Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He describes the devastation and lamentation of Moab.
Vulgate Text: Isaiah 15:1-9
1. The burden of Moab. Because Ar of Moab was laid waste by night, it was silenced: because the wall of Moab was destroyed by night, it was silenced. 2. The house went up, and Dibon to the high places, to weep over Nebo and over Medaba. Moab howled: on all their heads is baldness, and every beard is shaved. 3. In their streets they are girded with sackcloth: on their rooftops and in their squares all howling descends into weeping. 4. Heshbon and Elealeh shall cry out, their voice is heard even to Jahaz. Therefore the armed men of Moab shall howl, his soul shall howl to itself. 5. My heart shall cry out for Moab, his fugitives shall flee to Zoar, a heifer of three years old: for by the ascent of Luhith they shall go up weeping, and in the way of Horonaim they shall raise up a cry of destruction. 6. For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate, because the grass has withered, the sprouts have failed, all greenery has perished. 7. According to the greatness of their work shall be their punishment: they shall lead them to the brook of willows. 8. For the cry has gone round about the border of Moab: its howling even to Gallim, and its cry even to the Well of Elim. 9. For the waters of Dibon are filled with blood: for I will bring upon Dibon additional things; upon those who flee from Moab a lion, and upon the remnant of the land.
Verse 1: The Burden of Moab
1. THE BURDEN OF MOAB. — The Chaldean: The burden of the cup of curse to be given to Moab to drink. Moab is part of Arabia Petraea, so named from Moab the son of Lot, who with his descendants inhabited it. For when Lot fled from Sodom burning with heavenly fire and turned into the Dead Sea, his younger daughter made her father drunk, and approaching the drunken man, conceived from him a son, whom she called Moab, that is, "from the father," as if she were saying: From my father I have begotten this son, who is therefore my son and at the same time my brother.
Moab borders on and is bounded by the Dead Sea to the West, by the Euphrates to the East, by the torrent Arnon to the North, and by the desert of Kadesh-Barnea and Edom to the South. In Moab the capital was Ar; the more notable cities were Dibon, Nebo, Medaba, Heshbon, Elealeh, Luhith, and Horonaim. In this Arabia Petraea is the great city of Mecca, three days' journey from the Red Sea, in which stands the famous shrine of Mohammed, one hundred paces long, eighty wide, supported by four hundred columns: and its walls on every side are covered with gold, which, receiving the light of nearly three thousand perpetually burning hanging lamps, dazzle the eyes of beholders with a wondrous brilliance, as Adrichomius reports, page 78, from Brocard, Breidenbach, Ludovicus Romanus, and others.
Moab was fertile, being near the most fertile Pentapolis, and productive both of crops and especially of cattle, says St. Jerome. Hence the inhabitants, given over to luxury and sensuality, celebrated with their feasts and revels Chemosh or Bacchus, as I said at Jeremiah 48:7. Furthermore, the Moabites were enemies of the people of God, namely the Jews, and often harassed them: hence God here threatens them with destruction, either through Sennacherib, as St. Jerome and Cyril would have it; or rather through Nebuchadnezzar, as the same St. Jerome, Cyril, St. Thomas, Haymo, and Dionysius say. For that Moab was devastated by Sennacherib is not clear from Sacred Scripture, Josephus, or other historians; but that it was done by Nebuchadnezzar is established from Jeremiah 48, where Jeremiah, using nearly the same words that Isaiah uses here, threatens the Moabites with destruction. Whence it appears that Isaiah is treating of the same destruction as Jeremiah, namely that inflicted by the Chaldeans: for the destruction by Sennacherib, if any occurred, long preceded the time of Jeremiah; hence it could not have been predicted by him.
What is said in this chapter is obscure to us, both because the cities that are named in it have long since perished, and we do not know exactly where they were situated; and because Scripture does not narrate the manner of the devastation of Moab.
