1The burden against Damascus: Behold, Damascus is removed from being a city, and it shall be a heap of ruins. 2The cities of Aroer are forsaken; now they are for flocks which lie down, and no one makes them afraid. 3And the fortress shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the rest of Syria. They shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, says Jehovah of Hosts. 4And it shall come to pass in that day that the glory of Jacob shall be laid low, and the fatness of his flesh shall be made lean. 5And it shall be as the gathering of grain at harvest, and his arm reaps the heads of grain. And it shall be as he who gathers heads of grain in the Valley of Rephaim. 6Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, like the shaking of an olive tree, where two or three ripe olives are in the top of the uppermost branch, with four or five in the fruitful branches of it, says Jehovah the God of Israel. 7In that day a man shall look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel. 8And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, nor respect that which his fingers have made, neither the groves nor idols. 9In that day his strong cities shall be like a forsaken branch, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel; and it shall become a desolation. 10Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not been mindful of the Rock of your strength, therefore you shall plant pleasant plants and shall set strange shoots. 11In the day you shall fence in your planting; and in the morning you shall make your seed sprout. But the harvest shall be a heap in the day of sickness and incurable pain. 12Woe to the multitude of many people, who make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations who make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters! 13The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters; but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far away, and shall be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the tempest. 14At evening time, behold, terror! Before the morning, he is no more! This is the portion of those who plunder us, and the lot of those who rob us.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 PROPHECY CONCERNING DAMASCUS AND ITS ALLY SAMARIA, that is, Syria and Israel, which had leagued together (seventh and eighth chapters). (
Isa 17:1-
Isa 17:11)
Damascus--put before Israel (Ephraim,
Isa 17:3), which is chiefly referred to in what follows, because it was the prevailing power in the league; with it Ephraim either stood or fell (Isa. 7:1-25).
2 cities of Aroer--that is, the cities round Aroer, and under its jurisdiction [GESENIUS]. So "cities with their villages" (
Josh 15:44); "Heshbon and all her cities" (
Josh 13:17). Aroer was near Rabbahammon, at the river of Gad, an arm of the Jabbok (
2Sam 24:5), founded by the Gadites (
Num 32:34).
for flocks-- (
Isa 5:17).
3 fortress . . . cease--The strongholds shall be pulled down (Samaria especially:
Hos 10:14;
Mic 1:6;
Hab 1:10).
remnant of Syria--all that was left after the overthrow by Tiglath-pileser (
2Kgs 16:9).
as the glory of . . . Israel--They shall meet with the same fate as Israel, their ally.
4 glory of Jacob--the kingdom of Ephraim and all that they rely on (
Hos 12:2;
Mic 1:5).
fatness . . . lean--(See on
Isa 10:16).
5 harvestman, &c.--The inhabitants and wealth of Israel shall be swept away, and but few left behind just as the husbandman gathers the corn and the fruit, and leaves only a few gleaning ears and grapes (
2Kgs 18:9-11).
with his arm--He collects the standing grain with one arm, so that he can cut it with the sickle in the other hand.
Rephaim--a fertile plain at the southwest of Jerusalem toward Beth-lehem and the country of the Philistines (
2Sam 5:18-22).
6 in it--that is, in the land of Israel.
two or three . . . in the top--A few poor inhabitants shall be left in Israel, like the two or three olive berries left on the topmost boughs, which it is not worth while taking the trouble to try to reach.
7 look to his Maker--instead of trusting in their fortresses-- (
Isa 17:3;
Mic 7:7).
8 groves--A symbolical tree is often found in Assyrian inscriptions, representing the hosts of heaven ("Saba"), answering to Ashteroth or Astarte, the queen of heaven, as Baal or Bel is the king. Hence the expression, "image of the grove," is explained (
2Kgs 21:7).
images--literally, "images to the sun," that is, to Baal, who answers to the sun, as Astarte to the hosts of heaven (
2Kgs 23:5;
Job 31:26).
9 forsaken bough--rather "the leavings of woods," what the axeman leaves when he cuts down the grove (compare
Isa 17:6).
which they left because of--rather, "which (the enemies) shall leave for the children of Israel"; literally, "shall leave (in departing) from before the face of the children of Israel" [MAURER]. But a few cities out of many shall be left to Israel, by the purpose of God, executed by the Assyrian.
10 forgotten . . . God of . . . salvation . . . rock-- (
Deut 32:15,
Deut 32:18).
plants--rather, "nursery grounds," "pleasure-grounds" [MAURER].
set in--rather, "set them," the pleasure-grounds.
strange slips--cuttings of plants from far, and therefore valuable.
11 In the day . . . thy plant--rather, "In the day of thy planting" [HORSLEY].
shalt . . . make . . . grow--MAURER translates, "Thou didst fence it," namely, the pleasure-ground. The parallel clause, "Make . . . flourish," favors English Version. As soon as thou plantest, it grows.
in the morning--that is, immediately after; so in
Ps 90:14, the Hebrew, "in the morning," is translated "early."
but . . . shall be a heap--rather, "but (promising as was the prospect) the harvest is gone" [HORSLEY].
in . . . day of grief--rather, "in the day of (expected) possession" [MAURER]. "In the day of inundation" [HORSLEY].
of desperate sorrow--rather, "And the sorrow shall be desperate or irremediable." In English Version "heap" and "sorrow" may be taken together by hendiadys. "The heap of the harvest shall be desperate sorrow" [ROSENMULLER].
The connection of this fragment with what precedes is: notwithstanding the calamities coming on Israel, the people of God shall not be utterly destroyed (
Isa 6:12-
Isa 6:13); the Assyrian spoilers shall perish (
Isa 17:13-
Isa 17:14).
12 SUDDEN DESTRUCTION OF A GREAT ARMY IN JUDEA (namely that of the Assyrian Sennacherib), AND ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE EVENT TO THE ETHIOPIAN AMBASSADORS. (Isa. 17:12-18:7)
Woe . . . multitude--rather, "Ho (Hark)! a noise of," &c. The prophet in vision perceives the vast and mixed Assyrian hosts (Hebrew, "many peoples," see on
Isa 5:26): on the hills of Judah (so "mountains,"
Isa 17:13): but at the "rebuke" of God, they shall "flee as chaff."
to the rushing . . . that make--rather, "the roaring . . . roareth" (compare
Isa 8:7;
Jer 6:23).
13 shall . . . shall--rather, "God rebuketh (
Ps 9:5) them, and they flee--are chased"; the event is set before the eyes as actually present, not future.
chaff of . . . mountains--Threshing floors in the East are in the open air on elevated places, so as to catch the wind which separates the chaff from the wheat (
Ps 88:13;
Hos 13:3).
rolling thing--anything that rolls: stubble.
14 eventide . . . before morning--fulfilled to the letter in the destruction "before morning" of the vast host that "at eveningtide" was such a terror ("trouble") to Judah; on the phrase see
Ps 90:6;
Ps 30:5.
he is not--namely, the enemy.
us--the Jews. A general declaration of the doom that awaits the foes of God's people (
Isa 54:17).
Isaiah announces the overthrow of Sennacherib's hosts and desires the Ethiopian ambassadors, now in Jerusalem, to bring word of it to their own nation; and he calls on the whole world to witness the event (
Isa 18:3). As
Isa 17:12-
Isa 17:14 announced the presence of the foe, so
Isa 18:1-
Isa 18:7 foretells his overthrow.