Deeper Commentary
Isaiah 17:1 The burden of Damascus: Behold, Damascus is taken away
from being a city, and it will be a ruinous heap- I have commented
through Is. 13-16 upon the conditional nature of these prophecies. They
envisage a situation in which Babylon and / or Assyria will judge Judah and
the surrounding nations, and a repentant remnant from all of them will unite
in a multi-ethnic, reestablished Kingdom of God in Judah. But this scenario
was precluded by various factors, not least the impenitence of all the
peoples; and perhaps foreseeing this, God did not bring about all the
judgments to the extent spoken of. The essence of the prophecies however
will come true in the last days. Here we have an example- Damascus continued
as a city and does to this day, being one of the oldest continually occupied
cities on earth.
Isaiah 17:2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken. They will be for flocks, which
shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid- See on :1. The LXX
make this read on as part of the burden upon Damascus in :1. There is no
"Aroer" near Damascus.
Isaiah 17:3 The fortress shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from
Damascus, and the remnant of Syria. They will be as the glory of the
children of Israel, says Yahweh of Armies- And that glory was to be
brought down (:4). Here there is envisaged the judgment together of
Israel, Syria and Judah. This was the Divine perspective on Judah's fear
of a confederacy against them by Israel and Syria- they were all to perish
together (Is. 7:1-5). I explained on Is. 8:8 that it was one of the
various prophetic potentials that Assyria would destroy these three
nations together during the same campaign. This didn't come about; partly
because there was enough response in Judah to Isaiah's prophecies that the
Assyrians were stopped short and destroyed. Or it could be that the
overweening pride of Assyria and their revolt against Yahweh was such that
He destroyed to destroy them anyway and not allow them to destroy
Jerusalem.
Hence LXX: "And she shall no longer be a strong place for Ephraim to flee
to, and there shall no longer be a kingdom in Damascus, or a remnant of
Syrians; for thou art no better than the children of Israel". The Syrians
did remain and the kingdom of Damascus did continue, because the potential
scenario was precluded from happening. We also note that Israel are again
presented as no better than the Gentiles, and therefore shared similar
judgments.
It could be argued that this chapter is largely about the judgment of
"Jacob", but Damascus is mentioned because Syria would no longer be a
fortress or "bulwark" / source of strength for them. The idea is that
Damascus and the ten tribes were to be destroyed together in the same
campaign by Babylon or Assyria. Whilst this scenario didn't quite work out
as it could have done, the abiding reality is that all human sources of
strength fade to nothing before Divine judgment. This is the same
situation as in Is. 7, where Israel and Syria united against Judah and
their judgment by Assyria / Babylon is prophesied. Syria was not so
strong; Damascus had recently been ransacked by the Assyrians (2 Kings
16:9). But still they seemed to Israel such a relative source of strength.
Isaiah 17:4 It will happen in that day that the glory of Jacob will be
made thin, and the fatness of his flesh will become lean-
Isaiah 17:5 It will be like when the harvester gathers the wheat, and his
arm reaps the grain. Yes, it will be like when one gleans grain in the
valley of Rephaim- This is the language of judgment day, a harvest in
a valley. But from that judgment there was intended to be a gleaning, a
remnant of good corn would emerge. This reflects the continual Divine hope
that a remnant of Syria as well as of Ephraim and Judah would repent (:5).
For the subject of the prophecy merges from Syria to Ephraim and now to
Judah- the valley of Rephaim or giants was just south of Jerusalem in
Judah (Josh. 15:8; 18:16). The idea was that remnants of all these peoples
would unite in repentance in the reestablished Kingdom of God in Judah.
Isaiah 17:6 Yet gleanings will be left there, like the shaking of an olive
tree, two or three olives in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five
in the outermost branches of a fruitful tree, says Yahweh, the God of
Israel- The idea is that the tree was "fruitful" [potentially] but
only a very few bits of fruit would be found. This finding of this tiny
remnant "there", in a valley near Jerusalem (see on :5). This didn't
happen at the time, Mic. 7:1 says that actually no gleanings of the
vintage were found; but all this will be transferred, reapplied and
rescheduled to the outcome of the final judgment in a similar valley near
Jerusalem at the Lord's return. Olives were struck down from the higher
branches with a stick, and that rod or stick which was to beat Judah and
the nations is clearly defined as Babylon / Assyria in Is. 10. Is.
24:13-15,21-23 clearly applies this scenario to the last days.
Isaiah 17:7 In that day, a man will look to his Maker, and his eyes shall
perceive the Holy One of Israel- This envisages the remnant of the
Syrians, Israel and Judah turning to Yahweh, God of Israel. At their
nadir, like men today, they will reflect on the most basic fact of human
existence- that they were created by God. Man cannot see God, and yet eyes
can perceive Him- if they are penitent. The contrast is with how they had
previously focused their mental attention on what they had 'made', their
idols (:8); rather than upon their personal maker. This is the wonderful
imperative of believing that we were made, created; the works of our
hands become less appealing.
