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Bible Commentaries
Isaiah 16

Bell's Commentary on the BibleBell's Commentary

Verses 1-14

  1. HIDING & COLLIDING! (Ch.16)
    1. Hiding! (1-5)
    2. Sela - For security the Moabites fled south 50 miles to Sela(aka Petra)in Edom.
      1. Explain Petra’s “fortress” feel!
      2. Edom trusted in this ‘safe place” also!
        1. Read - Obadiah 1:1,3,4
      3. Show Photo’s.
      4. Show Map.
      5. Q: In what do you place you trust in?
    3. Since Jerusalem wasn’t going to be overthrown (until the Assyria invasion) Zion/Jerusalem would be there only safe haven.
      1. They were to send lambs, the traditional Moabite Tribute, ahead of them.
    4. (3,4) So they sought refuge there.
    5. (5) Sling shot ahead to the ultimate rescue when Messiah comes!
    6. Colliding! (6-14)
    7. (6) Here is the reason for ALL of this!- X-Treme Pride!!!
      1. Moab is a story of opposition to the work & will of God coming from Pride & conceit.
      2. Numb.32:23 “…take note, you have sinned against the LORD; and be sure your sin will find you out.”
      3. Pride is a sin that God hates whether it is in nations or individuals.
        1. Ultimately God will always bring down the pride of people & nations. History is littered w/that truth! (Philip Hacking; pg.61)
      4. Here we have Self-Esteem overflowing in every direction!
      5. Interesting definition of one form of Pride(knowledge) “The wearying, futile pursuit of knowledge, is a flesh trip that can cause a head to outgrow a heart!”
      6. Question? – The older we are in the Lord, & the more mature we get, do we see more or less pride in our life?
        1. More! – As the sun rises, its beams strike lower & yet lower down the pit! (F.B.Meyer; The 5 Must’s of the Christian Life; pg.39)
    8. So what’s the high road if Pride is the low road? (What’s the opposite?)
      1. Humility!
      2. Epitomized in John the Baptists, “He must be on the increase & I must be on the decrease!” (my paraphrase)
      3. Remember he was the bridegroom’s friend not the bridegroom.
        1. He enjoyed the bridegroom’s voice!
        2. He was content that his own popularity should fade.
      4. This is the battle of continually trying to master the self-life.
        1. It constantly intrudes into our every thought!
        2. It has an inevitable commentary on everything we say or do!
        3. It is our greatest struggle!
        4. It is so hungry for prominence & praise!
        5. We are even tempted to be proud of our own humility!
      5. Good News, there is deliverance from what Paul cried, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”
      6. “Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,”
        1. Our self-life has been nailed to the Savior’s Cross!
        2. Our old self was crucified w/Christ!
          1. "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
      7. Bottom line? – The self-life may not be dead, but we are dead to it!
      8. If you graft on a fruit bearing branch onto a non-fruit bearing tree, you must constantly make sure you clip off any shoots under the new branch, or it will drain off the sap.
        1. The old self-life is always sending out shoots, & so we must be merciless to them.
      9. Hymn! (here’s the progression!)
      10. All of self & None of Thee! Some of self & Some of Thee! Less of self & More of Thee! None of self & All of Thee! [Pastor Theodore Monod of Paris]
Bibliographical Information
Bell, Brian. "Commentary on Isaiah 16". "Bell's Commentary". https://studylight.org/commentaries/eng/cbb/isaiah-16.html. 2017.
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