We have heard of the pride of Moab - We Jews; we have "all" heard of it; that is, we "know" that he is proud. The evident design of the prophet here is, to say that Moab was so proud, and was well known to be so haughty, that he would "reject" this counsel. He would neither send the usual tribute to the land of Judea Isaiah 16:1, thus acknowledging his dependence on them; nor would he give protection to the exiled Jews as they should wander through his land, and "thus" endeavor to conciliate their favor, and secure their friendship. As a consequence of this, the prophet proceeds to state that heavy judgments would come upon Moab as a nation.

He is very proud - The same thing is stated in the parallel place in Jeremiah 48:29 (compare Isaiah 16:11). Moab was at ease; he was confident in his security; he feared nothing; he sought "no" means, therefore, of securing the friendship of the Jews.

And his wrath - As the result of pride and haughtiness. Wrath or indignation is excited in a proud man when he is opposed, and when the interests of others are not made to give way to his.

But his lies shall not be so - The Hebrew phrase (לא־כן lo' kên) - 'not so' here seems to be used in the sense of 'not right;' 'not firm, or established;' that is, his vain boasting, his false pretensions, his "lies" shall not be confirmed, or established; or they shall be vain and impotent. In the parallel place in Jeremiah, it is, 'But it shall not be so; his lies shall not effect it.' The word rendered 'his lies' here (בדיו badāyv), means his boasting, or vain and confident speaking. In Isaiah 44:25, it is connected with the vain and confident responses of diviners and soothsayers. Here it means that Moab boasted of his strength and security, and did not feel his need of the friendship of the Jews; but that his security was false, and that it should not result according to his expectations. That Moab was proud, is also stated in Isaiah 25:8; and that he was disposed to give vent to his pride by reproaching the people of God, is apparent from Zechariah 2:8 :

I have heard the reproach of Moab,

And the revilings of the children of Ammon,

Whereby they have reproached my people,

And boasted themselves upon their border.

We have heard of the pride of Moab "We have heard the pride of Moab" - For גא ge, read גאה geah; two MSS., one ancient, and Jeremiah 48:29. Zephaniah, Zephaniah 2:8-10, in his prophecy against Moab, the subject of which is the same with that of Jeremiah in his forty-eighth chapter, (see the note on Isaiah 15:1 (note)), enlarges much on the pride of Moab, and their insolent behavior towards the Jews: -

"I have heard the reproach of Moab;

And the revilings of the sons of Ammon:

Who have reproached my people;

And have magnified themselves against their borders.

Therefore, as I live, saith Jehovah God of hosts, the God of Israel:

Surely Moab shall be as Sodom,

And the sons of Ammon as Gomorrah:

A possession of nettles, and pits of salt,

And a desolation for ever.

The residue of my people shall spoil them,

And the remnant of my nation shall dispossess them:

This shall they have for their pride;

Because they have raised a reproach, and have magnified themselves

continued...

We have heard of the pride of Moab,.... These are the words of the prophet, either in the name of the Lord, or in the person of the Jews, or of other nations, who had heard very frequently, and from many persons, and from every quarter, of the excessive pride of this people, and had many instances of it related to them, which foretold their ruin; for pride comes before a fall:

(he is very proud): though his original was so base and infamous; and therefore there is little reason to hope or expect that he would take the advice above given him, or do the good offices for the Jews he was exhorted to; his pride was such, that he would despise the counsel of God, and would never stoop to do any favour for his people:

even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath; of his contempt of the people of God, and his wrath against them:

but his lies shall not be so; or, "his strength" shall "not be so" (b); as his wrath: he shall not be able to do what in his pride and wrath he said he would do; all his wicked thoughts and devices, all his haughty and wrathful expressions, will signify nothing; they will all be of no effect, for God resisteth the proud, see Jeremiah 48:30. It may be rendered, "not right", that of "his diviners" (c); their words and works, what they say or do; so the word is used in Isaiah 44:25.

(b) "non sicut, fortitudo ejus"; so some in Vatablus. (c) "non rectum divinorum ejus", Vitringa.

But if Moab does this, and the law of the history of Israel, which is that "a remnant shall return," is thus reflected in the history of Moab; Isaiah 16:6 cannot possibly contain the answer which Moab receives from Zion, as the more modern commentators assume according to an error that has almost become traditional. On the contrary, the prophecy enters here upon a new stage, commencing with Moab's sin, and depicting the fate of Moab in still more elegiac strains. "We have heard of the pride of Moab, the very haughty (pride), his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath, the falsehood of his speech." The future self-humiliation of Moab, which would be the fruit of its sufferings, is here contrasted with the previous self-exaltation, of which these sufferings were the fruit. "We have heard," says the prophet, identifying himself with his people. Boasting pompousness has hitherto been the distinguishing characteristic of Moab in relation to the latter (see Isaiah 25:11). The heaping up of words of the same verbal stem (cf., Isaiah 3:1) is here intended to indicate how thoroughly haughty was their haughtiness (cf., Romans 7:13, "that sin might become exceeding sinful"), and how completely it had taken possession of Moab. It boasted and was full of rage towards Israel, to which, so far as it retained its consciousness of the truth of Jehovah, the talk of Moab (בדיו from בדד equals בדא, בטא, to talk at random) must necessarily appear as לא־כן, not-right, i.e., at variance with fact. These expressions of opinion had been heard by the people of God, and, as Jeremiah adds in Jeremiah 48:29-30, by Israel's God as well.

We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud: even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: but his {f} lies shall not be so.

(f) Their vain confidence and proud bragging will deceive them, Jer 48:2.

16:6 We - The prophet having spoken to the Moabites, now turns his speech to God's people. The sense is, I do not expect that my counsels will have any good effect upon Moab; they will still carry themselves insolently and outrageously. His lies - His vain imaginations, and false and crafty counsels, shall not take effect.

6. We-Jews. We reject Moab's supplication for his pride.

lies-false boasts.

not be so-rather, "not right"; shall prove vain (Isa 25:10; Jer 48:29, 30; Zep 2:8). "It shall not be so; his lies shall not so effect it."

16:6-14 Those who will not be counselled, cannot be helped. More souls are ruined by pride than by any other sin whatever. Also, the very proud are commonly very passionate. With lies many seek to gain the gratification of pride and passion, but they shall not compass proud and angry projects. Moab was famous for fields and vineyards; but they shall be laid waste by the invading army. God can soon turn laughter into mourning, and joy into heaviness. In God let us always rejoice with holy triumph; in earthly things let us always rejoice with holy trembling. The prophet looks with concern on the desolations of such a pleasant country; it causes inward grief. The false gods of Moab are unable to help; and the God of Israel, the only true God, can and will make good what he has spoken. Let Moab know her ruin is very near, and prepare. The most awful declarations of Divine wrath, discover the way of escape to those who take warning. There is no escape, but by submission to the Son of David, and devoting ourselves to him. And, at length, when the appointed time comes, all the glory, prosperity, and multitude of the wicked shall perish.