Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 15:6
For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate: for the hay is withered away, the grass faileth, there is no green thing.
6. (Jer 48:34) the waters of Nimrim are generally supposed to be connected with Beth-nimrah (Num 32:36), now Tell-nimrin, on the Wadi Shaib, flowing into the Jordan about 8 miles from its mouth. A place in the south of Moab would perhaps suit the context better, and explorers have found a Wadi Numeirah running into the Dead Sea a little south of Kerak. Eusebius also (Onomast.) says that the place was known in his day under the name (= the Heb. m Nimrm, “waters of N.”), and lay to the N. of Zoar. On the stopping of the waters by an enemy, see 2Ki 3:25.
hay grass ] Better: grass tender grass (R.V.).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For the waters of Nimrim – It is supposed by some that the prophet here states the cause why the Moabites would flee to the cities of the south, to wit, that the waters of the northern cities would fail, and the country become desolate, and that they would seek support in the south. But it is more probable that he is simply continuing the description of the desolation that would come upon Moab. Nimrah, or Beth Nimra, meaning a house of limpid waters, was a city of Reuben east of the Dead Sea (Num 32:3; compare Jer 48:34). It was, doubtless, a city celebrated for its pure fountains and springs of water. Here Seetzens chart shows a brook flowing into the Jordan called Nahr Nimrim, or Wady Shoaib. On the east of the Jordan over against Jericho, there is now a stream called Nimlim – doubtless the ancient Nimrim. This flows into the Jordan, and as it flows along gives fertility to that part of the country of Moab. (Eli Smith.) It is possible that the waters failed by a common practice in times of war when an enemy destroyed the fountains of a country by diverting their waters, or by casting into them stones, trees, etc. This destructive measure of war occurs, with reference to Moab, in 2Ki 3:25, when the Israelites, during an incursion into Moab, felled the fruit trees, cast stones into the plowed grounds, and closed the fountains, or wells.
For the hay is withered away – The waters are dried up, and the land yields nothing to support life.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
The waters; either,
1. Properly, they shall be dried up; or,
2. Figuratively, the waterish grounds, as waters seem to be taken, Ecc 11:1; Isa 32:20. These being very fruitful, are commonly most inhabited and cultivated; but now they also, and much more the dry and barren grounds, shall be desolate, and without inhabitant.
There is no green thing, by the just and special judgment of God. Thus God and man conspire together to destroy them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. Forthe cause of theirflight southwards (2Ki 3:19;2Ki 3:25). “For” thenorthern regions and even the city Nimrim (the very name of whichmeans “limpid waters,” in Gilead near Jordan) are withoutwater or herbage.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate,…. Or dried up, through a great drought that should come upon the land at this time; or being defiled with the blood of the slain, as Jarchi: it may denote the well watered pastures about Nimrim, that should become the forage of the enemy, and be trodden under foot by its army, or be forsaken by the proprietors of them. Josephus m speaks of fountains of hot water springing up in the country of Peraea, where Nimrim was, of a different taste, some bitter, and others sweet; which, Dr. Lightfoot n suggests, might be these waters of Nimrim; and, according to the Jerusalem Talmud o, Bethnimrah was in that part of the country which was called the valley, and so was very fruitful with springs of water. The word is in the plural number, and may design more places of the same name; and we read of Nimrah and Bethnimrah,
Nu 32:3. Jerom p calls it Nemra, and says it was a large village in his time; it seems to have its name from panthers or leopards, of which there might be many in these parts:
for the hay is withered away, the grass faileth, there is no green thing; by which it seems that the desolation spoken of was not merely through the forage and trampling of the enemy’s army, but by a drought.
m De Bello Jud. l. 7. c. 6. sect. 3. Ed. Hudson. n Ut supra (See his Works, vol. 2.) p. 50. o T. Hieros. Sheviith, fol. 38. 4. p De locis Hebraicis, fol. 93. I.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| The Burden of Moab. | B. C. 725. |
6 For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate: for the hay is withered away, the grass faileth, there is no green thing. 7 Therefore the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have laid up, shall they carry away to the brook of the willows. 8 For the cry is gone round about the borders of Moab; the howling thereof unto Eglaim, and the howling thereof unto Beer-elim. 9 For the waters of Dimon shall be full of blood: for I will bring more upon Dimon, lions upon him that escapeth of Moab, and upon the remnant of the land.
Here the prophet further describes the woeful and piteous lamentations that should be heard throughout all the country of Moab when it should become a prey to the Assyrian army. “By this time the cry has gone round about all the borders of Moab,” v. 8. Every corner of the country has received the alarm, and is in the utmost confusion upon it. It has reached to Eglaim, a city at one end of the country, and to Beer-elim, a city as far the other way. Where sin has been general, and all flesh have corrupted their way, what can be expected but a general desolation? Two things are here spoken of as causes of this lamentation:–
I. The waters of Nimrim are desolate (v. 6), that is, the country is plundered and impoverished, and all the wealth and substance of it swept away by the victorious army. Famine is usually the sad effect of war. Look into the fields that were well watered, the fruitful meadows that yielded delightful prospects and more delightful products, and there all is eaten up, or carried off by the enemy’s foragers, and the remainder trodden to dirt by their horses. If an army encamp upon green fields, their greenness is soon gone. Look into the houses, and they are stripped too (v. 7): The abundance of wealth that they had gotten with a great deal of art and industry, and that which they had laid up with a great deal of care and confidence, shall they carry away to the brook of the willows. Either the owners shall carry it thither to hide it or the enemies shall carry it thither to pack it up and send it home, by water perhaps, to their own country. Note, 1. Those that are eager to get abundance of this world, and solicitous to lay up what they have gotten, little consider what may become of it and in how short a time it may be all taken from them. Great abundance, by tempting the robbers, exposes the owners; and those who depend upon it to protect them often find it does but betray them. 2. In times of distress great riches are often great burdens, and do but increase the owner’s care or the enemies’ strength. Cantabit vacuus coram latrone viator–The penniless traveller will exult, when accosted by a robber, in having nothing about him.
