| Geneva Study Bible They that fled stood under the shadow {z} of Heshbon because of the force: but {a} a fire shall come out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and shall devour the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones. (z) They fled there thinking to have comfort from the Amorites. (a) The Amorites had destroyed the Moabites in times past, and now because of their power the Moabites will seek them for help. Wesley's Notes 48:45 Heshbon - Heshbon was it seems a place of force. The crown - That is, the glory. King James Translators' Notes tumultuous...: Heb. children of noise Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary 45. under . shadow of Heshbon-They thought that they would be safe in Heshbon. because of the force-that is, "they that fled because of the force" of the enemy: they that fled from it. Glassius translates, "through want of strength." So the Hebrew particle is translated (Ps 109:24), "faileth of fatness," that is, "faileth through want of fatness"; also La 4:9. but a fire, &c.-copied in part from Sihon's hymn of victory (Nu 21:27, 28). The old "proverb" shall hold good again. As in ancient times Sihon, king of the Amorites, issued forth from his city, Heshbon, as a devouring "flame" and consumed Moab, so now the Chaldeans, making Heshbon their starting-point, shall advance to the destruction of Moab. midst of Sihon-that is, the city of Sihon. corner of Moab-that is, Moab from one corner to the other. crown of . head-the most elevated points of Moab. Making some alterations, he here copies Balaam's prophecy (Nu 24:17). Margin there translates "princes" for corners; if so, "crown of . head" here refers to the nobles. tumultuous ones-sons of tumult; those who have tumultuously revolted from Babylon. Heshbon passed from the Amorite to the Israelite sway. Moab had wrested it from Israel and helped the Chaldeans against the Jews; but revolting from Babylon, they brought ruin on themselves in turn. Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary 48:14-47. The destruction of Moab is further prophesied, to awaken them by national repentance and reformation to prevent the trouble, or by a personal repentance and reformation to prepare for it. In reading this long roll of threatenings, and mediating on the terror, it will be of more use to us to keep in view the power of God's anger and the terror of his judgments, and to have our hearts possessed with a holy awe of God and of his wrath, than to search into all the figures and expressions here used. Yet it is not perpetual destruction. The chapter ends with a promise of their return out of captivity in the latter days. Even with Moabites God will not contend for ever, nor be always wroth. The Jews refer it to the days of the Messiah; then the captives of the Gentiles, under the yoke of sin and Satan, shall be brought back by Divine grace, which shall make them free indeed. | 
