Isaiah 16:1-18:7

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 16:1-2

Isaiah 16:1-2. Send ye the lamb, &c. The prophet continues his prophecy against Moab, and gives them counsel what to do to prevent, if possible, or at least to mitigate, the threatened judgment. First he advises them to be just to the house of David, and to pay the tribute they had formerly covenanted to pay to the kings of his line. David, it must be recollected, had subdued the Moabites, and made them tributaries to him, 2 Samuel 8:2. Afterward they paid their tribute to the kings of... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Isaiah 16:1-14

Devastation in Moab (15:1-16:14)The place names mentioned in these two chapters indicate that the attack on Moab comes from the north, most likely from Assyria. The attack is swift and ruthless, and towns fall in a night. Wherever a person looks, there is mourning (15:1-4). Even Isaiah weeps as he sees the people fleeing pitifully, rushing along the streets, across the streams and over the fields that have been damaged by the invading armies. They take with them whatever precious possessions... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Isaiah 16:1

lamb = tribute lamb. to the ruler = of the ruler: i.e. Judah, as Mesha king of Moab had done (2 Kings 3:4 ). Sela. Now Petra (so called by the Romans) in Mount Seir, near Mount Hor (2 Kings 14:7 ). read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Isaiah 16:1

THE BURDEN OF MOAB (continued)"Send ye the lambs for the ruler of the land from Selah to the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion. For it shall be that, as wandering birds, as a scattered nest, so shall the daughters of Moab be at the fords of the Arnon. Give counsel, execute justice; make thy shade as the night in the midst of noonday; hide the outcasts; betray not the fugitive. Let mine outcasts dwell with thee; as for Moab, be thou a covert to him from the face of the... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Isaiah 16:1-2

Isaiah 16:1-2. Send ye the lamb— After Isaiah, in the former part of this prophesy, had described the calamity and the lamentation of the Moabites, he here stands still, as on a sudden; then addresses the Moabites, and informs them as well of the causes of this judgment, as of the means which, if properly applied, might at least mitigate, if not wholly avert it. The prophet does not set forth these causes directly, but obliquely, by the way of prudent counsel; wherein they are admonished of... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 16:1

1. lamb—advice of the prophet to the Moabites who had fled southwards to Idumea, to send to the king of Judah the tribute of lambs, which they had formerly paid to Israel, but which they had given up (2 Kings 3:4; 2 Kings 3:5). David probably imposed this tribute before the severance of Judah and Israel (2 Kings 3:5- :). Therefore Moab is recommended to gain the favor and protection of Judah, by paying it to the Jewish king. Type of the need of submitting to Messiah (Psalms 2:10-12; Romans... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 16:1-4

Moab would plead for shelter from her enemy. Her leaders would send a lamb as a tribute from their hiding place in some wilderness stronghold (possibly Sela in Edom) to the king of Judah requesting help. The Moabite refugees would be as frightened as birds while they hovered on their border. They would seek refuge in Judah. Young believed this refers to a spiritual conversion of the Moabites, but this may be reading too much into these cries for deliverance. [Note: Young, 1:463.] read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 16:1-14

1. RV ’Send ye the lambs for the ruler of the land from Sela which is toward the wilderness,’ etc. Mesha, king of Moab, had rendered to Israel tribute of lambs and rams (2 Kings 3:4). The prophet here bids the Moabites send tribute to Judah and thus secure protection by renewing their allegiance to God’s people; or perhaps in this v. the Moabite chiefs are pictured as exhorting one another to this step. From Sela] in Edom, where the fugitive Moabites have taken refuge. 2. Timid and not knowing... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 16:1

XVI.(1) Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land.—In the days of Ahab, Mesha, the then king of Moab, had paid a tribute of sheep and lambs to the king of Israel (2 Kings 3:4). On his revolt (as recorded in the Moabite Inscription) that tribute had ceased. The prophet now calls on the Moabites to renew it, not to the northern kingdom, which was on the point of extinction, but to the king of Judah as the true “ruler of the land.” The name Sela (“a rock”) may refer either to the city so-called... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Isaiah 16:1-14

2CHAPTER XVIIISAIAH TO THE FOREIGN NATIONS736-702 B.C.Isaiah 14:24-32; Isaiah 15:1-9; Isaiah 16:1-14; Isaiah 17:1-14; Isaiah 18:1-7; Isaiah 19:1-25; Isaiah 20:1-6; Isaiah 21:1-17; Isaiah 23:1-18THE centre of the Book of Isaiah (chapters 13 to 23) is occupied by a number of long and short prophecies which are a fertile source of perplexity to the conscientious reader of the Bible. With the exhilaration of one who traverses plain roads and beholds vast prospects, he has passed through the opening... read more

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