15:1 An oracle concerning Moab: When in one night Ar is devastated, Moab shall be silenced; when in one night Kir is razed, Moab shall be destroyed. Now, in chapters thirteen and fourteen we've had an oracle about Babylon and the king of Babylon. And from chapters fifteen through twenty-three there are numerous oracles about various nations, such as Moab, and we end up with the harlot, Tyre, in chapter twenty-three. These nations that are mentioned here, in these chapters, were in, more or less, an alliance with Babylon, against Assyria, against the Assyrian threat from the north. All of these nations in Isaiah's literary structure come under the Babylon umbrella, so they're all part of a Babylon conglomerate, a composite. John the Revelator calls his Babylon, Babylon the Great. And when you study John's Babylon you see that it's kind of a composite, or compound, of Isaiah's harlot Babylon, in chapter forty-seven, which is a worldwide entity, as in chapter thirteen, and the harlot Tyre. It includes all the nations, for all the nations of the earth have drunk of the wine of her fornication, in the book of Revelation. And so these nations that are mentioned here are, in Isaiah's structure, are part of that arch-Babylon. These nations are more than just the ancient entity Babylon. It includes all of the nations of the world, especially the ones who were in alliance with Babylon. And each one of these nations brings to light some kind of disposition or character trait. Moab represents pride, especially prideful, elite, kindred peoples. The Lord's judgments come against Babylon and against all of these nations. It's because it's all one and the same. "When in one night Ar is devastated, Moab shall be silenced: when in one night Kir is razed, Moab shall be destroyed." Ar and Kir, the two main cities of Moab are destroyed in one night, kind of like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in one night. Which is the kind of destruction Isaiah predicts for Babylon, as we saw in chapter thirteen. So these nations partake of that kind of Sodom and Gomorrah destruction, because it is in the end time, according to Isaiah's structures of worldwide destruction. And that includes the destruction of proud, kindred peoples like Moab. Remember, Ammon and Moab were the sons of Lot, who was Abraham's nephew. These are their descendants. In a latter-day context it will be some other entity that represents prideful, kindred peoples. 15:2 They will go up to the sanctuaries, and in Dibon to the hill shrines, to weep; they will wail in Moab over Nebo and Medeba. Every head shall be bald, every beard cut off. The shaving of the head, the cutting off of the beard, signifies mourning—that was very dramatic. So, they are religious; they pray in their sanctuaries, or their shrines. When this great destruction overtakes them they turn to their God, and pray. So these are religious, kindred people. 15:3 They will wear sackcloth openly; on the housetops and in the streets they will altogether wail and give way to weeping. 15:4 Heshbon will cry for help, as will Elealeh; their appeal shall be heard as far as Jahaz. They will sound the alarm to summon the armed men of Moab, but their spirit shall be broken. So, at this Assyrian invasion, and this destruction, this horrendous overnight, sudden destruction—a Sodom and Gomorrah destruction, the whole nation-- and every nation is involved here—goes into a panic, alarm, and mourning. It will be so horrendous that there will be nothing anybody can really do about it. Their "spirit shall be broken." 15:5 My heart will cry out for Moab; its fugitives will reach Zoar and as far as Eglath Shelishiah. In tears they will ascend the slopes of Luhith; on the road to Horonaim they will raise the cry of catastrophe. 15:6 For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate; the grass shall dry up, vegetation disappear, and no green foliage shall remain. So this kind of destruction includes the destruction of vegetation. Who can imagine, in an end time scenario that where we're talking about an overnight destruction, such is possible with today's technology, that that would include the desolation of the land. We have already seen, in other chapters, that the land is also going to be desolated. We saw that Israel's land is going to be desolated. Now an interesting thing is that in Isaiah's structure the wicked of Israel are proud of this Babylon conglomerate. Everything that is not Zion that is spared will be destroyed, with, or as, Babylon--in fact, Isaiah's Babylon in the seven-part structure of Isaiah that includes the host of the nations, tyrannical peoples, militaristic world powers, proud, kindred peoples in this case, but also the wicked of God's people, the wicked of Israel. 15:7 The surplus they have acquired, and their personal belongings, they will carry away over the Valley of the Willows. So they go out into the countryside, trying to find other places to live because their places have been left desolate. 15:8 The cry of calamity shall encompass the land of Moab; the sound of it shall reach Eglaim and echo as far as Beer Elim. 15:9 Although the waters of Dibon shall flow with blood, yet will I impose more than this upon Dibon: I will bring lions upon the fugitives of Moab and on those who remain in the land. So the whole situation is one of covenant curse. To be consumed, 0r eaten by wild animals, is a covenant curse. To have the land desolated and vegetation dried up, and so forth, and drought conditions, destruction of cities, having to go out as fugitives—all those are covenant curses. The covenant curses happen to arch Babylon, or greater Babylon, or to the nations that comprise Babylon, at a time when there's a reversal of circumstances between the Lord's righteous people, Zion, and the nations. For a time, they co-exist, and those who constitute Babylon are generally hedonistic and oppressive to the people of Zion. The people of Zion suffer that oppression and persecution. And that has a cleansing and refining effect upon them, until Lord, at a certain point, intervenes to turn the whole thing around. And then it is the wicked who are oppressed, and suffer the consequences of their oppressing others, and it is he Lord's people, Zion, who are delivered from calamity.