Isaiah 16:14

‘*Exactly three years’ This is the sort of language that a hired workman uses. He will frequently calculate the number of days that still remain on his contract. People can completely trust what God says. So these words emphasise this principle. It is as sure as a legal contract.

Jerusalem ~ at the time of David and Solomon, the capital of the country called Israel. During the time of Isaiah, Jerusalem was the capital of the country called Judah.
messenger ~ a person who carries a message.
refugees ~ people who have had to leave their homes, especially during war.
foundation ~ something strong that you can trust in order to establish something else firmly.
vine ~ plant that produces grapes.
grapes ~ small sweet fruit of the vine. The juice of grapes makes wine.
wine ~ drink that people make from grapes.
wine ~ drink that people make from grapes.
grapes ~ small sweet fruit of the vine. The juice of grapes makes wine.
vine ~ plant that produces grapes.
grapes ~ small sweet fruit of the vine. The juice of grapes makes wine.
vine ~ plant that produces grapes.
wine ~ drink that people make from grapes.
Lord ~ God’s name in the Bible. In the original language, God’s names mean ‘head over all’ and ‘God always’.'exact, exactly ~ we use these words to emphasise that something is accurate.'exact, exactly ~ we use these words to emphasise that something is accurate.'

Isaiah: New *Heavens and a New Earth

Countries near Judah

Isaiah Chapter s 13 to 23

Gordon Churchyard

The words in brackets, […], are not in the *Hebrew Bible. They make the book easier to understand in English. Isaiah wrote his book in the *Hebrew language.

Chapter 16

v1 Send young sheep from the country’s ruler [to Jerusalem]. Send them from Sela across the desert. [Send them] to the mountain [where] the *Daughter of Zion [is].

v2 The women from Moab [are crossing] the fords (shallow places) in [the] Arnon [river]. [They are] like birds that are learning to fly. [The mother bird] has pushed them out from the nest.

v3 Give advice to us! Make a [fair] decision! [Let] your shadow [be over us]. Make [it seem] like night at midday! Hide the *refugees! Do not show the people that have run away. [Do not show them to their enemies!]

v4 Let the *refugees from Moab stay with you. Be a shelter to them. [Protect them] from [the enemy that is] destroying them.

It is true! There will be an end to cruelty. [And] people will not destroy things. People that fight will vanish from that country.

v5 Someone from David’s family will establish a kingdom (country that a king rules). The man that rules it will [do so with] kindness and truth. He will be a fair judge. He will make right decisions and he will quickly bring complete goodness [to his people].

v6 We have heard about how proud [the people in] Moab [were]. [Those people were] very proud. They were [so] proud [that they] considered themselves to be better [than other nations]. And Moab’s [people] insulted [other nations].

v7 Therefore [the people in] Moab weep. All Moab’s [people] weep for themselves. Sing a sad song! And cry for the cakes [that people made from] raisins (dried *grapes)! [Those cakes came] from [the town called] Kir Hareseth.

v8 It is true! The fields in Heshbon do not produce [crops]. Nor does the *vine in Sibmah. The rulers of the nations have destroyed its branches. [The branches] reached to Jazer [in the north-west]. And [they reached] as far as the desert [in the east]. Its new branches spread and they crossed over [the Dead] Sea.

v9 Because of that, I weep for Sibmah’s *vine. [I weep for it] as [the people in] Jazer weep. I cover you, Heshbon and Elealah, with my tears.

It is true! The noise of battle has come down on your fruit. And [it has come down on] your harvest.

v10 It removed joy and happiness from the fields. Nobody sings in the *vineyards, nor does [anyone] shout [for joy there]. Nobody jumps on the wine (*grapes) in the winepresses (places where people squeeze *grapes to make wine). I have caused the noise to end.

v11 Therefore I sigh deep inside me for Moab. [It is] like the sad sound of a harp (musical instrument with strings). And I ache for Kir Hareseth.

v12 And when Moab’s people come to their high place, they will wear themselves out. When they come to pray at their *temple, nothing will happen.

v13 That is the message that the *LORD has already spoken about Moab.

v14 But now the *LORD says this. ‘In three years, everybody will laugh at Moab. [That time will be] like the years for [which] a hired worker [works]. Then [I] will make all Moab’s many proud people humble. And only a few among them, a very small number, will remain.’

