36 Therefore my heart sounds for Moab like pipes, and my heart sounds like pipes for the men of Kir Heres: therefore the abundance that he has gotten is perished.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Here the Prophet, as it has been before stated, does not mourn the calamity of the people of Moab, but assumes the character of others, so that the event might appear more evident, it being set as it were before our eyes; for as we have said, the wealth of the Moabites was so great at that time, that it dazzled the eyes of all. It was then difficult for the faithful to form an idea of this vengeance of God, therefore the Prophet transfers to himself the feelings of others, and relates what the Moabites would do, when God had so grievously afflicted them. My heart, he says, shall sound like pipes Some think that mournful pipes are meant, but I know not whether or not they were instruments of this kind; and there are those who think that chllym, chellim, were bag-pipes, but what is too refined I leave. The Prophet simply means that such would be the trepidation, that the hearts of the Moabites would make a noise like pipes. He repeats the same thing in different words, that his heart would make a noise, or sound, for the men of Kir-heres, of which city we spoke yesterday. He now adds, for the residue which they have made, or which Moab has made, for the verb is in the singular number; and then, they have perished, where also there is a change of number; but the reference is to the word "residue," ytrt, iteret, which included hidden treasures, as we have stated. [1] Whatever then the Moabites had gained for themselves, and whatever they thought would be always safe, the Prophet declares that it would perish. Isaiah adds, "their substance," phqvtm, pekotem, and says, that they would carry it to the willows, that is, to deserted places; as though he had said, that all the wealth of the Moabites would be scattered, as though it were, as they say, a thing forsaken. It now follows --
1 - As to this clause, widely different are all the versions; the Targ. gives the general sense. The word ytrt is evidently plural, the v being wanting. "Reserves," as given by Blayney, is an exact rendering, -- Because the reserves he had made have perished. Connected with this word is another in Isaiah 15:7, which means "deposits;" both signify the wealth or treasures they had laid up. -- Ed.
Like pipes - A wind instrument, used at funerals Matthew 9:23.
The riches that he hath gotten - literally, "that which remains over, a superfluity."
Therefore my heart shall sound for Moab like (u) pipes, and my heart shall sound like pipes for the men of Kirheres: because the riches [that] he hath gotten have perished.
(u) Their custom was to play on flutes or instruments, heavy and grave tunes at burials and in the time of mourning, as in (Matthew 9:23).
Therefore my heart shall sound for Moab like pipes,.... That are sounded on mournful occasions, as at funerals, and the like; see Matthew 9:23. This the prophet said, as Kimchi observes, in the person of the people, the inhabitants of Moab; whose hearts would yearn and sound for the calamities of their country like the doleful sound of minstrels. So the Targum,
"therefore the Moabites shall sound in their hearts like a harp:''
and my heart shall sound like pipes for the men of Kirheres; as for the country of Moab in general, so for this principal city, and the inhabitants of it, in particular; See Gill on Isaiah 16:11;
because the riches that he hath gotten is perished; either Moab or Kirheres; the abundance of goods they had got together were now lost, falling into the hands of the enemy; and which was matter of lamentation. The Targum is,
"for the rest of their substance they had got were spoiled.''
Some understand it of the residue of men that escaped the sword; these perished by famine, or other means; see Isaiah 15:7.
(See on Isaiah 15:7; Isaiah 16:11).
like pipes--a plaintive instrument, therefore used at funerals and in general mourning.
riches . . . gotten--literally, the abundance . . . that which is over and above the necessaries of life. GROTIUS translates, "They who have been left remaining shall perish"; they who have not been slain by the enemy shall perish by disease and famine.
Further lamentation over the fall of Moab. - Jeremiah 48:36. "Therefore my heart sounds like pipes for Moab, and my heart sounds like pipes for the men of Kir-heres; therefore the savings which he has made are perished. Jeremiah 48:37. For every head is baldness, and every beard is shorn; on all hands there are cuts, and on loins sackcloth. Jeremiah 48:38. On all the roofs of Moab, and in its streets, it is all mourning; for I have broken Moab like a vessel, in which there is no pleasure, saith Jahveh."
The prophet once more lifts up his lamentation over Moab (Jeremiah 48:36 corresponds to Jeremiah 48:31), and gives reason for it in the picture he draws of the deep affliction of the Moabites. Jeremiah 48:36 is an imitation of Isaiah 16:11; the thought presented in v. 36b accords with that found in Isaiah 15:7. Isaiah says, "My bowels sound (groan) like the harp," whose strings give a tremulous sound when struck with the plectrum. Instead of this, Jeremiah puts the sounding of pipes, the instruments used in dirges (Matthew 9:23). Moab and Kir-heres are mentioned together, as in Jeremiah 48:31. על־כּן, in the second clause, does not stand for כּי על־כּן, "on this account that" (Kimchi, Hitzig, Graf, etc.), but is co-ordinated with the first על־כּן. The idea is not, "Therefore my heart mourns over Moab, because the savings are perished;" but because the sentence of desolation has been passed on the whole of Moab, therefore the heart of the prophet makes lament, and therefore, too, all the property which Moab has acquired is lost. יתרה, as a collective noun, is joined with the plural verb אבדוּ. On the construction יתרת עשׂה, cf. Gesenius, 123, 3, Rem. 1; Ewald, 332, c. The proof of this is given by the deep sorrow and wailing of the whole Moabite nation, Jeremiah 48:37. On all sides are tokens of the deepest sadness, - heads shorn bald, beards cut off, incisions on the hands, sackcloth round the loins.
Pipes - The prophet means such pipes as they were wont to use at funerals, and other sad occasions.
*More commentary available at chapter level.