Commentary on Isaiah Volume 1 John Calvin
JOHN CALVIN
triennem per ascensum Luhith cum fletu ascendent: per viam Horonaim clamorem contritionis excitabunt.
6. For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate: for the hay is withered away, the grass faileth, there is no green thing.
6. Aquae Nimrim exinanitae sunt; aruit gramen, defecit herba, olus non superfuit.
7. Therefore the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have laid up, shall they carry away to the brook of the willows.
7. Itaque quod residuum quisque fecit, et opes suas deferent ad torrentem salicum, (vel, Arabes.)
8. For the cry is gone round about the borders of Moab; the howling thereof unto Eglaim, and the howling thereof unto Beer-elim.
8. Circuivit clamor terminos Moab, usque in Eglaim ulutatus ejus, et usque in Beer-Elim ululatus ejus.
9. For the waters of Dimon shall be full of blood: for I will bring more upon Dimon, lions upon him that escapeth of Moab, and upon the remnant of the land.
9. Quia aquae Dimon implebuntur sanguine; quoniam ponam super Dimon additiones iis qui evaserint de Moab leones, et reliquiis terrae.
1. The burden of Moab. Here the Prophet prophesies against the Moabites, who were neighbors to the Jews and related to them by blood; for we know that the Moabites were descended from Lot, who was Abraham's nephew. (Genesis 11:31, 19:37.) Those nations being so closely related, humanity at least demanded that they should maintain some friendly intercourse with each other. But no relationship prevented the Moabites from cherishing hostility towards the Jews, or even from harassing them whenever it was in their power; which is an evidence of a savage and barbarous disposition. To them also, on account of their cruelty towards the people of God, to whom they ought to have conducted themselves with brotherly love, the Prophet therefore threatens destruction.
We ought to remember the design of these predictions. It cannot be believed that they were of any advantage to the Moabites, even though they had heard from the mouth of the Prophet himself the words which we read; but he neither addressed them with his voice, nor sent to them a written communication. It was therefore to believers, rather than to them, that the Prophet looked, and for two reasons. The first reason was, that when they saw so many changes taking place, cities overturned, kingdoms destroyed and succeeding one another, they might not think that this world is governed by the blind violence of fortune, but might acknowledge the providence of God. If nothing had been foretold, the minds of men, having a strong tendency to foolishness, and being strangely blind to the works of God, might have been disposed to attribute all this to chance; but when they had been forewarned by the Prophets, they beheld the judgments of God as from a lofty watch-