Isaiah 15

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 15:3

In their streets - Publicly. Everywhere there shall be lamentation and grief. Some shall go into the streets, and some on the tops of the houses.They shall gird themselves with sackcloth - The common token of mourning; and also worn usually in times of humiliation and fasting. It was one of the outward acts by which they expressed deep sorrow (Genesis 37:34; 2Sa 3:31; 1 Kings 21:27; 2 Kings 19:1; Job 16:15; the note at Isaiah 3:24).On the tops of the houses - The roofs of the houses in the East... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 15:4

And Heshbon shall cry - This was a celebrated city of the Amorites, twenty miles east of the Jordan Joshua 13:17. It was formerly conquered from the Moabiltes by Sihon, and became his capital, and was taken by the Israelites a little before the death of Moses Numbers 21:25. After the carrying away of the ten tribes it was recovered by the Moabites. Jeremiah Jeremiah 48:2 calls it ‘the pride of Moab.’ The town still subsists under the same name, and is described by Burckhardt. He says, it is... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 15:5

My heart shall cry out for Moab - This is expressive of deep compassion; and is proof that, in the view of the prophet, the calamities which were coming upon it were exceedingly heavy. The same sentiment is expressed more fully in Isaiah 16:11; see also Jeremiah 48:36 : ‘My heart shall sound for Moab like pipes.’ The phrase denotes great inward pain and anguish in view of the calamities of others; and is an expression of the fact that we feel ourselves oppressed and borne down by sympathy on... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 15:6

For the waters of Nimrim - It is supposed by some that the prophet here states the cause why the Moabites would flee to the cities of the south, to wit, that the “waters” of the northern cities would fail, and the country become desolate, and that they would seek support in the south. But it is more probable that he is simply continuing the description of the desolation that would come upon Moab. Nimrah, or Beth Nimra, meaning a “house of limpid waters,” was a city of Reuben east of the Dead... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 15:7

Therefore, the abundance they have gotten - Their wealth they shall remove from a place that is utterly burned up with drought, where the waters and the grass fail, to another place where they may find water.To the brook of willows - Margin, ‘The valley of the Arabians.’ The Septuagint renders it, ‘I will lead them to the valley of the Arabians, and they shall take it.’ So Saadias. It might, perhaps, be called the valley of the Arabians, because it was the boundary line between them and Arabia... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 15:8

For the cry is gone round about ... - The cry of distress and calamity has encompassed the whole land of Moab. There is no part of the land which is not filled with lamentation and distress.The howling - The voice of wailing on account of the distress.Unto Eglaim - This was a city of Moab east of the Dead Sea, which, Eusebius says, was eight miles south of Ar, and hence, says Rosenmuller, it was not far from the south border of Moab. It is mentioned by Josephus (“Ant.” xiv. 1), as one of the... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 15:9

For the waters of Dimon - Probably the same as “Dibon” Isaiah 15:2. Eusobius says it was a large town on the northern bank of the river Arnon. Jerome says that the letters “m and b” are often interchanged in oriental dialects (see the note at Isaiah 15:2).Shall be full of blood - That is, the number of the slain of Moab shall be so great, that the blood shall color the waters of the river - a very common occurrence in times of great slaughter. Perhaps by the “waters” of Dimon the prophet does... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 15

A.M. 3278. B.C. 726. This and the next chapter contain a prophecy of some great desolation coming upon the country of the Moabites, which bordered upon Judea, and had often been injurious and vexatious to it. We have here great lamentation made by the Moabites, and by the prophet himself for them, Isaiah 15:1-5 . The great calamities which should occasion and justify that lamentation, Isaiah 15:6-9 . read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 15:1

Isaiah 15:1. The burden of Moab A prophecy of the destruction of the Moabites, the inveterate and implacable enemies of the Jews, begun by the Assyrian, and finished by the Babylonian monarchs. This prophecy, which occupies this and the next chapter, very improperly separated from each other, makes the third discourse of this second part. The time of the delivery, and consequently of the completion of it, (which was to be in three years after,) is uncertain, neither of them being marked in... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 15:2

Isaiah 15:2. He is gone up to Bajith Which signifies a house. It is supposed to be the name of a place, so called from some eminent house or temple of their idols which was in it; and to Dibon Another city of Moab; to weep To offer their supplications with tears to their idols for help. Moab shall howl over Nebo and Medeba Two considerable cities anciently belonging to the Moabites, from whom they were taken by the Amorites, and from them by the Israelites; but were, it seems,... read more

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 15:3

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 15:4

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 15:5

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 15:6

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 15:7

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 15:8

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 15:9

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 15

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 15:1

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 15:2

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