Isaiah 15

Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 15

Chapter 15 Judgment on Moab. Isaiah’s next burden is that the Assyrians will advance on Moab as an easy target (‘within three years’ - see Isaiah 16:14). Their cities will rapidly be defeated one by one, and laid waste, and the whole nation will weep in anguish. Chapter 15 is a vivid picture of a whole land in turmoil and fleeing for its survival before advancing hordes, described as though it had happened because it is a certainty in the mind of God. They have no reliable god to trust in.... read more

Peter Pett

Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 15:1-2

‘The burden of Moab. For in a night Ar of Moab is laid waste, It is brought to nought. For in a night Kir of Moab is laid waste. It is brought to nought. He is gone up to Bayith, and to Dibon, To the high places to weep. Moab howls over Nebo, And over Medeba. On all their heads is baldness, Every beard is cut off.’ In chapter 14 Isaiah ended with the approaching dust clouds of the Assyrian army, and the failing hearts of the Philistines. Now he moves on to their actual approach on one of the... read more

Peter Pett

Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 15:3-4

‘In their streets they gird themselves with sackcloth. On their housetops and in their broad places, Everyone howls, Weeping abundantly (literally ‘going down in weeping’). And Heshbon cries out, and Elealeh. Their voice is heard even to Jahaz. Therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud, His soul trembles within him.’ All the land fall to weeping. They wear sackcloth, a sign of mourning. They go to their housetop shrines, and gather in the open spaces to weep. This is the price for opposing... read more

Peter Pett

Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 15:5

‘My heart cries out for Moab, her nobles flee to Zoar, To Eglath-Shelishiyah, For by the ascent of Luhith they go up with weeping, For in the way of Horonaim they raise up a cry of destruction.’ Panic has seized the whole of Moab. The nobles flee to the Dead Sea area, to Zoar, and to Eglath-Shelishiyah. The people stream to the ascent of Luhith, weeping as they climb. They take the highway of Horonaim in their desperation to get away, crying out concerning the destruction of Moab. The whole of... read more

Peter Pett

Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 15:6

‘For the waters of Nimrim will be desolate, For the grass is withered away, The tender grass fails, There is no green thing.’ Nimrim is possibly the Wadi Numeirah, which flows into the Dead Sea near its southern end, a dry river bed which floods in the rainy season. But there is no water now at which they can quench their thirst, the grass has withered, no new sproutings take place, all is dry and dead. read more

Peter Pett

Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 15:7

‘Therefore such wealth as they have accumulated, And that which they have laid up, They will carry away, To the Brook of the Willows.’ Their only hope is escape across the border. This is the sad sight of a stream of refugees carrying all their earthly possessions as they stumble on their way to the south hoping to find refuge. The Brook of the Willows (or ‘Ravine of the Poplars’) is probably the Brook Zered on the southern border (compare Amos 6:14 - ‘the Brook of the Arabah’). read more

Peter Pett

Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 15:8-9

‘For the cry is gone round the borders of Moab, Its howling to Eglaim, and its howling to Beer-elim. For the waters of Dimon are full of blood, For I will bring yet more on Dimon, A lion on him who escapes of Moab, And on the remnant of the land.’ The whole of the border area with its different cities is filled with weeping people as they stream to the border for what they hope will be safety. Dimon may be a local variant of Dibon (Dibon is read by the Isaiah scroll Qa at Qumran). There is to... read more

Arthur Peake

Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 15

Isaiah 15, 16. Oracle on Moab.— In Isaiah 16:13 f. we read that the preceding prophecy had been spoken in time past: now it is confirmed, and its fulfilment exactly dated. The natural meaning of this is that the main body of the oracle had been uttered some time previously. Very few accept the view that Isaiah himself wrote it. It is generally thought that he quotes the work of an older prophet and endorses it. This is suggested by the language of Isaiah 16:13 f., which does not favour the... read more

Arthur Peake

Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 15:1-9

Isaiah 15:1-1 Samuel : . The Overthrow of Moab.— A sudden catastrophe has overwhelmed Ar ( Numbers 21:15 *) and Kir in one night. The daughter (read bath for Bayith; cf. Jeremiah 48:18) of Dibon ( Numbers 21:30 *) has gone up to the high places to lament; everywhere are signs of mourning. The cry of distress is heard from Heshbon ( Numbers 21:25 *) and Elealeh ( Numbers 32:37 *) in Jahaz ( Numbers 21:23 *). The fugitives ( mg.) flee to Zoar ( Genesis 19:22 *) and the third Eglath. They... read more

Matthew Poole

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible - Isaiah 15

ISAIAH CHAPTER 15 The destruction of Moab. read more

Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 15

Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 15:1-2

Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 15:3-4

Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 15:5

Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 15:6

Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 15:7

Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 15:8-9

Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 15

Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 15:1-9

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible - Isaiah 15

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