Mystically, St. Bernard, Treatise on the Eleven Burdens, Sermon 3, continues thus: "The burden of Moab is added; which is interpreted as 'from the father.' It expresses that natural necessity which the father transmits to the son through generation; such as the inescapable necessity of eating, drinking, and sleeping, and the other things that pertain to the necessary care of the body. What a burden this is, dearest brothers, by which we are compelled, after the splendor of the sun, to return to the care of this flesh as to a fetid corpse, and after the spiritual foods of the mind, to attend to the burdens of the belly! What a burden! which daily exacts from us a tribute of wretched servitude; and the belly which we daily fill, once emptied, compels us to refill it the next day! What shall I say? What a burden of anxieties and cares necessity
imposes on wretched mortals? So much so that for some people their god is their belly, for whose — I will not say pleasure, but burden — they hold justice itself and divine doctrine up for sale? Such people, as the Apostle says, do not serve the Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly. What further burden they sustain in the very distinction of foods, desiring these, rejecting those; when some foods twist the belly, others burden the head, others block the chest, others press the heart with corrupted humors. But what shall I say of those whom this necessity compels now to murmur, now to slander, now moreover to quarrel? They are saddened if the food is too cheap, if the drink served is less tasty, if it is prepared too slowly, if it is attended to too carelessly. Brothers, those who live according to carnal generation can be called Moab, to be condemned with the weight of punishment which the Prophet commemorates in the burden of Moab."
BY NIGHT AR WAS LAID WASTE. — Fittingly Moab was laid waste by night, for he was born at night from an incestuous union, which needed to be wrapped in darkness and silence, says St. Jerome. Whence this reproach, namely that they were sons of the night, other nations used to cast at the Moabites. "Ar" was the capital of Moab. Whence in Hebrew it is called ir, and in Moabite Ar, meaning "city," namely the first city of the kingdom, by antonomasia; from this it was afterward called Areopolis, as if Ar-polis, that is, "Ar the city," and not because Ares, that is Mars, had his polis, that is, city there, as many think.
BY NIGHT THE WALL WAS DESTROYED — that is, Moab was silenced when the city of Ar was captured, which was the wall and bulwark of the entire province. Cyril teaches from historians that, when the Chaldeans came, the walls of Ar collapsed by earthquake, and thus the city was easily occupied by them.
For "wall" the Hebrew is qir, which Vatablus and others take as the name of a city of Moab, which was equally devastated as Ar; and this is very plausible, as will be evident from the next chapter, verse 7. Whence also the more correct Bibles write "Wall" (Murus) with a capital M.
Verse 2: The House Went up
2. THE HOUSE WENT UP — that is, as St. Jerome says, the royal house and family, and also the entire city of Dibon, went up to the high places, that is, to the shrines which were on the high mountains, where they worshipped Chemosh their god, to lament there, invoke Chemosh, and take refuge in it as a place safe from the Chaldeans. Second, Pagninus and Vatablus translate: Ar or Kir city went up (that is, the inhabitants of the city) to Baith, that is, to the temple itself, that is, to the temple of Chemosh, to beseech their idol. Third, Forerius and Sanchez think that Baith or Beth, that is, "house," is the proper name of a city, and perhaps an abbreviation of Bethgamul, Bethmaon, or Bethhoron, which were cities of Moab.
BALDNESS — for in mourning the ancients shaved their heads and shaved their beards. Jeremiah says the same of Moab, chapter 48, verse 37.
Verse 4: The Armed Men of Moab shall Howl
4. THE ARMED MEN OF MOAB SHALL HOWL. — For "armed" the Hebrew is challutse, that is, girded with weapons; the Moabites prepared and armed for defending their homeland, these with broken spirits will lay down their arms and howl. So Vatablus.
HIS SOUL SHALL HOWL TO ITSELF. — "His" means their; or "his" means of each individual Moabite; "to itself" means each will howl within himself. Furthermore, "soul" signifies that this howling will not be feigned or composed, such as that of hired mourners; but serious, flowing from the innermost heart and grief.
Verse 5: My Heart shall Cry out for Moab
5. MY HEART SHALL CRY OUT FOR MOAB. — This is the voice of Isaiah showing compassion for Moab, although an enemy of Israel, meaning: Although the Moabites are our enemies, nevertheless I truly grieve, and from grief I wail and cry out over their great destruction and misery, because
THE BARS (that is, the strong ones) OF IT (who with their strength protected Moab, just as bars protect the gates of a city), SHALL FLEE EVEN TO ZOAR — that is, to the borders of the kingdom. Zoar, I say, which is a three-year-old heifer, that is, as the Hebrew and Greek have it, three years old, or three years strong, meaning a strong, vigorous people, abounding in resources, like a three-year-old heifer: for at that age heifers and calves are most healthy, fattest, strongest, and equally most spirited. See what was said at Jeremiah 48:34.
plausible, as will be evident from the next chapter, verse 7. Whence also the more correct Bibles write "Wall" with a capital M.
FOR BY THE ASCENT OF LUHITH HE SHALL GO UP WEEPING. — Luhith seems to have been a city situated on a hill on the road from Moab to Babylon: therefore the Moabites, about to be led away to Babylon, went up there weeping, and from there reached Horonaim, which was the border of Moab toward Babylon: there, therefore, as if saying a final farewell to their homeland, from the innermost contrition and grief of their spirit they uttered cries and lamentations.
