CHAPTER 16

(726 B.C.)

MOAB THE PROTECTOR OF ISRAEL IN THE TRIBULATION

¹Send you the lamb to the ruler of the land from Sela (Petra) to the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion. (The lamb refers to Israel. At the midpoint of the Great Tribulation, when the Antichrist attacks Israel, showing his true colors, Israel will then flee to Moab, which is modern-day Jordan [Mat. 24:15-24; Rev. 12:6, 14].)

²For it shall be, that, as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon. (The wandering bird speaks of Moab, who will be highly disturbed at the events that are taking place when the Antichrist suddenly attacks Israel, and Israel is forced to flee. Moab [Jordan] will welcome Israel at that time.)

³Take counsel, execute judgment; make your shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; bewray not him who wanders. (Once again, Israel is referred to as the outcasts. Moab is instructed to hide these outcasts, and not to betray them.)

⁴Let My outcasts dwell with you, Moab; be you a covert to them from the face of the spoiler (the Antichrist): for the extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceases, the oppressors are consumed out of the land. (The extortioner, the spoiler, and the oppressor are all names for the Antichrist.

The Holy Spirit requests of Moab at the time of the invasion by the Antichrist that His outcasts dwell with them. The place that is being spoken of is Petra, which is in present-day Jordan. For this reason, the Holy Spirit will cause the country of Jordan to escape out of the hand of the Antichrist [Dan. 11:40-45].)

⁵And in mercy shall the throne be established: and he shall sit upon it in truth in the Tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness. (We are emphatically told here that the Tabernacle of David shall be once again set up, which will take place after the Church Age [Acts 15:13-18].)

MOABS SINS: PRIDE, ARROGANCE, AND INSOLENCE; LAMENT FOR MOAB

⁶We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud: even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: but his lies shall not be so. (The immediate judgment upon Moab is again taken up in Verses 6 through 12. These Prophecies as well compare with the Prophecies in Chapter 15. This concerns the soon coming invasion by Assyria.)

⁷Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab, every one shall howl: for the foundations of Kir-hareseth shall you mourn; surely they are stricken. (This speaks of the judgment that shall come upon the entirety of the nation, and not on just a few.)

⁸For the field of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah: the lords of the heathen have broken down the principal plants thereof, they are come even unto Jazer, they wandered through the wilderness: her branches are stretched out, they are gone over the sea. (The lords of the heathen are probably the Assyrians, who made a practice of destroying the fruit trees in enemy country for the mere purpose of doing mischief.)

⁹Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah: I will water you with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh: for the shouting for your summer fruits and for your harvest is fallen. (This Verse portrays the great sorrow and mourning over the destruction of the country and the wasting of its crops.)

¹⁰And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the plentiful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting: the treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses; I have made their vintage shouting to cease. (At the grape harvest, there were times of great celebration and joy; however, all of this would be taken away, says the Holy Spirit.)

¹¹Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and my inward parts for Kir-haresh. (In his Vision, seeing the coming destruction, Isaiah was moved with deep compassion for these people.)

¹²And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not prevail. (This Verse pictures the Moabites presenting themselves before their idol, and, like the worshippers of Baal at Carmel, they wearied themselves in their fruitless cries to him.)

¹³This is the Word that the LORD has spoken concerning Moab since that time. (The words, since that time, refer to the Prophecy of 15:1.)

¹⁴But now the LORD has spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of an hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned, with all that great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and feeble. (Concerning some of the heathen people, the annihilation was to be absolute, but Moab would have a remnant, very small and of little account; however, this remnant is to be redeemed in the latter days, and in fact presently occupies modern Jordan, and for the express purpose of protecting Israel, which she will do in the latter half of the Great Tribulation.)