Yeshayah 16:9

9 Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Yazer the gefen of Sivmah; I will water thee with my tears, O Cheshbon, and Elealeh; for the shouting for thy summer fruits and for thy katzir has fallen away.

Yeshayah 16:9 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 16:9

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 ( Psalms 6:6 ) : O Heshbon, and Elealeh;
perhaps alluding to the fishponds, in the former, ( Song of Solomon 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 ^F7 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 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 Ebr Concord. Part p. 253.

Yeshayah 16:9 In-Context

7 Therefore shall Moav wail for Moav, everyone shall wail; for the raisin cakes of Kir Chareset shall ye mourn; surely as they who grieve.

8 For the fields of Cheshbon languish, and the gefen of Sivmah; Ba’alei Goyim have broken down the choicest vines thereof, they reached even unto Yazer, they wandered to the midbar; her shoots are stretched out, they are gone over the yam.

9 Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Yazer the gefen of Sivmah; I will water thee with my tears, O Cheshbon, and Elealeh; for the shouting for thy summer fruits and for thy katzir has fallen away.

10 And simchah is taken away, and gladness out of the carmel (fruitful field) and in the kramim (vineyards) there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting; the treaders shall tread out no yayin in their presses; I have made their vintage shouting to cease.

11 Therefore my heart shall lament like a kinnor (harp) for Moav, and mine inmost being for Kir Charesh.