Isaiah 15:2

Isa 15:2 He is gone up to Bajith, and to Dibon, the high places, to weep: Moab shall howl over Nebo, and over Medeba: on all their heads [shall be] baldness, [and] every beard cut off.

Ver. 2. He is gone up to Bajith, and to Dibon.] Two chief places of their idolatrous service, whereunto they ran in their distress; but all in vain. The like at this day do the Papists to their Ladies of Loretto, Sichem, &c., and the Turks to their Mohammed at Mecca (situated in the same country as once Moab, and perhaps in the same place with one of these idol temples) by troops and caravans; but they do worse than lose their devotion.

To weep.] And to pray too, {Isa 16:12} but to no good purpose, for want of a right object, principle, motive, end. So afterwards the Romans, in a like exigent, cum coniugibus ac liberis iussi sunt a senatu supplicatum ire, pacemque exposcere Deum, omnia delubra implent, {a} &c.; they were by the senate commanded to go with their wives and children into the temples of their gods, and there to pray, make their peace, and to seek for aid.

Moab shall howl over Nebo, and over Medeba.] Cities surprised and sacked by the enemy. But this chapter is so much the more obscure to us, because the cities here mentioned are long since destroyed, and the Scripture setteth not forth the manner of their location or downfall.

On all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard cut off.] This was commonly done in those eastern parts, in times and in token of lamentation. {Job 1:20 Ezr 9:3 Eze 7:18} Alexander, mourning for the death of his friend Hephaestion, not only tore off his own hair, but clipped his horses’ and mules’ hair; yea, he plucked down also the battlements of the walls of the city, as Plutarch {b} writeth. Pudeat nos lachrymis delicta non abstergere, et spiritualia damna non deplorare, saith Oecolampadius. What a shame is it then for us Christians not to weep over our sins, and to bewail our spiritual wounds and wants!

{a} Liv., lib. iii.

{b} In Vita Pelopidae.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Isa_15:2

He is gone up to Bajith, and to Dibon, the high places, to weep

The helplessness of heathen gods

We have a picture of men going to old altars, and finding there nothing but silence.

Bajith may be regarded as the temple of the Moabite god.

1. So they were reduced to a state of helplessness; their very gods had forsaken them, and had thus revealed their own character as deities. It is under such circumstances--namely, of desertion and sorrow--that men find out what their religion is really worth. The Lord taunts all the heathen nations because their gods forsook them in the hour of calamity. One prophet exclaims, Thy calf hath cast thee off, O Samaria. The Lord Himself is represented as going up and down throughout the temples of heathenism, mocking and taunting the gods with which they were filled, because they were merely ornamental or decorative gods, and were utterly without power to assuage the sorrow of the human heart.

2. Whilst, however, all this is true of heathenism, there is a sense in which even Christian men may go back to old altars and find them forsaken. The Lord, the living One, the Father of the universe, is not pledged to abide at the altar forever to await the return of the prodigal. In the very first book of the Bible we read, My Spirit shall not always strive with man. There is a day of grace, so measurement can be determined with sufficient nearness to excite alarm, lest its golden hours should be lost. When the door is once shut it will not be opened again. Men may so live that when they go to the sanctuary itself, where the sweetest Gospel is preached in all its purity and nobleness, they find no comfort in the place that is devoted to consolation. The fault is to be found in themselves; they have sinned away their opportunities, they have enclosed themselves within walls of adamant, they have betaken themselves to the worship of their own vanity and the pursuit of their own selfish purposes, so that when they return to the house of God they find that the Lord has abandoned His temple. They shall call upon Me, and I will not answer. This is more than silence; it is silence aggravated, silence intensified, silence increased into burdensomeness. (J. Parlour, D. D.)

