Isaiah 16:4 Ulasan

This chapter continues and concludes the burden of Moab. In it, I. The prophet gives good counsel to the Moabites, to reform what was amiss among them, and particularly to be kind to God's people, as the likeliest way to prevent the judgments before threatened (Isa 16:1-5). II. Fearing they would not take this counsel (they were so proud), he goes on to foretel the lamentable devastation of their country, and the confusion they should be brought to, and this within three years (Isa 16:6-14).

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 16 This chapter is a continuation of the prophecy against Moab; in which the prophet gives good advice, but in case of a haughty neglect of it, which he foresaw, threatens with ruin, and fixes a time for it. He advises the Moabites to pay their tribute to the king of Judah, or otherwise they should be turned out of their land, as a bird out of its nest, Isa 16:1 to protect, and not betray the people of the Jews that should flee to them, because of the Assyrian army, Isa 16:3 and for this end gives a great character of the king of Judah, and assures them of the stability of his kingdom, Isa 16:5 but for their pride, wrath, and lying, they are threatened with destruction, and are represented as howling under it, Isa 16:6 because of the spoil of their cities, vineyards, and fields, so that they have no harvest, nor vintage, nor gathering of summer fruits, or joy on these accounts, Isa 16:8 for which even the prophet expresses a concern, Isa 16:11 and after having observed the application of the Moabites to their gods without success, Isa 16:12 the chapter is closed with an assurance of the certain ruin of Moab, and of the time when it should be, Isa 16:13.

Let mine outcasts dwell with thee,.... Not whom God had cast out, but who were the Lord's people, and whom he owns as such, though cast out by the enemy, or obliged to flee, and quit their country; let these be sojourners in thy land; let them continue awhile there; let them dwell privately and peaceably: Moab, be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler: that is, O king of Moab, or kingdom of Moab, as the Targum, hide and protect the Jews that shall flee to thee for shelter, from the face of the spoiler of their land and substance, Sennacherib king of Assyria; and, to encourage them to do these things, it is suggested that they would not be long troublesome to them, and would quickly be in a capacity of requiting them, and of being serviceable to them in like distress: for the extortioner is at an end; or "the squeezer", or "wringer out" (a); that oppressed them, and wrung their property out of their hands; that milked them out of their substance, and even sucked their blood; meaning the Assyrian monarch, whose time was short, and an end was soon put to all his schemes and oppressions: the spoiler ceaseth: out of the land, being obliged to depart out of it: the oppressors are consumed out of the land: the Assyrian army, and its officers, who were all consumed in one night by an angel, Kg2 19:35. (a) "expressor", Pagninus, Montanus; "emunctor, vel emulsor", Vatablus.

(Verse 3,4) This is a plan, gather a council: place your shadow as if it were night in the middle of the day, hide those who are fleeing, and do not disclose the wanderers. My outcasts will dwell with you: Moab, be their hiding place from the face of the destroyer, for the dust is at an end, the wretched one is consumed, the one who trampled on the earth has ceased. Instead of 'wretched' in Hebrew, 'Sod' is read, which can also be understood as 'destroyer'. It speaks to Moab, so that it may find a plan for salvation, and to the gathered elders, so that it may gather a council of salvation. He said, 'Will I see, and be saved, and earn God's mercy? In the bright light, and the open flight of my people, you should be like night and shadow, accept those fleeing, and do not betray the wanderers.' And immediately he explains why he said this: 'My refugees will dwell with you. For Jerusalem has been devastated, and all of Judaea that borders on Moab, my people will migrate to you. Therefore, be their refuge, and do not fear the attack of the destroyer, for he will pass quickly like dust: and the one who trampled the entire land and subjected it under his feet will be wiped away by a blowing breeze.' Some interpret this place wrongly about the Antichrist, thinking that the Saints at that time will pass to the Arabs because of the proximity of the city of Jerusalem, and now they are being warned not to betray those who are fleeing to them.

