mh_parser/vol_split/23 - Isaiah/Chapter 16.xml

<div2 id="Is.xvii" n="xvii" next="Is.xviii" prev="Is.xvi" progress="6.69%" title="Chapter XVI">
<h2 id="Is.xvii-p0.1">I S A I A H.</h2>
<h3 id="Is.xvii-p0.2">CHAP. XVI.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Is.xvii-p1" shownumber="no">This chapter continues and concludes the burden of
Moab. In it, I. The prophet gives good counsel to the Moabites, to
reform what was amiss among them, and particularly to be kind to
God's people, as the likeliest way to prevent the judgments before
threatened, <scripRef id="Is.xvii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.16.1-Isa.16.5" parsed="|Isa|16|1|16|5" passage="Isa 16:1-5">ver. 1-5</scripRef>. II.
Fearing they would not take this counsel (they were so proud), he
goes on to foretel the lamentable devastation of their country, and
the confusion they should be brought to, and this within three
years, <scripRef id="Is.xvii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.16.6-Isa.16.14" parsed="|Isa|16|6|16|14" passage="Isa 16:6-14">ver. 6-14</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Is.xvii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.16" parsed="|Isa|16|0|0|0" passage="Isa 16" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Is.xvii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.16.1-Isa.16.5" parsed="|Isa|16|1|16|5" passage="Isa 16:1-5" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.xvii-p1.5">
<h4 id="Is.xvii-p1.6">Exhortations to Moab. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xvii-p1.7">b. c.</span> 725.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.xvii-p2" shownumber="no">1 Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land from
Sela to the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion.
  2 For it shall be, <i>that,</i> as a wandering bird cast out
of the nest, <i>so</i> the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords
of Arnon.   3 Take counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow
as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; bewray
not him that wandereth.   4 Let mine outcasts dwell with thee,
Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler: for
the extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors
are consumed out of the land.   5 And in mercy shall the
throne be established: and he shall sit upon it in truth in the
tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting
righteousness.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xvii-p3" shownumber="no">God has made it to appear that he delights
not in the ruin of sinners by telling them what they may do to
prevent the ruin; so he does here to Moab.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xvii-p4" shownumber="no">I. He advises them to be just to the house
of David, and to pay the tribute they had formerly covenanted to
pay to the kings of his line (<scripRef id="Is.xvii-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.16.1" parsed="|Isa|16|1|0|0" passage="Isa 16:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>): <i>Send you the lamb to the
ruler of the land.</i> David made the Moabites tributaries to him,
<scripRef id="Is.xvii-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.8.2" parsed="|2Sam|8|2|0|0" passage="2Sa 8:2">2 Sam. viii. 2</scripRef>. They
<i>became his servants, and brought gifts.</i> Afterwards they paid
their tribute to the kings of Israel (<scripRef id="Is.xvii-p4.3" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.3.4" parsed="|2Kgs|3|4|0|0" passage="2Ki 3:4">2
Kings iii. 4</scripRef>), and paid it in lambs. Now the prophet
requires them to pay it to Hezekiah. Let it be raised and levied
from all parts of the country, <i>from Selah,</i> a frontier city
of Moab on the one side, <i>to the wilderness,</i> a boundary of
the kingdom on the other side: and let it be sent, where it should
be sent, <i>to the mount of the daughter of Zion,</i> the city of
David. Some take it as an advice to send a lamb for a sacrifice to
God, <i>the ruler of the earth</i> (so it may be read), the Lord of
the whole earth, ruler of all lands, the land of Moab as well as
the land of Israel, "Send it to the temple built on Mount Zion."
