Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 16:14
But now the LORD 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 [shall be] very small [and] feeble.
14. If ch. Isa 15:1 to Isa 16:12 describe real events, the verse shews that in the interval Moab had recovered some measure of its former prosperity.
as the years of a hireling ] As the hireling serves for the stipulated time, but not a moment longer, so the judgment on Moab shall not be deferred beyond the space of three years (cf. ch. Isa 21:16).
the glory of Moab ( Isa 16:6) shall be contemned ] or “contemptible.”
the remnant feeble ] lit. “the remnant shall be small, little (ch. Isa 10:25, Isa 29:17 of time), not strong.” It is hazardous to assume that the “remnant” here is the nucleus of a regenerated Messianic community.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
But now the Lord hath spoken – This refers to the particular and specific prophecy of Isaiah that destruction should come upon them in three years. Instead of a general but indefinite prediction of calamity to the Moabites, such as had been uttered by the former prophets, or by Isaiah himself before, it was now specific and definite in regard to the time when it should be fulfilled.
Within three years – We have no means of ascertaining the exact fulfillment of this prediction, nor do we certainly know by whom it was accomplished.
As the years of an hireling – A man that is hired has a certain time specified during which he is to labor; the years, the months, the days for which he is engaged are agreed on, nor will he suffer any addition to be made to it. So the prophet says that the very time is fixed. It shall not be varied. It will be adhered to by God – as the time is adhered to between a man who employs another and him who is hired. And it means, that exactly at the time which is here specified, the predicted destruction should come upon Moab.
The glory of Moab – That in which it glories, or boasts – its wealth, its armies, its cities, towns, etc.
Shall be contemned – Shall be esteemed of no value; shall be destroyed.
And the remnant – There shall be few cities, few people, and very little wealth that shall escape the desolation (compare Isa 10:25; Isa 24:6). Jerome says that this prophecy was delivered after the death of Ahaz, and in the reign of Hezekiah, during whose reign the ten tribes were led by Sennacherib, king of the Assyrians, into captivity. And, therefore, after three years, the Assyrians came and destroyed Moab, and very few were left in the land who could inhabit the deserted cities, or cultivate the desolate fields. But it is not certainly known to what particular time the prophecy refers. In regard to the present state of Moab, and the complete fulfillment of the prophecies respecting it, the following works may be consulted: Newton, On the Prophecies; Keith, On the Prophecies; Burckhardts Travels in Syria; and Captains Irby and Mangles Travels. In regard to the fulfillment of these predictions respecting the destruction of Moab, it may be sufficient to refer to the remarks which I have made on the particular places which are mentioned in these two chapters, and to the writers mentioned above.
All travelers concur in the general desolation of that country which was once so thickly studded with towns, and that abounded so richly in flocks, and produced so luxuriantly the grape. It is now strewed with ruins. All the cities of Moab have disappeared. Their place is characterized in the map of Volneys Travels, by the ruins of towns. Burckhardt, who encountered many difficulties in so desolate and dangerous a land, thus records the brief history of a few of them: The ruins of Eleale, Heshbon, Meon, Medaba, Dibon, Arver, all situated on the north side of the Arnon, still subsist to illustrate the history of the Beni-Israel (Life and Travels, prefixed to the Travels in Nubia, pp. 48, 49). And it might be added, says Keith, that they still subsist to confirm the inspiration of the Jewish Scriptures, for the desolation of each of these cities was the theme of a distinct prediction (Prophecies, p. 129). Within the boundaries of Moab, Burckhardt enumerates about fifty ruined cities, many of them extensive. In general they are a broken down and undistinguishable mass of ruins; but, in some instances, there are remains of temples, sepulchral monuments, traces of hanging gardens, entire columns lying on the ground, and dilapidated walls made of stones of large dimensions (see Travels in Syria, pp. 311-456).
