away tribes east of Jordan, and receved tribute from Moab as well as from Ahaz [2 Kings 16:10]). Because in the night Rabbah of Moab is laid waste (see Num.21:28. Deut.2:9,18,29), and cut off (or destroyed); because in the night Kir of Moab (now Kirak, east of south end of Dead Sea) is laid waste, and destroyed;
2 He (i.e. Moab) is gone up to Bajith (not identified), and to Dibon (now Dhiban. Num.21:30; 32:3,34; 33:45,46. Josh.13:9,17. Jer.48:18,22), the high places, to weep: Moab shall howl over Nebo (now Jebel Neba in Moab, overlooking the Jordan valley), and over Medeba (same name today. Cp. Num.21:30. Josh.13:9,16. 1 Chron.19:7): on all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard cut off.
3 In his (i.e. Moab's) open streets they shall gird themselves with sackcloth: on the tops of their houses, and in their streets, every one shall howl, coming down with weeping.
4 And Heshbon shall cry in pain (now Heshban. The capital of the Amorites. Rebuilt by Rueben [Num.32:37]), and Elealeh (now el'Al, near Heshbon. Cp. 16:6. Num.32:3,37. Jer.48:34): their voice shall be heard even unto Jahaz (not identified. Num.2:23. Deut.2:32. Judg.11:20): therefore the light-armed troopers of Moab shall shout for joy; his soul shall be vexed within him.
5 My heart shall cry out for Moab; his fugitives shall flee to Zoar (now probably Tell esh Shaghur. Original name was Bela [Gen.13:10; 14:2,8; 19:22,23,30. Deut.34:3. Jer.48:34), [flee] like a heifer of three years old (cp. Jer.48:34): for by the ascent of Luhith (now Tel'at el heith; one mile west of Mount Nebo. Cp. Jer.48:5) with weeping shall they go it up; for in the way of Horonaim (not identified; probably Wady Ghueir) they shall raise up a cry of destruction.
6 For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolations (probably Wady Nimrim, near south end of Dead Sea): for the hay is withered away, the grass faileth, there is no green thing.
7 Therefore the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have laid up, shall they carry away to the brook of the willows. (or valley of the Arabians. Probably the Wady-el-ahsy seperating Kerek from Djebal, or the brook Zered of Deut.2:13,14)
8 For the cry is gone round about the borders of Moab; the howling thereof to Eglaim (not identified; probably the En-eglaim of Ezek.47:10), and the howling thereof to Beerelim.
9 For the waters of Dimon (probably Umm Deineh, east of the Dead Sea) shall be full of blood: for I will bring more [howlings] upon Dimon, a lion (fig., put for all wild beasts) upon him that escapes of Moab, and upon the remnant of the land.
16)
1 Send you all the tribute lamb of the ruler of the land (i.e. Judah, as Mesha king of Moab had done [2 Kings 3:4]) from Sela (now Petra, so called by the Romans, in Mount Seir, near Mount Hor [2 Kings 14:7]) to the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion.
2 For it shall be, that, as a wandering bird out of a forsaken nest, so the daughters of Moab shall become at the fords of Arnon.
3 Bring advice (some codices read "Bring you counsel"), perform an arbitrator's duty (some codices read" execute you"); make your shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; bewray not him that wanders.
4 Let My outcasts (some codices read "Let the outcasts") sojourn with you, Moab (cp. 1 Sam.22;3,4); be you a covert to them from the face of the spoiler (i.e. Sennacherib):
for the extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceases, the treaders down are consumed out of the land.
5 And in lovingkindness shall the throne be established (or grace. The burden goes beyond the immediate future to the ultimate future): and He shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David (see 10:20), judging, and seeking judgment, and prompt in equity (cp. 46:13).
6 We have heard of the pride of Moab (cp. 6:8. Gen.1:26); he is very proud: even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: but his resources do not correspond.