And some think it is in this sense spoken ironically, upbraiding
the Moabites with their folly in delaying to repent and make their
peace with God. "Now you would be glad to send a lamb to Mount
Zion, to make the God of Israel your friend; but it is too late:
the decree has gone forth, the consumption is determined, and the
<i>daughters of Moab</i> shall be cast out <i>as a wandering
bird,</i>" <scripRef id="Is.xvii-p4.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.16.2" parsed="|Isa|16|2|0|0" passage="Isa 16:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. I
rather take it as good advice seriously given, like that of Daniel
to Nebuchadnezzar when he was reading him his doom, <scripRef id="Is.xvii-p4.5" osisRef="Bible:Dan.4.27" parsed="|Dan|4|27|0|0" passage="Da 4:27">Dan. iv. 27</scripRef>. <i>Break off thy sins by
righteousness, if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity.</i>
And it is applicable to the great gospel duty of submission to
Christ, as the ruler of the land, and our ruler: "Send him the
lamb, the best you have, yourselves a living sacrifice. When you
come to God, the great ruler, come in the name of the Lamb, the
Lamb of God. <i>For else it shall be</i>" (so we may read it)
"<i>that, as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, so shall the
daughters of Moab be.</i> If you will not pay your quit-rent, your
just tribute to the king of Judah, you shall be turned out of your
houses: <i>The daughters of Moab</i> (the country villages, or the
women of your country) shall flutter about the <i>fords of
Arnon,</i> attempting that way to make their escape to some other
land, <i>like a wandering bird thrown out of the nest</i>
half-fledged." Those that will not submit to Christ, nor be
gathered under the shadow of his wings, shall be <i>as a bird that
wanders from her nest,</i> that shall either be snatched up by the
next bird of prey or shall wander endlessly in continual frights.
Those that will not yield to the fear of God shall be made to yield
to the fear of every thing else.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xvii-p5" shownumber="no">II. He advises them to be <i>kind to the
seed of Israel</i> (<scripRef id="Is.xvii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.16.3" parsed="|Isa|16|3|0|0" passage="Isa 16:3"><i>v.</i>
3</scripRef>): "Take counsel, call a convention, and consult among
yourselves what is fit to be done in the present critical juncture;
and you will find it your best way to execute judgment, to reverse
all the unrighteous decrees you have made, by which you have put
hardships upon the people of God, and, in token of your repentance
for them, study now how to oblige them, and this shall be accepted
of God more than all burnt-offering and sacrifice."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xvii-p6" shownumber="no">1. The prophet foresaw some storm coming
upon the people of God, perhaps the good people of the ten tribes,
or of the two and a half on the other side Jordan, whose country
joined to that of Moab, and who, by the merciful providence of God,
escaped the fury of the Assyrian army, had their lives given them
for a prey, and were reserved for better times, but were put to the
utmost extremity to shift for their own safety. The danger and
trouble they were in were like the scorching heat at noon; the face
of the spoiler was very fierce upon them and the oppressor and
extortioner were ready to swallow them up after stripping them of
what they had.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xvii-p7" shownumber="no">2. He bespeaks a shelter for them in the
land of Moab, when their own land was made too hot for them. This
judgment they must execute; thus wisely must they do for
themselves, and thus kindly must they deal with the people of God.
If they would themselves continue in their habitations, let them
now open their doors to the distressed dispersed members of God's
church, and be to them like a cool shade to those that <i>bear the
burden and heat of the day.</i> Let them not discover those that
absconded among them, nor deliver them up to the pursuers that made
search for them: "<i>Betray not him that wandereth,</i> nor deliver
him up" (as the Edomites did, <scripRef id="Is.xvii-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Obad.1.13-Obad.1.14" parsed="|Obad|1|13|1|14" passage="Ob 1:13,14">Obad.
13, 14</scripRef>), "but <i>hide the outcasts.</i>" This was that
good work by which Rahab's faith was justified, and proved to be
sincere, <scripRef id="Is.xvii-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.31" parsed="|Heb|11|31|0|0" passage="Heb 11:31">Heb. xi. 31</scripRef>.
