Send lambs as tribute to the ruler of the land, from Sela, across the desert, to the mount of Daughter Zion. Like fluttering birds pushed from the nest, so are the women of Moab at the fords of the Arnon. “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.” The oppressor will come to an end, and destruction will cease; the aggressor will vanish from the land. Isaiah 16:1-2 (NIV) Moab is expressly included among the lands into which scattered Judah had fled. Moab is exhorted in vivid figures of speech to grant protective shelter and asylum to those whom Isaiah designated as God’s outcasts. The prophet now gives the reason why Moab should seek shelter from Judah and afford shelter to the fugitives of Judah. It is a prophetic word in which Isaiah sees the end of despotic world power as represented in his day by Assyria and Babylon. He sees also the setting up of the kingdom of God under a great personage in the line of David. If Moab would participate in this glory of Israel, God’s people, then they should prove worthy by doing what is asked of them. Attacked by the Assyrians, Moabite refugees would flee to Sela, which lay in the country of Edom to the south. Desperate Moabites would send a tribute of lambs to Jerusalem asking for Judah’s protection. Jerusalem would be a safe refuge for a time. Isaiah advised Judah to accept these refugees as a sign of compassion during the enemy’s time of devastation.
Posted on: Sat, 01 Feb 2014 12:36:46 +0000
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