The Moabites are urged to do this: "Send lambs as tribute to the ruler of the land, from Sela, across the desert, to the mount of Daughter Zion." (Isaiah 16:1) The "mount of Daughter Zion" is Jerusalem and "the ruler of the land" is Judah's king, who at this time in the book of Isaiah is Hezekiah.
In 2 Samuel 8, when David subdued the Moabites, he commanded them to pay tribute to him. The kings of Moab continued paying tribute until after the kingdom of Israel had split in two. But King Mesha of Moab rebelled during the reign of King Joram of Israel, after Joram's father Ahab died, and 2 Kings 3 tells us that the tribute King Mesha was supposed to pay was 100,000 lambs and the wool of 100,000 rams. So it appears that Isaiah, by inspiration of the Lord, is encouraging the current king of Moab to resume paying tribute to the king.
If the Moabites submit themselves to the king of Judah, they are in a sense submitting themselves to the Lord. Hezekiah, as we learned from our study of the kings, is a God-fearing king who did away with his father's idols and made great religious reforms in the nation. If the king of Moab or an envoy from him goes up to Jerusalem with the tribute lambs, it will be as if they are saying to the king (and by extension, to the Lord), "We are in your hands." If they had relented of their hatred of the descendants of Jacob, their judgment would have been delayed. If they had repented of their rejection of the Lord, their judgment would have been forestalled altogether.
But since they will not submit themselves to the Lord or to the spiritually upright King Hezekiah, bad times are coming. "Like fluttering birds pushed from the nest, so are the women of Moab at the fords of the Arnon." (Isaiah 16:2) We learned in Chapter 15 that Moab will be attacked and invaded by the Assyrian army. We learned that many will flee the land of Moab, seeking asylum elsewhere. I think this seeking of refuge is what Isaiah is referring to when he talks about the women being pushed from the nest like birds.
The fleeing Moabites will ask their neighboring tribes and nations to harbor them from the enemy. "'Make up your mind,' Moab says. 'Render a decision. Make your shadow like night---at high noon. Hide the fugitives, do not betray the refugees. Let the Moabite fugitives stay with you; be their shelter from the destroyer.'" (Isaiah 16:3-4a)
It is believed by a number of scholars that the nation where Moab is being urged to seek refuge is Judah. If the Moabite king will send the tribute lambs to King Hezekiah of Judah, and if his people will repent of the wrongs they've done to Judah, and if they will ask him for asylum, he will grant it. We know from the books of the Bible which we've previously studied that the Moabites would have been safe in Jerusalem because the Lord is going to supernaturally protect Jerusalem from the invading Assyrians. The kingdom of Judah will not fall to the Assyrian Empire, as the kingdom of Israel will. Judah will survive an additional 130 years after the fall of Israel.
I think the scholars who hold the view that the Moabites should ask Hezekiah for mercy and shelter are on the right track, for in our next study session we will find Isaiah talking about the king of Judah. This next passage may also be a twofold message: one having to do with the current king and one having to do with the eternal King.
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