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5 For in the going up of Luhith continual weeping shall go up; for in the going down of Horonaim the enemies have heard a cry of destruction.

6 Flee, save your lives, and be like 'the 'heath in the wilderness.

7 For because thou hast trusted in thy works and in thy treasures, thou shalt also be taken and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity with his "priests and his princes together.

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8 And the spoiler shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape: the valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed, as the LORD hath spoken.

9 Give wings unto Moab, that it may flee and get away for the cities thereof shall be desolate, without any to dwell therein.

10 Cursed be he that doeth the work of the LORD 'deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood.

11 ¶ Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed.

12 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will send unto him wanderers, that shall cause him to wander, and shall empty his vessels, and break their bottles.

13 And Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of "Beth-el their confidence.

14 How say ye, We are mighty and strong men for the war?

15 Moab is spoiled, and gone up out of her cities, and his chosen young men are gone down to the slaughter, saith the king, whose name is the LORD of hosts.

16 The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hasteth fast.

17 All ye that are about him, bemoan him; and all ye that know his name, say, How is the strong staff broken, and the beautiful rod!

18 Thou daughter that dost inhabit Dibon, come down from thy glory, and sit in thirst; for the spoiler of Moab shall come upon thee, and he shall destroy thy strong holds.

19 O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and espy; ask him that fleeth, and her that escapeth, and say, What is done?

5 Isa. 15. 5.

20 Moab is confounded; for it is broken down: "howl and cry; tell ye it in Arnon, that Moab is spoiled,

21 And judgment is come upon the plain country; upon Holon, and upon Jahazah, and upon Mephaath,

22 And upon Dibon, and upon Nebo, and upon Beth-diblathaim,

23 And upon Kiriathaim, and upon Bethgamul, and upon Beth-meon,

24 And upon Kerioth, and upon Bozrah, and upon all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near.

25 The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, saith the LORD.

26 Make ye him drunken: for he magnified himself against the LORD: Moab also shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision.

27 For was not Israel a derision unto thee? was he found among thieves? for since thou spakest of him, thou skippedst for joy.

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28 O ye that dwell in Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, and be like the dove that maketh her nest in the sides of the hole's mouth.

29 We have heard the pride of Moab, (he is exceeding proud) his loftiness, and his arrogancy, and his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart.

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30 I know his wrath, saith the LORD; but it shall not be so; his lies shall not so effect it.

31 Therefore will I howl for Moab, and I will cry out for all Moab; mine heart shall mourn for the men of Kir-heres.

32 O vine of Sibmah, I will weep for thee with the weeping of Jazer: thy plants are gone over the sea, they reach even to the sea of Jazer: the spoiler is fallen upon thy summer fruits and upon thy vintage.

33 And joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field, and from the land of Moab; and I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses: none shall tread with shouting; their shouting shall be no shouting.

34 From the cry of Heshbon even unto Elealeh, and even unto Jahaz, have they uttered their voice, from Zoar even unto Horonaim, as an heifer of three years old: for the waters also of Nimrim shall be 20desolate.

35 Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab, saith the LORD, him that offereth in the high

4 Heb. weeping with weeping. Or, a naked tree. 7 Chap. 17. 6. 10 Heb. stood. 11 1 Kings 12. 29. 12 Heb. the choice of. 13 Heb. inhabitress. 13 Isa. 16. 6, &c. 17 Or, those on whom he stayeth (Heb. his bars) do not right. 20 Heb. desolations.

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places, and him that burneth incense to his gods.

36 Therefore mine heart shall sound for Moab like pipes, and mine heart shall sound like pipes for the men of Kir-heres: because the riches that he hath gotten are perished.

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37 For every head shall be bald, and every beard "clipped: upon all the hands shall be cuttings, and upon the loins sackcloth.

38 There shall be lamentation generally upon all the housetops of Moab, and in the streets thereof: for I have broken Moab like a vessel wherein is no pleasure, saith the LORD. 39 They shall howl, saying, How is it broken down! how hath Moab turned the 23 back with shame! so shall Moab be a derision and a dismaying to all them about him.

40 For thus saith the LORD; Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread his wings over Moab.

41 "Kerioth is taken, and the strong holds are surprised, and the mighty men's hearts in Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.

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44 He that fleeth from the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that getteth up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring upon it, even upon Moab, the year of their visitation, saith the LORD.

45 They that fled stood under the shadow of Heshbon because of the force: but a fire shall come forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and shall devour the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the 27tumultuous ones.