Signs of mourning

The sorrow of those who mourn is represented by a very, graphic figure:--On all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard cut off. The primary reference is probably to some sacrificial ceremony. At a very early period baldness was regarded as a symbol of intensest sorrow amongst Eastern nations. Baldness was forbidden to Israel, for the probable reason that it was identified with the sacrificial worship of heathen deities. The picture of lamentation is continued in the third verse. In Eastern countries, when men were afflicted with great sorrow, they betook themselves to the fiat roofs of their houses, and there publicly and loudly wailed on account of their agony. (J. Parlour, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Isa 15:2. He is gone up to Bajith — Which signifies a house. It is supposed to be the name of a place, so called from some eminent house or temple of their idols which was in it; and to Dibon — Another city of Moab; to weep — To offer their supplications with tears to their idols for help. Moab shall howl over Nebo and Medeba — Two considerable cities anciently belonging to the Moabites, from whom they were taken by the Amorites, and from them by the Israelites; but were, it seems, recovered by the Moabites, in whose hands they now were. “The prophet so orders his discourse in this prophecy, as if, being placed on a high mountain, he beheld the army of the Assyrians, suddenly, and contrary to all expectation, directing their course toward Moab; and in this unforeseen attack, ravaging and plundering, rather than besieging, the principal cities and fortifications of this country; while the Moabites, astonished at the report of this event, burst forth into weeping and lamentation, hasten to the temples and altars of their god Chemosh, to implore his aid, making bare their heads, cutting off their hair, and filling all places with howling and lamentation, like desperate men; while some of them fall by the sword of the enemy, some of them flee toward Arabia, their goods, land, vineyards, &c., being left a spoil to the enemy.” See Vitringa.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But just as horror, when once it begins to reflect, is dissolved in tears, the thunder-claps in Isa 15:1 are followed by universal weeping and lamentation. "They go up to the temple-house and Dibon, up to the heights to weep: upon Nebo and upon Medebah of Moab there is weeping: on all heads baldness, every beard is mutilated. In the markets of Moab they gird themselves with sackcloth; on the roofs of the land, and in its streets, everything wails, melting into tears. Heshbon cries, and 'Elle; even to Jahaz they hear their howling; even the armed men of Moab break out into mourning thereat; its soul trembles within it." The people (the subject to עלה) ascend the mountain with the temple of Chemosh, the central sanctuary of the land. This temple is called hab-baith, though not that there was a Moabitish town or village with some such name as Bth-Diblathaim (Jer 48:22), as Knobel supposes. Dibon, which lay above the Arnon (Wady Mujib), like all the places mentioned in Isa 15:2-4, at present a heap of ruins, a short hour to the north of the central Arnon, in the splendid plain of el-Chura, had consecrated heights in the neighbourhood (cf., Jos 13:17; Num 22:41), and therefore would turn to them. Moab mourns upon Nebo and Medebah; ייליל, for which we find יהיליל in Isa 52:5, is written intentionally for a double preformative, instead of ייליל (compare the similar forms in Job 24:21; Psa 138:6, and Ges. 70, Anm.). על is to be taken in a local sense, as Hendewerk, Drechsler, and Knobel have rendered it. For Nebo was probably a place situated upon a height on the mountain of that name, towards the south-east of Heshbon (the ruins of Nabo, Nabau, mentioned in the Onom.); and Medebah (still a heap of ruins bearing the same name) stood upon a round hill about two hours to the south-east of Heshbon. According to Jerome, there was an image of Chemosh in Nebo; and among the ruins of Madeba, Seetzen discovered the foundations of a strange temple. There follows here a description of the expressions of pain. Instead of the usual ראשיו, we read ראשיו here. And instead of gedu‛âh (abscissae), Jeremiah (Jer 48:37) has, according to his usual style, geru'âh (decurtatae), with the simple alteration of a single letter.

(Note: At the same time, the Masora on this passage before us is for geru‛ah with Resh, and we also find this reading in Nissel, Clodius, Jablonsky, and in earlier editions; whilst Sonc. 1486, Ven. 1521, and others, have gedu‛ah, with Daleth.)

