Isaiah 16:9
Ver. 9. Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah,.... That is, bewail the one, as he had done the other, both places with the fruits about them being destroyed by the enemy; or "therefore with weeping I will bewail" (most vehemently lament, an usual Hebraism) "Jazer", and "the vine of Sibmah": the prophet here represents the Moabites weeping for their vines more especially, they being a people addicted to drunkenness, in which their father was begotten; hence Bacchus is said to be the founder of many of their cities, see Jer 48:32. The Targum is,
"as I have brought armies against Jazer, so will I bring slayers against Sibmah;''
I will water thee with my tears: shed abundance of them, see Ps 6:6:
O Heshbon, and Elealeh; perhaps alluding to the fishponds, in the former, So 7:4 of these places,See Gill on "Isa 15:4":for the shouting for thy summer fruits, and for thy harvest, is fallen; is ceased, so as not to be heard; namely, the singing and shouting which used to be made by labourers, while they were gathering the summer fruits, or reaping the harvest, with which they amused and diverted themselves, and their fellow labourers, and so their time and their work went on more pleasantly; or else that great joy and shouting they expressed when all was ended, something of which nature is still among us at this day; but now in Moab it was at an end, because the enemy had destroyed both their summer fruits and harvest; though Jarchi and Kimchi interpret this shouting of the enemy, of the spoilers and plunderers, upon their summer fruits and harvest, when they destroyed them; and so the Targum,"upon thy harvest, and upon thy vintage, spoilers have fallen;''so Noldius {g} renders the words, "for upon thy summer fruits, and upon thy harvest, the shouting shall fall"; that is, the shouting of the enemy, spoiling their fruits and their harvest; and this seems to be the true sense, since it agrees with Jer 48:32 and the ceasing of the other kind of shouting is observed in the next verse Isa 16:10.{g} Ebr Concord. Part p. 253. Isaiah 16:10Ver. 10. And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the plentiful field,.... Or "is gathered" {h}, though their harvest was not; all cause of joy and gladness was removed; a plentiful field being foraged, trampled upon, and destroyed by the enemy, and left desolate without any to manure it:and in the vineyards there shall be no singing; as there used to be by the men that gathered the grapes, and trod the wine presses; but now there would be no men in the vineyards, there being no grapes to gather or tread, as follows:the treaders shall tread out no wine in [their] presses; the way in those times and countries being for men to tread the grapes, and the wine out of them, with their feet, in vats or vessels, and not in presses with screws and weights, as now:I have made their [vintage shouting] to cease; by suffering the enemy to come in among them, which had destroyed their vintage, and so prevented their shouting, and spoiled their song.{h} Poan "colligetur", Montanus; "ad verbum, collectum est", Vatablus. Isaiah 16:11Ver. 11. Wherefore my bowels shall sound like a harp for Moab,.... Making a noise as the harp does, and a mournful one as that, when used at funerals; which it makes when it is stricken or played on with the hand, as these were, through the afflictive and punitive hand of God; and which, when stricken, causes a quavering of the strings, to which the inward trembling of the bowels is compared, and is very expressive of the prophet's sympathy, or those he personates; for, when one string of the harp is touched, the rest sound. For these words, as Kimchi says, are spoken in the language of the Moabites; those that survived lamenting the desolate state of their country, which must be very great and affecting; and to show that it was so is the design of the prophet's expressing himself after this manner; for if it was painful to him, it must be much more so to them; so the Targum,"wherefore the bowels of the Moabites shall sound as a harp;''of the sounding of the bowels, see Isa 63:15:and mine inward parts for Kirharesh: the same with Kirhareseth, Isa 16:7 which being a principal city, the destruction of it was greatly laid to heart. The Targum is,"and their heart shall grieve for the men of the city of their strength;''it being a strong city, in which they placed their confidence; but being destroyed, and the inhabitants of it, it was very affecting, to which agrees Jer 48:31. Isaiah 16:12Ver. 12. And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place,.... With weeping there, Isa 15:2 or with frequent sacrifices, and going from one high place to another, as Balak king of Moab did; and by comparing places together, it looks as if this was the way of the Moabites in their distress, to offer up a multitude of sacrifices in different places; now, when it should be seen by others, and appear to themselves, that they wearied themselves in vain, and all their cries and sacrifices were to no purpose, they should then be ashamed of them, leave off, and betake themselves to some other method; though Jarchi interprets it of their being weary of fighting on the high places of their towers, which when observed, they would take another course, and apply to devotion:that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; to the temple of Chemosh, and to pray to that idol to help him, 1Ki 11:7:but he shall not prevail; his prayers shall be ineffectual; his suit will be fruitless, and without success; or "he cannot", that is, his idol cannot help him. So Kimchi interprets his sanctuary of the house of his God; and the Targum, of the house of his idolatry; yet since the house or temple of an idol is never called a sanctuary, it may