Verse 1 Moab was famous because of its sheep. In 2 Kings 3:4 we read this. ‘Mesha, the king of Moab, had many sheep. He sent 100 000 young sheep and the wool from 100 000 adult male sheep to the king of Israel [every year].’ Those young sheep and that wool were a tax that Moab’s people had to pay to Israel. However, many years before Isaiah lived, Moab’s people had stopped paying that tax. But now the people in Moab said, ‘Send young sheep.’ That means ‘start to pay the tax again’. They thought that they would then receive help from Judah. The country called Judah included ‘the mountain [where] the *Daughter of Zion (Jerusalem) [is]’. ‘The country’s ruler’ means the present king of Moab. However, some Bible students think that it is the king of Judah. Therefore they translate that sentence like this. ‘Send young sheep to the ruler of the country.’ Sela city was the capital of Edom. (Look at 2 Kings 14:7.) But Bible students think that this was another place called Sela, in Moab. ‘Sela’ means ‘rock’. So perhaps it was just a place with a big rock in it.

Verse 2 The message to ask for help starts with this verse. The women, probably young women, are coming from the north. In the north, the enemy has destroyed many towns (Isaiah 15:2-4). So the women are crossing the Arnon river to go to the south, where it is safer (Isaiah 15:5-7). They cross at special places where the river is shallow. So it is easy to cross there. There is a special description of a bird that is learning to fly. It refers to someone that is young. And perhaps the person is afraid. In this situation, the people are desperate.

Verse 3 Here is the appeal for help. The people from Moab ask the *Jews for two things:

• advice and a fair decision

• protection from enemies.

Moab’s people probably asked those things because Judah’s people had a relationship with them. The nation called Judah had come from Abraham’s family over 1000 years before. And the nation called Moab had come from the family of Abraham’s nephew Lot (Genesis 19:37). Moab’s people hoped that there would be a shadow in the middle of the day. It meant that the enemies would not see Moab’s people. *Refugees are people that are running away from danger. They are running away to somewhere that is safer.

Verses 4-5 The request for help still continues. But it seems to finish in the middle of verse 4. The end of verse 4 and also verse 5 are about Judah’s future. It may be a prayer that the people from Moab said. But it may be words that Isaiah said. In this chapter, ‘It is true!’ appears three times. That links chapter 16 with chapter 15. They are both part of the same ‘burden’ (heavy load), which means a serious message. But Isaiah wrote these Chapter s as a poem. ‘Someone from David’s family’ (verse 5) means a king like David. ‘Establish a kingdom (country that a king rules)’ means ‘become king’. Instead of cruelty, there will be complete goodness. ‘Goodness’ here means that everything is fair. If there is complete goodness, there is no cruelty. Only God is really very, very good like that. Perhaps that situation will only happen when Jesus returns to the Earth. He will return as King!

Verse 6 This starts another sad poem about Moab. It is like the one in Isaiah 15:5-9. In both those poems, it is probably God who is speaking. Many Bible students say that it is Isaiah. However, Isaiah merely says the words. It is God that is speaking by means of him. The bad things that men do make God very, very sad. But God still punishes people for the bad things that they do.

Verse 7 The cakes that people made from raisins (dried *grapes) are a puzzle for Bible students. Probably Kir was famous because of them. But when there were no *vines (verse 8), there would be no *grapes. So then people could not dry *grapes to make raisins. Kir Hareseth is probably the same Kir as the one in Isaiah 15:1.

Verses 8-9 The ‘vine’ is a plant. Fruits called ‘grapes’ grow on it. People make wine from the grapes. But they also dry them to make raisins. They use the raisins when they cook things. But in the Bible, the vine is often a special description of a country. Usually the country is Judah or Israel, but here it is Moab. Remember that the people in the region called Moab were relatives of the *Jews. That was because Abraham was Lot’s uncle. Look at the note about verse 3. If you can find a map of this area, look at it. Then you will see that ‘the vine’ reaches beyond Moab. Jazer was in the country called Ammon, and perhaps Elealah, Heshbon and Sibmah were there too. Across the Dead Sea, there was Judah.

