THE division of chapters is singularly unhappy here; for the last five verses of chapter 14. form a section to themselves, and the two following chapters are but one subject. What adds to the confusion is the insertion of the sign of the new paragraph at verse 29 of chapter 14.; whereas verse 28 really pertains to the new burden—not to Babylon or the Assyrian, but to God's judgment on the Philistines.
“In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden. Rejoice not thou, whole Palestine, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.”
The death of Ahaz might naturally excite the hopes of his neighbors, the Philistines, who had been put down by the strong hand of his grandfather Uzziah. Of him it is written in 2 Chron. 26:4, that “he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah did. And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God: and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper. And he went forth and warred against the Philistines, and brake down the wall of Gath, and the wall of Jabneb, and the wall of Ashdod, and built cities about Ashdod, and among the Philistines. And God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians that dwelt in Gur-baal, and the Mehunims. And the Ammonites gave gifts to Uzziah; and his name spread abroad even to the entering in of Egypt; for he strengthened himself exceedingly.”
And now, not only Uzziah, but Ahaz, were gone; “the rod of him that smote” the land of the Philistines was “broken.” The enemy had learned to despise Judah in the days of faithless Ahaz. “For the Lord brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel: for he made Judah naked and transgressed sore against the Lord.” Who was his son that they should fear him? Let them not rejoice, however; “for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.” The primary accomplishment of this was in the reign of Hezekiah of whom it is recorded (2 Kings 18:8,) that “he smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza, and the borders thereof, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.”
But I see no reason whatever to suppose that this burden is an exception to the rest; especially as the strength of the language points to a mightier destruction than that inflicted by that pious king of Judah. Its proper fulfillment, therefore, awaits the latter day. And then to the full will be seen the two-fold application of divine power, when, on the one hand, the first-born of the poor shall feed and the needy shall lie down in safety; and on the other, Jehovah will not merely break the rod but kill the root of Philistia with famine and slay its remnant. In the next verse (31) the prophet bursts forth with the utmost animation, calling on the gate to howl, and the city to cry out. “Thou, whole Palestina, art dissolved: for there shall come from the north a smoke, and none shall be alone in his appointed times (or hosts).” Thus, an overwhelming and vigorously sustained force is threatened, which will sweep all before itself as far as the Philistines are concerned. Here, too, the end is deliverance for the godly Jews. “What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? That the Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust or find refuge in it.”
In chapters 15-16, we have the burden of Moab. What a picture of desolation and woe, and so much the more felt because so unexpected and sudden! The Philistines were not more offensive to God because of the pleasure they took in the calamities of Israel, than the Moabites in their excessive self-security and pride. “Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste, be [Moab] is undone; because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste, he is undone.” (Chap. 15:1.) Such seems to me the force a little more exactly. Broken thus in their strongholds, one after another surprised to their dismay, the people are supposed to go to their places to weep, with deep and universal signs of mourning in public and in private; and this to the extremities of their land, the very soldiers crying out like the weaker sex. (Ver. 2-4.) The prophet or whosoever is personated by him, cannot but feel for the disasters of Moab; and the graphic sketch of desolation and want and carnage is continued to the end of the chapter.
Chapter 16. opens with a call to Moab to send the lamb to the ruler of the land from Sela in the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion. This appears to be a reference to their ancient tribute. They were subdued by David of old, and sent him gifts. “And he smote Moab and measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground; even with two lines measured he to put to death, and with one full line to keep alive; and so the Moabites became David's servants, and brought gifts.” (2 Sam. 8:12.) Later on in the history, we find that the king of Moab was a sheep-master, and used to render to the king of Israel the tribute of 100,000 lambs, and as many rams with the wool. The prophet seems here to remind Moab of its obligation: otherwise their daughters must prepare for still greater calamities. (Ver. 1, 2.) “Take counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; bewray not him that wandereth. Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab: be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler: for the extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the land. And in mercy shall the throne be established; and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging and seeking judgment, and basting righteousness.” (Ver. 3-5.) The prophet, in his second counsel, touches on the dire offense, in the Lord's eyes, of Moab. Had he sheltered the outcasts of Israel? or had he taken advantage of their distressful flight to smite and betray them? The prophetic Spirit looks through Hezekiah to the true Son of David, who shall reign in righteousness when the last oppressive spoiler has come to his end.
The verses that follow (6-12) detail once more the pride of Moab and his most humiliating downfall, when, spite of his arrogance, “Moab shall howl for Moab; every one shall howl,” and the country shall vie with the towns in extent of devastation; and the prophet weeps afresh at the sight of the wretchedness of the once lofty foe, who prays in his sanctuary; “but he shall not prevail.”
The last verse shows that, whatever may be the full bearing of this burden on Moab, “within three years, as the years of an hireling, [i.e., I suppose, exactly measured out, as would be the fact in such a case,] and the glory of Moab shall be contemned, with all that great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and feeble.” That this was accomplished to the letter, there can be no doubt to the believing mind, though we know not the instrumentality, whether the king of Judah or the Assyrian.
But as little need one question that the fulfillment of all the terms of the prophecy will be in the grand future crisis; for it is certain that the final king of the north will fail to reach Moab, and that the children of Israel under the Messiah are to lay their hands upon him. Compare Isa. 11:14 with Dan. 11:41. Nothing more clearly proves that, if unknown or little known now, there will remain representatives of that nation in the end of the age to take their part in that catastrophe, humiliating to man but to the glory of God, when the chosen people, in their totality, shall be saved and restored by divine mercy to the land of their inheritance and their promised supremacy.