In view of these two chapters, constituting one prophecy, and the facts in regard to the present state of the country of Moab, we may observe that we have here clear and unanswerable evidence of the genuineness and truth of the sacred records. That evidence is found in the particularity with which places are mentioned; and in the fact that impostors would not specify places, any further than was unavoidable. Mistakes, we all know, are liable to be made by those who attempt to describe the geography of places which they have not seen. Yet here is a description of a land and its numerous towns, made nearly three thousand years ago, and in its particulars it is sustained by all the travelers in modern times. The ruins of the same towns are still seen; their places, in general, can be designated; and there is a moral certainty, therefore, that this prophecy was made by one who knew the locality of those places, and that, therefore, the prophecy is ancient and genuine.
An impostor would never have attempted such a description as this; nor could he have made it so accurate and true. In the language of Prof. Stuart (Bib. Rep., vol. vii. pp. 108, 109), we may say, How obviously everything of this kind serves to give confirmation to the authority and credibility of the sacred records! Do sceptics undertake to scoff at the Bible, and aver that it is the work of impostors who lived in later ages? Besides asking them what object impostors could have in forging a book of such high and lofty principles, we may ask – and ask with an assurance that need not fear the danger of being put to the blush – whether impostors of later ages could possibly have so managed, as to preserve all the localities in complete order which the Scriptures present? Rare impostors they must indeed have been – people possessed of more knowledge of antiquity than we can well imagine could ever be possessed by such as would condescend to an imposition of such a character. In fact the thing appears to be morally impossible, if one considers it in the light of antiquity, when so little knowledge of a geographical kind was in existence, and when mistakes respecting countries and places with which one was not personally familiar, were almost, if not altogether, unavoidable.
How happens it, now, that the authors of the Old Testament Scriptures should have possessed such a wonderful tact in geography, as it would seem they did, unless they lived at the time and in the countries of which they have spoken? This happens not elsewhere. It is but yesterday since one of the first scientific writers on geology in Great Britain, published to the world the declaration that our Mississippi and Missouri rivers belong to the tropics. Respectable writers, even in Germany, the land of Classical attainments, have sometimes placed Coelo-Syria on the east of the Anti-Libanus ridge, or even seemed to transfer Damascus over the mountains, and place it between the two Lebanon ridges in the valley. No such mistakes occur in the sacred writers. They write as people who were familiar with the geography of places named; they mention places with the utmost familiarity; and, after a lapse of three thousand years, every successive traveler who visits Moab, Idumea, or Palestine, does something to confirm the accuracy of Isaiah. Towns, bearing the same name, or the ruins of towns, are located in the same relative position in which he said they were; and the ruins of once splendid cities, broken columns, dilapidated walls, trodden down vineyards, and half-demolished temples, proclaim to the world that those cities are what he said they would be, and that he was under the inspiration of God.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 14. Within three years] beshalish keshalish, according, or in or about three years, is the reading of nine of Kennicott’s and De Rossi’s MSS., and two ancient editions.
But the present reading may well stand: “Now, the Lord hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of a hireling.” It seems as if this prophecy had been delivered before, without any time specified for its fulfilment; but now the time is determined – “in three years, as the years of a hireling” – for, as a hireling counts even to a single day, and will not abide with his employer an hour beyond the time agreed on; so, in three years, even to a day, from the delivery of this prophecy, shall destruction come upon Moab. This is the import of the present text; but if we take keshalish, AS in three years, or in about three years’ time, the prophecy is not so definite.
These three years, says Calmet, are mentioned from the death of Ahaz, see Isa 14:28, and end the third year of Hezekiah, three years before the taking of Samaria by Shalmaneser. This conquerer did not ruin Moab so completely as not to leave a man in the land; the final desolation of Moab was reserved for Nebuchadnezzar, five years after the taking of Jerusalem.
Feeble – “And without strength.”] An ancient MS., with the Septuagint, reads velo, “and not.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Hath spoken; hath made this further discovery of his mind to me.
