A prophecy against Moab: Ar in Moab is ruined, destroyed in a night! Kir in Moab is ruined, destroyed in a night! – Isaiah 15:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 8, 2017): Isaiah 15 & 16

The City of Al-Karak in Jordan has had a troubled history. We currently know it because of a Crusader Castle – The Kerak Castle - that exists there in the city. Al-Karak is eighty-seven miles south of Amman and placed on the top of a hill 3,300 feet above sea level overlooking the Dead Sea. The Crusaders used the city as a stronghold for forty-six years during the twelfth century before losing it to the Muslims in 1188. But then again, the transition of the town from one power to another is an ancient story in Al-Karak. It has been defeated and used as a defensive stronghold to strengthen the area since well before the time of Isaiah.

In Isaiah’s time, the area was held by Moab. We are not positive that this city is the Kir of Moab that Isaiah prophecies against, but that seems likely. If it is not, then, the city has definitely been renamed in honor of that Kir. And this stronghold has suffered the prophecy of Isaiah many times over in its history – several times the city has fallen in a night.

Moab, which is made up of people who were actually cousins to the people of Israel - the Moabites 

descended from Abraham’s nephew Lot - were continually at war with Israel. Isaiah’s anger and the sympathy that he seems to display for Moab probably exist because of that fact. But there may also be hints of an event that happened in Kir years earlier. It was the stronghold at Kir that the Moabite King ran to as his kingdom was falling around him under the joint attack of Judah, Israel, and Edom. As the king hid in Kir, he took his eldest son, the one destined to become king after him, and sacrificed him to the Moabite gods. The story is told in 2 Kings 3. And in this case, the sacrifice seems to have worked. The people were so angry, and possibly the armies of Judah and Israel were so stunned by the event, that the invaders were driven back and they left the land of Moab. But the sacrifice of the Prince at Kir proved to be a blood stain that was hard to remove from the psyche of the Moabites – something that Isaiah seems to understand here in this passage  

We are also not sure of the location of Ar. It seems plausible that this prophecy is actually about one city. Ar likely means city and Kir means stronghold. So Isaiah could be speaking of a single place – a city stronghold – and the ancient city of Al-Karak would fit that description.

Today, Al-Karak is made up of 75% Muslims and 25% Christians. This makes it one of the most Christian places in Jordan

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah 17