All runs down with weeping (culloh, written as in Isa 16:7; in Isa 9:8, Isa 9:16, we have cullo instead). In other cases it is the eyes that are said to run down in tears, streams, or water-brooks; but here, by a still bolder metonymy, the whole man is said to flow down to the ground, as if melting in a stream of tears. Heshbon and Elale are still visible in their ruins, which lie only half an hour apart upon their separate hills and are still called by the names Husban and el-Al. They were both situated upon hills which commanded an extensive prospect. And there the cry of woe created an echo which was audible as far as Jahaz (Jahza), the city where the king of Heshbon offered battle to Israel in the time of Moses (Deu 2:32). The general mourning was so great, that even the armed men, i.e., the heroes (Jer 48:41) of Moab, were seized with despair, and cried out in their anguish (the same figure as in Isa 33:7). על־כן(, thereat, namely on account of this universal lamentation. Thus the lamentation was universal, without exception. Naphsho (his soul) refers to Moab as a whole nation. The soul of Moab trembles in all the limbs of the national body; ירעה (forming a play upon the sound with יריעוּ), an Arabic word, and in יריעה a Hebrew word also, signifies tremere, huc illuc agitari - an explanation which we prefer, with Rosenmller and Gesenius, to the idea that ירע is a secondary verb to רעע, fut. ירע. לו is an ethical dative (as in Psa 120:6 and Psa 123:4), throwing the action or the pathos inwardly (see Psychology, p. 152). The heart of the prophet participates in this pain with which Moab is agitated throughout; for, as Rashi observes, it is just in this that the prophets of Israel were distinguished from heathen prophets, such as Balaam for example, viz., that the calamities which they announced to the nations went to their own heart (compare Isa 21:3-4, with Isa 22:4).

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

15:2 In the ancient Near East, actions such as shaving or cutting off their beards revealed deep sorrow (see Jer 48:37).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The Moabites shall flee to their idols for succor, but it shall be too late.

For as in the west parts the people used to let their hair grow long, when they mourned, so in the East part they cut it off.

Which were cites of Moab.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 2. He is gone to Bajith, and to Dibon] עלה הבית alah habbayith, should be rendered, he is gone to the HOUSE, i.e., to their chief temple, where they practiced idolatry. Dibon was the name of a tower where also was an idolatrous temple; thither they went to weep and pray before their idols, that they might interpose and save them from their calamities. So R. D. Kimchi. He is gone to Bajith and to Dibon: but Bishop Lowth reads Beth Dibon; this is the name of one place; and the two words are to be joined together, without the ו vau intervening. So the Chaldee and Syriac. This reading is not supported by any MS. or Version: but some MSS., instead of ער ar, have עיר ir, a city, others have עד ad, unto, and some editions have על al, upon. But all these help little, though they show that the place puzzled both the scribes and the editors.

On all their heads shall be baldness, c. - "On every head there is baldness," &c.] Herodotus, ii. 36, speaks of it as a general practice among all men, except the Egyptians, to cut off their hair as a token of mourning. "Cut off thy hair, and cast it away," says Jeremiah, Jer 7:29, "and take up a lamentation."

Τουτο νυ και γερας οιον οἱζυροισι βροτοισι

Κειρασθαι τε κομην, βαλεειν τ' απο δακρυ παρειων.

HOM. Odyss. iv. 197.

"The rites of wo

Are all, alas! the living can bestow

O'er the congenial dust enjoined to shear

The graceful curl, and drop the tender tear."

POPE.

On every head. - For ראשיו roshaiv, read ראש rosh. So the parallel place, Jer 48:37, and so three MSS., one ancient. An ancient MS. reads על כל ראש al col rosh. Five read בכל ראש bechol rosh, on every head, with the Septuagint and Arabic. AND every head. The ו vau, and, is found in thirty MSS., in three editions, and in the Syriac, Vulgate, and Chaldee.

Cut off - "Shorn."] The printed editions, as well as the MSS., are divided on the reading of this word. Some have גדועה geduah, shorn, others גרעה geruah, diminished. The similitude of the letters ד daleth and ר resh has likewise occasioned many mistakes. In the present case, the sense is pretty much the same with either reading. The text of Jer 48:37 has the latter, diminished. The former reading is found in twelve of Dr. Kennicott's MSS., forty of De Rossi's, and two of my own. A great number of editions have the same reading.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(2) He is gone up to Bajith . . .—The noun is better taken not as a proper name, but as “the house” or “temple” of the Moabite god. In this and in the “high places” (Bamôth) we may probably recognise the Bamoth-baal (high places of Baal) which appears in Jos_13:17, side by side with Dibon, and the Beth-Bamoth of the Moabite stone (Records of the Past, xi. 167). That stone was, it may be noted, found at Dibân, which stands on two hills, and represents the ancient city of that name. What the prophet sees as following on the destruction of Ar and Kir is the terror which leads men to join in solemn processional prayers to the temples of their gods.

