The Night Pride Fell: An Oracle Concerning Moab Text: Isaiah 15:1-9
Introduction: The Geography of Pride
The prophetic books of the Old Testament are not arranged in a sentimental jumble. After the prophet Isaiah lays the foundation of judgment and hope for Judah, the lens pulls back. Beginning in chapter 13, we get a series of oracles, or burdens, against the nations. This is not God taking a random tour of the neighborhood to dispense His displeasure. This is a systematic, theological mapping of the world. And it is crucial for us to understand that God is not a tribal deity. He is not the God of the Jews in the same way that Chemosh was the god of the Moabites. He is the God of all the earth, the King of kings, and all nations are accountable to Him. Their borders are lines He has drawn in the sand, and their kings reign only by His permission.
This is a truth our modern world has utterly forgotten. We think of nations as autonomous entities, governed by nothing more than their own constitutions and the shifting tides of geopolitics. But Scripture teaches us that God sets up kings and pulls them down. He is the governor among the nations. And when a nation sets itself against Him, when its defining characteristic becomes a strutting pride, judgment is not a possibility; it is an inevitability.
And so we come to Moab. Moab was Israel's cousin, descended from Lot, Abraham's nephew. They were family, but there was a long and bitter history. You remember Balak, the king of Moab, hiring Balaam to curse Israel. You remember the Moabite women seducing the men of Israel into idolatry at Peor. Moab's defining sin, the one that comes up again and again in the prophets, was pride. Jeremiah nails it: "We have heard of the pride of Moab, he is very proud; of his loftiness, his pride, and his arrogance, and the haughtiness of his heart" (Jeremiah 48:29). Moab was the picture of self-satisfied, arrogant rebellion. They trusted in their fortresses, their wealth, and their false gods.
This oracle in Isaiah 15 is a snapshot of what happens when that pride is shattered. It is a torrent of grief, a cascade of place names that would have been intimately familiar to the original hearers. It reads like a frantic news report from a war zone. The judgment is sudden, total, and devastating. And it is a warning to every nation, in every age, that trusts in its own strength. Pride is a declaration of war against God, and it is a war that no one has ever won.
The Text
The oracle concerning Moab. Surely in a night Ar of Moab is destroyed and ruined; Surely in a night Kir of Moab is destroyed and ruined. They have gone up to the temple and to Dibon, even to the high places to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba; Everyone’s head is bald and every beard is cut off. In their streets they have girded themselves with sackcloth; On their rooftops and in their squares Everyone is wailing, dissolved in weeping. Heshbon and Elealeh also cry out, Their voice is heard all the way to Jahaz; Therefore the armed men of Moab make a loud shout; His soul trembles within him. My heart cries out for Moab; Those who flee from her are as far as Zoar and Eglath-shelishiyah, For they go up the ascent of Luhith weeping; Surely on the road to Horonaim they keep awake with crying in distress over their destruction. For the waters of Nimrim are desolate. Surely the grass is dried up, the tender grass has completely ceased, There is no green thing. Therefore the abundance they have made and stored up They carry off over the brook of Arabim. For the cry has gone around the territory of Moab, Its wailing goes as far as Eglaim and its wailing even to Beer-elim. For the waters of Dimon are full of blood; Surely I will put added woes upon Dimon, A lion upon those of Moab who have escaped and upon the remnant of the land.
(Isaiah 15:1-9 LSB)
Sudden, Total Destruction (v. 1)
The oracle begins with a shocking announcement of overnight catastrophe.
"The oracle concerning Moab. Surely in a night Ar of Moab is destroyed and ruined; Surely in a night Kir of Moab is destroyed and ruined." (Isaiah 15:1)
An oracle is a burden, a weighty pronouncement from God. This is not Isaiah's political analysis. This is a divine decree. The judgment falls on Ar and Kir, two of Moab's most important and fortified cities. Ar was the capital, and Kir was a major fortress. These were the symbols of Moabite strength and security. And they are leveled "in a night."
This is key. The destruction is not the result of a long, drawn-out siege. It is sudden, swift, and complete. One moment, Moab is sleeping soundly, secure in its pride and military might. The next morning, its centers of power are rubble. This is how God's judgment often works in history. For years, even centuries, a nation can build its towers of Babel, thumbing its nose at Heaven. And then, in a moment, the foundation gives way. Think of the fall of the Berlin Wall, or the collapse of the Soviet Union. Pundits are always surprised, but students of Scripture should not be. God's patience is long, but it is not infinite. When the cup of iniquity is full, judgment can come like a thief in the night.
The Performance of Grief (v. 2-4)
The scene shifts from the ruined cities to the national response, which is a universal, public display of anguish.
"They have gone up to the temple and to Dibon, even to the high places to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba; Everyone’s head is bald and every beard is cut off. In their streets they have girded themselves with sackcloth; On their rooftops and in their squares Everyone is wailing, dissolved in weeping. Heshbon and Elealeh also cry out, Their voice is heard all the way to Jahaz; Therefore the armed men of Moab make a loud shout; His soul trembles within him." (Isaiah 15:2-4)
Notice the locations of their grief. They go up to the "temple" and the "high places." These are the centers of their idolatrous worship, likely dedicated to their god Chemosh. In their prosperity, they credited Chemosh. Now, in their devastation, they run to him for answers, but he is silent. Their gods are useless. Their weeping is a desperate, futile appeal to a deity who cannot save.