7 Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab, every one shall howl: for the foundations of Kir-hareseth (some codices read "Kir-harasheth") shall you all mourn; surely they are worn away.
8 For [as to] the fields of Heshbon he [Moab] has enfeebled (cp. Deut.32:32. 2 Kings 23:4. Jer.31:40), [as to] the vine of Sibmah (probably Sumia, on the East of Jordan, 2 1/2 miles west of Heshbon [Josh.13:19. Jer.48:32]) the lords of the nations (probably plural of majesty for "great lord of the nations", a title claimed by the kings of Assyria) have broken down the principal plants thereof, they are come even to Jazer (probably Beit Zer'ah, on the east of Jordan [Nm.32:1. Josh.13:25; 21:39. 2 Sam.24:5. 1 Chron.6:81; 26:31. Jer.48:32), they wandered through (or, strayed into) the wilderness: her branches are stretched out, they are gone over the sea.
9 Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah: I will make you drunk with My tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh: for on your summer fruits and your harvest a war-cry has fallen.
10 And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the fruitful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting: the treaders shall tread out no wine in their wine-vat; I have made their vintage shouting to cease.
11 Wherefore My bowels shall make a paintive sound like an harp for Moab, and My inward parts for Kirharesh.
12 And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place (some codices read "unto": weary with climbing up to. Cp. 15:2), that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not obtain anything.
13 This is the word that Yehovah has spoken concerning Moab since that time.
14 But now Yehovah has spoken, saying, “Within (some cdices read "about") three years (from the death of Ahaz), as the years of an hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be brought low, with all that great multitude; and the remnant shall be very few and small.”
A² H a 1. Ruin of Damascus. b 2,3. Other cities. J K c 4,5. Diminution. d 6. The remnant. L 7,8. God. Lookng to Him. J K d 9-. The remnant. c -9. Diminution. L 10. God. Not looking to Him. H a 11. Ruin of Damascus. b 12-14. Other peoples.
17)
1 The burden (the 2nd of 7 burdens) of Damascus (the capital of Syria). Behold, Damascus is swept away from being a city (This was by Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, and the slaughter of Rezin [632 B.C.]. See 2 Kings 16:9 and 7:9,16, above), and it shall be a ruinous heap.
2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken (There were three other cities of that name. [Deut.2:36. Num.32:34. 1 Sam.30:28], and this one, whch is not identified. See 1:4 [forsaken]): they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
3 The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall be as the glory of the sons of Israel,” says Yehovah Sabaioth.
4 “And in that day it shall come to pass, that the glory of Jacob shall become made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean.
5 And it (i.e. Jacb's glory [v.4]) shall be as when the harvestman gathers the corn, and reaps the ears with his arm; and it (i.e. Jacob's fatness [v.4]) shall be as he that gathers ears in the valley of Rephaim. (South-west of Jerusalem. So called after one "Rapha", a mighty one among the descendants of the Nephiim, as Anak was, who gave his name to another branch. See Gen.6:2,4)
6 Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof,” says Yehovah Elohim of Israel. (See Ex.32:27. Cp. Josh.9:18,19; 10:40,42, &c. Also see Ex.24:10. Num.16:9)
7 At that day shall the human have an eye to to his Maker, and his eyes shall have regard to the Holy One of Israel. (see 1:4)
8 And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the asherahs (see Ex.34:13. Deut.7:5; 12:3; 16:21), or the sun images. (See Lev.26:30. Both mentioned again in 27:9)
9 In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the sons of Israel:
and there shall be desolation. (see 1:7)
10 Because you have forgotten the Elohim (Eng. God) of your salvation, and have not been mindful of the Rock of your strength (see Deut.32:13), therefore shall you plant pleasant plants (probably = plantings of Adonis), and shalt set it with strange slips (or slips of a strange god):
11 By day shall you make your plant to grow, and in the morning shall you make your seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
12 Woe to the multitude of many peoples, which make a noise like the roaring of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
13 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but One shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the dried grass of the mountains before the wind (Heb ruach), and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind. (= galgal. See Pss.83:13)
14 And behold at eveningtide consternation; and before the morning he is not (or, he is no more. Some codices read "an he is no more"). This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.
