Isaiah 15 Study Notes: Lament over Moab's Ruin
Isaiah announces sudden disaster on Moab, whose towns are ruined overnight while its people mourn at their shrines. The prophet grieves as refugees flee and the waters fail, and God warns that further judgment will pursue the survivors.
General
True or False: In 15:5 the speaker grieves over Moab as its fugitives flee.
Answer: True
This is true. Though Moab was an enemy, the speaker's heart grieves for it as its refugees run toward Zoar (15:5), and the weeping returns in 16:9 and 16:11. Announcing judgment does not mean delighting in it. God Himself says He does not delight in the wicked dying but wants them to turn and live (Ezekiel 33:11), Jeremiah's oracle on Moab carries the same lament (Jeremiah 48:36), and Jesus wept over Jerusalem as He approached the city (Luke 19:41).
- Isaiah 15:5 (BSB)“My heart cries out over Moab; her fugitives flee as far as Zoar, as far as Eglath-shelishiyah. With weeping they ascend the slope of Luhith; they lament their destruction on the road to Horonaim.”The speaker grieves as Moab's refugees flee.
- Ezekiel 33:11 (BSB)“Say to them: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’”God declares that He does not delight in the wicked dying.
- Jeremiah 48:36 (BSB)“Therefore My heart laments like a flute for Moab; it laments like a flute for the men of Kir-heres, because the wealth they acquired has perished.”Jeremiah's oracle against Moab also mourns over its ruin.
- Luke 19:41 (BSB)“As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it”Jesus wept over the city whose judgment He foresaw.
Theological
True or False: The oracle against Moab voices grief over Moab's fugitives rather than gloating over them (15:5).
Answer: True
This is true. The oracle is spoken with grief: the speaker's heart laments for Moab as its refugees escape toward Zoar (15:5), and the lament recurs in 16:9 and 16:11. Pronouncing God's just sentence and grieving over the condemned belong together. The LORD declares that He finds no delight when the wicked die (Ezekiel 33:11), Jeremiah's parallel oracle mourns for Moab with a musician's lament (Jeremiah 48:36), and Christ wept over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41).
- Isaiah 15:5 (BSB)“My heart cries out over Moab; her fugitives flee as far as Zoar, as far as Eglath-shelishiyah. With weeping they ascend the slope of Luhith; they lament their destruction on the road to Horonaim.”The speaker grieves as Moab's refugees flee.
- Ezekiel 33:11 (BSB)“Say to them: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’”God declares that He does not delight in the wicked dying.
- Jeremiah 48:36 (BSB)“Therefore My heart laments like a flute for Moab; it laments like a flute for the men of Kir-heres, because the wealth they acquired has perished.”Jeremiah's oracle against Moab also mourns over its ruin.
- Luke 19:41 (BSB)“As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it”Jesus wept over the city whose judgment He foresaw.
General
In 15:2, where does Dibon go to weep over Moab's ruin?
Answer: Up to its own temple and high places
In its grief, Dibon climbs to its own temple and high places, the hilltop shrines where Moab worshiped its god, to mourn there (15:2). Heads are shaved, beards cut off, and people wear sackcloth (rough cloth worn in mourning) and wail on rooftops and in squares (15:2-3). Moab turns to the very shrines that cannot save it. Scripture names Moab's god as Chemosh (1 Kings 11:7), and Jeremiah foretold that Moab would feel shame over Chemosh (Jeremiah 48:13) and described the same signs of mourning (Jeremiah 48:37-38). Later in this oracle Isaiah says Moab's prayers at its sanctuary will be useless (16:12).
- Isaiah 15:2-3 (BSB)“Dibon goes up to its temple to weep at its high places. Moab wails over Nebo, as well as over Medeba. Every head is shaved, every beard is cut off. In its streets they wear sackcloth; on the rooftops and in the public squares they all wail, falling down weeping.”Moab mourns its ruin at its shrines and in its streets.
- 1 Kings 11:7 (BSB)“At that time on a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites.”Names Chemosh as the god of Moab, worshiped at high places.
- Jeremiah 48:13 (BSB)“Then Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh, just as the house of Israel was ashamed when they trusted in Bethel.”Jeremiah foretold that Moab would be ashamed of its god Chemosh.
- Jeremiah 48:37-38 (BSB)“For every head is shaved and every beard is clipped; on every hand is a gash, and around every waist is sackcloth. On all the rooftops of Moab and in the public squares, everyone is mourning; for I have shattered Moab like an unwanted jar,” declares the LORD.”Jeremiah describes the same shaved heads, sackcloth, and rooftop mourning in Moab.