Verse 6: For the Waters of Nimrim shall be Desolate, meaning
6. FOR THE WATERS OF NIMRIM SHALL BE DESOLATE, meaning — The entire city and region of Nimrim is desolate, because by the hostile devastation all greenery has been consumed and dried up. With a similar figure, in chapter 8, he signified the kingdom of Judah by the waters of Siloam. Second and more suitably, meaning: The waters of Nimrim will be abandoned by their inhabitants in this devastation, nor will they be contained by their embankments, and therefore the salty waters from the adjacent Dead Sea will flow into them and contaminate them, so that they become bitter and foul, as Jeremiah says, chapter 48, verse 34. See what was said there.
BECAUSE (that is, as Vatablus and the Septuagint translate, "whence") THE GRASS HAS WITHERED, THE SPROUT HAS FAILED, ETC. — For the cause of the grass withering is that the waters fail, not the reverse. Thus the Hebrew ki, meaning "because," often signifies not the cause, but the concomitance, the outcome, the effect, and what has followed.
Verse 7: According to the Greatness of their Work
7. ACCORDING TO THE GREATNESS OF THEIR WORK — meaning: For the great demerits of their evil works the Moabites shall be severely punished. For "visitation" here, as often elsewhere, means the same as punishment.
THEY SHALL LEAD THEM TO THE BROOK OF WILLOWS — that is, the Chaldeans shall lead the captive Moabites to Babylon: for the brook of willows, says St. Jerome, is either a valley of Arabia through which one goes from Moab to Assyria and Babylon, or the Euphrates, near which Babylon lies; for willows customarily abound there. Whence Psalm 136 says: "By the rivers of Babylon, etc., upon the willows in the midst thereof we hung our instruments."
The Septuagint translates: I will bring upon the valley (of the Moabites) the Arabs. For the Arabs, neighbors of the Moabites, seem to have helped the Chaldeans in the devastation of Moab. Whence others also translate: what they have stored up they will carry to the river, and the Arabs, namely robbers and plunderers, will seize and carry off the remaining wealth.
Verse 9: For I will Bring upon Dibon Additional Things
9. FOR I WILL BRING UPON DIBON ADDITIONAL THINGS. — Some read Dibon; others Dimon: but Dibon and Dimon are the same; for the letters b and m, since both are labials and therefore akin in sound, are easily interchanged. Now by "additional things," first, Vatablus and Forerius understand new streams, meaning: Then the blood of the slain Moabites will flow in very many new streams into the river of Dibon.
Second, St. Jerome explains it thus, meaning: I will close off all avenues of escape and safety for the inhabitants of Dibon. Third, the Chaldean understands by "additional things" the army of the Chaldeans. Fourth, and more plainly, Haymo understands "additional things" as additional plagues, meaning: I will add blow upon blow to them, so that namely upon "those who have fled from Moab and the remnant of the land," that is, upon the remnant of Moabite fugitives, I will bring "a lion," that is, lions either literally; or rather, lions meaning Babylonian soldiers, fierce like lions, whom Nebuchadnezzar stationed on the roads so that they might intercept, capture, or kill all Moabite fugitives.
It is a proverb, which Jeremiah explains in other words and directs at the Moabites, saying, chapter 48, verse 44: "He who flees from the face of terror shall fall into the pit; and he who climbs out of the pit shall be caught in the snare"; and it is similar to that of Isaiah: "From the root of the serpent shall come forth a basilisk, and his seed a flying fiery serpent," about which I spoke at chapter 14, verse 29; meaning: He who escapes one disaster shall fall into another, and a greater one: for this is what the lion, the snare, the basilisk, etc. signify. For the terrible lion is a symbol of dreadful and horrible savagery and destruction; whence the Egyptians in their hieroglyphs painted a lion when they wished to signify a man of horrible and terrible appearance, says Pierius: indeed even if someone dreamed of having a lion's head, the dream-interpreters would declare that he would be terrifying to enemies. Whence, 1 Chronicles 12:8, it is said of David's most valiant soldiers: "Their faces were like the faces of a lion."
Second, Sanchez thinks Zoar and Moab are called a three-year-old heifer because after three years they will receive a heavy blow, as is said in chapter 16, verse 14, about which see there.
and others translate: what they have stored up they will carry to the river; the Arabs, namely robbers and plunderers, will seize and carry off the remaining wealth.