A³ M e 1,2. Israel. Spoiling. f 3. Zion. Yehovah's ensign. N 4. Yehovah's withdrawl. Cause of recall. N 5,6. Yehovah's act. Cause of spoiling. M e 7-. Israel. Present to Yehovah. f -7. Zion. Mount of Yehovah's name.
18)
1 Woe (= Ho! The 3rd of 7 burdens) to the land shadowing with wings (= of the rustling zalzal [from zalal, to tinkle, cp. Deut.28:42]. Occ. only in Job 41:7. 2 Sam.6:5. Ps.150:5. See also 1 Chron.13:8), which is beyond Abyssinia the rivers of Ethiopia:
2 That sends ambassadors by the Nile ("the sea" so called by inhabitants of the Sudan today), even in vessels of reeds upon the waters (Not the papyrus, but its companion reed, the ambach, which reaches a height of 15 feet and has yellow flowers. See 35:7; Ex.2:3; and Job 8:1), saying, “Go, all you swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth-faced (as Professor Sayce describes them), to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto (they formed the armies of "So" or Shabaka, and are the backbone of the Anglo-Egpytian army [see Records of the Past, vol. vii, part iv]); a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!” (i.e. the "sudd" or swamps [hence Sudan]. The Dinka and Shilluk negroes live on the floating cakes of sudd)
3 All you all inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see you all, when Yehovah lifts up an ensign on the mountains; and when Yehovah blows a trumpet, hear you all.
4 For so Yehovah said to me, “I will take My rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a summer night mist in the heat of harvest. (Heb. ‘ãb. Not a rain-cloud, which is never seen in harvest)
5 For before the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, He shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches.
6 They shall be left together to the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth (see "forsaken" in 1:4): and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.
7 In that time shall the present be brought (Heb. shai, because of being conveyed) to Yehovah Sabaioth of a people tall and smooth-faced, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled,
to the place of the name of Yehovah Sabaioth (see Ps.20:1), the mount Zion.
A4 O 19:1-4. Confusion. Assyria. P 19:5-10. Desolation. Q 19:11-17. The Lord of hosts. The cause. P 19:18-25. Healing. O 20:1-6. Captivity. Assyria.
O g 1. Idols, &c. h 2. War. Civil. g 3. Idols, &c. h 4. War. Foreign.
2 And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians (referring to the anarchy consequent on the defeat of Egypt by Sargon [688 B.C.]): and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.
3 And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols (see 2:8), and to the mutterers, and to them that have familiar spirits (see Lev.19:31; 20:6,7; Deut.18:11, &c.), and to the wizards.
4 And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord (sing. adjective with plural noun = the lord of the nations, as the kings of Assyria called themselves); and a fierce king shall rule over them,” says the ’Adõn, Yehovah Sabaioth.
P i 5,6. Waters. Things. k 7. Vegetation. " i 8. Waters. Fishers in them. Persons. k 9,10. Vegetation. Workers therein. "
5 And the waters shall be dried up from the sea, and the river (i.e. the Nile) shall be wasted and dried up.
6 And the arms of the river shall stink; and the brooks of defence (= canals of Matzor: i.e. Egypt. See 7:18) shall be shallow and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither.
7 The meadows by the canals, by the mouth of the canals, and every thing sown by the canals, shall be dried up, be driven away, and be no more (or, and disappear).
8 The fishers also shall mourn (see 3:26), and all they that cast angle into the canals shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish.
9 Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they that weave networks, shall be confounded.
10 And they shall be broken in the purposes (or, foundations) thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for souls (or, work for wages shall be grieved in souls ).