- Isaiah 16:12 (BSB)“When Moab appears on the high place, when he wearies himself and enters his sanctuary to pray, it will do him no good.”The oracle later says Moab's prayers at its sanctuary will be of no use.
Theological
Where, according to 15:2, does Dibon carry its grief?
Answer: Up to its own temple and high places
Dibon's response to catastrophe is religious but misdirected: it ascends to its temple and mourns at its hilltop shrines (15:2), while shaved heads, cut beards, sackcloth, and public wailing mark national mourning (15:2-3). Moab's god was Chemosh (1 Kings 11:7), and Jeremiah foretold Moab's shame over that god (Jeremiah 48:13) amid the same mourning rites (Jeremiah 48:37-38). The oracle itself concludes that such appeals at Moab's sanctuary accomplish nothing (16:12).
- Isaiah 15:2-3 (BSB)“Dibon goes up to its temple to weep at its high places. Moab wails over Nebo, as well as over Medeba. Every head is shaved, every beard is cut off. In its streets they wear sackcloth; on the rooftops and in the public squares they all wail, falling down weeping.”Moab mourns its ruin at its shrines and in its streets.
- 1 Kings 11:7 (BSB)“At that time on a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites.”Names Chemosh as the god of Moab, worshiped at high places.
- Jeremiah 48:13 (BSB)“Then Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh, just as the house of Israel was ashamed when they trusted in Bethel.”Jeremiah foretold that Moab would be ashamed of its god Chemosh.
- Jeremiah 48:37-38 (BSB)“For every head is shaved and every beard is clipped; on every hand is a gash, and around every waist is sackcloth. On all the rooftops of Moab and in the public squares, everyone is mourning; for I have shattered Moab like an unwanted jar,” declares the LORD.”Jeremiah describes the same shaved heads, sackcloth, and rooftop mourning in Moab.
- Isaiah 16:12 (BSB)“When Moab appears on the high place, when he wearies himself and enters his sanctuary to pray, it will do him no good.”The oracle later says Moab's prayers at its sanctuary will be of no use.
General
In 15:9, after Dimon's waters run red, what further judgment does God announce?
Answer: A lion to attack the survivors who escape
Moab's land is stricken: Nimrim's waters dry up, the green growth vanishes, and the people carry their wealth away as refugees while their cries echo to the border (15:6-8). Then God says that even beyond the bloodshed at Dimon He will send a lion upon those who escape and on the remnant (the survivors) left in the land (15:9). There will be no safe escape from His judgment. Amos pictures someone escaping a lion and then meeting a bear (Amos 5:19), and Jeremiah says that whoever flees Moab's terror falls into the pit (Jeremiah 48:44).
- Isaiah 15:6 (BSB)“The waters of Nimrim are dried up, and the grass is withered; the vegetation is gone, and the greenery is no more.”Moab's waters and green growth fail.
- Isaiah 15:9 (BSB)“The waters of Dimon are full of blood, but I will bring more upon Dimon—a lion upon the fugitives of Moab and upon the remnant of the land.”God announces further judgment on those who escape.
- Amos 5:19 (BSB)“It will be like a man who flees from a lion, only to encounter a bear, or who enters his house and rests his hand against the wall, only to be bitten by a snake.”Amos pictures escaping one danger only to meet another, as with Moab's fugitives.
- Jeremiah 48:44 (BSB)““Whoever flees the panic will fall into the pit, and whoever climbs from the pit will be caught in the snare. For I will bring upon Moab the year of their punishment,” declares the LORD.”Jeremiah says those who flee Moab's terror will still be caught.
Theological
What further judgment does the LORD announce in 15:9 for those who escape Moab's disaster?
Answer: A lion to attack the survivors who escape
Verses 6-8 depict ecological and social collapse: Nimrim's waters fail, vegetation disappears, refugees haul away their possessions, and Moab's wailing reaches its borders. Verse 9 then intensifies the sentence: beyond the blood already at Dimon, the LORD will send a lion on Moab's fugitives and on the remnant that survives. Judgment pursues even those who escape the first blow, as in Amos's picture of escaping a lion and then meeting a bear (Amos 5:19) and Jeremiah's word that the one who escapes the pit is trapped by the snare (Jeremiah 48:44).
- Isaiah 15:6 (BSB)“The waters of Nimrim are dried up, and the grass is withered; the vegetation is gone, and the greenery is no more.”Moab's waters and green growth fail.