Nebo.—Not the mountain that bore that name as such (Deu_34:1), but a city named after the same deity. Mesha boasts of having taken it, and slain seven thousand men (Records of the Past, xi. 166). Medeba is named by him (ib.) as having been taken by Omri, and held by the Israelites for forty years.

On all their heads shall be baldness . . .—This, originally, perhaps, sacrificial in its character, became at a very early period a symbol of intensest sorrow among Eastern nations. It was forbidden to Israel, probably as identified with the worship of other deities than Jehovah (Lev_21:5; Deu_14:1; Job_1:20; Mic_1:16; Amo_8:10).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2. (Cf. Jer_48:37) He is gone up … to weep] The sense of the clause is uncertain. If Bayith be a proper name the best rendering would be that of R.V. marg. Bayith and Dibon are gone up to the high-places to weep. But Bayith enters so frequently into compound place-names in this region (Beth-Diblathaim, Beth-Baal-meon, Beth-Bamoth) that it is hardly likely to have been used alone of a particular town. Some accordingly take it in its ordinary sense of “house” (here “temple”) and translate, “He is gone up to the temple, and Dibon to the high places …,”—a very harsh construction. The most satisfactory solution of the difficulty is that proposed by Duhm, who changes bayith into bath and reads the daughter of Dibon (Jer_48:18) is gone up to the high places.… The “high places” are of course the local sanctuary.

Dibon (where the Moabite Stone was found) is only a few miles from the Arnon, and is naturally the first to receive tidings of the fall of the southern fortresses. On the whole the description observes the geographical order south to north.

Moab shall howl] Better howleth (other verbs also to be translated as presents), a peculiar onomatopoetic form occurring also in Isa_15:3 and Isa_26:7.

Nebo] is a town mentioned on the Moabite Stone near the mountain of the same name. It lay due east of the mouth of the Jordan; Medeba a short distance to the S. For over render on.

on all their heads shall be baldness …] On the signs of mourning mentioned here and in Isa_15:3 see ch. Isa_3:24, Isa_22:12; Mic_1:16; Job_1:20; Jer_41:5.

2–4. The wailing of Moab.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He is gone up to Bajith,.... That is, Moab; the king or people of Moab, particularly the inhabitants of the above cities. Bajith signifies house; and here a house of idolatry, as Kimchi interprets it; it was an idol's temple, very likely the temple of their god Chemosh, the same which is called Bethbaalmeon, Jos 13:17 "the house of Baal's habitation", and is mentioned with Dibon and Bamoth, as here; hither the Moabites went in their distress, to lament their case, ask advice, make supplication, and offer sacrifice:

and to Dibon, the high places, to weep; Dibon was another city of Moab, Num 21:30 where probably were high places for idolatrous worship, and from whence it might have the name of Dibonhabbamoth, as it may be here called; or since there was such a place in Moab as Bamoth, here rendered "high places", it may be taken for a proper name of a place, Num 21:20 and the rather, since mention is made of Bamothbaal along with Dibon, and as distinct from it, Jos 13:17 and Jarchi interprets the words thus,

"and the men of Dibon went up to Bamoth to weep.''

Kimchi takes all three to be places of idolatrous worship, and which is not unlikely.

Moab shall howl over Nebo, and over Medeba; two cities in the land of Moab, now taken, plundered, and destroyed; the former of these, Nebo, had its name either from the Hebrew word "naba", to prophesy, because of the prophecies or oracles which is thought were delivered here from the Heathen priests, as from their deities; and among the Chaldeans there was a god of this name, Isa 46:1 or from the Arabic word "naba" (o), to be eminent, and so had its name from its height; near to it was a mountain of the same name, where Moses had a view of the land of Canaan, and died, Deu 32:49 of this city see Num 32:3. Jerom says (p), that in his time a desert place called Naba was showed, eight miles distant from the city Esbus (Heshbon, Isa 15:4) to the south. The latter of these, Medeba, is mentioned in Num 21:30 this city is by Ptolemy (q) called Medava. Josephus (r) speaks of it as a city of Moab, in the times of Alexander and Hyrcanus; so that if it was now destroyed, it was built again: and Jerom (s) says of it, that in his days it was a city of Arabia, retaining its ancient name, near Esebon, or Heshbon.

