Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter day, saith the Lord,.... Some think this is added, not so much for the sake of Moab as of the Jews, to assure them of their return from captivity, as had been promised them, since this would be the case even of Moab.
It had a literal accomplishment under Cyrus, as is thought, when they were restored to their land; and certain it is they were a people in the times of Alexander, or King Jannaeus, who subdued them, as Josephus relates: and it had a spiritual one in the times of the Messiah, in the conversion of some of these people, as very probably in the first times of the Gospel; so it will have in the latter day; see Isa 11:14.
Kimchi interprets it of the days of the Messiah. For though that people are no more, yet there are a people which inhabit their country, who will, at least many of them, be converted, when the fulness of the Gentiles is brought in; and it is no unusual thing in Scripture for the present inhabitants of many countries to be called after those who formerly inhabited them, as the Turks are often called Assyrians;thus far [is] the judgment of Moab; that is, either so long, unto the latter days, will the judgment of Moab continue.
So the Targum,"hitherto to execute vengeance of judgment on Moab;''or rather, thus far is the prophecy concerning the destruction of Moab; this is the conclusion of it; here it ends, being a long one.
Antiqu. l. 13. c. 13. sect 5.