Isaiah 17:8 They will not look to the altars, the work of their hands;
neither shall they respect that which their fingers have made, neither the
Asherim nor the incense altars- The Syrians, as well as God's people,
would repent of their idolatry and turn to Yahweh alone (:7). And this
shall come supremely true in the last days. When a man looks to his maker, "he shall not look to the altars [of]
the work of his hands, neither shall he have respect to that which his
fingers have made". God's fingers made the stars and all of
creation (Ps. 8:3). By focusing upon God's works in creation, we
will not be focused upon our works, but rather trust in God's creative
grace.
Isaiah 17:9 In that day their strong cities will be like the forsaken
places in the woods and on the mountain top, which were forsaken from
before the children of Israel; and it will be a desolation- "Strong"
is the same word used in :10 of how God was to be their strength. Instead,
Israel had trusted in the strong cities of the Syrians such as Damascus.
This is the trouble with trusting in human strength and even having access
to it; our trust in God's strength is thereby so easily diminished.
Isaiah 17:10 For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have
not remembered the rock of your strength- They saw salvation in an
alliance with Syria to destroy Judah with Egypt's help and thus form a
united buffer against Assyria. All these kinds of petty politics and
desperate dreams are just as much a part of our thinking today. And it is
all a forgetting of Yahweh as the rock of our strength and salvation.
Syria was not so strong; Damascus had recently been ransacked by the
Assyrians (2 Kings 16:9). But still they seemed to Israel such a relative
source of strength.
Therefore you plant pleasant plants, and set out foreign seedlings- RVmg. "thou plantest plantings of Adonis". This was a Syrian god. The alliance between Israel and Syria against Judah (Is. 7) required Israel to accept Syrian gods. And therefore they had effectively resigned their belief in Yahweh although they would never have admitted that in so many words. We can not serve two masters.
Isaiah 17:11 In the day of your planting, you hedge it in; in the morning,
you make your seed blossom, but the harvest flees away in the day of grief
and of desperate sorrow- The idea is that no matter how successful the
alliance with Syria appeared to be initially, it would not prosper when it
came to term, and the harvest of it would be a day of terrible judgment.
This is the end of all ways around problems which are anything less than a
complete falling upon Yahweh in our hearts. "Desperate sorrow" and "grief"
in Hebrew mean incurable illness; the tragedy was that the opportunity for
healing had been given but they had refused it, and therefore so many
potentials were thereby disallowed.
Isaiah 17:12 Ah, the uproar of many peoples, who roar like the roaring of
the seas; and the rushing of nations, that rush like the rushing of mighty
waters!- The judgment upon Syria and Israel (and probably Judah is also
in view here (see on :5), would be like the rushing of waters-
representing the various nations in the Assyrian or Babylonian
confederacy. But this strange rush of nations against them would be
strangely stopped (:13), by grace. "The roaring of the seas" is the term
used for the Babylonian invasion of Judah (Jer. 5:22; 6:23). What began as
a prophecy of judgment against Syria and Israel at the hands of the
Assyrians now morphs into judgment against Judah at the hands of the
Babylonians; see on Is. 13:1. The phrase is also used of Yahweh's victory
at the roaring Red Sea (Is. 51:15; Ps. 65:7), implying again that this
invasion is going to be destroyed as the Egyptians were. This didn't
happen at the Babylonian invasion, although potentially it could've done
had Judah repented.
Isaiah 17:13 The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters: but He
will rebuke them, and they will flee far off, and will be chased like the
chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like the whirling dust before
the storm- LXX "as a storm whirling the dust of the wheel". This is
the language of the cherubim, implying God would intervene directly. The
Assyrian invasion of Israel and Syria (see on :12) could have been
averted, but it wasn't, because they didn't repent. But it was averted
against Judah because a minority repented; the same word for "rush" is
used of the tumult of that invasion (2 Kings 19:25; Is. 6:11). But the
Babylonian invasion of them some time later wasn't, although it would've
been had they repented. The chaff being blown before the wind recalls the
vision of Dan. 2, whose primary potential fulfilment was in the fall of
Babylon and the little stone of the repentant exiles returning to
reestablish God's Kingdom in the land. See notes on Dan. 2. But that too
was precluded by Judah's impenitence. And so it will come to fulfilment in
the last days, when again the nations will "rush" to their judgment (Is.
13:4 s.w.).
Isaiah 17:14 At evening, behold, terror! Before the morning, they are no
more. This is the portion of those who plunder us, and the lot of those who
rob us- LXX "that robbed you of your inheritance". The primary allusion
is to the robbery of Judah by the Assyrians (2 Kings 18:13-16), resulting
in the Angel smiting their army so that "before the morning" they were all
dead corpses (Is. 37:36).
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