On all their heads shall be baldness; that is, on the heads of the Moabites, especially the inhabitants of these cities that survived the destruction, who through sorrow and distress, and as a token of mourning, tore off the hair of their heads, which caused baldness, or else shaved it:

and every beard cut off; with a razor, which makes it probable that the hair of the head was tore off; both these used to be done as signs of mourning and lamentation, even shaving of the head and beard, Job 1:20.

(o) "editus, elatus fuit", Golius, col. 2287. Castel. col. 2182. (p) De locis Hebraicis, fol. 93. H. (q) Geograph. l. 5. c. 17. P. 137. (r) Antiqu. l. 13. c. 15. sect. 4. & l. 14. c. 1. sect. 4. (s) De locis Hebraicis, fol. 93. D.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

He is gone up - That is, the inhabitants of Moab in consternation have fled from their ruined cities, and have gone up to other places to weep.

To Bajith, and to Dibon - Lowth supposes that these two words should be joined together, and that one place is denoted. The Chaldee renders it, ‘Ascend into the houses of Dibon.’ Kimchi supposes that the word (בית bayith) denotes a temple. It usually means “house,” and hence, may mean a temple of the gods; that is, the principal “house” in the land. This interpretation is adopted by Gesenius and Noyes. Vitringa supposes it to mean Beth-Meon Jer 48:24, or Beth-Baal-Meon Jos 13:17, north of the Arnon, now “Macin.” I have adopted the translation proposed by Kimchi as better expressing the sense in my view than that which makes it a proper name. Dibon, perhaps the same place as Dimon in Isa 15:9, was a city given by Moses to Gad, and afterward yielded to Reuben Num 32:3, Num 32:33-34; Jos 13:9. It was again occupied by the Moabites Jer 48:18, Jer 48:2. Eusebius says it was a large town on the north of the river Arnon. Seetsen found there ruins under the name of Diban in a magnificent plain. Hence, “Dibon” is here appropriately described as “going up” from a plain to weep; and the passage may be rendered, ‘Dibon is weeping upon the high places.’

To weep - Over the sudden desolation which has come upon the principal cities.

Moab shall howl over Nebo - Nebo was one of the mountains on the east of the Jordan. It was so high that from it an extended view could be taken of the land of Canaan opposite. It was distinguished as being the place where Moses died Deu 32:49; Deu 34:1. The meaning of this is, that on mount Nebo, Moab should lift up the voice of wailing. Jerome says that the idol Chamos, the principal idol of Moab, was on mount Nebo, and that this was the place of its worship. This mountain was near the northern extremity of the Dead Sea. Mount Nebo was completely barren when Burckhardt passed over it, and the site of the ancient city had not been ascertained (“Travels in Syria,” p. 370.) On its summit, says Burckhardt, was a heap of stones overshadowed by a very large wild pistacia tree. At a short distance below, to the southwest, is the ruined place called Kereyat.

And over Medeba - This was a city east of the Jordan in the southern part of the territory allotted to Reuben. It was taken from the Reubenites by the Moabites. Burckhardt describes the ruins of this town, which still bears the same name. He says of it, it is ‘built upon a round hill; but there is no river near it. It is at least half an hour in circumference. I observed many remains of private houses, constructed with blocks of silex; but not a single edifice is standing. There is a large birket, tank, or cistern, which, as there is no spring at Medeba, might be still of use to the Bedouins, were the surrounding ground cleared of the rubbish to allow the water to flow into it; but such an undertaking is far beyond the views of the wandering Arabic On the west side of the town are the foundations of a temple built with large stones, and apparently of great antiquity. A part of its eastern wall remains, constructed in the same style as the castle wall at Ammon. At the entrance to one of the courts stand two columns of the Doric order. In the center of one of the courts is a large well.’ (“Travels in Syria,” pp. 366, 367.)

