Reflections on Isaiah 15

Isaiah 15 (Contemporary English Version)
1. This is a message about Moab: The towns of Ar and Kir were destroyed in a night. Moab is left in ruins!
   
2. Everyone in Dibon has gone up to the temple and the shrines to cry and weep. All of Moab is crying. Heads and beards are shaved because of what happened at Nebo and Medeba.
   
3. In the towns and at home, everyone wears sackcloth and cries loud and long.
   
4. From Heshbon and Elealeh, weeping is heard in Jahaz; Moab's warriors scream while trembling with fear.
   
5. I pity Moab! Its people are running to Zoar and to Eglath-Shelishiyah. They cry on their way up to the town of Luhith; on the road to Horonaim they tell of disasters.
   
6. The streams of Nimrim and the grasslands have dried up. Every plant is parched.
   
7. The people of Moab are leaving, crossing over Willow Creek, taking everything they own and have worked for.
   
8. In the towns of Eglaim and of Beerelim and everywhere else in Moab mournful cries are heard.
   
9. The streams near Dimon are flowing with blood. But the Lord will bring even worse trouble to Dimon, because all in Moab who escape will be attacked by lions.

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A third oracle is given in chapter 15. Often translated as "burden," an oracle is a burdensome message that is delivered from God concerning a people. Usually it concerns judgment that is to come on the people in question. In Isaiah the oracles concern ungodly nations around Israel. The first oracle, recorded in 13:1-14:27, concerns Babylon. The second, found in 14:28-32, concerns Philistia. The oracle of this chapter relates to Moab, a nation that was troublesome to Israel since her exodus from Egypt.

The oracle against Moab concerns the nation's destruction at the hands of Assyria. At the time the oracle was given, two Moabite cities had already been destroyed: Ar and Kir. Moab was already mourning these losses, and more was to come. The people of these destroyed cities had been humiliated by shaving of their heads and cutting off their beards, and now, in their mourning, everyone is wearing sackcloth and going to the rooftops wailing and falling down in tears. The soldiers of Moab tremble in fear of the army of Assyria.

Isaiah's heart cries out as he considers what is yet to come. The Moabites will flee south into Edom as fugitives to escape the Assyrians carrying with them what belonging they are able to take.  As they go they will be wailing over the destruction that has come upon them. At the river Dibon, the waters are bloody from the death of those who have met the swords of the Assyrians, but it is not over. There is more to come. The pursuit of the Assryian soldiers will be unrelentless as if they are being chased by a lion.