Isaiah 15 - Introduction

CHAPTER 15

Ch. 15 16. An Oracle on Moab

These Chapter s describe a terrible disaster which has overtaken, or is about to overtake, the proud and hitherto prosperous nation of Moab. Ch. Isaiah 16:13 f. is a postscript, which states unambiguously that an earlier prophecy is here taken up and reaffirmed in its substance, the time of its fulfilment being fixed within a term of three years. The language leaves it uncertain whether the original composition was strictly a prophecy or a poetic lament over a visitation which the writer had actually witnessed. The element of prediction appears in Isaiah 15:9 and Isaiah 16:12; but the rest of the passage reads like a description of current events, and certainly exhibits a most minute and accurate knowledge of the geography of the trans-Jordanic region. The writer betrays a certain sympathy with the misfortunes of Moab, although he expresses the conviction that the notorious arrogance of that people demanded a retribution such as it has experienced.

The question of date and authorship is complicated by the peculiar form in which the oracle is presented. It is obvious that the Epilogue (Isaiah 16:13 f.) belongs to a later date than the body of the prophecy, and there is nothing whatever to suggest that both are from the same author. The internal evidence, indeed, is strongly opposed to such an hypothesis. While the Epilogue bears every mark of Isaiah's rapid and pregnant style that could be expected in so short a piece, the original oracle (Isaiah 15:1 to Isaiah 16:12) presents a singular contrast to the prophecies of Isaiah. The pathetic, elegiac strain of this passage, its outflow of purely human sympathy towards the victims of the calamity, its poverty in religious ideas, and its diffuse and laboured style, combine to stamp it with a character foreign to his genius. And this general impression is confirmed by an examination of the vocabulary, which differs widely from that of Isaiah. On these and other grounds the majority of critics since Gesenius have been led to the conclusion that we have here the work of some unknown prophet, which was republished by Isaiah with an appendix from his own hand.

With regard to the date of the original prophecy the chief indications are these: (1) Although the assailants of Moab are nowhere named, we may at least infer from the fact that the fugitives took refuge in Edom (Isaiah 16:1), that their country had been invaded from the north. (2) It also appears from Isaiah 16:1-6 that at this time a strong monarch sat on the throne of Judah and held the Edomites in subjection (see the notes below). This last circumstance would seem to take us back at least to the days of Uzziah, the suzerainty of Edom having been lost in the beginning of the reign of Ahaz (2 Kings 16:6) and never recovered during the lifetime of Isaiah. Perhaps the most plausible conjecture that has been offered is that of Hitzig (adopted by a number of subsequent commentators), that the prophecy refers to the subjugation of Moab by the North Israelites under Jeroboam II., the contemporary of Uzziah. It is true that there is no particular mention of this campaign in the Old Testament, but we know that Jeroboam extended the boundaries of his kingdom to the "sea of the Arabah" (2 Kings 14:25; Amos 6:14), and it is reasonable to suppose that this involved an invasion of Moab. In every respect the circumstances of the time are in harmony with the allusions of the prophecy. Hitzig's further suggestion, however, that the author was Jonah the son of Amittai (2 Kings 14:25), though ingenious, rests on no solid foundation. There are two earlier wars of North Israel against Moab which might conceivably be thought of in this connexion. One is the conquest of the country by Omri in the 9th century, known to us from the famous Moabite Stone, which commemorates the war of revenge waged by Mesha against Ahab. The other is the campaign of Jehoram, Ahab's son, in alliance with Jehoshaphat king of Judah (2 Kings 3). This can hardly be the occasion of the prophecy, since at that time Judah took part in the subjugation of Moab, and would not be likely to be appealed to by the fugitives for succour (Isaiah 16:1 ff.). Nevertheless the Biblical account of that campaign throws a valuable light on some features of the passage, and illustrates the barbarity with which these frontier wars were conducted. We read that the allies "beat down the cities; and on every good piece of land they cast every man his stone, and filled it; and they stopped all the fountains of water, and felled all the good trees: until in Kir-hareseth only they left the stones thereof" (2 Kings 3:25). We can readily suppose that Jeroboam's invasion was carried out with equal thoroughness.

The date of the Epilogue (assuming it to be Isaiah's) is comparatively unimportant. There is no doubt that Isaiah has the Assyrians in view as the agents of the Divine sentence against Moab. Perhaps the most likely time for such a prediction would be about 711, when the Moabites were in revolt against Sargon. At the time of Sennacherib's great expedition they appear to have held aloof from the conspiracy and maintained their allegiance to Assyria.

The passage falls into three sections:

1 Chronicles 15. The distress of Moab. In one night her two chief cities have been ruined (Isaiah 15:1); the sanctuaries are crowded with despairing suppliants, and a cry of agony ascends from all her public places (2 4). The fugitives are then seen making their way through the desolate country, and collecting their possessions at the brook of the Arabah, in order to carry them over into Edom (5 7). For the war-cry has circled round the whole land so that no refuge can be found within it (8), and yet worse things are in store for the survivors (9, Isaiah 16:2).

2. Ch. Isaiah 16:1-6. Moab vainly seeks protection from Jerusalem. From Edom the fugitives are represented as sending a present (Isaiah 15:1) to Jerusalem, along with a piteous and flattering appeal to the Jewish monarchy (3, 4; Isaiah 15:2 appears to break the connexion) whose glories are extolled in terms almost worthy of a Messianic prophecy (5). But the petition is rejected because of the well-known pride and faithlessness of the Moabitish nationality (6).

3. Isaiah 16:7-12. There thus remains no hope for Moab, and the poet once more strikes up a lamentation over the ruined vineyards of the once fertile country where the vintage song is now stilled for ever (7 10). The personal sympathy of the writer finds clearer expression here than in the earlier part of the poem (9, 11); although his last word must be a religious application of the calamity of Moab as proving the impotence of its national deities (12).

4. Then follows the Epilogue (Isaiah 16:13-14), really a new prophecy announcing the fall of Moab within a very brief space of time.

The parallel prophecy on Moab in Jeremiah 48 is a greatly amplified variation of this ancient oracle. With the exception of Isaiah 15:1; Isaiah 15:8 to Isaiah 16:5 and Isaiah 16:12 ff. nearly every verse in these two Chapter s occurs in a more or less altered form in Jeremiah (the references are given in the notes below). A comparison of the two passages affords an instructive illustration of the freedom used by prophetic writers in handling the remains of ancient literature.