Isaiah 15 THE DOWNFALL OF MOAB For some reason there is a tendency for those who come from a checkered past, to feel they are not accepted by others because of what those before them have done, and the residual effect it has on them. They are not responsible for what happened and yet they seem to be on guard and sensitive to the extent of being openly touchy with a hint of bitterness thrown in the mix. It is quite common for people to look for someone or something to blame for the adverse of things that happen in life. Gideon was like that, and it seems like Moab and his half-brother Ammon were like that as well. That attitude carried down through the years and generations until it became a characteristic of the nation of Moab. Moab was a child of incest hundreds of years before but there was a belligerent pride, a haughtiness and a smoldering anger that still was in the people at the time of Isaiah.
Their location as a tribal nation was good for raising cattle and those who deal with range cattle are often independent people with an ability to quickly react to a problem. The Moabites responded with antagonism to the Israelites when they were on the way to Canaan after being forty years in the wilderness. Balak, the king at that time, was willing to pay big money to Balaam, a false prophet, to curse the children of Israel. That could not be done because God was with His own people at that time. Consequently, the Moabites became implacable enemies of Israel. Even David took his parents to Moab when he was being pursued by Saul, but he knew enough not to stay there. When Isaiah was called to prophesy against Moab, and realized what was ahead of them as we read in chapters fifteen and sixteen, he was quite grieved.
Elimelech, Naomi and their sons moved to Moab when the field crops of Bethlehem failed during a famine. People could live in Moab because they didn’t really depend on grain harvests like those in Judah. Two young women of Moab certainly appealed to Mahlon and Chilion who married them. However, it seemed like Ruth had a special “something” about her that was unusual in Moab. The gods of the Moabites were seen by her for what they were – nothing, and the famous words spoken by her were not to the husband she loved, but to a straying believer whose faith could be seen in spite of being away from the place of God’s choosing. Ruth could see the counterfeit religion of Moab for what it was in comparison to what Naomi knew of her God.
Professions of faith do not make faith real. Professions of people who say they are Christians does not make them children of God. Faith is nothing in itself. What faith is in is what matters. True Christians have put their personal faith in Christ, not their religion or in themselves. The easy “believism” that seems to satisfy so many professing Christians is not the faith that pleases God. “He that cometh to God, must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” Professed conversions that don’t change anything are not real. Claiming new birth but not having new life as a new creation is a false claim.
Through passing generations, the Moabites became more antagonistic toward Israel and allied themselves with the enemies of Israel and Judah. Isaiah’s warning was given but the Moabites never responded to his emotional plea. Instead of repentance, there was resistance and antagonism. There was a hardness and coldness toward God’s servant, and they refused to pay any heed to his call to repent and turn to God. People who claim to be believers but have never repented of their sin and turned to Christ for salvation are as lost to God as those who are openly defiant against Him.