1 An oracle concerning Moab.
Because Ar of Moab is laid waste in a night,
Moab is undone;
because Kir of Moab is laid waste in a night,
Moab is undone.
2 He has gone up to the temple, and to Dibon,
to the high places to weep;
over Nebo and over Medeba
Moab wails.
On every head is baldness;
every beard is shorn;
3 in the streets they wear sackcloth;
on the housetops and in the squares
everyone wails and melts in tears.
4 Heshbon and Elealeh cry out;
their voice is heard as far as Jahaz;
therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud;
his soul trembles. – By the number of towns mentioned we gather that the whole of the country of Moab is in great distress. ‘Heads shaven’, ‘beards cutoff’, and ‘sackcloth for clothes’ highlights the extremity of their distress!
5 My heart cries out for Moab; (Presumably the ‘my’ here refers to the prophet himself. He is distressed by what God is leading/overseeing him to write about his near neighbours!)
her fugitives flee to Zoar,
to Eglath-shelishiyah. (in a number of translations this line reads ‘Like a 3 year old heifer‘. which I assume that long name in this translation means!)
For at the ascent of Luhith
they go up weeping;
on the road to Horonaim
they raise a cry of destruction;
6 the waters of Nimrim
are a desolation;
the grass is withered, the vegetation fails,
the greenery is no more.
7 Therefore the abundance they have gained
and what they have laid up
they carry away
over the Brook of the Willows.
8 For a cry has gone
around the land of Moab;
her wailing reaches to Eglaim;
her wailing reaches to Beer-elim.
9 For the waters of Dibon are full of blood;
for I will bring upon Dibon even more,
a lion for those of Moab who escape,
for the remnant of the land.
1 Send the lamb to the ruler of the land,
from Sela, by way of the desert,
to the mount of the daughter of Zion.
2 Like fleeing birds,
like a scattered nest,
so are the daughters of Moab
at the fords of the Arnon.
Comment: With passages like this it is no wonder that even those who don’t believe in God or accept the inspiration of the Bible rave over the literary glory of passages like this! As you read the words you feel as if you cry with the prophet over the desolation; you feel the agony of the people fleeing; you envisage the desolation of the landscape; this is not a small thing in an isolated town but the whole nation is in rags and crying out in agony!
Four living creatures are mentioned each with a different idea in mind. 1. (v5) A heifer in the lustiness of a three year old prime cow bellowing out in distress because of the way she is being treated! 2. A lion with its magnificent strength and killing ability chasing down those who dare to hope that they have escaped and are near the border! 3. A lamb as an offering to the leaders in Jerusalem seeking to claim mercy and submitting as a subject serving state to Israel. 4. Birds – and two descriptive thoughts are that it is fleeing – presumably in fear, and jettisoned out from a destroyed nest- not of choice but with force! Beautiful writing but fearful thoughts!
2 Kings 3: 4 – Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder, and he had to deliver to the king of Israel 100,000 lambs and the wool of 100,000 rams. – A single lamb was not always enough, obviously!
Prayer: There are people fleeing in our world today, like the Moabites were in their time. Please help me to care and act in any way that in all conscience I should!
As I read it! 