(9) Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer . . .--The prophet, in his sympathy with the sufferings of Moab (see Isaiah 15:5), declares that he will weep with tears as genuine as those of Jazer itself over the desolation of its vineyards.

The shouting for thy summer fruits . . .--Better, as in the margin, on thy summer-fruits, and on thy harvest a shout is fallen, i.e., not the song of the vintage gatherers and the reapers, but the cry of the enemy as they trample on the fields and vineyards. The force of the contrast is emphasised, as in Jeremiah 48:33 ("a cheer which is no cheer," Cheyne), by the use of the same word (hedad) as that which in the next verse is employed for the song of those that tread the grapes. (Comp. Jeremiah 25:30.) Possibly the word for "harvest" is used generically as including the vintage.

Verse 9. - Therefore I will bewail (comp. Isaiah 15:5, and see the Homiletics on that verse). With the weeping of Jazer. "With tears as genuine as Jazer's own" (Kay). O Heshbon and Elealeh (on the close connection of these two cities, see the comment on Isaiah 15:4). For the shouting, etc.; rather, for on thy summer fruits and on thy harvest a shouting is fallen. The "shouting" intended is that of the invading enemy, which replaces the ordinary joy-song of the vintagers (see ver. 10).

16:6-14 Those who will not be counselled, cannot be helped. More souls are ruined by pride than by any other sin whatever. Also, the very proud are commonly very passionate. With lies many seek to gain the gratification of pride and passion, but they shall not compass proud and angry projects. Moab was famous for fields and vineyards; but they shall be laid waste by the invading army. God can soon turn laughter into mourning, and joy into heaviness. In God let us always rejoice with holy triumph; in earthly things let us always rejoice with holy trembling. The prophet looks with concern on the desolations of such a pleasant country; it causes inward grief. The false gods of Moab are unable to help; and the God of Israel, the only true God, can and will make good what he has spoken. Let Moab know her ruin is very near, and prepare. The most awful declarations of Divine wrath, discover the way of escape to those who take warning. There is no escape, but by submission to the Son of David, and devoting ourselves to him. And, at length, when the appointed time comes, all the glory, prosperity, and multitude of the wicked shall perish.Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah,.... That is, bewail the one, as he had done the other, both places with the fruits about them being destroyed by the enemy; or "therefore with weeping I will bewail" (most vehemently lament, an usual Hebraism) "Jazer", and "the vine of Sibmah": the prophet here represents the Moabites weeping for their vines more especially, they being a people addicted to drunkenness, in which their father was begotten; hence Bacchus is said to be the founder of many of their cities, see Jeremiah 48:32. The Targum is,

"as I have brought armies against Jazer, so will I bring slayers against Sibmah;''

I will water thee with my tears: shed abundance of them, see Psalm 6:6,

O Heshbon, and Elealeh; perhaps alluding to the fishponds, in the former, Sol 7:4 of these places; see Gill on Isaiah 15:4,

for the shouting for thy summer fruits, and for thy harvest, is fallen; is ceased, so as not to be heard; namely, the singing and shouting which used to be made by labourers, while they were gathering the summer fruits, or reaping the harvest, with which they amused and diverted themselves, and their fellow labourers, and so their time and their work went on more pleasantly; or else that great joy and shouting they expressed when all was ended, something of which nature is still among us at this day; but now in Moab it was at an end, because the enemy had destroyed both their summer fruits and harvest; though Jarchi and Kimchi interpret this shouting of the enemy, of the spoilers and plunderers, upon their summer fruits and harvest, when they destroyed them; and so the Targum,

"upon thy harvest, and upon thy vintage, spoilers have fallen;''

so Noldius (g) renders the words, "for upon thy summer fruits, and upon thy harvest, the shouting shall fall"; that is, the shouting of the enemy, spoiling their fruits and their harvest; and this seems to be the true sense, since it agrees with Jeremiah 48:32 and the ceasing of the other kind of shouting is observed in the next verse Isaiah 16:10.

(g) Ebr Concord. Part p. 253.