Isaiah 15:1-9 The burden of Moab. Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence… In these very vigorous touches we have - I. A FINE BUT FEARFUL PICTURE OF NATIONAL DISTRESS. We see two of the principal cities attacked, unexpectedly, in the night, taken by assault and ravaged with the merciless cruelties of ancient war (ver. 1); we see the inhabitants flocking to their national temples to weep, "with lamentable voice," over their humiliation; we see them resorting to the last indignities, self-inflicted, in order to express more forcibly than words can do the extremity of their woe (ver. 2); we see them neglecting their daily labor and going up to their house-tops, there to pour forth their loud laments (ver. 3); we see the very army dispossessed of its manliness and weeping like a company of women (ver. 4); we see fugitives hastening into exile with bitter cries, more resembling the lowing of the kine for their calves than the voice of man or woman (ver. 5); we see the land afflicted with drought and white with famine (ver. 6); we see those who had wealth to lose stealing away with their precious things, hoping they may secrete and save them (ver. 7); we see the waters of the land red with the blood of her slaughtered sons and daughters (ver. 9); and in the background, where we might hope to find some break in the blackness of the vision, we see the wild beasts that haunt the depopulated land hungry for their prey (ver. 9). II. AN INTIMATION OF COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY. It cannot be doubted that this fearful fate was a judgment from Heaven, otherwise it would not have been thus foretold by the mouth of God's prophet. Moab was to be brought low, to be wasted, to be terribly afflicted because it was guilty, because the nation had incurred the condemnation of God. In the first instance, individual souls are responsible for their thoughts, words, lives. But responsibility does not end here; it extends to the family, to the Church, to the society, to the island population, to the great kingdom or empire. For the action which it takes, for the influence it exerts, for the principles on which it is shaping its course and living its life, God holds it responsible, and he will reward or punish it some day according to his judgment concerning it. There is no community too small to be disregarded by him; none too large to be beyond the exercise of his righteous government. III. AN INFERENCE AS TO PRIVILEGE AND GUILT. Moab stood outside the circle of sacred privilege. God had not been speaking daily, weekly, monthly, annually, by priest and rite, by prophet and prophecy, to her. Yet was she held responsible for her sin and punished for her transgressions. If the unprivileged Moab was thus accountable, how much more the people to whom were committed the oracles of God, and in the midst of whom dwelt the Most High himself? And how much more yet those peoples of the earth to whom has been vouchsafed the gospel of the Son of God? "For if the word spoken by angels," etc. (Hebrews 2:2, 3); and "if he that despised Moses' Law," etc. (Hebrews 10:28, 29). Moab "sinned without Law" and perished (Romans 2:12). Israel "sinned in the Law" and "was judged by the Law," and was condemned (Romans 2:12). If England sins under the gospel, she will be judged by the righteous principle, that "from them to whom much is given men expect the more," and from them God requires the more. It must be that the brighter the light of privilege and opportunity, the deeper the shadow of disobedience and condemnation. 1. Realize the responsibility that devolves upon citizenship, upon membership of a society or of the Church, and use all the power that can be exercised upon the community to preserve it from wrong courses, to incite it to wise and worthy measures. 2. Remember that the larger and also the smaller communities rest upon the basis of the family and, ultimately, the individual Let every man see that God is honored in his own home and in his own heart, and then will the rectitude and thus the prosperity of the whole Church, of the entire kingdom, be assured. - C. Parallel Verses KJV: The burden of Moab. Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence; because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence; |
    |