Isaiah 15:4 - Exposition

Heshbon shall cry . Heshbon, now Hesban , lay about twenty miles east of the Jordan, nearly on the parallel of its embouchure into the Dead Sea. It was the capital city of Sihon ( Numbers 21:21 ), who took it from the Moabites. On the partition of Palestine among the tribes of Israel, it was assigned to Reuben ( Numbers 32:37 ; Joshua 13:17 ); but at a later time we find it reckoned to Gad ( 1 Chronicles 6:81 ). We do not know at what time Moab recovered Heshbon, but may conjecture that it was one of the conquests of Mesha, though it is not mentioned on the Moabite Stone. And Elealeh . Elealch is commonly united with Heshbon ( Numbers 32:3 , Numbers 32:37 ; Isaiah 16:9 ; Jeremiah 48:34 ). It is probably identical with the modern El-A ' al , a ruined town on the top of a rounded hill, little more than a mile north of Hesban . Even unto Jahaz . Jahaz lay considerably to the south of Hesh-ben, probably not very far north of the Arnon. It must have been in the vicinity of Dibon, since Mesha, on taking it from the Israelites, annexed it to the territory of that city (Moabite Stone, II . 19-21). It was the scene of the great battle between Sihon and the Israelites under Moses ( Numbers 21:23 ). His life shall be grievous unto him ; rather, his soul shall be grieved within him . The Moabite people is personified (Cheyne).