"Nay, do not only hide them for a time, but, if there be occasion,
let them be naturalized: <i>Let my outcasts dwell with thee,
Moab</i> (<scripRef id="Is.xvii-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.16.4" parsed="|Isa|16|4|0|0" passage="Isa 16:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>);
find a lodging for them and <i>be thou a covert to them.</i> Let
them be taken under the protection of the government, though they
are but poor, and likely to be a charge to thee." Note, (1.) It is
often the lot even of those who are Israelites indeed to be
outcasts, driven out of house and harbour by persecution or war,
<scripRef id="Is.xvii-p7.4" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.37" parsed="|Heb|11|37|0|0" passage="Heb 11:37">Heb. xi. 37</scripRef>. (2.) God owns
them when men reject and disown them. They are <i>outcasts,</i> but
they are <i>my outcasts.</i> The Lord knows those that are his
wherever he finds them, even where no one else knows them. (3.) God
will find a rest and shelter for his outcasts; for, though they are
persecuted, they are not forsaken. He will himself be their
dwelling-place if they have no other, and in him they shall be at
home. (4.) God can, when he pleases, raise up friends for his
people even among Moabites, when they can find none in all the land
of Israel that can and dare shelter them. The earth often helps the
woman, <scripRef id="Is.xvii-p7.5" osisRef="Bible:Rev.12.16" parsed="|Rev|12|16|0|0" passage="Re 12:16">Rev. xii. 16</scripRef>. (5.)
Those that expect to find favour when they are in trouble
themselves must show favour to those that are in trouble; and what
service is done to God's outcasts shall no doubt be recompensed one
way or other.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xvii-p8" shownumber="no">3. He assures them of the mercy God had in
store for his people. (1.) That they should not long need their
kindness, or be troublesome to them: <i>For the extortioner is
almost at an end</i> already, <i>and the spoiler ceases.</i> God's
people shall not be long outcasts; they <i>shall have tribulation
ten days</i> (<scripRef id="Is.xvii-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Rev.2.10" parsed="|Rev|2|10|0|0" passage="Re 2:10">Rev. ii. 10</scripRef>),
and that is all. The spoiler would never cease spoiling if he might
have his will; but God has him in a chain. <i>Hitherto he shall go,
but no further.</i> (2.) That they should, ere long, be in a
capacity to return their kindness (<scripRef id="Is.xvii-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.16.5" parsed="|Isa|16|5|0|0" passage="Isa 16:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>): "Though the throne of the ten
tribes be sunk and overturned, yet <i>the throne of David shall be
established in mercy,</i> by the mercy they receive from God and
the mercy they show to others; and by the same methods may your
throne be established if you please." It would engage great men to
be kind to the people of God if they would but observe, as they
easily might, how often such conduct brings the blessing of God
upon kingdoms and families. "Make Hezekiah your friend, for you
will find it your interest to do so upon the account both of the
grace of God in him and the presence of God with him. He <i>shall
sit upon the throne in truth,</i> and then he does indeed sit in
honour and sit firmly. Then he shall sit <i>judging,</i> and will
then be a protector to those that have been a shelter to the people
of God." And see in him the character of a good magistrate. [1.] He
shall <i>seek judgment;</i> that is, he shall seek occasions of
doing right to those that are wronged, and shall punish the
injurious even before they are complained of: or he shall
diligently search into every cause brought before him, that he may
find where the right lies. [2.] He shall <i>hasten
righteousness,</i> and not delay to do justice, nor keep those long
waiting that make application to him for the redress of their
grievances. Though he seeks judgment, and deliberates upon it, yet
he does not, under pretence of deliberation, stay the progress of
the streams of justice. Let the Moabites take example by this, and
then assure themselves that their state shall be established.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Is.xvii-p8.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.16.6-Isa.16.14" parsed="|Isa|16|6|16|14" passage="Isa 16:6-14" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.xvii-p8.4">
<h4 id="Is.xvii-p8.5">The Pride of Moab; The Threatening against
Moab; The Doom of Moab. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xvii-p8.6">b. c.</span> 725.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.xvii-p9" shownumber="no">6 We have heard of the pride of Moab; <i>he
is</i> very proud: <i>even</i> of his haughtiness, and his pride,
and his wrath: <i>but</i> his lies <i>shall</i> not <i>be</i> so.
  7 Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab, every one shall howl:
for the foundations of Kir-hareseth shall ye mourn; surely <i>they
are</i> stricken.   8 For the fields of Heshbon languish,
<i>and</i> the vine of Sibmah: the lords of the heathen have broken
down the principal plants thereof, they are come <i>even</i> unto
Jazer, they wandered <i>through</i> the wilderness: her branches
are stretched out, they are gone over the sea.   9 Therefore I
will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah: I will
water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh: for the shouting
for thy summer fruits and for thy harvest is fallen.   10 And
gladness is taken away, and joy out of the plentiful field; and in
the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be
shouting: the treaders shall tread out no wine in <i>their</i>
presses; I have made <i>their vintage</i> shouting to cease.  