46 Woe be unto thee, O Moab! the people of Chemosh perisheth: for thy sons are taken captives, and thy daughters captives.

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47 ¶ Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter days, saith the LORD. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.

23 Heb. neck. 27 Heb. children of noise.

Verse 1.Against Moab.'-The references to former notes collected under Isa. xv. 1, together with the other notes on chaps. xv., xvi. and xvii. of the same prophet, will be found to contain much information illustrative of the extended prediction concerning Moab which the present chapter contains. It is considered by Rosellini and others that they have found figures of the Moabites of Rabbah among the figures of the captives of Ipsambul. The inscription certainly points to the inhabitants of some place named Rabbah. This name was far from an uncommon one, and there was a Rabbah of the Ammonites as well as of the Moabites; but, upon the whole, we are inclined to think that the figure is intended for that of a

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MOABITE.-From Rosellini, M. R. lxiii.

Moabite, if not of an Ammonite; for between these allied nations there was probably no difference of appearance, and their capitals have both the same name. We give this figure. It is curious in more respects than one. It is seen that the forehead is shaved halfway to the crown,

HEAD OF MOABITE.-From Rosellini, M. R. clx. the whiskers shaven away, and the head curiously trimmed, throw much light upon the nature of the usages prevalent in the countries of the Jordan, which are prohibited in Lev. xix. 27; 'Ye shall not cut (or shave) your hair into corners; neither shalt thou eradicate (pluck up?) the corners of thy beard.'

'Misgab.-This word occurs nowhere else as a proper name, and probably should be regarded as an appellative, and translated according to its signification. It means a height, a hill or rock, as a place of security, and hence a

refuge. It therefore probably denotes here a place on an elevated site, strong by nature and art. Blayney renders it, the high fortress; but whether it denotes a distinct and celebrated fortress, or is a phrase of variation, applied to Kiriathaim itself, must remain uncertain.

2. Madmen.'-This name of a town in Moab occurs nowhere else, and we have no information concerning it. 6. Heath.'-The Septuagint renders the word here by 'wild ass.' See the note on xvii. 6.

8. The valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed.'-Compare the notes on Num. xxxii. 1; Deut. ii. 8 (last paragraph); and Isa. xvii. 2.

9. The cities thereof shall be desolate, without any to dwell therein.'-How remarkably the existing state of the country verifies this and the other prophecies concerning Moab, may be seen in the notes referred to under verse 1. We may however here add Keith's interesting comment on this verse. The most populous and fertile province in Europe (especially any situated in the interior of a country like Moab) is not covered so thickly with towns as Moab is plentiful in ruins, deserted and desolate though now it be. Burckhardt enumerates about fifty ruined sites within its boundaries, many of them extensive. In general they are a broken down (see verse 39) and undistinguishable mass of ruins; and many of them have not been closely inspected. But in some instances, there are the remains of temples, sepulchral monuments, the ruins of edifices constructed of very large stones, tracks of hanging gardens; entire columns lying on the ground, three feet in diameter, and fragments of smaller columns; and many cisterns cut out of the rock....But not one of the ancient cities of Moab exists as tenanted by man.' -Evidence of Prophecy, p. 159, 15th edit.

12. Wanderers, that shall cause him to wander.'-The wanderers may be supposed the Bedouin Arabs, to whom, of all people, that designation is peculiarly applicable. They, as we have stated on former occasions, are almost the sole occupants of, or rather wanderers in, the land of Moab; and in that, and other countries similarly circumstanced, they'cause to wander,' by their exactions and spoliations, those who are tempted, by a fertile soil and every natural advantage, to sit down and cultivate an abandoned country. What Burckhardt says of the neighbouring district of the Hauran, is more widely true, and is only less true of the land of Moab, because the operation of the system has there rendered the presence of the cultivator still more rare than in the Hauran:- The oppressions of the government on the one side, and those of the Bedouins on the other, have reduced the Fellah of the Hauran to a state little better than that of the wandering Arab. Few individuals, either among the Druses or Christians, die in the same village where they were born. Families are continually moving from one place to another.'-Travels in Syria, p. 299.

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21. Holon,' etc.-In the list of names of towns in Moab contained in this chapter, there are several which do not elsewhere occur as such. These are Holon, Mephaath, Bethgamul, Kerioth, of which nothing whatever is known. The two first and the last are the same as the names of

towns of Judah, with which they have, through great absence of mind, been identified by some commentators, who forgot that Jordan and the Dead Sea were interposed between the lands of Moab and Judea. All the other places have been duly noticed elsewhere.

