Isaiah 15:6

For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate: for the hay is withered away, the grass faileth, there is no green thing. FOR THE WATERS OF NIMRIM SHALL BE DESOLATE ... THERE IS NO GREEN THING - the cause of their flight southwards (; ). For the northern regions, and even the city Nimrim (the very name of which means limped waters), in Gilead, near Jordan, are without water or herbage....

6._The waters of Nimrim. _By an exaggerated form of expression he gives a more enlarged view of this desolation. He says that _the grass is withered_, which takes place when God leaves any soil destitute of all nourishment. _The waters _will be taken away, which probably were highly necessary for that dry and parched country; for soils of that kind produce nothing without irrigation. Though the style is exaggerated, yet nothing is stated but what is strictly true; for the Prophet did not go beyond proper bounds, but found it necessary to use bold expressions to suit the ignorance of the people, in order to inform them that a land which is deprived of the blessing of God will be like a desert without any beauty....

FOR THE WATERS OF NIMRIM - It is supposed by some that the prophet here states the cause why the Moabites would flee to the cities of the south, to wit, that the “waters” of the northern cities would fail, and the country become desolate, and that they would seek support in the south. But it is more probable that he is simply continuing the description of the desolation that would come upon Moab. Nimrah, or Beth Nimra, meaning a “house of limpid waters,” was a city of Reuben east of the Dead Sea (Numbers 32:3; compare Jeremiah 48:34). It was, doubtless, a city celebrated for its pure fountains and springs of water. Here Seetzen’s chart shows a brook flowing into the Jordan called “Nahr Nimrim, or Wady Shoaib.” ‘On the east of the Jordan over against Jericho, there is now a st

EXPOSITION ISAIAH 15:1 THE BURDEN OF MOAB. The present chapter and the next are very closely connected, and may be regarded as together constituting "the burden of Moab." It has been argued on critical grounds that the bulk of the prophecy is quoted by Isaiah from an earlier writer, and that he has merely modified the wording and added a few touches here and there (so Gesenius, Rosenmüller, Hitzig, Maurer, Ewald, Knobel, and Cheyne). Jeremiah is thought to have also based his "judgment of Moab" (Jeremiah 48:1.) on the same early writing. But speculations of this kind are in the highest degree uncertain, and moreover lead to no results of the slightest importance. It is best, therefore, to regard Is

FOR THE WATERS OF NIMRIM SHALL BE DESOLATE,.... Or dried up, through a great drought that should come upon the land at this time; or being defiled with the blood of the slain, as Jarchi: it may denote the well watered pastures about Nimrim, that should become the forage of the enemy, and be trodden under foot by its army, or be forsaken by the proprietors of them. Josephus m speaks of fountains of hot water springing up in the country of Peraea, where Nimrim was, of a different taste, some bitter, and others sweet; which, Dr. Lightfoot n suggests, might be these waters of Nimrim; and, according to the Jerusalem Talmud o, Bethnimrah was in that part of the country which was called the valley, and so was very fruitful with springs of water. The word is in the plural number, and may design more places of the same name; and we read of Nimrah and Bethnimrah, Numbers 32:3. Jerom p calls

CHAPTER 15 The Burden of Moab _ The Destruction Announced (Isaiah 15:1)_...

THE OVERTHROW OF MOAB. A sudden catastrophe has overwhelmed Ar (Numbers 21:15 *) and Kir in one night. The daughter (read _bath_ for Bayith; _cf_. Jeremiah 48:18) of Dibon (Numbers 21:30 *) has gone up to the high places to lament; everywhere are signs of mourning. The cry of distress is heard from Heshbon (Numbers 21:25 *) and Elealeh (Numbers 32:37 *) in Jahaz (Numbers 21:23 *). The fugitives (_mg._) flee to Zoar ...

NIMRIM. Probably _Wady Nimrim_, near south end of Dead Sea. DESOLATE. desolations....

The flight of the Moabites....

MY HEART SHALL CRY OUT FOR MOAB— Hitherto the prophet had set forth the lamentation of the Moabites; but seeing these future evils as it were present to his own mind, he compassionates their griefs, and declares his own participation of their sorrows: the meaning of the next clause is, _"His fugitives_ wander even _unto Zoar, an heifer of three years old;"_ that is to say, sending forth their cries by weeping and lamenting, like a heifer, &c." _Three years old_ is mentioned only to denote a full-grown heifer; the lowing of which, naturalists have remarked, is deeper and more affecting than that of the male: but Jeremiah, in the 34th verse of his 48th chapter, has given us the true exposition. It is not certain what place _Luhith_ was; but we may hence collect, clearly enough, that it was some elevated tract or ascent in the extremity of Moab. Bishop Lowth reads it, _yea, to the ascent of...