11 Wherefore my bowels shall sound like a harp for Moab, and mine
inward parts for Kir-haresh.   12 And it shall come to pass,
when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, that he shall
come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not prevail.   13
This <i>is</i> the word that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xvii-p9.1">Lord</span> hath spoken concerning Moab since that
time.   14 But now the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xvii-p9.2">Lord</span>
hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of a
hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned, with all that
great multitude; and the remnant <i>shall be</i> very small
<i>and</i> feeble.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xvii-p10" shownumber="no">Here we have, I. The sins with which Moab
is charged, <scripRef id="Is.xvii-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.16.6" parsed="|Isa|16|6|0|0" passage="Isa 16:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>.
The prophet seems to check himself for going about to give good
counsel to the Moabites, concluding they would not take the advice
he gave them. He told them their duty (whether they would hear or
whether they would forbear), but despairs of working any good upon
them; he would have healed them, but they would not be healed.
Those that will not be counselled cannot be helped. Their sins
were, 1. Pride. This is most insisted upon; for perhaps there are
more precious souls ruined by pride than by any one lust
whatsoever. The Moabites were notorious for this: "<i>We have
heard</i> in both ears <i>of the pride of Moab;</i> it is what all
their neighbours cry out shame upon them for. <i>He is very
proud;</i> the body of the nation is so, forgetting the baseness of
their origin and the brand of infamy fastened upon them by that law
of God which forbade a Moabite to <i>enter into the congregation of
the Lord for ever,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xvii-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.23.3" parsed="|Deut|23|3|0|0" passage="De 23:3">Deut. xxiii.
3</scripRef>. We have heard of <i>his haughtiness and his
pride.</i> It is not the rash and rigid censure of one of two
concerning them, but it is the character which all that know them
will give of them. They are a proud people, and therefore they will
not take good counsel when it is given them. They think themselves
too wise to be advised; therefore they will not take example by
Hezekiah to do justly and love mercy. They scorn to make him their
pattern, for they think themselves able to teach him. They are
proud, and therefore will not be subject to God himself nor regard
the warnings he gives them. <i>The wicked, in the pride of his
countenance, will not seek after God.</i> They are proud, and
therefore will not entertain and protect God's outcasts; they scorn
to have any thing to do with them." But this is not all:—2. "We
have heard of <i>his wrath</i> too (for those that are very proud
are commonly very passionate), particularly his wrath against the
people of God, whom therefore he will rather persecute than
protect. 3. It is with <i>his lies</i> that he gains the
gratifications of his pride and his passion; <i>but his lies shall
not be so;</i> he shall not compass his proud and angry projects as
he hoped he should." Some read it, <i>His haughtiness, his pride,
and his wrath, are greater than his strength.</i> "We know that, if
we lay at his mercy, we should find no mercy with him, but he has
not power equal to his malice. His pride draws down ruin upon him;
for it is the preface to destruction, and he has not strength to
ward it off."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xvii-p11" shownumber="no">II. The sorrows with which Moab is
threatened (<scripRef id="Is.xvii-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.16.7" parsed="|Isa|16|7|0|0" passage="Isa 16:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>):
<i>Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab.</i> All the inhabitants
shall bitterly lament the ruin of their country. They shall
complain one to another: <i>Every one shall howl</i> in despair,
and not one shall either see any cause or have any heart to
encourage his friend. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xvii-p12" shownumber="no">1. The causes of this sorrow. (1.) The
destruction of their cities: <i>For the foundations of Kir-haraseth
shall you mourn.</i> That great and strong city, which had held out
against a mighty force (<scripRef id="Is.xvii-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.3.25" parsed="|2Kgs|3|25|0|0" passage="2Ki 3:25">2 Kings iii.
