WEEP AND WAIL
Opening Prayer
As I read your Word today, Father, show me new reasons for courage to live in the ways you require. Give me vision to serve you with confidence and hope.
Read ISAIAH 15, 16
A Prophecy Against Moab
15 A prophecy against Moab:
Ar in Moab is ruined,
destroyed in a night!
Kir in Moab is ruined,
destroyed in a night!
2 Dibon goes up to its temple,
to its high places to weep;
Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba.
Every head is shaved
and every beard cut off.
3 In the streets they wear sackcloth;
on the roofs and in the public squares
they all wail,
prostrate with weeping.
4 Heshbon and Elealeh cry out,
their voices are heard all the way to Jahaz.
Therefore the armed men of Moab cry out,
and their hearts are faint.
5 My heart cries out over Moab;
her fugitives flee as far as Zoar,
as far as Eglath Shelishiyah.
They go up the hill to Luhith,
weeping as they go;
on the road to Horonaim
they lament their destruction.
6 The waters of Nimrim are dried up
and the grass is withered;
the vegetation is gone
and nothing green is left.
7 So the wealth they have acquired and stored up
they carry away over the Ravine of the Poplars.
8 Their outcry echoes along the border of Moab;
their wailing reaches as far as Eglaim,
their lamentation as far as Beer Elim.
9 The waters of Dimon[a] are full of blood,
but I will bring still more upon Dimon[b]—
a lion upon the fugitives of Moab
and upon those who remain in the land.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 15:9 Dimon, a wordplay on Dibon (see verse 2), sounds like the Hebrew for blood.
- Isaiah 15:9 Dimon, a wordplay on Dibon (see verse 2), sounds like the Hebrew for blood.
16 Send lambs as tribute
to the ruler of the land,
from Sela, across the desert,
to the mount of Daughter Zion.
2 Like fluttering birds
pushed from the nest,
so are the women of Moab
at the fords of the Arnon.
3 “Make up your mind,” Moab says.
“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[a] of David—
one who in judging seeks justice
and speeds the cause of righteousness.
6 We have heard of Moab’s pride—
how great is her arrogance!—
of her 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 raisin cakes 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.[b]
9 So I weep, as Jazer weeps,
for the vines of Sibmah.
Heshbon and 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.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 16:5 Hebrew tent
- Isaiah 16:8 Probably the Dead Sea
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
Give thanks that God is ‘kind to the ungrateful and wicked’ and pray that you will be ‘merciful just as your Father is merciful.’1
Think Further
The message of judgment now confronts Moab, but the reason for judgment remains the same: arrogant superiority and accumulated wealth (15:7). The end result will leave Moab despised and feeble (16:14). Judah’s tense interactions with these distant relatives and near neighbors went back a long way.2 It is important that they hear these words as reassurance against the threat of Moab but not as any cause for gloating. Were they so different from their neighbors? Should they not take pity on homeless refugees (one possible interpretation of 16:4)? Let’s not be too quick to rush to judgment.
The Moabites are left unprotected, open, and vulnerable to attack – and the attack is uncompromising, touching everyone (every head, every beard, all wail, 15:2, 3), causing even tough army types to lose heart and cry out for help (v. 4). Throughout these passages, the impact is on the environment as well as on people (15:6) and is geographically widespread (15:8, 9). It is a picture of devastation; a cause for lament, where joy and gladness are a memory; a land without music (16:10). We feel the sadness for enemies in distress. We live in the tension of lamenting for people caught up in conflict, while rejoicing in the bringing down of a God-challenging regime. We always live in hope. Rebellion like this, and its judgment, will not go on forever. There is an end to the judgment and another type of kingdom will take shape: a Davidic kingdom built on justice and righteousness (16:5). It’s the only hope for Moab and for us! Oppressive regimes must be dismantled – but there is always a word of hope.
Apply
Who is ‘Moab’ in your situation? Having reflected on these chapters, how do you think, pray, and talk about these people or institutions?
Closing prayer
Jesus, help me to graciously offer friendship wherever you lead me, toward anyone I meet. Help my friendship reflect that which you offer me—wholehearted and without reservation.
1 Luke 6:35, 36 2 See Gen 19:30–38; Num 22–25
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