Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 16:11

Wherefore my bowels shall sound like a harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kir-haresh.

11. (Jer 48:36) my bowels shall sound like a harp ] omit “shall” with R.V. The poet’s emotion flows forth spontaneously in the strains of the elegy. The bowels are the seat of the more intense emotions (Job 30:27), especially of compassion (Jer 4:19; Jer 31:20; Son 5:4). Kir-haresh ] Kir-heres. See on Isa 16:7.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Wherefore my bowels – This is also an expression of the deep grief of the prophet in view of the calamities which were coming upon Moab. The bowels in the Scriptures are everywhere represented as the seat of compassion, pity, commiseration, and tender mercy Gen 43:30 : His bowels did yearn upon his brother – he deeply felt for him, he greatly pitied him 1Ki 3:26; Psa 25:6; Pro 12:10; Son 5:4; Isa 63:15; Jer 4:19; Jer 31:20; Phi 1:8; Phi 2:1. In classic writers, the word bowels denotes the upper viscera of victims – the heart, the lungs, the liver, which were eaten during or after the sacrifice (Robinson, Lex., on the word splangchnon). In the Scriptures, it denotes the inward parts – evidently also the upper viscera, regarded as the seat of the emotions and passions. The word as we use it – denoting the lower viscera – by no means expresses the sense of the word in the Scriptures, and it is this change in the signification which renders the use of the very language of the Bible unpleasant or inappropriate. We express the idea by the use of the word heart – the seat of the affections.

Shall sound like an harp – The bowels are represented in the Scriptures as affected in various modes in the exercise of pity or compassion. Thus, in Lam 1:20, Jeremiah says, My bowels are troubled (see Lam 2:1; Jer 31:20). Job Job 30:27, says, My bowels boiled, and rested not; there was great agitation; deep feeling. Thus, Jer 4:19 :

My bowels! My bowels! I am pained at my very heart.

My heart maketh a noise in me.

So Isa 63:15 : Where is the sounding of thy bowels and mercies? The word sound here means to make a tumultuous noise; and the whole expression here denotes that his heart was affected with the calamities of Moab as the strings of the harp vibrate when beaten with the plectrum or the band. His heart was deeply pained and affected by the calamities of Moab, and responded to those calamities, as the strings of the harp did to the blow of the plectrum.

Mine inward parts – The expressions used here are somewhat analogous to ours of the beating of the heart, to denote deep emotion. Forster says of the savages of the South Sea that they call compassion a barking of the bowels.

For Kirharesh – (See the note at Isa 16:7.)

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Shall sound, through compassion to them; of which See Poole “Isa 15:5“. In excessive griefs the bowels are sometimes rolled and tumbled together, so as to make an audible noise. Hereby he signifies the greatness of their approaching calamity, which being so grievous to him, must needs be intolerable to them.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

11. bowelsin Scripture theseat of yearning compassion. It means the inward seat of emotion, theheart, c. (Isa 63:15 compareIsa 15:5; Jer 48:36).

sound . . . harpas itsstrings vibrate when beaten with the plectrum or hand.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Wherefore my bowels shall sound like a harp for Moab,…. Making a noise as the harp does, and a mournful one as that, when used at funerals; which it makes when it is stricken or played on with the hand, as these were, through the afflictive and punitive hand of God; and which, when stricken, causes a quavering of the strings, to which the inward trembling of the bowels is compared, and is very expressive of the prophet’s sympathy, or those he personates; for, when one string of the harp is touched, the rest sound. For these words, as Kimchi says, are spoken in the language of the Moabites; those that survived lamenting the desolate state of their country, which must be very great and affecting; and to show that it was so is the design of the prophet’s expressing himself after this manner; for if it was painful to him, it must be much more so to them; so the Targum,

“wherefore the bowels of the Moabites shall sound as a harp;”

of the sounding of the bowels, see Isa 63:15:

and mine inward parts for Kirharesh: the same with Kirhareseth,

Isa 16:7 which being a principal city, the destruction of it was greatly laid to heart. The Targum is,

“and their heart shall grieve for the men of the city of their strength;”

it being a strong city, in which they placed their confidence; but being destroyed, and the inhabitants of it, it was very affecting, to which agrees Jer 48:31.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

11. Therefore my bowels shall sound like a harp for Moab. Assuming the character of a Moabite, the Prophet again describes excessive lamentation, proceeding from grief so intense that even the bowels make a distressing noise; for by the sign he intended to point out the reality. We have formerly explained the object of those lively descriptions, which is, to bring the events, as it were, before our eyes, and to lead us to entertain stronger hopes of those things which appear to go beyond all belief. By again naming Kir-Hareseth, the chief city, and thus taking a part for the whole, he describes the destruction of the whole country.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(11) My bowels shall sound like an harp . . .The context leaves it uncertain whether the speaker is the prophet as in Isa. 16:9, or Jehovah as in Isa. 16:10. The former seems, perhaps, the most natural. On the other hand, the very phrase is used of the compassion of Jehovah in Isa. 63:15. The bowels, as in modern language the heart, were looked on as the seat of the emotions, and as such they vibrate, like the chords of the harp or lyre (kinnr) used at funerals, with the thrills of pity.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

11. Wherefore my bowels An expression of deepest grief. The viscera above the diaphragm, including heart, lungs, liver, are here called “bowels.”

Shall sound like a harp Grief was capable, it was thought, of causing the heart to beat and the nerves to tremble; and such sensations were fancied to resemble low harp sounds.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Isa 16:11 Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kirharesh.

Ver. 11. Wherefore my bowels shall sound a like an harp for Moab.] The “elect of God, holy and beloved, have bowels of mercy, tenderness, and kindness” toward their very enemies also, Col 3:12 whom they do oft pity more than they pity themselves, as Habakkuk did the Chaldeans’ calamity, Isa 3:16 and as Daniel did Nebuchadnezzar’s downfall. Dan 4:19 Sicut cithara plectro tacta dat sonitum in funere funereum, As they have mournful music at funerals; Jer 9:17 ; Jer 9:20 Mat 9:23 or as the strings of a shawm sound heavily, so do my heart strings for miserable Moab. In a harp, if one string be touched, all the rest sound; so it should be with us in regard of fellow feeling. We should feel others’ hard cords through our soft beds.

a Ego ex intimis visceribus meis conturbatus. – Jun.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)