Within three years; to be computed either,
1. From the time of Jerusalems destruction by Nebuchadnezzar, who did, as is confessed by all, invade the Moabites at or about that time, and execute the judgment first foretold by this prophet, and afterwards by Jer 48. Or rather,
2. From the time of the delivery of this prophecy; which being uncertain, leaves us the greater latitude for the determination of the precise time when this was fulfilled. But this is certain, from Isa 1:1, that this prophecy must be delivered, at furthest, before the end of Hezekiahs reign. And then there ariseth this great difficulty, How this can consist with the prophecy of Jeremiah, who above or about a hundred years after this time speaketh of Moab as a people that had been at ease from their youth, and had not gone into captivity, Jer 48:11, and prophesieth against them in the very same words which Isaiah useth in this prophecy? The answer is, That they do not speak of the same time, nor of the same calamity; but Isaiah of a former tribulation, and Jeremiah of their latter devastation. It is true, Jeremiah useth the same words which Isaiah doth, and so do the later prophets sometimes use the words of the former, to other purposes than they were first delivered, as we shall see hereafter, and as is most evident from the Revelation of St. John, in which the same words are used concerning mystical Babylon. which were used by the foregoing prophets concerning the first and literal Babylon. And although the foregoing prophecy of Isaiah seems to speak of the same destruction threatened by Jeremiah, and inflicted by Nebuchadnezzar; yet this prophecy contained in this verse, and ushered in with another preface, seems to be of a differing nature, and to speak of a more speedy and less grievous affliction that should befall them, which should be as a pledge to assure them of the certain accomplishment of the other prophecy, and of their utter destruction. And therefore it is observable, that the prophet doth not here say,
Within three years all that I have foretold and threatened shall be fulfilled; but only,
the glory of Moab shall be contemned, & c., which is quite another thing; and as the terms here used are much milder, so that; judgment here denounced seems much less, than in the foregoing prophecy. And therefore this verse may very well be understood of some great blow given to the Moabites, either by Sennacherib, or by his son Esarhaddon, from which notwithstanding they in a little time recovered themselves, and flourished again, and continued so to do till Nebuchadnezzar completed their destruction. And this may well enough consist with what is said of Moabs
being at ease from his youth, Jer 48:11, which is not to be understood simply, as if they had been wholly free from war and other calamities; for the contrary is evident, both from Scripture, as 2Sa 8:2; 2Ki 3:24,25, and from other histories; but comparatively, that they had not been brought to desolation, nor carried away into captivity, as it is explained in the following words, and as Israel had been at that time, and Judah was threatened to be.
As the years of an hireling, i.e. within three years precisely accounted; for hirelings are very punctual in observing the time for which they are hired; and their thoughts and desires run much upon it, because then they are to receive their wages; of which see Job 7:1,2; 14:6. And this exposition is confirmed by comparing this place with Isa 21:16, where the same phrase is used of one year. So groundless is that opinion which the Jewish writers gather from this place, compared with Deu 15:18, that three years was the usual and appointed time for the generality of hired servants.
The glory of Moab; their strength, and wealth, and other things in which they glory.
Shall be contemned; shall be made contemptible to those who formerly admired them.
With all that great multitude; with the great numbers of their people, of which they boasted.