Q l 11-. Princes...fools. m -11,12. Cause. The Lord of hosts. l 13-15. Princes...fools. m 16,17. Cause. The Lord of hosts.
11 Surely the princes of Zoan are fools (see Prov.1:7), the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish:
how say you all to Pharaoh, ‘I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?’
12 Where are they? where are your wise men? and let them tell you now, and let them know what Yehovah Sabaioth has purposed upon Egypt.
13 The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof.
14 Yehovah has mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man goes astray in his vomit. (as in preceding clause)
15 Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush (see 9:14), may do.
16 In that day (i.e. the day when this burden should be fulfilled [NOT "the Day of the Lord"]. Note the 6 steps, vv.16.18.19.21.23.24) shall Egypt be like unto women: and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand (put for the judgments indicated by the act) of Yehovah Sabaioth, which He shakes over it.
17 And the land of Judah (The Assyrian armies came through Judah) shall be a terror unto Egypt, every one that makes mention thereof shall be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of Yehovah Sabaioth, which He has determined against it.
P n 18. Cities. o 19-22. Healing. n 23. Highway. o 24,25. Blessig.
18 In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt (probably Heliopolis, Leontopolis, Daphne, Migdol, and Memphis) speak the language of Canaan (i.e. the Hebrew language, by the multude of tribe of Judah that went to that place), and swear to Yehovah Sabaioth; one shall be called, The city of righteousness. (the primitive reading was doubtles ha-zedeck = "righteousness", which the Sept. simply transliterates. From a desire not to compete with "Jerusalem", which bore this name [Isa.1:26], it was altered to cheres, which in Chaldee = "the sun", or in Greek = "Heliopolis", which is the reading in many MSS., two early printed editions, and the margins of the A.V. and R.V. But when the temple at Jerusalem was cleansed and restored, the temple at Heliopolis was deemed schismatic; and, by altering one letter [CH, for H], cheres [the sun] was altered to heres [destruction]. Hence the present reading of the current Hebrew text. See Ginsburg, Introduction, pp.404-8.)
19 In that day shall there be an altar (see below) to Yehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar close to the border thereof to Yehovah. (probably a boundry pillar, or, perhaps the Great Pyramid of Giza! a pillar or monument. Not for worship. Since the full official name of the Pyramid, the Great Pyramid of Giza, means, in English, the Great Pyramid of the Border, the answer to the apparently contradictory definition of Isaiah is found in the Great Pyramid. The only spot on the face of the earth that completely answers this description, both geometrically and geographically, is the precise place where the Great Pyramid stands (E. Raymond Capt, The Great Pyramid Decoded))
O p 1. Assyria. q 2. Isaiah. Symbol. q 3. Isaiah. Signification. p 4-6. Assyria.
1 In the year (probably the year of Samaria's fall [611 B.C.]) that Tartan (a title = commander in chief. Cp. 2 Kings 18:17) came to Ashdod, {when Sargon the king of Assyria (never once named by classic writers, and in Scripture only here. The monuments show that he was the son of Shalmaneser, and the father of Sennacherib) sent him (this expedition is mentioned on the monument found at Khorsabad. A usurper, called "Javan", or "the Greek", had been put on the throne of Ashdod by Hezekiah in the place of "Akimit"),} and fought against Ashdod, and took it;
2 At the time spoke Yehovah by the hand of Isaiah the son of Amoz (see 13:1), saying, “Go and loose the sackcloth from off your loins, and put off your shoe from your foot.” And he did so, walking naked and barefoot. (fig., put for scantily clad)
611-608 B.C.
3 And Yehovah said, “Like as My servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia; (see 7:11 and 8:18)
4 So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.
5 And they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their
expectation (fig. put for the help expected from Egypt), and of Egypt their glory. (fig., put for the Egyptians, in whom they gloried)
6 And the inhabitant of this sea coast (or coast land. See 11:11) shall say in that day, ‘Behold, such is our expectation, whither we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria: and how shall we escape?’ ”