The displays of mourning are extreme and all-encompassing. Shaving the head and cutting off the beard were signs of profound humiliation and grief in the ancient world. Sackcloth, a coarse, uncomfortable fabric, was worn to express sorrow and repentance. This is not a private affair. The wailing is in the streets, on the rooftops, and in the public squares. The sound of it carries for miles, from city to city. Even the "armed men," the proud warriors of Moab, are not stoic. They are shouting in terror, their souls trembling. The pride that defined them has been utterly broken. The entire nation is "dissolved in weeping."
This is a picture of a world come undone. When a nation's idols fail, when its military might is shattered, when its confidence is revealed as a sham, all that is left is the raw, animal cry of despair. This is the fruit of pride. Pride promises self-sufficiency and strength; it delivers ruin and weeping.
The Prophet's Lament (v. 5)
In a striking turn, the prophet Isaiah himself enters into the grief of Moab.
"My heart cries out for Moab; Those who flee from her are as far as Zoar and Eglath-shelishiyah, For they go up the ascent of Luhith weeping; Surely on the road to Horonaim they keep awake with crying in distress over their destruction." (Isaiah 15:5)
This is a remarkable verse. Isaiah is a prophet of the God of Israel, and Moab is an enemy of Israel. Yet, as he pronounces God's righteous judgment, his own heart breaks. This is not the gloating of a rival. This is the sorrow of a man who understands the terror of God's wrath and the tragedy of human rebellion. It reflects the heart of God Himself, who takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 33:11). Jesus wept over Jerusalem, a city that was about to crucify Him, because He knew the judgment that was coming upon it.
A true man of God does not delight in judgment. He proclaims it with gravity and sorrow, knowing what it means. The prophet sees the refugees streaming out of the ruined land, weeping as they flee south. The roads are filled with the cries of the displaced and the dispossessed. The proud nation has been reduced to a column of terrified fugitives.
Ecological and Economic Collapse (v. 6-9)
The devastation is not limited to the cities and the people. The judgment extends to the land and the economy itself.
"For the waters of Nimrim are desolate. Surely the grass is dried up, the tender grass has completely ceased, There is no green thing. Therefore the abundance they have made and stored up They carry off over the brook of Arabim. For the cry has gone around the territory of Moab, Its wailing goes as far as Eglaim and its wailing even to Beer-elim. For the waters of Dimon are full of blood; Surely I will put added woes upon Dimon, A lion upon those of Moab who have escaped and upon the remnant of the land." (Isaiah 15:6-9)
The judgment is comprehensive. The "waters of Nimrim," a fertile area, are now desolate. The land is struck with a supernatural drought; there is "no green thing." This is a direct assault on their prosperity. A nation's lifeblood is its agriculture, and God simply turns off the tap. This is a reminder that our economies, our supply chains, our very food and water, are entirely dependent on His common grace. He gives, and He can take away.
What little wealth they have managed to save, their "abundance," they are now trying to carry away as they flee. But they will not get far. The cry of anguish has enveloped the entire territory. And the judgment is not over. The waters of Dimon are "full of blood," a picture of immense slaughter. And God promises to add to these woes. For the few who escape the initial destruction, a lion waits. The lion here represents a predator, perhaps another invading army, or simply the chaos and danger that fills a collapsed society. There is no escape. Whether by sword, famine, or beast, the judgment will be thorough.
The Pride Before the Fall
So what do we do with a chapter like this? First, we must see it as a permanent warning against the great sin of pride. Pride is the native language of the fallen heart. It is the assumption that we are the captains of our own ship, the masters of our own fate. A nation that becomes proud forgets God. It trusts in its military, its economy, its technology, its heritage. It writes God out of the story. And when a nation does that, it places itself on a collision course with reality. For God is reality. He is the one who gives the rain, the harvest, and the victory. To ignore Him is to build your house on the sand, and the storm is always coming.
We live in a proud nation. We are tempted to trust in our wealth, our political system, our military prowess. We have systematically driven God from our public squares, our schools, and our halls of government. We must not think that we are immune to the judgment that fell on Moab. The principles of God's government do not change. He opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6).
Second, we see the utter futility of idols. Moab ran to Chemosh, but their god was a block of stone. He could not hear their cries or stop the invasion. Our idols are more sophisticated. We worship at the altar of self-esteem, or sexual autonomy, or political power, or material comfort. But when the crisis comes, when the diagnosis is delivered, when the economy tanks, when the nation unravels, these gods are exposed as the frauds they are. They offer no comfort and no salvation. Only the living God can save.
Finally, this oracle of judgment should drive us to the only true refuge. The judgment on Moab, as terrible as it was, is a faint shadow of the final judgment to come. But God, in His mercy, has provided a way of escape. The Lion of the tribe of Judah, Jesus Christ, is the one who pursues His enemies. But for those who flee to Him for refuge, He becomes the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He absorbed the full measure of God's wrath against our pride on the cross. He endured the ultimate desolation so that we might be brought into the ultimate security.
The weeping of Moab was the weeping of despair. But there is another kind of weeping, the weeping of repentance, that leads to life. If we, as individuals and as a nation, will humble ourselves, put on the sackcloth of repentance, and cry out to the true and living God, we will not find a deaf idol. We will find a compassionate Father, who, for the sake of His Son, will forgive our sins and heal our land.