And here, in concluding our remarks, the notices of the places beyond the Jordan whose sites are still discoverable under the same names, embodied in the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah, we must permit ourselves to transcribe the excellent remarks of Professor Moses Stuart, in reference to them, which we find in the Biblical Repository, vii. 108, 109: How obviously everything of this kind serves to give confirmation to the authority and credibility of the sacred record. Do sceptics undertake to scoff at the Bible, and aver that it is the work of impostors who lived in later ages? Besides asking them what object impostors could have in forging a book of such high and lofty principles, we may ask-and ask with an assurance that must not fear the danger of being put to the blush-whether impostors of later ages could possibly have so managed as to preserve all the localities in complete order which the Scriptures present? Rare impostors they must indeed have been-men possessed of more knowledge of antiquity than we can well imagine could ever be possessed by such as would condescend to an imposition of such a character. In fact the thing appears to be morally impossible, if one considers it in the light of antiquity, when so little knowledge of a geographical kind was in existence, and when mistakes respecting countries and places with which one was not personally familiar were almost, if not altogether, unavoidable.

'How happens it now that the authors of the Old Testament Scriptures should have possessed such a wonderful tact in geography, as it would seem they did, unless they lived at the time and in the countries of which they have spoken? This happens not elsewhere. It is but yesterday since one of the first scientific writers on geology in Great Britain, published to the world the declaration that our Mississippi and Missouri rivers belong to the tropics. Respectable writers, even in Germany, the land of classical attainments, have sometimes placed Colo-Syria on the east of the Antilibanus ridge, or even seemed to transfer Damascus over the mountains, and place it between the two Lebanon ridges in the valley. No such mistakes occur in the sacred writers. They write as men who were familiar with the geography of places named; they mention places with the utmost familiarity;-and after a lapse of almost three thousand years, every successive traveller who visits Moab, Idumæa, or Palestine, does something to confirm the accuracy of Isaiah. Towns bearing the same name, or the ruins of towns, are located in the same relative position in which he said they were; and the ruins of once splendid cities, broken columns, dilapidated walls, trodden-down vineyards, half-demolished temples and fragments broken and consumed by time, proclaim to the world that those cities are what he said they would be, and that he was under the inspiration of God.'

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hedges; for their king shall go into captivity, and his priests and his princes together.

4 Wherefore gloriest thou in the valleys, thy flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? that trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come unto me?

5 Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts, from all those that be about thee; and ye shall be driven out every man right forth; and none shall gather up him that wandereth.

6 ¶ And afterward I will bring again the captivity of the children of Ammon, saith the LORD.

7 Concerning Edom, thus saith the LORD of hosts; Is wisdom no more in Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished?

8 Flee ye, 'turn back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time that I will visit him.

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12 For thus saith the LORD; Behold, they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken; and art thou he that shall altogether go unpunished? thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink of it.

13 For I have sworn by myself, saith the LORD, that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes.

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14 I have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent unto the heathen, saying, Gather ye together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle.

15 For, lo, I will make thee small among the heathen, and despised among men.

16 Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill: though thou shouldest

make thy "nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the LORD.

17 Also Edom shall be a desolation: "every one that goeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues

thereof.

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18 As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the LORD, no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it.

19 Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the habitation of the strong: but I will suddenly make him run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may 'appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?

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20 Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD, that he hath taken against Edom; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitations desolate with them.

21 The earth is moved at the noise of their fall, at the cry the noise thereof was heard in the Red sea.

22 Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread his wings over Bozrah : and at that day shall the heart of the mighty men of Edom be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.

23 Concerning Damascus. Hamath is confounded, and Arpad: for they have heard evil tidings: they are "fainthearted; there is sorrow 'on the sea; it cannot be quiet.

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24 Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail.

25 How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy!

26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD of hosts.

27 And I will kindle a "fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Ben-hadad.

28 Concerning Kedar, and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon shall smite, thus saith the LORD; Arise ye, go up to Kedar, and spoil the men of the east.

29 Their tents and their flocks shall they

Chap. 48. 7. 7 Or, thy valley floweth away.
8 Obad, vers. 8.
9 Or, they are turned back.
11 Heb. their sufficiency.
12 Obad. vers. 1.
13 Obad. vers. 4.
14 Chap. 50. 13.
16 Or, content me in judgment.
17 Job 41. 10. Chap. 50. 44, 45.
18 Heb. weedy sea.
19 Heb. melted.
20 Or, as on the sea.
21 Amos 1. 4.

