What does Isaiah 16:1 mean?
This chapter continues Isaiah's oracle from the Lord against the nation of Moab (Isaiah 15). It also serves as a multi-part response to the previous chapter's lament for Moab. Refugees, fleeing from the destruction of their cities, will ask Judah for protection in their land. This verse begins by suggesting a lamb be sent to the ruler of the land. The actual language reads that they should send a "landlord's lamb," meaning a tribute, or payment, to an overlord.Moab's famous King Mesha paid a regular tribute of lambs and wool to Israel (2 Kings 3:4). This payment went on until Israel's King Ahab died and another king took his place. Isaiah now writes that, as in those days, Moab should send a tribute from Sela to Jerusalem. Sela may refer to the capital of Edom, near Moab's southern border. At the end of chapter 15, the Moabite refugees had just reached the border. It's possible that they retreated to Sela to escape the Assyrians and that they were reaching out to Judah from that city.