How do we cultivate caring empathy - especially for those we consider enemies? Isaiah listens to the laments and cries that carry over from across the eastern border, where the Kingdom of Moab is suffering, and opens up his heart to their suffering.
Moab has had a complex relationship with Judah, and at some point in the 10th century was a vassal state, paying tribute to King Solomon. It broke free in the 9th century and managed on its own, boasting victories and growth that were captured on a victory stone, discovered in 1868 and now residing in the Louvre.
But Assyria showed up and unlike Judah, Moab capitulated right away to become a vassal state. The tough taxation and exile policies as well as other nomadic tribes attacking Moab from the south left the kingdom ravaged.
That’s when Isaiah hears the calls for help, and spends the next two chapters with a mournful lament for Moab, using strange words and expressions that some scholars identify as actual Moabite terms and references, similar to Hebrew but also quite strange. Some suggest that he is recycling a much older text, with archaic terms that he is referencing precisely because he is not just addressing his own contemporaries but the neighbors across the border.
Perhaps that’s the echo and the lesson of these chapters - how can we bear witness to the suffering of those so like and yet unlike us? How can our heart also contain the pain of those who not so long ago or still consider us a threat?
לִבִּי֙ לְמוֹאָ֣ב יִזְעָ֔ק בְּרִיחֶ֕הָ עַד־צֹ֖עַר עֶגְלַ֣ת שְׁלִשִׁיָּ֑ה כִּ֣י ׀ מַעֲלֵ֣ה הַלּוּחִ֗ית בִּבְכִי֙ יַֽעֲלֶה־בּ֔וֹ כִּ֚י דֶּ֣רֶךְ חוֹרֹנַ֔יִם זַעֲקַת־שֶׁ֖בֶר יְעֹעֵֽרוּ׃
“My heart cries out for Moab—
His fugitives flee down to Zoar,
Where the three heifers dwell.
For the ascent of Luhith
They ascend with weeping;
On the road to Horonaim
They raise a cry of anguish.”
Isaiah 15:5
These chapters include many Moabite locations familiar to scholars but also many who are not. Isaiah charts a path of pain in a territory it is likely he has never visited himself. Why such an emphasis on geography? What is the purpose of this text? Some scholars suggest that while he is exhibiting empathy he’s also making a statement that rebukes Moab for its hubris, perhaps teaching a lesson for others to learn.
When the Mesha Steele was discovered in what today is Jordan, it delighted scholars with extra-biblical references to King Omri of Israel and to lesser known chapters from the 9th century BCE. The stone also lists extensive references to Moabite locations, as King Mesha boasts his victories and conquests.
The word “I” shows up thirteen times in King Mesha’s monument- all to glorify the king in his own words. Isaiah uses the word “I” fourteen times - speaking for YHWH.
When Isaiah lists the exact same location names in this chapter and the next one, as he cautions Moab - and the rest of us - from excess hubris - is he referring to the Mesha Steele? Is this in some way an ironic or satirical protest? It’s impossible to know whether Isaiah would have known of the Moabite monument’s existence, but just as he uses Moabite terms and locations - it’s a possibility.
And either way, he hears the cries: “the cry has circled the entire land of Moab” as the refugees seek solace and a place to land. Does Jerusalem have a duty to help those seeking asylum? Or will it just claim hopes and prayers?
Isaiah continues to address the situation in the next chapter, as relevant today as it was then.
“Like Watchmen in the Night”
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