Isaiah 16 Study Notes

16:1-5 The Moabites will turn to Judah (Zion) to request refuge.

16:1 Sela (commonly identified as the cliff fortress of Petra) was in Edom, so the Moabite refugees apparently will go that far. Then they will send gifts (lambs) to Jerusalem (Zion).

16:2 The previous verses place the refugees in Edom, so it is odd that they will now say they are at the fords of the Arnon which is in the center of Moab. The metaphor of the bird pushed from the nest presupposes that they were out of their home in Moab. John Oswalt suggests that it may be a “stereotyped phrase which has been pressed into service here to express the agitated flight of the Moabites” (Isaiah 1-39).

16:3 The request for shelter as well as shade is a request for protection, and it implies that Moab will be willing to become a vassal state of Judah.

16:5 The pronouncement evokes the picture of a just descendant of David ruling on the throne. The language is a reminder of the Davidic covenant in 2Sm 7:12-16 (cp. Is 9:7; 11:1-9), and it hints at the expectation of the Messiah.

16:6-12 In response to Moab’s request for shelter, the prophet can only lament its destruction. This part of the pronouncement is similar in wording and imagery to Jr 48:29-39.

16:6 In keeping with a major theme throughout the book of Isaiah, the heart of Moab’s sin is described as pride.

16:7 Raisin cakes were a delicacy mentioned in Sg 2:5 along with apples as providing sustenance for lovemaking, though it may not have been an aphrodisiac. Hosea 3:1 suggests that raisin cakes were associated with pagan rituals.

16:8-9 Moab was known for its wine production. Jazer was in the north on the border with Ammon, and Sibmah is of uncertain location. Jazer will weep for itself as God wept for Sibmah.

16:10 Because of the devastation, joy . . . singing, and wine will vanish from the land of Moab.

16:12 Moabite worship is ineffective. His sanctuary refers to the temple of Chemosh, who was no god and therefore could not respond to prayer.

16:13-14 The concluding comment about the Moabite pronouncement declares that it actually had been delivered at an earlier time, but from this moment Moab had only three more years. Presumably a hired worker would count the time until his work was over with great attention and precision. Most scholars associate this Moabite devastation with the Assyrian king Sargon’s campaign against the people of northwest Arabia in approximately 718 BC.