Friday, December 22, 2023

And Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel (Isaiah 15)

There's not a lot to say about Isaiah chapter 15. This is a prophecy about Moab, saying that bad times are coming for them, although it doesn't specify why. This bit about being bald and beardless sounds to me like it's some aspect of the Moabites' mourning over their misfortune, but it's not clear. Most of the chapter seems to be lists of places in Moab where bad things happen, and there's a lot. In the end, people that escape the famine will be attacked by lions. It all seems very sad, but I'm once again assuming there's a reason for it; Moab had historically done a few evil things to Israel, like trying to curse them in the wilderness.

2 comments:

Steve Wells said...

You say that Moab has done some evil things to Israel. What evils are you referring to?

Was it when the Israelite men had sex with the daughters of Moab in Numbers 25?

If so, didn't God take care of that by hanging the heads of the people against the sun before the Lord, forcing the Israelites to kill each other, sending a plague that killed 24,000 (or maybe 23,000), and having Phinehas impale a happy couple through their bellies?

Wasn't that enough for him?

Brucker said...

Well, that was just evidence that Moab was successful in the end, despite God thwarting Baalam.