Isaiah 15 - Judgment on Moab

Surely in a night the city of Moab is devastated and ruined; surely in a night the citadel of Moab is devastated and ruined.

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Isaiah wrote the prophesy around 700BC. Moab has an interesting history.The land of Moab, spread along much of the eastern shore of the Dead Sea, never amounted to much. After the conquest of Canaan (1400 BC) the relations of Moab with Israel were of a mixed character, sometimes warlike and sometimes peaceful. The story of Ruth, the Moabite (1100BC) testifies to the existence of friendliness between Moab and Judah. The genealogy in the final chapter of the book explains how Ruth became the great-grandmother of King David (1040-970BC). The king had Moabite blood in his veins.

In her 700^th year of existence Isaiah proclaimed Moab would be destroyed. I doubt the King of Moab worried much about a prophet from a neighboring country. Yet, by the time of the destruction of the First Temple (597BC), the knowledge of which people belonged to which nation was lost and the Moabites were treated like all other gentiles. So…some 100 years after Isaiah wrote chapter 15…Moab ceased to exist as an identifiable nation. Moab survived about 800 years… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moab#Decline_and_fall

Not bad for a nation of no repute on the world stage. I wonder if the greatest nation in the history of the world (US) can hope to last that long.

But…why did Isaiah make this prophesy?

About 850BC, the Moabites rebelled against Israel, According to the Bible, the prophet Elisha directed the Israelites to dig a series of ditches between themselves and the enemy, and during the night these channels were miraculously filled with water which was as red as blood. Deceived by the crimson color into the belief that their opponents had attacked one another, the Moabites became overconfident and were entrapped and utterly defeated.

Moab’s prosperity and pride are are not only what defeated them in battle…they are what ultimately incurred the wrath of God.

So here we are…238 years old…saturated with prosperity and pride. The smart money says we’ll never last as long as Moab did unless we repent.

Live boldly out there today…