5 Or, Melcom. 10 Obad. vers. 5. 15 Gen. 19. 25. Chap. 50. 40.

take away they shall take to themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels; and they shall cry unto them, Fear is on every side.

30 Flee, "get you far off, dwell deep, O ye inhabitants of Hazor, saith the LORD; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath taken counsel against you, and hath conceived a purpose against you.

31 Arise, get you up unto the "wealthy nation, that dwelleth without care, saith the LORD, which have neither gates nor bars, which dwell alone.

32 And their camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle a spoil: and I will scatter into all winds them that are 25in the utmost corners; and I will bring their calamity from all sides thereof, saith the LORD.

33 And Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons, and a desolation for ever: there shall no man abide there, nor any son of man dwell in it.

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Jeremiah the prophet against Elam in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,

35 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might.

36 And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come.

37 For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, saith the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them :

38 And I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from thence the king and the princes, saith the LORD.

39 ¶ But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring again the captivity of Elam, saith the LORD.

23 Heb. fit greatly.

25 Heb. cut off into corners, or, that have the corners of their hair polled.

24 Or, that is at ease.

26 Chap. 48. 47. Verse 6.

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Verse 2. Rabbah of the Ammonites....shall be a desolate heap.'-A general notice of the Ammonites has been given under Deut. ii.; and the details there offered may be advantageously compared with the contents of the present prophecy. We have now to notice Rabbah, which was the metropolis of the Ammonites; and as it was such even when the Hebrews conquered much territory to the east of the Jordan, before they entered the land of Canaan, it must have been very ancient. The city was besieged by Joab and taken by David, who appears to have given it with the conquered territory to the tribe of Gad. But it seems from this chapter, that when the tribes beyond Jordan were carried into captivity the Ammonites got possession of the cities then taken from them, and also, apparently, of their more ancient possessions which the Hebrews conquered from Sihon, and which formed the subject of the memorable controversy between them and Jephthah (see Judges xi. and the note there). But for their cruelties and indecent triumph over the fallen Israelites, on this and other occasions, the Ammonites incurred the judgments denounced against them in this and other prophecies. Although Rabbah appears to have been several times wholly or partially destroyed in war, by the kings of Babylon and the Greek monarchs of Syria and Egypt, the successive conquerors down to the Romans appear to have rebuilt and improved the city, being sensible of the advantages of its situation, so that it very long maintained its rank as the local metropolis. It ultimately received the name of Philadelphia, from Ptolemy Philadelphus, by whom it was restored and fortified; but some of the ancient writers continued to call it by its Oriental name. Thus Polybius calls it Rabbatamana (Rabbath-ammon), and gives such an account of its siege by Antiochus as shews its great strength. The Roman character of some of the existing remains shew that the place was improved and embellished while possessed by the Romans; but after their time, it seems to have lost its consequence, although the date of its final desolation cannot be ascertained: but in the time of

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Jerome it still subsisted under the name of Philadelphia. The Orientals however preserve old names with remarkable tenacity; and the ruined city of the Ammonites is still called Amman by the natives of the country. The researches of Seetzen, Burckhardt, and Buckingham have made us fully acquainted with this site, concerning which Europe previously possessed no information. The site is in a valley, but is still very elevated. The road towards it from the north-west is an ascending one, and ultimately conducts the traveller to an elevated plain-so high, that in the extensive view which is then commanded, the snowinvested summits of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon appear rather below than above the spectator, though they must certainly be far higher; while, in another direction, the plains of the Hauran seem in a profound abyss. This elevated plain, like other parts in this region, presents an extent of fertile soil, equal to the best portions of Galilee and Samaria, and capable of producing sustenance for a large population-but lying entirely waste. The plain is interspersed with low hills of irregular form, and for the most part crowned with ruins. Traversing this plain, the traveller enters a broad valley, leading southward, which in half an hour brings him into another narrower valley, running east and west, and in which the ruins of Rabbah lie. They chiefly occupy an area formed by the openings of the two valleys, but extend some way eastward down the entered valley, which narrows as it extends. At the point where the valleys meet, and commanding the entrance, there is a high hill, the summit of which is occupied by a strong and most extensive fortress-almost a town in itself-and the walls of which appear to be of very remote antiquity. It is an oblong square, filled with buildings, of which as much remains as of the private houses in the lower town. It appears clear to us that this was the strong part which Joab wished David to have the honour of taking, after he had himself taken the lower town, which he calls the city of waters.' This lower town stood chiefly in the valley, between this and the other northern hills and the river, which flows much 433

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