- Isaiah 15:9 (BSB)“The waters of Dimon are full of blood, but I will bring more upon Dimon—a lion upon the fugitives of Moab and upon the remnant of the land.”God announces further judgment on those who escape.
- Amos 5:19 (BSB)“It will be like a man who flees from a lion, only to encounter a bear, or who enters his house and rests his hand against the wall, only to be bitten by a snake.”Amos pictures escaping one danger only to meet another, as with Moab's fugitives.
- Jeremiah 48:44 (BSB)““Whoever flees the panic will fall into the pit, and whoever climbs from the pit will be caught in the snare. For I will bring upon Moab the year of their punishment,” declares the LORD.”Jeremiah says those who flee Moab's terror will still be caught.
General
According to 15:1, how quickly were Ar and Kir in Moab ruined?
Answer: Within a single night
The oracle, called a burden (a weighty message of judgment) against Moab, opens with two of Moab's chief towns, Ar and Kir, each laid waste in one night (15:1). The repeated line stresses how sudden and complete God's judgment on Israel's proud neighbor would be. Moab's cities had fallen before, when fire from Sihon's city consumed Ar (Numbers 21:28-30), and Amos announced that the LORD would send fire on Moab for its cruelty (Amos 2:1-2). Jeremiah later spoke a similar word of woe against Moab's towns (Jeremiah 48:1).
- Isaiah 15:1 (BSB)“This is the burden against Moab: Ar in Moab is ruined, destroyed in a night! Kir in Moab is devastated, destroyed in a night!”The oracle opens with two Moabite cities ruined overnight.
- Numbers 21:28-30 (BSB)“For a fire went out from Heshbon, a blaze from the city of Sihon. It consumed Ar of Moab, the rulers of Arnon’s heights. Woe to you, O Moab! You are destroyed, O people of Chemosh! He gave up his sons as refugees, and his daughters into captivity to Sihon king of the Amorites. But we have overthrown them; Heshbon is destroyed as far as Dibon. We demolished them as far as Nophah, which reaches to Medeba.””An earlier song recalls fire consuming Ar of Moab, showing its cities had fallen before.
- Amos 2:1-2 (BSB)“This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Moab, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because he burned to lime the bones of Edom’s king. So I will send fire against Moab to consume the citadels of Kerioth. Moab will die in tumult, amid war cries and the sound of the ram’s horn.”Amos announced that the LORD would send fire against Moab for its cruelty.
- Jeremiah 48:1 (BSB)“Concerning Moab, this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Woe to Nebo, for it will be devastated. Kiriathaim will be captured and disgraced; the fortress will be shattered and dismantled.”Jeremiah's oracle against Moab likewise begins with woe over its towns.
Theological
According to the repeated refrain of 15:1, over what span were Ar and Kir destroyed?
Answer: Within a single night
The oracle on Moab opens with a doubled lament: Ar and Kir are each laid waste in one night (15:1). The parallel lines underline the suddenness and totality of the LORD's judgment on a proud neighbor. Moab's history already included such reversals (Numbers 21:28-30), Amos had announced fire against its citadels (Amos 2:1-2), and Jeremiah's later oracle opens on the same note of woe over Moab's towns (Jeremiah 48:1).
- Isaiah 15:1 (BSB)“This is the burden against Moab: Ar in Moab is ruined, destroyed in a night! Kir in Moab is devastated, destroyed in a night!”The oracle opens with two Moabite cities ruined overnight.
- Numbers 21:28-30 (BSB)“For a fire went out from Heshbon, a blaze from the city of Sihon. It consumed Ar of Moab, the rulers of Arnon’s heights. Woe to you, O Moab! You are destroyed, O people of Chemosh! He gave up his sons as refugees, and his daughters into captivity to Sihon king of the Amorites. But we have overthrown them; Heshbon is destroyed as far as Dibon. We demolished them as far as Nophah, which reaches to Medeba.””An earlier song recalls fire consuming Ar of Moab, showing its cities had fallen before.
- Amos 2:1-2 (BSB)“This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Moab, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because he burned to lime the bones of Edom’s king. So I will send fire against Moab to consume the citadels of Kerioth. Moab will die in tumult, amid war cries and the sound of the ram’s horn.”Amos announced that the LORD would send fire against Moab for its cruelty.
- Jeremiah 48:1 (BSB)“Concerning Moab, this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Woe to Nebo, for it will be devastated. Kiriathaim will be captured and disgraced; the fortress will be shattered and dismantled.”Jeremiah's oracle against Moab likewise begins with woe over its towns.