be understood of God's sanctuary, the temple at Jerusalem; and the sense be, that when Moab shall see that his praying and sacrificing to idols are in vain, and he has tired himself with his superstition and idolatry, without having any redress, he shall think and express his desire of going up to the temple of Jerusalem, and of praying to the God of Israel; but he shall not be able to do it, because of the enemy; and could he get thither, he would not prevail with God, for the decree was gone forth, which could not be frustrated, as follows. Ben Melech interprets it of the palace of the king. Isaiah 16:13Ver. 13. This [is] the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning Moab,.... That is, this prophecy now delivered out is what comes from the Lord; it is the word of the Lord, and not of man, and so shall certainly come to pass; when this word was spoken follows:since that time; from eternity, as some, and so refer it to the decree of God within himself; or from the time that Moab was in being, or a nation, as others; or from the time that Balak hired Balaam to curse Israel, so Jarchi; or rather from the time that the Lord made known his mind and will, concerning this matter, to the prophet Isaiah: for it should be rendered, "this is that word which the Lord spake concerning Moab then" {i}; that is, at the time or year in which Ahaz died, Isa 14:28 and is observed, to distinguish it from what the prophet spoke, or was about to speak, now or from this time, concerning him, as in the next verse Isa 16:14.{i} So Noldius, Ebr. Concord. Part. p. 473. No. 1586. Isaiah 16:14Ver. 14. But now the Lord hath spoken,.... Something else. What follows is a distinct prophecy from the former, and has a date annexed to it, when it should be fulfilled: the former prophecy relates to the utter destruction of the Moabites by the Babylonians, in the times of Nebuchadnezzar; of which Jeremiah, Jer 48:1 prophesies, in much the same language as Isaiah; and so Jarchi observes, that the final destruction of Moab was by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar: but this was of a lesser nature, and to be accomplished in a short time, either by Shalmaneser, or by Sennacherib king of Assyria, or Esarhaddon his son:saying, within three years, as the year of an hireling; that is, precisely and exactly three years, neither more nor fewer, neither sooner nor later; as whatever time is agreed upon by an hireling, as soon as ever it is out, which he often thinks of, and counts exactly, he demands his wages, and his freedom. Some think this prophecy bears date with the former, concerning the Philistines, which was the year King Ahaz died, Isa 14:28 and so had its accomplishment in the fourth year of Hezekiah, when Shalmaneser came up against Samaria {k}, and took Moab in his way, 2Ki 18:9 others, that it was given out in the fourth year of Hezekiah, when the Assyrian besieged Samaria, and after three years took it, and then returned and fell upon the Moabites; others place it in the eleventh year of Hezekiah, and suppose it to be fulfilled in his fourteenth by Sennacherib, about the same time he came up and took the fenced cities of Judah, and besieged Jerusalem, 2Ki 18:13 and with this agree the Jewish writers {l}, whose words are these,"after those things, and the establishment thereof, Sennacherib king of Assyria came into Judah, 2Ch 32:1 and at the same time sent Tartan to Ashdod, Isa 20:1 who overran the Ammonites and Moabites, who helped him when he besieged Samaria three years, that it might be fulfilled what is said, Isa 16:14 at the same time the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem.''Upon which Kimchi observes, as an interpretation of the phrase, "as the years of an hireling","it is as if it was said, because they helped the king of Assyria three years against Samaria, it was as if they had been hired; therefore they fell by his hand, and the glory of Moab was light in the hand of the king of Assyria.''But others make it to be three years after this time; but very likely it might be later still, about the eighteenth or nineteenth year of Hezekiah, as Gataker thinks, who, in his notes on this place, has collected all these senses, and made his observations on them; and so had its accomplishment in some expedition of Esarhaddon, who greatly weakened and impoverished the country of Moab, though he did not destroy it, and which was an earnest and pledge of the utter destruction of it before prophesied of. Noldius renders it, "after three years"; and so Grotius: it was in the first year of Hezekiah, as Noldius observes, that this was said; and in the fourth year of his reign, Shalmaneser came against Samaria, and in his way was the beginning of this destruction, and but a beginning of it, as he observes, yet a pledge of the consummation by Nebuchadnezzar, which was long after these three years of Isaiah.And the glory of Moab shall be contemned with all that great multitude; of cities and towns, of the inhabitants of them, and of wealth and riches, things in which Moab gloried, and were reckoned weighty and heavy things; these were accounted light by the king of Assyria, who spoiled them, or at least greatly diminished them:and the remnant [shall be] very small [and] feeble; or, "not mighty" or "strong"; those that were not cut off by the Assyrian army would be but few, and these weak and without strength, being dispossessed of their cities, and of their wealth; though, in process of time, between this, and the fulfilment of the former prophecy, and that of Jeremiah, they recovered themselves, and became very numerous and flourishing.{k} See Prideaux's Connect. par. 1. B. 1. p. 18. So Vitringa. {l} Seder Olam Rabba, c. 23. p. 64.
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.