---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Isaiah 15"
description: "CHAPTER 15   :-. THE FIFTEENTH
AND SIXTEENTH
CHAPTERS FORM
ONE PROPHECY
ON MOAB. LOWTH
thinks it was delivered in the first years of Hezekiah"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/isaiah/15"
---

CHAPTER 15

. THE FIFTEENTH
AND SIXTEENTH
CHAPTERS FORM
ONE PROPHECY
ON MOAB.
LOWTH
thinks it was delivered in the first years of Hezekiah's reign and
fulfilled in the fourth when Shalmaneser, on his way to invade
Israel, may have seized on the strongholds of Moab. Moab probably had
made common cause with Israel and Syria in a league against Assyria.
Hence it incurred the vengeance of Assyria. Jeremiah has introduced
much of this prophecy into his .

**1. Because**—rather, "Surely";
literally, "(I affirm) that" [MAURER].
**night**—the time best
suited for a hostile incursion ([Isaiah 21:4](../../../kjv/isaiah/21/4);
[Jeremiah 39:4](../../../kjv/jeremiah/39/4)).
**Ar**—meaning in *Hebrew,*
"the city"; the metropolis of Moab, on the south of the
river Arnon.
**Kir**—literally, "a
citadel"; not far from Ar, towards the south.
**He**—Moab personified.
**Bajith**—rather, "to
the *temple*" [MAURER];
answering to the "sanctuary" ([Jeremiah 39:4](../../../kjv/jeremiah/39/4)), in a similar context.
**to Dibon**—Rather, as
Dibon was in *a plain* north of the Arnon, "Dibon (is gone
up) to the high places," the usual places of sacrifice in the
East. Same town as Dimon ([Jeremiah 39:4](../../../kjv/jeremiah/39/4)).
**to weep**—at the sudden
calamity.
**over Nebo**—rather "in
Nebo"; not "on account of" Nebo (compare [Jeremiah 39:4](../../../kjv/jeremiah/39/4)) [MAURER]. The
town Nebo was adjacent to the mountain, not far from the northern
shore of the Dead Sea. There it was that Chemosh, the idol of Moab,
was worshipped (compare [Deuteronomy 34:1](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/34/1)).
**Medeba**—south of
Heshbon, on a hill east of Jordan.
**baldness . . . beard cut
off**—The Orientals regarded the beard with peculiar veneration.
To cut one's beard off is the greatest mark of sorrow and
mortification (compare [Jeremiah 48:37](../../../kjv/jeremiah/48/37)).

**3. tops of . . . houses**—flat;
places of resort for prayer, c., in the East ().
**weeping abundantly**—"melting
away in tears." HORSLEY
prefers "descending to weep." Thus there is a "parallelism
by alternate construction" [LOWTH],
or *chiasmus* "howl" refers to "tops of houses."
"Descending to weep" to "streets" or squares,
whither they descend from the housetops.

**4. Heshbon**—an Amorite city,
twenty miles east of Jordan; taken by Moab after the carrying away of
Israel (compare ).
**Elealeh**—near Heshbon,
in Reuben.
**Jahaz**—east of Jordan,
in Reuben. Near it Moses defeated Sihon.
**therefore**—because of
the sudden overthrow of their cities. Even the armed men, instead of
fighting in defense of their land, shall join in the general cry.
**life,** &c.—rather,
"his soul is grieved" () [MAURER].

**5. My**—The prophet himself is
moved with pity for Moab. Ministers, in denouncing the wrath of God
against sinners, should do it with tender sorrow, not with
exultation.
**fugitives**—fleeing from
Moab, wander as far as to Zoar, on the extreme boundary south of the
Dead Sea. HORSLEY
translates, "her nobility," or "rulers" ().
**heifer,** c.—that is,
raising their voices "like a heifer" (compare [Jeremiah 48:34](../../../kjv/jeremiah/48/34)
[Jeremiah 48:36](../../../kjv/jeremiah/48/36)). The expression "three
years old," implies one at its full vigor ([Jeremiah 48:36](../../../kjv/jeremiah/48/36)), as yet not brought under the yoke; as Moab heretofore
unsubdued, but now about to be broken. So [Jeremiah 31:18](../../../kjv/jeremiah/31/18);
[Hosea 4:13](../../../kjv/hosea/4/13). MAURER
translates, "Eglath" (in *English Version,* "a
heifer") *Shelishijah* (that is, *the third,* to
distinguish it from two others of the same name).
**by the mounting up**—up
the ascent.
**Luhith**—a mountain in
Moab.
**Horonaim**—a town of Moab
not far from Zoar ([Jeremiah 48:5](../../../kjv/jeremiah/48/5)).
It means "the two poles," being near caves.
**cry of destruction**—a
cry appropriate to the destruction which visits their country.

**6. For**—the cause of their
flight southwards ([2 Kings 3:19](../../../kjv/2-kings/3/19);
[2 Kings 3:25](../../../kjv/2-kings/3/25)). "For" the
northern regions and even the city Nimrim (the very name of which
means "limpid waters," in Gilead near Jordan) are without
water or herbage.

**7. Therefore**—because of the
devastation of the land.
**abundance**—literally,
"that which is over and above" the necessaries of life.
**brook of . . . willows**—The
fugitives flee from Nimrim, where the waters have failed, to places
better watered. *Margin* has "valley of Arabians";
that is, to the valley on the boundary between them and
Arabia-Petræa; now Wady-el Arabah. "Arabia" means a
"desert."

**8. Eglaim**— (), *En-eglaim.* Not the Agalum of EUSEBIUS,
eight miles from Areopolis towards the south; the context requires a
town on the very borders of Moab or beyond them.
**Beer-elim**—literally,
"the well of the Princes"—(so ). Beyond the east borders of Moab.

**9. Dimon**—same as Dibon (). Its waters are the Arnon.
**full of blood**—The slain
of Moab shall be so many.
**bring more**—fresh
calamities, namely, the "lions" afterwards mentioned
([2 Kings 17:25](../../../kjv/2-kings/17/25); [Jeremiah 5:6](../../../kjv/jeremiah/5/6);
[Jeremiah 15:3](../../../kjv/jeremiah/15/3)). VITRINGA
understands Nebuchadnezzar as meant by "the lion"; but it
is *plural,* "lions." The "more," or in
*Hebrew,* "additions," he explains of the addition
made to the waters of Dimon by the streams of *blood* of the
slain.

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