In our last study session the Moabites were urged to seek the favor of Judah's king and to seek the favor of Judah's God. But this did not happen, for they would not repent. Therefore Isaiah says, "We have heard of Moab's pride---how great is her arrogance!---of her conceit, her pride and her insolence, but her boasts are empty." (Isaiah 16:6) Moab's pride stands in her way. She thinks she does not need God.
Because she has rejected Him and has long been an enemy of the children of God, judgment is coming. "Therefore the Moabites wail; they wail together for Moab. Lament and grieve for the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth. The fields of Heshbon wither, the vines of Sibmah also. The rulers of the nations have trampled down the choicest vines, which once reached Jazer and spread toward the desert. Their shoots spread out and went as far as the sea. So I weep, as Jazer weeps, for the vines of Sibmah. Heshbon and Elealah, I drench you with tears!" (Isaiah 16:7-9a)
The "rulers of the nations" is likely a reference to the way the Assyrians would subjugate Moab and to the way the Babylonians would conquer Moab and take most of its people captive, thereby making an end of Moab as a separate and distinct group of people. The horses and chariots of these armies trampled the fields and vineyards. Drought may have been sent as a judgment too.
The Lord does not take pleasure in raining down judgment upon anyone. I think it's both His voice and Isaiah's voice that says above, "I weep". The Lord and the prophet would both have preferred to see the people of Moab repenting of their idolatry, repenting of all their other wickedness, and turning to the Lord for salvation.
A very somber and mournful spirit is over the remainder of this chapter. "The shouts of joy over your ripened fruit and over your harvests have been stilled. Joy and gladness are taken away from the orchards; no one sings or shouts in the vineyards; no one treads out wine at the presses, for I have put an end to the shouting. My heart laments for Moab like a harp, my inmost being for Kir Hareseth. When Moab appears at her high place, she only wears herself out; when she goes to her shrine to pray, it is to no avail." (Isaiah 16:9b-12)
For centuries the Moabites gave thanks to their pagan gods for harvests. They celebrated in many ungodly ways, with drunken feasts where much immorality took place. While it was customary in many nations---including Israel and Judah---to celebrate the harvests, nations who did not recognize God as Lord celebrated the harvests in unseemly ways. After judgment falls upon Moab, no one there will be harvesting anything. Rather than turning to the Lord in repentance, they will continue to cry out to their false gods who had never been responsible for their bounty in the first place and who cannot (and never could!) do anything to help them.
Isaiah finishes delivering his prophecy with an assurance that it is as good as done. Indeed, anything spoken by the Lord is as good as done. The Lord would prefer to see the Moabites repent but He knows they won't; this is why He can confidently assert that these dreadful things will take place. This is why the Lord's prophet Isaiah can confidently assert that Moab's fall is near at hand. "This is the word that the Lord has already spoken concerning Moab. But now the Lord says: 'Within three years, as a servant bound by contract would count them, Moab's splendor and all her many people will be despised, and her survivors will be very few and feeble." (Isaiah 16:13-14)
The Moabites have had centuries in which to repent and turn back to the God of their forefather Lot, who was the nephew of Abraham. It's not as if they didn't know enough about the Lord to trust in Him for salvation. The Lord is going to give them three more years in which to take His words to heart and repent. They will not do it but they will not be able to accuse Him at the judgment throne of never having given them one last opportunity to repent. Any such accusations will have no foundation at all. The Lord does not want to judge anyone but He must because He is holy. Any judgment He hands down will be completely fair and righteous.
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