25</scripRef>), should now be levelled with the ground, either
burnt or broken down, and its foundations <i>stricken,</i> bruised
and broken (so the word signifies); they shall howl when they see
their splendid cities turned into ruinous heaps. (2.) The
desolation of their country. Moab was famous for its fields and
vineyards; but those shall all be laid waste by the invading army,
<scripRef id="Is.xvii-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.16.8 Bible:Isa.16.10" parsed="|Isa|16|8|0|0;|Isa|16|10|0|0" passage="Isa 16:8,10"><i>v.</i> 8, 10</scripRef>. See,
[1.] What a fruitful pleasant country they had, as the garden of
the Lord, <scripRef id="Is.xvii-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.10" parsed="|Gen|13|10|0|0" passage="Ge 13:10">Gen. xiii. 10</scripRef>. It
was planted with choice and noble vines, with <i>principal
plants,</i> which reached <i>even to Jazer,</i> a city in the tribe
of Gad. The luxuriant branches of their vines <i>wandered,</i> and
wound themselves along the ranges on which they were spread, even
<i>through the wilderness</i> of Moab. There were vineyards there.
Nay, they were <i>stretched out,</i> and went even to <i>the
sea,</i> the Dead Sea: the best grapes grew in their hedge-rows.
[2.] How merry and pleasant they had been in it. Many a time they
had shouted <i>for their summer fruits, and for their harvest,</i>
as the country people sometimes do with us when they have cut down
all their corn. They had had <i>joy and gladness</i> in their
fields and vineyards, <i>singing</i> and <i>shouting at the
treading of their grapes.</i> Nothing is said of their praising God
for their abundance, and giving him the glory of it. If they had
made it the matter of their thanksgiving, they might still have had
it the food and fuel of their lusts; see therefore, [3.] How they
should be stripped of all. "The fields shall <i>languish,</i> all
the fruits of them being carried away or trodden down; they cannot
now enrich their owners as they have done, and therefore they
languish. The soldiers, called here <i>the lords of the
heathen,</i> shall break down all the plants, though they were
<i>principal plants,</i> the choicest that could be got. Now the
shouting for the enjoyment of the summer fruits has fallen, and is
turned into howling for the loss of them. The joy of harvest has
ceased; there is no more singing, no more shouting, for the
treading out of wine. They have not what they have had to rejoice
in, nor have they a disposition to rejoice; the ruin of their
country has marred their mirth." Note, <i>First,</i> God can easily
change the note of those that are most addicted to mirth and
pleasure, can soon turn their laughter into mourning and their joy
into heaviness. <i>Secondly,</i> Joy in God is, upon this account,
far better than the joy of harvest, that it is what we cannot be
robbed of, <scripRef id="Is.xvii-p12.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.4.6-Ps.4.7" parsed="|Ps|4|6|4|7" passage="Ps 4:6,7">Ps. iv. 6, 7</scripRef>.
Destroy the vines and the fig-trees, and you make all the mirth of
a carnal heart to cease, <scripRef id="Is.xvii-p12.5" osisRef="Bible:Hos.2.11-Hos.2.12" parsed="|Hos|2|11|2|12" passage="Ho 2:11,12">Hos. ii.
11, 12</scripRef>. But a gracious soul can rejoice in the Lord as
the God of its salvation even when the fig-tree does not blossom
and there is no fruit in the vine, <scripRef id="Is.xvii-p12.6" osisRef="Bible:Hab.3.17-Hab.3.18" parsed="|Hab|3|17|3|18" passage="Hab 3:17,18">Hab. iii. 17, 18</scripRef>. In God therefore let us
always rejoice with a holy triumph, and in other things let us
always rejoice with a holy trembling, rejoice as though we rejoiced
not.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xvii-p13" shownumber="no">2. The concurrence of the prophet with them
in this sorrow: "<i>I will with weeping bewail Jazer, and the vine
of Sibmah,</i> and look with a compassionate concern upon the
desolations of such a pleasant country. <i>I will water thee with
my tears, O Heshbon!</i> and mingle them with thy tears;" nay
(<scripRef id="Is.xvii-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.16.11" parsed="|Isa|16|11|0|0" passage="Isa 16:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>), it appears
to be an inward grief: <i>My bowels shall sound like a harp for
Moab;</i> it should make such an impression upon him that he should
feel an inward trembling, like that of the strings of a harp when
it is played upon. It well becomes God's prophets to acquaint
themselves with grief; the great prophet did so. The afflictions of
the world, as well as those of the church, should be afflictions to
us. See <scripRef id="Is.xvii-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.15.5" parsed="|Isa|15|5|0|0" passage="Isa 15:5"><i>ch.</i> xv.