II. The waters of Dimon are turned into blood (v. 9), that is, the inhabitants of the country are slain in great numbers, so that the waters adjoining to the cities, whether rivers or pools, are discoloured with human gore, inhumanly shed like water. Dimon signifies bloody; the place shall answer to its name. Perhaps it was that place in the country of Moab where the waters seemed to the Moabites as blood (2Ki 3:22; 2Ki 3:23), which occasioned their overthrow. But now, says God, I will bring more upon Dimon, more blood than was shed, or thought to be seen, at that time. I will bring additions upon Dimon (so the word is), additional plagues; I have yet more judgments in reserve for them. For all this, God’s anger is not turned away. When he judges he will overcome; and to the roll of curses shall be added many like words, Jer. xxxvi. 32. See here what is the yet more evil to be brought upon Dimon, upon Moab, which is now to be made a land of blood. Some flee, and make their escape, others sit still, and are overlooked, and are as a remnant of the land; but upon both God will bring lions, beasts of prey (which are reckoned one of God’s four judgments, Ezek. xiv. 21), and these shall glean up those that have escaped the sword of the enemy. Those that continue impenitent in sin, when they are preserved from one judgment, are but reserved for another.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
6. The waters of Nimrim. By an exaggerated form of expression he gives a more enlarged view of this desolation. He says that the grass is withered, which takes place when God leaves any soil destitute of all nourishment. The waters will be taken away, which probably were highly necessary for that dry and parched country; for soils of that kind produce nothing without irrigation. Though the style is exaggerated, yet nothing is stated but what is strictly true; for the Prophet did not go beyond proper bounds, but found it necessary to use bold expressions to suit the ignorance of the people, in order to inform them that a land which is deprived of the blessing of God will be like a desert without any beauty.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(6) The waters of Nimrim . . .These also appear in Jer. 48:34. They were probably a reservoir from which the fields were irrigated so as to be conspicuous for their verdure Eusebius (Onomast.) places it north of Zoar. The name appears to survive in the Wady en Nemeirah on the south-eastern shore of the Dead Sea (De Saulcy, Voyage, i. 284; Tristram, Land of Israel, 340). Beth-Nimrah appears as the name of a town in Num. 32:36). The desolation predicted was probably thought of as caused by the stoppage of the wells, one of the common acts of an invading army (2Ki. 3:25).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. Nimrim For “Nimrim” see Num 31:35-36, and Joshua 12:27, whose indications are that this was a well-watered valley. Tristram, with some hesitation, locates it at the southeast end of the Dead Sea. The text shows that the waters here give out, and every green thing is parched a figure of devastating war.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘For the waters of Nimrim will be desolate,
For the grass is withered away,
The tender grass fails,
There is no green thing.’
Nimrim is possibly the Wadi Numeirah, which flows into the Dead Sea near its southern end, a dry river bed which floods in the rainy season. But there is no water now at which they can quench their thirst, the grass has withered, no new sproutings take place, all is dry and dead.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Everything contained in these verses is like the Prophet’s roll, written within, and without, and full of nothing else but lamentation, and mourning, and woe. Alas! what an awful thing must it be, to be full of this world’s sorrow, and without the knowledge of, and an interest in Christ to soften it!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 15:6 For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate: for the hay is withered away, the grass faileth, there is no green thing.
Ver. 6. For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate. ] What these waters of Nimrim were it doth not appear. Jerome saith that Nimrim is a town near the Dead Sea, where the waters are salt, and the country about it barren; so should the land of Moab now be forlorn and fruitless.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Nimrim.Probably Wady Nimrim, near south end of Dead Sea.
desolate = desolations.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Nimrim: Num 32:3, Num 32:36, Nimrah, Beth-nimrah, Jos 13:27, Beth-nimrah
desolate: Heb. desolations
the grass: Isa 16:9, Isa 16:10, Joe 1:10-12, Hab 3:17, Hab 3:18, Rev 8:7
Reciprocal: Isa 16:4 – oppressors Jer 25:12 – perpetual Jer 48:34 – Nimrim
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 15:6-8. For the waters, &c. The prophet, in these verses, sets forth the causes of lamentation among the inhabitants of the southern part of Moab. The first is the desolation of their fruitful fields, Isa 15:6. The waters of Nimrim, or, the waterish, or well-watered grounds, shall be desolate Such grounds, being very fruitful, are commonly most inhabited and cultivated; but now they also, and much more the dry and barren grounds, should be desolate, and without inhabitant. That which they have laid up, &c. Here we have a second cause of their grief: the property which they had acquired and reserved for their future use, and that of their offspring, should be seized and carried away by the Assyrians their enemies. To the brook of the willows Or, rather, to the valley of the willows, as Bishop Lowth translates it, that is, to Babylon: see note on Psa 137:2. The cry is gone round about the borders, &c. The prophet, contemplating with the most lively imagination the consternation of all Moab, as if present to his view, scarcely satisfies himself in painting the scene. He repeats again the proposition, and supplies, by a general declaration, what he might seem not to have expressed with sufficient perfection before. He therefore declares, that this lamentation, of which he speaks, shall not be private, nor peculiar to one place, or to a few, but common to all: and that the tempest shall not break upon this or that part of the country only, but shall afflict all Moab, every corner and boundary of it, and take in the whole land from Eglaim to Beer-elim, two cities in the extremities of Moab. Vitringa.