Isaiah 15
COMMENTARY:
: 1 The burden of Moab. Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence; because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence. (4853 “burden” [massa] means utterance, oracle, carrying, pronouncement, or lifting.)
DEVOTION: Isaiah was a prophet of God. He received messages from the LORD to give to the people. Most of the time the messages of the prophets to the children of Israel were to warn them of coming judgment. If they didn’t repent of their sin and begin following the LORD, the judgment would come. The children of Israel were not good at repenting and turning again to following the LORD. They liked their life of sin. They didn’t want the LORD to interfere with their fun. HE would send judgment.
However, the LORD didn’t appreciate others giving the children of Israel a hard time during their time of judgment, so HE would tell them that they were going to be judged too.
Isaiah was given a pronouncement against the children of Moab. It was a message of judgment for their actions against the children of Israel. It stated that the LORD was going to destroy the nation because of their actions.
Today we can look into the Word of God and convey its message to those around us. There is a message of hope and a message of judgment.
The message of hope is that everyone has to repent of their sins and turn toward following the LORD and then they will reserve a place in heaven for eternity.
The message of judgment deals with the idea of rejection of the message of hope. If individuals fail to make change through repentance, then there would be a place reserved in the lake of fire for eternity.
Now we look that the fact that some people persecute Christians and think that they are going to get away with it. That is not true. They might get away with it for a time period but judgment is coming. Judgment begins at the house of the LORD on those Christians who are mistreating other Christians by not loving one another. We are not to mistreat our fellow believers. We are to warn and encourage those who know Christ.
Those who persecute Christians because they hate the message of hope will be judged in a different way. There are degrees of punishment even in the lake of fire. There is not going to be any parties with friends in eternity for those who are in the lake of fire.
CHALLENGE: Christians deliver the message of the LORD that HE gives you from HIS Word. Those outside of Christ watch what you do to those who are believers. The LORD is in control.
: 5 My heart shall cry out for Moab; his fugitives shall flee to Zoar, an heifer of three years old: for by the mounting up of Luhith with weeping shall they go in up; for in the way of Horonaim they shall raise up a cry of destruction.
DEVOTION: “Ministers, in denouncing the wrath of God against sinners, should do it with tender sorrow, not with exultation. (Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the whole Bible by Robert Jamieson; A.R. Fausset). This quote should be the attitude of all believers when they see something happening to people who have rejected the LORD.
There are many nations that have rejected the God of the Bible but our attitude should be one of prayer rather than one of cursing. We are to reach the lost with all the strength we have. Most of the time they don’t want to hear our message but we should still be praying for them and using every means to give them the message of salvation.
The LORD holds us accountable for our actions toward those who have rejected HIS offer of salvation. Our prayers should be for those we know that are not believers.
Christ came to save sinners which Paul said he was chief. We all still sin after becoming believers and need to remember that as we try to reach others with the message of salvation.
CHALLENGE: Isaiah had the right attitude and we need to follow in his footsteps as we try to reach those around us with the message of salvation.
: 7 Therefore the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have laid up, shall they carry away to the brook of the willows. (3502 “abundance” [yithrah] means wealth, valuables that are accumulated or riches.)
DEVOTION: Isaiah is given many visions regarding the nations that are hurting Israel. The LORD is using the Assyrians to deal with Israel. The reason for HIS judgment on Israel is their sin. They have not honored HIM. They have not listened to HIS prophets. They were doing what was right in their own eyes.
While the Assyrians were destroying the land of Israel many people were running from the army of Assyria. They went the way of Edom to get out of the hands of these soldiers. The problem was that the Edomites didn’t like Israel and so they captured the Israelites and gave them to the Assyrians.
So they were hurting their own cousins. The Moabites were descendants of Abraham through his brother’s son Lot. Abraham had saved Lot from danger many times.
One of the times was when the LORD was going to destroy Sodom, in which, Lot lived. Abraham prayed for deliverance but the LORD stated that their iniquity was full. The five cities of the plain were to be destroyed. God spared one for Lot and his two daughters to flee to. After that time Lot and his daughters hid in a cave and the daughters gave their father wine to make him drunk and then had sexual relations with him. Each of the daughters produced a son and they went on to form the nations of Moab and Ammon.
These descendants of Lot had accumulated wealth that they wanted to save. They had more valuables than they could carry. They thought that as long as Israel was being judged they would be OK. They were wrong.
They tried to take their wealth with them as they ran from their enemy. They had mistreated their cousin’s relatives and the LORD was going to judge them for this mistreatment.
The Assyrians were the tool the LORD used to cause the Moabites to run to Edom. They went weeping and in sackcloth because of their grief. They didn’t even have good water to drink.
We need to not seek revenge. We need to be aware that the LORD deals with our enemies in HIS time and in HIS way. We need to leave those who mistreat us, even if they are relatives, to the LORD.
Our responsibility is to honor or glorify the LORD. HE will do our fighting for us. All the wealth that our enemies accumulate will not make them happy. There will come a day when they will only take what they can carry away. There will come a day when they will be able to take NOTHING with them.
Praise the LORD that HE is in control. We need to thank HIM for any wealth we have accumulated. We also need to hold on to it loosely.
CHALLENGE: When judgment comes there is no time to collect your wealth and run. The LORD is going to deal with those who reject HIM. Warn those you love, especially your relatives.
: 9 For the waters of Dimon shall be full of blood; for I will bring more upon Dimon, lions upon him that escapes of Moab, and upon the remnant of the land. (7611 “remnant” [sha’eriyth] means residue, remainder, escaped, or what is left over.)
DEVOTION: This is a chapter that deals with Moab. It gives us a time of judgment for this nation. The judgment is complete. There will be no one left after the nation the LORD uses to judge them is finished. It is thought that it is Assyria and even Babylon.
This last verse gives the impression that the waters of Moab will be full of blood. The Moabites worshiped false gods. They were the ones who caused problems for the children of Israel was they moved from Egypt to the Promised Land. The time of judgment was going to come but the LORD is longsuffering regarding HIS timing of the judgment.
Now not even the people who had escaped the attack were still caught and killed because of the judgment of God. No one was going to escape the judgment of God. This happened to this nation and will happen in the future to all nations when the LORD returns to set up HIS kingdom.
Lions are never satisfied with hunger. They look for prey when they are hungry. So, while people are running from all the cities that are mentioned in Moab. They will be run down either by an army that acts like lions or even lions the LORD sends to do HIS judgment. HE is in control of what is going on in our world and can use either humans or animals or nature to carry out HIS judgments. Everything is available to HIM.
We need to warn our family and friends of the truth of the future judgment of God. They should not be able to say to us that we never shared the truth of the Word of God. They need to know that only those who genuinely follow Jesus Christ will be admitted into heaven.
CHALLENGE: Is our nation in a position of judgment from the LORD? Do we deserve judgment for what we are allowing to happen in our nation? Is our nation righteous or unrighteous in their actions?
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