5</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xvii-p14" shownumber="no">III. In the close of the chapter we have,
1. The insufficiency of the gods of Moab, the false gods, to help
them, <scripRef id="Is.xvii-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.16.12" parsed="|Isa|16|12|0|0" passage="Isa 16:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. "Moab
shall be soon <i>weary of the high place.</i> He shall spend his
spirits and strength in vain in praying to his idols; they cannot
help him, and he shall be convinced that they cannot." It is seen
that it is to no purpose to expect any relief from the high places
on earth; it must come from above the hills. Men are generally so
stupid that they will not believe, till they are made to see, the
vanity of idols and of all creature-confidences, nor will come off
from them till they are made weary of them. But, when he is weary
of his high places, he will not go, as he should, to God's
sanctuary, but to <i>his</i> sanctuary, to the temple of Chemosh,
the principal idol of Moab (so it is generally understood); and he
shall pray there to as little purpose, and as little to his own
case and satisfaction, as he did in his high places; for, whatever
honours idolaters give to their idols, they do not thereby make
them at all the better able to help them. Whether they are the
<i>dii majorum gentium—gods of the higher order,</i> or
<i>minorum—of the lower order,</i> they are alike the creatures of
men's fancy and the work of men's hands. Perhaps it may be meant of
their coming to God's sanctuary. When they found they could have no
succours from their own high places some of them would come to the
temple of God at Jerusalem, to pray there, but in vain; he will
justly send them back to <i>the gods whom they have served,</i>
<scripRef id="Is.xvii-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Judg.10.14" parsed="|Judg|10|14|0|0" passage="Jdg 10:14">Judg. x. 14</scripRef>. 2. The
sufficiency of the God of Israel, the only true God, to make good
what he had spoken against them. (1.) The thing itself was long
since determined (<scripRef id="Is.xvii-p14.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.16.13" parsed="|Isa|16|13|0|0" passage="Isa 16:13"><i>v.</i>
13</scripRef>): <i>This is the word,</i> this is the thing, <i>that
the Lord has spoken concerning Moab, since the time</i> that he
began to be so proud, and insolent, and abusive to God's people.
The country was long ago doomed to ruin; this was enough to give an
assurance of it that <i>it is the word which the Lord has
spoken;</i> and, as he will never unsay what he has spoken, so all
the power of hell and earth cannot gainsay it, or obstruct the
execution of it. (2.) Now it was made known when it should be done.
The time was before fixed in the counsel of God, but now it was
revealed: <i>The Lord has spoken</i> that it shall be <i>within
three years,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xvii-p14.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.16.14" parsed="|Isa|16|14|0|0" passage="Isa 16:14"><i>v.</i>
14</scripRef>. <i>It is not for us to know,</i> or covet to know,
<i>the times and the seasons,</i> any further than God has thought
fit to make them known, and so far we may and must take notice of
them. See how God makes known his mind by degrees; the light of
divine revelation shone more and more, and so does the light of
divine grace in the heart. Observe, [1.] The sentence passed upon
Moab: <i>The glory of Moab shall be contemned,</i> that is, it
shall be contemptible, when all those things they have gloried in
shall come to nothing. Such is the glory of this world, so fading
and uncertain, admired awhile, but soon slighted. Let that
therefore which will soon be contemptible in the eyes of others be
always contemptible in our eyes in comparison with the <i>far more
exceeding weight of glory.</i> It was the glory of Moab that their
country was very populous and their forces were courageous; but
where is her glory when all that great multitude is in a manner
swept away, some by one judgment and some by another, and the
little remnant that is left shall be <i>very small and feeble,</i>
not able to bear up under their own griefs, much less to make head
against their enemies' insults? Let not therefore the strong glory
in their strength nor the many in their numbers. [2.] The time
fixed for the execution of this sentence: <i>Within three years, as
the years of a hireling,</i> that is, at the three years' end
exactly, for a servant that is hired for a certain term keeps
account to a day. Let Moab know that her ruin is very near, and
prepare accordingly. Fair warning is given, and with it space to
repent, which if they had improved, as Nineveh did, we have reason
to think the judgments threatened would have been prevented.</p>
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