On all their heads shall be baldness ... - To cut off the hair of the head and the beard was expressive of great grief. It is well known that the Orientals regard the beard with great sacredness and veneration, and that they usually dress it with great care, Great grief was usually expressed by striking external acts. Hence, they lifted up the voice in wailing; they hired persons to howl over the dead; they rent their garments; and for the same reason, in times of great calamity or grief, they cut off the hair, and even the beard. Herodotus (ii. 36) speaks of it as a custom among all nations, except the Egyptians, to cut off the hair as a token of mourning. So also Homer says, that on the death of Patroclus they cut off the hair as expressive of grief (Iliad, xxiii. 46, 47):

Next these a melancholy band appear,

Amidst lay dead Patroclus on a bier;

O’er all the course their scattered locks they threw.

Pope

See also “Odyss.” iv. 197. This was also the custom with the Romans (Ovid. “Amor.” 3, 5, 12); the Egyptians (Diod. i. 84); the Scythians (Herod. iv. 71); and the modern Cretans. The principle on which this is done is, that thereby they are deprived of what is esteemed the most beautiful ornament of the body; an idea which lies at the foundation of mourning in all countries and ages. The loss of the beard, also, was the highest calamity, and would be expressive of the deepest grief. ‘It is,’ says D’Arvieux, who has devoted a chapter to the exposition of the sentiments of the Arabs in regard to the beard, ‘a greater mark of infamy in Arabia to cut a man’s beard off, than it is with us to whip a fellow at the cart’s tail, or to burn him in the hand. Many people in that country would far rather die than incur that punishment. I saw an Arab who had received a musket shot in the jaw, and who was determined rather to perish than to allow the surgeon to cut his beard off to dress his wound. His resolution was at length overcome; but not until the wound was beginning to gangrene. he never allowed himself to be seen while his beard was off; and when at last he got abroad, he went always with his face covered with a black veil, that he might not be seen without a beard; and this he did until his beard had grown again to a considerable length.’ (“Pic. Bib.,” vol. ii. p. 100.) Burckhardt also remarks, that the Arabs who have, from any cause, had the misfortune to lose their beards invariably conceal themselves from view until their beards are grown again (compare Isa 3:24; Isa 22:12; Jer 41:5; Mic 1:16). The idea is, that the Moabites would be greatly afflicted. Jeremiah has stated the same thing of Moab Jer 48:37 :

For every head shall be bald, and every beard be clipt;

And upon all hands shall be cuttings,

And upon the loins sackcloth.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

House. Protestants, "he is come up to Baith," (Haydock) or the royal family is gone to the temple of their idol, Chamos, to lament. (St. Jerome) (Menochius) (Calmet) --- Shaven. As in mourning, Jeremias xlviii. 37.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Bajith signifies a house. It is supposed to be the name of a place, so called from some eminent house or temple of their idols which was in it. It is called more fully Bethbaal-meon, that is, The house of Baal’s habitation, Jos 13:17.

Dibon; another city of Moab, as is manifest from Jer 48:18,22, where also was their other eminent high place. To these two places they used to resort in case of great difficulties and troubles.

To weep; to offer their supplications with tears to their idols for help.

Over Nebo and over Medeba; two considerable cities, anciently belonging to the Moabites, from whom they were taken by the Amorites, and from them by the Israelites, and possessed by the Reubenites, Num 21:30; 32:3,38; but were, as it seems, recovered by the Moabites, in whose hands they now were, as is evident, for Nebo, Jer 48:1,22, and for Medeba, from this text.

On all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard cut off; the hair of their heads and beards (which was their ornament) was shaved, as was usual in great mournings, as hath been oft observed upon divers preceding texts. See on Lev 19:27,28; 21:5.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

2, 3. He — The collective people of Moab.

Has gone up to Bajith — This was probably not a town, but a high place for a sanctuary. The word is so near to Beth — a house — as to indicate only a temple, the house of Moab’s gods.

Dibon — Gesenius reads here, Dibon is weeping upon the high places. Dibon lay some fifteen miles north of the Arnon, and Nebo still farther north, to a point due east of the head of the Dead Sea. Medeba lay a few miles southeast from Nebo. Some went up to Nebo, some to Medeba, and some, through streets and on tops of… houses, all bewailing the catastrophe befalling them.