Verse 10 A ‘vineyard’ is a field where *vines grow. When the *grapes were ripe, people put them into a winepress. A ‘winepress’ was a special place where people squeezed out the juice from *grapes to make wine. They squeezed the juice out with their feet! They probably sang happy songs while they did it. But now there is no happy noise at the time when people harvest the *grapes. God says, ‘I have caused the noise to end.’ God is speaking here, although Isaiah is writing down God’s words. So it is God who weeps like Jazer’s people (verse 9).

Verse 11 Here God explains how he feels. He feels things as if he is human! Here he cries inside himself, and his body aches. Everyone that does not obey God makes him feel like that. That is why he sent Jesus to the Earth (John 3:16).

Verse 12 The people’s high place (Isaiah 15:2) was their *temple in Dibon. Their *temple was the house of their god. They went there to pray. But their god, Chemosh, was a false god. He did not really exist, so he could do nothing! They could pray to him until they were tired. But there would be no answer. Because their god could not help them in their difficult situation, they became *refugees. They crossed the Arnon river to run away to the south (verse 2).

Verses 13-14 We do not know exactly when Isaiah wrote Isaiah 15:1-16. It was just after Ahaz died (Isaiah 14:28), in 715 B.C. ‘B.C.’ means ‘years Before Christ came to the Earth’. But now Isaiah adds a note. Everything that he had written here would happen in the next three years. ‘Like the years for [which] a hired worker [works]’ probably means this. The three years would be exact. Hired workers would work only for the time that was necessary. They would not work for a longer time! So the enemy started to destroy Moab in 715 or 716 B.C. And three years later, they had finished. Only a few people in Moab remained after the attack. It was the enemy who attacked them. But the real problem of Moab’s people was that they were proud. That was what actually destroyed them! (Look at verse 6.)

Something to do

1. Here are some parts of verses from Jeremiah chapter 48. Find verses in Isaiah Chapter s 15 and 16 that are similar.

v29 We have heard about how proud Moab’s [people are]. They are very proud...

v31 Therefore I will weep because of Moab and I will cry for all Moab...

v32 *Vine in Sibmah, your plants have gone over the sea. They reach as far as Jazer...

v34 [The people in the town called] Heshbon will cry aloud. So will [the people in] Elealah. [The people in] Jahaz will hear the sound...

v37 Every head will be bald and [people] will shave off every beard... They will all wear rough hairy clothes.

v38 [People] will weep on the roofs of Moab’s houses. And [they will weep] in the streets...

2. Study Isaiah 16:4b-5. (‘4b’ means the second part of verse 4.) Learn the words by heart. (That means that you do not look at the words while you say them.) Pray those words every day. And remember that Jesus is someone from David’s family.

heavens ~ either the home of God or the skies.
Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke.
Jews ~ people that lived in Judah (which sounds like ‘Jew-dah’) and Israel.

'Daughter of Zion ~ in Isaiah 16:1, the city called Jerusalem.
refugee ~ someone who has had to run away from his or her own country.
grape ~ a fruit that people use to make wine.
vine ~ a plant that grows fruits called grapes.
grape ~ a fruit that people use to make wine.
vineyard ~ a garden where people produce grapes.
grape ~ a fruit that people use to make wine.
temple ~ the house of God in Jerusalem; or the house of a false god.
lord ~ master. With a capital L, it can be a name for God.
LORD ~ LORD is a special name of God. In the Hebrew language it is YAHWEH. It may mean ‘always alive’. So LORD is a sign that the Hebrew word is YAHWEH.
Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke.
Jews ~ people that lived in Judah (which sounds like ‘Jew-dah’) and Israel.
Jews ~ people that lived in Judah (which sounds like ‘Jew-dah’) and Israel.
refugee ~ someone who has had to run away from his or her own country.
vine ~ a plant that grows fruits called grapes.
grape ~ a fruit that people use to make wine.