Shall be very small and feeble, comparatively to what they were before; which might be very true, and yet afterwards, in a hundred years space, they might be sufficiently recruited.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14. three years . . . hirelingJustas a hireling has his fixed term of engagement, which neither he norhis master will allow to be added to or to be taken from, so thelimit within which Moab is to fall is unalterably fixed (Isa21:16). Fulfilled about the time when the Assyrians led Israelinto captivity. The ruins of Elealeh, Heshbon, Medeba, Dibon, &c.,still exist to confirm the inspiration of Scripture. The accurateparticularity of specification of the places three thousandyears ago, confirmed by modern research, is a strong testimony to thetruth of prophecy.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But now the Lord hath spoken,…. Something else. What follows is a distinct prophecy from the former, and has a date annexed to it, when it should be fulfilled: the former prophecy relates to the utter destruction of the Moabites by the Babylonians, in the times of Nebuchadnezzar; of which Jeremiah, Jer 48:1 prophesies, in much the same language as Isaiah; and so Jarchi observes, that the final destruction of Moab was by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar: but this was of a lesser nature, and to be accomplished in a short time, either by Shalmaneser, or by Sennacherib king of Assyria, or Esarhaddon his son:
saying, within three years, as the year of an hireling; that is, precisely and exactly three years, neither more nor fewer, neither sooner nor later; as whatever time is agreed upon by an hireling, as soon as ever it is out, which he often thinks of, and counts exactly, he demands his wages, and his freedom. Some think this prophecy bears date with the former, concerning the Philistines, which was the year King Ahaz died, Isa 14:28 and so had its accomplishment in the fourth year of Hezekiah, when Shalmaneser came up against Samaria k, and took Moab in his way, 2Ki 18:9 others, that it was given out in the fourth year of Hezekiah, when the Assyrian besieged Samaria, and after three years took it, and then returned and fell upon the Moabites; others place it in the eleventh year of Hezekiah, and suppose it to be fulfilled in his fourteenth by Sennacherib, about the same time he came up and took the fenced cities of Judah, and besieged Jerusalem, 2Ki 18:13 and with this agree the Jewish writers l, whose words are these,
“after those things, and the establishment thereof, Sennacherib king of Assyria came into Judah, 2Ch 32:1 and at the same time sent Tartan to Ashdod, Isa 20:1 who overran the Ammonites and Moabites, who helped him when he besieged Samaria three years, that it might be fulfilled what is said,
Isa 16:14 at the same time the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem.”
Upon which Kimchi observes, as an interpretation of the phrase, “as the years of an hireling”,
“it is as if it was said, because they helped the king of Assyria three years against Samaria, it was as if they had been hired; therefore they fell by his hand, and the glory of Moab was light in the hand of the king of Assyria.”
But others make it to be three years after this time; but very likely it might be later still, about the eighteenth or nineteenth year of Hezekiah, as Gataker thinks, who, in his notes on this place, has collected all these senses, and made his observations on them; and so had its accomplishment in some expedition of Esarhaddon, who greatly weakened and impoverished the country of Moab, though he did not destroy it, and which was an earnest and pledge of the utter destruction of it before prophesied of. Noldius renders it, “after three years”; and so Grotius: it was in the first year of Hezekiah, as Noldius observes, that this was said; and in the fourth year of his reign, Shalmaneser came against Samaria, and in his way was the beginning of this destruction, and but a beginning of it, as he observes, yet a pledge of the consummation by Nebuchadnezzar, which was long after these three years of Isaiah.
And the glory of Moab shall be contemned with all that great multitude; of cities and towns, of the inhabitants of them, and of wealth and riches, things in which Moab gloried, and were reckoned weighty and heavy things; these were accounted light by the king of Assyria, who spoiled them, or at least greatly diminished them:
and the remnant [shall be] very small [and] feeble; or, “not mighty” or “strong”; those that were not cut off by the Assyrian army would be but few, and these weak and without strength, being dispossessed of their cities, and of their wealth; though, in process of time, between this, and the fulfilment of the former prophecy, and that of Jeremiah, they recovered themselves, and became very numerous and flourishing.
k See Prideaux’s Connect. par. 1. B. 1. p. 18. So Vitringa. l Seder Olam Rabba, c. 23. p. 64.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
14. Three years. The time is fixed, not only for the sake of certainty, but likewise that believers may not become faint through longer delay. He alludes to agreements among men, in which it is customary to fix the time agreed on, which the parties are not at liberty to transgress. This is especially the case in the labors of hirelings, from whom Scripture frequently draws a comparison in this respect, that they earnestly long for the appointed day when they shall receive their reward; for they groan, as it were, under the burden, and grievously dislike their daily toils. (Job 7:1.) In this way the Lord says, that he fixes a day for the Moabites, in which they shall not escape from the entire destruction of their power.
With all his multitude. He expressly mentions a multitude, because their number was great, and because they boasted of it, and thought that they were invincible. When he adds, that the remnant shall be feeble, he means that there will be so great a change, that they will have no resemblance to their former condition; for nothing will be left but a sad and shocking sight.
