Isaiah 15:5 My heart cries out for Moab.
This chapter shows the destruction God has unleashed on Moab. The Moabites were enemies of the Israelites, so let's take a moment to go back and find their history. The Moabites come from the Moab tribe, Moab was the son of Lot who was the nephew of Abraham. God had Lot and his family leave Sodom and Gomorrah and then God destroyed it. Remember the story that Lot's wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt? Soon after, Lot's daughters each got their father drunk and laid with him so they would bear children. Moab was born unto Lot's elder daughter. (Genesis 19)
There were conflicts with the later Moabites and Israelites, but know of one good story of a Moab: Ruth. Ruth left her country and people (the Moabites) to travel with her mother-in-law Naomi after Ruth's husband and father-in-law had died in Moab. They went back to Naomi's country of Bethlehem. Ruth later marries Boaz, and becomes the great-grandmother to King David. But this is where the last good connection between the Moabites and Israelites happens.
Back to the current chapter. Isaiah sees the destruction of Moab and cries out for them. Though they are his enemy, he feels for them. Jesus later tells us to pray for our enemies, which is what Isaiah was doing. This is something we should all do. When a child gets made fun of, someone picks on them for a shortcoming, I have always said that person doing the picking is only doing so because they lack something in their heart. They are looking for fulfillment, but going about it the wrong way. So we pray for that person. As adults, we should think the same way. Our enemies, if they are true enemies against what God is teaching, are lacking something in their heart. And we should pray for them, that they can be opened to God's fulfillment. And you might be surprised that through prayers for another, you will find answers to your own issues.
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