What is the context?
This message concerns Moab, and it continues into chapter 16. The opening announces the sudden ruin of Ar and Kir. The sound that follows is mourning: people weep at their places of worship, wear sackcloth in the streets and cry out from rooftops and public squares.
The shaved heads and cut beards belong to the scene of grief, as the NABRE notes explain. Even the soldiers tremble. The repeated place names let the reader hear distress spreading across the country.
The speaker’s own heart cries out over Moab while fugitives escape with their belongings. Water dries up, vegetation disappears, and wealth must be carried away. The disaster affects the homes, food and security on which ordinary life depends.
The closing warning announces still more danger for those who escape. Yet the passage does not celebrate their suffering: the voice that announces the judgment also laments what is happening to them.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Henry understands the grief as compassion for people who, though enemies of Israel, remain fellow human beings. Gill likewise reads verse 5 as the prophet pitying Moab, while noting that other interpreters understand it as the Moabites voicing their own sorrow.
The final lion is read in more than one way. Wesley understands actual lions finding those who escaped the invading army. Gill includes that reading but also reports the interpretation of a further conquering king. The shared warning is that fleeing the first disaster will not necessarily bring safety.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.