He also exhorts them to amicably sustain those they have received: my fugitives shall dwell with you, below: and a man shall be as when one is hid from the wind (Isa 32:2). Third, he assigns the reason: for the dust is at an end. And first, as to the destruction of the enemy, lest they dismiss the Jews in the fear of them: the dust is at an end, the multitude of the army of Sennacherib; consumed, that is, killed by his sons, is the wretch, Sennacherib, below: he has failed (Isa 37:38), as to power (Isa 14).

On account of the evils which threatened his country, the prophet is forbidden to encumber himself with a wife and family, or to bear any share in the little joys and sorrows of his neighbors, which were to be forgotten and absorbed in those public calamities, Jer 16:1-9, which their sins should draw on them, Jer 16:10-13. A future restoration however is intimated, Jer 16:14, Jer 16:15, after these calamities should be endured, Jer 16:16-18; and the conversion of the Gentiles is foretold, Jer 16:19-21.

Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab "Let the outcasts of Moab sojourn with thee, O Zion" - Setting the points aside, this is by much the most obvious construction of the Hebrew, as well as most agreeable to the context, and the design of the prophet. And it is confirmed by the Septuagint οἱ φυγαδες Μωαβ, and Syriac. The oppressors "The oppressor" - Perhaps the Israelites, who in the time of Ahab invaded Judah, defeated his army, slaying one hundred and twenty thousand men, and brought the kingdom to the brink of destruction. Judah, being now in a more prosperous condition, is represented as able to receive and to protect the fugitive Moabites. And with those former times of distress the security and flourishing state of the kingdom under the government of Hezekiah is contrasted.

CONTINUATION OF THE PROPHECY AS TO MOAB. (Isa 16:1-14) 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 (Kg2 3:4-5). David probably imposed this tribute before the severance of Judah and Israel (Sa2 8:2). 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 (Psa 2:10-12; Rom 12:1). from Sela to--rather, "from Petra through (literally, 'towards') the wilderness" [MAURER]. "Sela" means "a rock," Petra in Greek; the capital of Idumea and Arabia-PetrÃ&brvbra; the dwellings are mostly hewn out of the rock. The country around was a vast common ("wilderness") or open pasturage, to which the Moabites had fled on the invasion from the west (Isa 15:7). ruler of the land--namely, of Idumea, that is, the king of Judah; Amaziah had become master of Idumea and Sela (Kg2 14:7).

Rather, "Let the outcasts of Moab dwell with thee" (Judah) [HORSLEY]. for the extortioner, &c.--The Assyrian oppressor probably. is at an end--By the time that Moab begs Judah for shelter, Judah shall be in a condition to afford it, for the Assyrian oppressor shall have been "consumed out of the land."

But just because this lion is Judah and its government, the summons goes forth to the Moabites, who have fled to Edom, and even to Sela, i.e., Petra (Wady Musa), near Mount Hor in Arabia Petraea, to which it gave its name, to turn for protection to Jerusalem. "Send a land-ruler's tribute of lambs from Sela desert-wards to the mountain of the daughter of Zion." This v. is like a long-drawn trumpet-blast. The prophecy against Moab takes the same turn here as in Isa 14:32; Isa 18:7; Isa 19:16., Isa 23:18. The judgment first of all produces slavish fear; and this is afterwards refined into loving attachment. Submission to the house of David is Moab's only deliverance. This is what the prophet, weeping with those that weep, calls out to them in such long-drawn, vehement, and urgent tones, even into the farthest hiding-place in which they have concealed themselves, viz., the rocky city of the Edomites. The tribute of lambs which was due to the ruling prince is called briefly car mōshēl-'eretz. This tribute, which the holders of the pasture-land so rich in flocks have hitherto sent to Samaria (Kg2 3:4), they are now to send to Jerusalem, the "mountain of the daughter of Zion" (as in Isa 10:32, compared with Isa 18:7), the way to which lay through "the desert," i.e., first of all in a diagonal direction through the Arabah, which stretched downwards to Aelath.