Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary: Isaias
Chapter 15
Ver. 1. Moab. Which would be visited in three years' time (chap. xvi. 14.) either by Ezechias, or by Sennacherib, though history be silent on this head. The Moabites had been very cruel, Amos i. and ii. --- Night. Suddenly. (Calmet) --- Their misery was so much the greater. (Worthington) --- Ar. The capital. (Calmet)
Ver. 2. House. Protestants, "he is come up to Baiith," (Haydock) or the royal family is gone to the temple of their idol, Chamos, to lament. (St. Jerome) (Menochius) (Calmet) --- Shaven. As in mourning, Jeremias xlviii. 37.
Ver. 4. Itself. Every one shall deplore his own distress.
Ver. 5. My. A charitable heart will grieve for the misfortune of an enemy. (Worthington) --- I shall join in the general lamentations, though Moab has always been so great an enemy of Israel. (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "the heart of Moab cries in itself to Segor." (Haydock) --- We will retire thither. (Chaldean) --- Bars. Princes. Protestants, "his fugitives shall," &c. --- Heifer. Strong and ungovernable. Hebrew, "to Heglath and to Shelishia for," &c., though we may as well adhere to the Vulgate, Septuagint, &c.
Ver. 6. Nemrim. Or Nemra, (Numbers xxxii. 3.) to the north of Segor. (Calmet) --- The country around hence became barren. (St. Jerome)
Ver. 7. Willows. That is, as some say, the waters of Babylon; others render it a valley of the Arabians, (Challoner) or "of crows," to which their bodies will be exposed, chap. lvii. 6.
Ver. 8. Cry. Of iniquity, or rather of grief.
Ver. 9. Dibon. Septuagint, &c., read, "Dimon," which signifies, "blood." I will give it a better claim to this appellation. --- Lion. Nabuchodonosor. (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "I will bring the Arabs up on Dimon, and will take away the seed of Moab, and Ariel, and the remnant of Adama." (Haydock)
Bible Text & Cross-references:
A prophecy of the desolation of the Moabites.
1 The burden of Moab. Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste it is silent: because the wall of Moab is destroyed in the night, it is silent.
2 The house is gone up, and Dibon to the high places, to mourn over Nabo, and over Medaba, Moab hath howled: *on all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard shall be shaven.
3 In their streets they are girded with sackcloth: on the tops of their houses, and in their streets all shall howl, and come down weeping.
4 Hesebon shall cry, and Eleale, their voice is heard even to Jasa. For this shall the well appointed men of Moab howl: his soul shall howl to itself.
5 My heart shall cry to Moab, the bars thereof shall flee unto Segor, a heifer of three years old: for by the ascent of Luith they shall go up weeping: and in the way of Oronaim they shall lift up a cry of destruction.
6 For the waters of Nemrim shall be desolate, for the grass is withered away, the spring is faded, all the greenness is perished.
7 According to the greatness of their work, is their visitation also: they shall lead them to the torrent of the willows.
8 For the cry is gone round about the border of Moab: the howling thereof unto Gallim, and unto the well of Elim the cry thereof.
9 For the waters of Dibon are filled with blood: for I will bring more upon Dibon: the lion upon them that shall flee of Moab, and upon the remnant of the land.
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2: Jeremias xlviii. 37.; Ezechiel vii. 18.
Chapter 16
Ver. 1. Petra. Hebrew selah, "the rock." (Haydock) --- Our Saviour sprung from Ruth, the Moabitess. (Menochius) --- The original may insinuate, that the king of the country had neglected to pay the usual tribute to Juda, 4 Kings iii. 4. (Calmet) --- "Send the lamb to the ruler," &c. (Tournemine.) Amid scenes of distress, the prophet perceives that the Saviour will proceed from one of this nation. (Worthington)
Ver. 2. Arnon. They shall not be able to fly over, or to escape the conqueror.
Ver. 3. Night. Seek a retreat in the darkest places; or protect Israel when they shall flee before the Assyrians. Their cruelty is thus insinuated, Amos i.
Ver. 4. Dust. Theglathphalassar. I need not exhort you to receive my people, as I know your dispositions, and they are out of danger. (Calmet)
Ver. 5. Just. This regards Christ, (St. Jerome) prefigured by (Haydock) Ezechias. (Calmet)
Ver. 7. Walls. Hebrew, "Kir-hareseth," chap. xv. 1. (Haydock)
Ver. 8. Lords. Princes of Jerusalem, (Lamentations i. 1.) or of Assyria. (Calmet) --- Sea. Of Sodom, even as far as Jazer, (Haydock) in the tribe of Ruben. (Calmet)
Ver. 9. My tears. Chap. xv. 5. (Haydock) --- I announce a different sort of music from that which is customary in times of harvest, and of vintage. The liquor shall be tears, chap. lxiii. 2., and Jeremias xlviii. 32, 33. (Calmet)
Ver. 10. Carmel. This name is often taken to signify a fair and fruitful hill or field, such as Mount Carmel is. (Challoner) --- It means, "the vine of God." (Calmet)
Ver. 11. Wall. Kir-hareseth, ver. 7. I am grieved at your misfortunes. (Calmet)
Ver. 12. Prevail. Chamos shall not be able to help them.
Ver. 13. That time. A long while ago, Psalm xcii. 2.
Ver. 14. Not many. It was laid waste in the third year of Ezechias. But its final destruction took place only five years after that of Jerusalem. (Calmet) --- The wars against Moab continued three years, after which it was reduced to servitude. (Worthington)
Bible Text & Cross-references:
The prophet prayeth for Christ's coming. The affliction of the Moabites for their pride.
1 Send forth, O Lord, the lamb, the ruler of the earth, from Petra of the desert, to the mount of the daughter of Sion.
2 And it shall come to pass, that as a bird fleeing away, and as young ones flying out of the nest, so shall the daughters of Moab be in the passage of Arnon.
3 Take counsel, gather a council: make thy shadow as the night in the mid-day: hide them that flee, and betray not them that wander about.
4 My fugitives shall dwell with thee: O Moab, be thou a covert to them from the face of the destroyer: for the dust is at an end, the wretch is consumed: he hath failed, that trod the earth under foot.
5 And a throne shall be prepared in mercy, and one shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging and seeking judgment, and quickly rendering that which is just.
6 *We have heard of the pride of Moab, he is exceedingly proud: his pride and his arrogancy, and his indignation, is more than his strength.
7 Therefore shall Moab howl to Moab, every one shall howl: to them that rejoice upon the brick walls, tell ye their stripes.
8 For the suburbs of Hesebon are desolate, and the lords of the nations have destroyed the vineyard of Sabama: the branches thereof have reached even to Jazer: they have wandered in the wilderness, the branches thereof are left, they are gone over the sea.
9 Therefore, I will lament with the weeping of Jazer, the vineyard of Sabama: I will water thee with my tears, O Hesebon, and Eleale: for the voice of the treaders hath rushed in upon thy vintage, and upon thy harvest.
10 And gladness and joy shall be taken away from Carmel, and there shall be no rejoicing nor shouting in the vineyards. He shall not tread out wine in the press that was wont to tread it out: the voice of the treaders I have taken away.
11 Wherefore my bowels shall sound like a harp for Moab, and my inward parts for the brick wall.
12 And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is wearied on his high places, that he shall go into his sanctuaries to pray, and shall not prevail.
13 This is the word, that the Lord spoke to Moab from that time:
14 And now the Lord hath spoken, saying: In three years, as the years of a hireling, the glory of Moab shall be taken away for all the multitude of the people, and it shall be left small and feeble, not many.
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6: Jeremias xlviii. 29.