End Of Volume First.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(14) But now the Lord hath spoken . . .The point of contrast seems to lie in the vaguer character of what had gone before, and the specific defined prediction that follows. Within three years, measured with the exactness of the hired labourer, who will not give more than he has contracted for, and of the employer, who will not take less. The same phrase meets us in Isa. 21:16.
The glory of Moab shall be contemned.We may infer from the fact that the prophecy was recorded when the writings of Isaiah were collected. whether by himself or another, that men looked on it as an instance of his prevision. History is, indeed, silent as to the manner of its fulfilment. It was probable, however, that the armies of Salmaneser or Sargon swept, as those of Pul and Tiglath-pileser had done (1Ch. 5:26), over the region east of the Jordan, and so invaded Moab. (See Note on Isa. 17:1.) We note that here also there was to be a remnant, but not like that of Israel, the germ of a renewed strength.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
REFLECTIONS
READER! pause over this chapter, in the solemn contents of it, and then gather into one collected view, the history of Moab, in the scripture account of it, from beginning to end; and behold what a miserable life, the life of carnal men of every description and character is, in whatever point of view they are regarded. Moab is but a picture of men and things out of Christ, throughout the earth. The situation of Moab was indeed most lovely, in those rich plains of Jordan, by Jericho. But what are grapes and vineyards, or the fertility and riches of a kingdom, where the inhabitants know not the Lord? What is the whole Turkish empire, in all the luxuries the imagination can conceive, while under the curse of God in Mahometan darkness? Oh, Reader! think of the vast and immense privileges of the blessed gospel of the ever blessed God! It is not for the precious things brought forth by the sun, neither for the precious things put forth by the moon; but the good-will of him that dwelt in the bush! when once the soul is truly awakened to a sense of sin, and the apprehension of the wrath to come; when the short and perishing state of things around is properly seen, and as rightly valued; then nothing short of Christ can bring comfort and content to the heart. Reader! let us learn wisdom from the history and destruction of Moab, and send to Him, who is the ruler of our sinful land, our tribute, and seek in his sacrifice, pardon and forgiveness. Let us not only send to him, but come to him, the true Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. He is upon the throne of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness. Yea, he is the Lamb in the midst of the throne; and that throne is a throne of grace, as well as glory. He will hear, and answer prayer, for he is still the meek and lowly Saviour, who hath said, Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Oh! for grace to come boldly unto his throne, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in all time of need!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 16:14 But now the LORD hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of an hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned, with all that great multitude; and the remnant [shall be] very small [and] feeble.
Ver. 14. Within three years. ] In which time the sins of the Moabites shall be full, and themselves ripe and ready for vengeance. Three years hence, therefore, sc., in the fourth year of King Hezekiah; for then came up Shalmaneser against Samaria, and it is probable that in his march thither he invaded and subdued these Moabites, that he might leave all safe behind him. A hundred years after which, or more, Nebuchadnezzar utterly ruined them, according to Jer 48:1-47
As the years of an hireling, Within. Some codices, with two early printed editions, read “about”.
three years. From the death of Ahaz.
contemned = brought low.
small = few.
feeble = small.
three: Isa 7:16, Isa 15:5, Isa 21:16, Deu 15:8
the glory: Isa 17:4, Isa 23:9, Gen 31:1, Est 5:11, Jer 9:23, Nah 2:9, Nah 2:10
and the remnant: Jer 48:46, Jer 48:47
feeble: or, not many
Reciprocal: Lev 25:50 – according to the time Deu 15:18 – a double Neh 13:1 – the Ammonite Isa 17:3 – they shall Isa 25:10 – Moab Jer 25:21 – Moab Jer 48:1 – Moab Jer 48:2 – no more Jer 48:16 – near Eze 25:8 – Moab Hos 10:15 – in Amo 2:1 – of Moab Zep 2:9 – Surely Zep 3:6 – cut
16:14 But now the LORD hath spoken, saying, {o} Within three years, as the years of an {p} hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be despised, with all that great multitude; and the remnant [shall be] very small [and] feeble.
(o) He appointed a certain time to punish the enemies in.
(p) Who will observe justly the time for which he is hired and serve no longer but will ever long for it.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes