"The Babylon oracle revealed that world history, even in its most threatening and climactic forms, is so organized that the people of God are cared for. The Philistia oracle confirmed this by insisting that the Davidic promises would be kept, and the Moab oracle corrects any impression that the hope expressed in the Davidic promises is exclusivist."166
The literary structure of this oracle is generally chiastic focusing the reader's attention on security in Zion (16:4b-5). It is very difficult to date it.167Moab lay east of Judah and the Dead Sea between the Arnon and Zered Rivers and occupied an area about 30 miles long and 30 miles wide. The Moabites were more friendly neighbors of Judah than the Edomites or the Ammonites, who also lived east of the Jordan River.168But hostility toward Judah due to land claims in Transjordan had a long history and resulted in deep antagonism (cf. Zeph. 2:9-10). The point of this oracle is that Judah should not rely on Moab because she would suffer destruction.
15:1 Isaiah began by announcing Moab's certain ruin. The two main cities, Ar on the Arnon and Kir in central Moab, would fall quickly.
15:2-4 The Moabites would express great grief over their national defeat. Dibon was the site of a temple to the Moabite god Chemosh. Many of the people would go there to bewail Chemosh's inability to save them. They would also mourn the loss of the towns of Nebo and Medeba in typical Near Eastern fashion. The residents of Heshbon and Elealeh in the north of Moab would be heard wailing in Jahaz to the south it would be so great. Even soldiers would cry aloud in fear.
15:5-9 The Lord also expressed His grief over Moab's coming judgment through the prophet (cf. 21:3-4; 22:4; Jer. 9:1). Isaiah took up God's words in his own mouth and represented God's thoughts and words by using the first person singular (cf. 16:9). The Moabite refugees would move from place to place trying to find security. Their movement would be generally south, so the enemy may have descended from the north. The whole country would suffer devastation. Even though people would flee, they would not escape destruction. A lion is frequently an image of a fierce, implacable attacker in biblical poetry (v. 9; cf. Amos 3:12).
16:1-4a Moab would plead for shelter from her enemy. Her leaders would send a lamb as a tribute from their hiding place in some wilderness stronghold (possibly Sela in Edom) to the king of Judah requesting help. The Moabite refugees would be as frightened as birds hovering on their border. They would seek refuge in Judah.169
16:4b-5 Moab would find security in Zion because extortion and destruction had ceased in Judah, and oppressors would no longer dwell there. A merciful, faithful, just, and righteous Davidic king would judge there. This is clearly a reference to Messiah's rule during the Millennium (cf. 9:1-6; 11:1-9). Moab, then, will be one of the nations that comes to the mountain of God to seek His ways (2:1-4). This leap into the eschaton in the oracle extends Moab's desire to find security in Judah in Isaiah's day far into the future.
16:6-8 The prophet explained the reason for Moab's destruction, pride (cf. vv. 1-4a), and its result, grief (cf. 15:2-4). Her excessive pride, arrogance, and insolence were the reason for her invasion; the invader was but the instrument of God (cf. 13:11). There was no basis in reality for her boasting. Moab was covered with grapevines, which the enemy would destroy. As a grapevine, Moab had extended its influence far beyond its borders, but now an enemy had cut back her fruitfulness. This would result in much despair and wailing in Moab. Raisin cakes appear to have been a major export of the nation that the Moabites relished as a delicacy in their homes (cf. 1 Chron. 12:40; Hos. 3:1).
16:9-12 Again the Lord grieved over Moab (cf. 15:5-9). Even when He must judge people, the Lord has pity on them and grieves over the destruction that He must send (cf. Hos. 11:1-9). Joy would end because the national product, grapes, would be unavailable due to hostile invaders. God's heart would break for these proud Moabites. When the Moabites would pray to their idols there would be no response, no help. How foolish, then, for the Judeans to trust in Moab for help.
"In Moab everyone went to the church of his own choice.'"170
16:13-14 Isaiah concluded this oracle by announcing Moab's imminent ruin (cf. 15:1). The preceding verses describe an earlier revelation that the prophet received, but now he learned that Moab's invasion would be within three years. A hired man would count down the three years day by day, and the Judeans would do the same as they anticipated the degrading of Moab's glory and population. Only a remnant would survive. The fulfillment came when Assyria invaded Moab sometime between 715 and 713 B.C.
"The grief of the judge of all the earth is one of the two striking truths of this oracle. The other is that all this total loss and suffering arises from the single sin of pride (16:6)."171
