As the Watchtower’s commentary on Isaiah points out, although closely related to the children of Abraham, having a similar language and customs, the Moabites and Hebrews were long-time enemies. The Jews, of course, were bound by the law covenant to exclusively worship Jehovah. The Moabites were not under any such covenant. Nevertheless, that did not mean they were not accountable to Jehovah.
As explained in numerous articles on this site, both the Assyrian and Babylonian military campaigns picture various aspects of the world conquest of the 8th king.
Usually Moab and Ammon, along with Edom, are mentioned together in prophecy – but not in Isaiah. (See Amos and Obadiah) What is more significant is that Moab, Ammon and Edom are used in prophecy to represent modern entities. That is evident by reason of the fact that the three now-nonexistent nations appear in the prophecy of Daniel during the time of the end. (Daniel 11:41)
Because Edom, Moab and Ammon were related to the Israelites and lived in the same region, yet worshipped different gods, the trio of nations must symbolize the three main branches of Christendom in relation to the spiritual Jews living today – Moab perhaps representing Protestantism.
With this connection in mind consider now Isaiah 16:4-6, which reads: “May my dispersed ones reside as aliens even in you, O Moab. Become a place of concealment to them because of the despoiler. For the oppressor has reached his end; the despoiling has terminated; those trampling down others have been finished off the earth. And in loving-kindness a throne will certainly be firmly established; and one must sit down upon it in trueness in the tent of David, judging and seeking justice and being prompt in righteousness.”
The Watchtower recognizes the fact that Moab symbolizes Christendom and that Isaiah’s reference to the establishment of a throne of loving-kindness in the tent of David pertains to the establishment of the kingdom of Christ – the messianic son of David. However, Bethel’s seers offer no explanation as to a modern parallel regarding the requirement that the Moabites become a place of concealment for Jehovah’s dispersed ones. That is because the Watchtower Society is blind to Jehovah’s judgments, even as Isaiah’s prophecy foretells.
Since all prophecy is harmonious, this portion of Isaiah is in harmony with the parable of the sheep and the goats. Just as the Moabites would be judged as to whether they offered assistance to the besieged Israelites, Jesus explained that when the Son of man arrives and sits down on his glorious throne (“the tent of David”) then all the nations would be gathered before him for judgment. All peoples would be judged as to whether they offered assistance to Christ’s brothers (“my dispersed ones) during their time of persecution and hardship.
The reason the Watchtower Society is silent on the matter is because they have convinced Jehovah’s Witnesses that God’s judgment against the modern day house of God took place back in 1918. There is nothing in the Watchtower’s prophetic exegesis that allows for a despoiling and trampling down of the Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses – this in spite of the fact that Christ also foretold that a disgusting thing (the oppressor) will trample God’s holy place.
The concluding verse of the 16th chapter of Isaiah offers a bit of chronology that may have relevance to the time of the destruction of Babylon the great. That verse reads: And now Jehovah has spoken, saying: “Within three years, according to the years of a hired laborer, the glory of Moab must also be disgraced with much commotion of every sort, and those who remain over will be a trifling few, not mighty.”
Since it has already been established that the prophecy relates to the coming of Christ, it may well prove to be the case that three years into the 1,260 day period of the time of the end that Christendom and Babylon the great will go down in disgrace.
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