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Isaiah 16 Bible study: A harp for Moab
In 16:9-10 the battle shout that falls on Moab's harvest and the shouting that stops in its wine presses are one Hebrew word, heidad. And when the one who speaks says, "my heart sounds like a harp for Moab" (16:11), heart is me'eh, the inward parts, not lev, the usual word, which Jeremiah 48:36 has in nearly the same line.
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“A throne will be established in loving kindness. One will sit on it in truth, in the tent of David, judging, seeking justice, and swift to do righteousness.”
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“Isaiah 16 says that nobody will tread out wine in the presses.”
Is that in Isaiah 16, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
Lambs to the mountain of Zion
The burden of Moab (Isaiah 15:1) goes on, and it turns toward Zion: "Send the lambs for the ruler of the land from Selah to the wilderness, to the mountain of the daughter of Zion" (16:1) (see the honest questions). Then a picture of Moab's women: "as wandering birds, as a scattered nest, so will the daughters of Moab be at the fords of the Arnon" (16:2). And then a plea: "Give counsel! Execute justice! Make your shade like the night in the middle of the noonday! Hide the outcasts! Don’t betray the fugitive!" (16:3) (tap outcasts). "Let my outcasts dwell with you! As for Moab, be a hiding place for him from the face of the destroyer" (16:4) (tap dwell, hiding place, destroyer). The chapter doesn't name who pleads or who is asked. It gives the reason for the plea: "For the extortionist is brought to nothing. Destruction ceases. The oppressors are consumed out of the land" (16:4). These notes apply what the chapter says of Moab and its outcasts to no nation, people or region today.
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Isaiah 16
That was a taste
The rest of Isaiah 16 is waiting in Favor
- A throne in loving kindness
- Four words for pride
- Tears for Moab's vine
- Pride, vine and harp in Jeremiah 48
- The word before, and the word now
- 11 questions as you read
- 13 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
Favor reads the Bible in order, so you'll reach Isaiah 16 with everything before it in view. First week free, then $10 a month per person.
The Hebrew word behind it
הֵידָדheidadsay hay-DAD
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "shout, shouting, cheer". Strong's: "acclamation". The WEB gives it two ways a verse apart: "for on your summer fruits and on your harvest the battle shout has fallen" (16:9), and "Nobody will tread out wine in the presses. I have made the shouting stop" (16:10). The Hebrew Bible has heidad seven times, all in Isaiah and Jeremiah, and three of them are in one verse about Moab: "No one will tread with shouting. The shouting will be no shouting" (Jeremiah 48:33). In Jeremiah 25:30 it is the shout of those who tread grapes: "He will give a shout, as those who tread grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth" (Jeremiah 25:30).
For your group
Isaiah 16 Bible study questions
- 1"Hide the outcasts! Don’t betray the fugitive!" (16:3). When has someone been a safe place for you, and what did it mean to you?
- 2"We have heard of the pride of Moab … His boastings are nothing" (16:6). Where does pride most easily show up in you?
- 3"Therefore my heart sounds like a harp for Moab" (16:11). The one who speaks weeps for Moab (16:9-11). Who is hard for you to feel for when things go wrong for them?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Isaiah 16 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home