Gird… with sackcloth — In Eastern countries to this day similar exhibits of grief are made in days of calamity.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He is gone to Bajith; rather, he is gone to the temple. Probably the temple of Baal at Beth-baal-meon is intended. Beth-baal-meon is "mentioned in close connection with Dibon in Jos_13:17. And to Dibon. Diboa is mentioned in Num_21:30 Num_32:3, 34 Jos_13:9, 17 Jer_48:18, Jer_48:22. It was an ancient Moabite town of considerable importance, and has recently been identified with the site called Diban, where the Moabite Stone was found. This place is situated in the country east of the Dead Sea, about three miles north of the river Arnon, on the old Roman road connecting Rabbath-Moab with Hesh-bob. The town seems to have gained in importance from the fact that it was the birthplace of Chemosh-Gad, Mesha"s father (Moabite Stone, 1. 2). Mesha added to its territory (ibid., 1.21). It is extremely probable that it was the site of one of the Moabite "high places," and was therefore naturally one of the places whereto the Moabites, when afflicted, went up" to weep." Over Nebo, and over Medeba. Nebe and Medeba were also ancient Moabite towns. Nebo is mentioned in Num_32:3, 38 33:47 1Ch_5:8 Jer_48:1, Jer_48:22. It seems to have lain almost midway between Beth-baal-meon (Main) and Medeba, about three or four miles south-east of Heshbon. Medeba obtains notice in Num_21:30 Jos_13:9, 16 1Ch_19:7. Mesha says that it was taken from the Moabites by Omri, King of Israel, but recovered by himself at the end of forty "years (Moabite Stone, 11. 7-9). It lay south-east of Hesh-ben, at the spot which still retains the old name Madeba. It has been suggested that there was at Nebo a shrine of the Baby-Ionian god so named; but this is to assume a resemblance which the facts at present known do not indicate, between the Moabite and Babylonian religions. On all their heads shall be baldness. The practice of cutting off the hair in mourning was common to the Jews (Isa_22:12 Mic_1:16) with various other nations; e.g. the Persians (Herod., 9:24), the Greeks, the Macedonians (Pint., "Vit. Pelop.," the primitive Arabs (Krehl, "Religion der voris-lamit. Araber," p. 33, note 1), and the North American Indians (Bancroft," Native Races of America"). It was probably intended, like lacerations, and ashes on the head, as a mere disfigurement,

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Bajith - Which signifies an house. It is supposed to be some eminent house or temple of their idols. Dibon - Another city of Moab. To weep - To offer their supplications with tears to their idols for help. Medeba - Two considerable cities, anciently belonging to the Moabites. Beard - The hair of their heads and beards was shaved, as was usual in great mournings.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The destruction of the chief cities causes general grief. “They (indefinitely) go up to the house (i.e., the temple), and Dibon (to) the high places for (the purpose of) weeping. On Vebo and on Medeba, Moab howls, on all his heads baldness every beard cut off.” The ancient heathen built their temples upon heights (Isa 65:7). Solomon built one to the Moabitish god Chemosh on the mountain before Jerusalem (1Ki 11:7). Dibon, a town north of the Arnon, rebuilt by the tribe of Gad, and thence called Dibon-gad (Num 33:45), although it had formerly belonged to Moab, and would seem from this passage to have been recovered by them. The same place is called Dimon in v. 9, in order to assimilate it to the Hebrew word for blood. The modern name is Diban. There is no preposition before it here in Hebrew. Hence it may be either the object or the subject of the verb. The first construction is preferred by the older writers; those of modern date are almost unanimous in favor of the other, which makes Dibon itself go up to the high places. The objection to the first is that Dibon was situated in a plain; to which it may be answered that the phrase go up has reference in many cases not to geographical position but to sacredness and dignity.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Prophecies of Isaiah (1846–1847; New York: Scribner, 1870–1878) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They went up to the temple, and Dibon Moab went up to the temple, and the people of Dibon to the high places.

to weep These would weep in the temple, and these would weep atop their high places.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

הבית The inhabitant of Bayith. יושב הבית═הבית;

Bayith is a place in Moab.

To the high places. In order to worship the idols.

Their heads. The heads of the Moabites.

גרועה A cutting. It is a noun, (not a participle); comp. חבלתו חוב his pledge for the debt חבלתו בחוב═חבלתו חוב, or by extending the force of the preposition before בל ראשיו, and referring it also to כל זקן. (Ez. 18:7).

The preposition ב on before כל ראשיו governs also. כל זקן Comp. Gen. 49:25.

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.