Isaiah 17:1-6

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
2.

DAMASCUS

a. COALITION

TEXT: Isaiah 17:1-6

1

The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

2

The cities of Aroer are forsaken; they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.

3

And the fortress shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria; they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith Jehovah of hosts.

4

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean.

5

And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the standing grain, and his arm reapeth the ears; yea, it shall be as when one gleaneth ears in the valley of Rephaim.

6

Yet there shall be left therein gleanings, as the shaking of an olive-tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost branches of a fruitful tree, saith Jehovah, the God of Israel.

QUERIES

a.

Why does Isaiah pronounce judgment on Ephraim (Israel) along with Damascus?

b.

What relationship did Damascus have to Jehovah?

PARAPHRASE

This is God's pronouncement concerning Damascus, capital of Syria: Behold, Damascus is no longer to be a city. It is destined to become a heap of ruins! Even the cities of Aroer, lying between Israel and Syria, are destined for desolation. They will be so completely deserted that sheep will pasture in their ruins lying quiet and unafraid with no people to chase them away. The combined power of the Israel-Damascus coalition will end. The supposed glory of this godless coalition will fade like that of Israel when she rejected Jehovah. Israel's one-time glory will be a thing of the past, even as a wasting disease may cut down the fatness of a healthy man until he has withered away to skin and bones. Nothing will be left of these two nations. They will be so thoroughly consumed by God's judgment they will be like a wheat field where the reaper is followed by the gleaners picking up every scrap left behind. They will be like the olive tree that is shaken and has its branches beaten with sticks to gather every berry.

COMMENTS

Isaiah 17:1-3 ALLIANCE ANNULED: Damascus was founded some 2,200 years before Christ by Uz, a grandson of Shem (Joshua 1:6; Joshua 4:1 ff). It is the capital of Syria. 1 Thessalonians 2 ft. elevation gives it a delightful climate. Caravan routes from the east, west and south crossed in the city, carrying treasures of silks, perfumes, carpets, and foods. It has always been strategic both militarily and economically. In Isaiah's day, Damascus (Syria) and Israel (the northern kingdom of the Jews) had formed an alliance to go to war against Judah. Ahaz, king of Judah, made an alliance with Assyria (see our comments on Isaiah 7). Isaiah had earlier (ch. 7) predicted the downfall of the Syria-Israel coalition. Now the prophet repeats God's judgment upon it. After the Assyrian conquest of Syria and Israel, Damascus was of little importance until 635 A.D. when it became the seat of the Mohammedan world. It really has never regained the prominence or power it had in the days of Isaiah. The cities of Aroer were cities in the far northern reaches of the territory of Israel. They formed a sort of buffer zone between Israel and Syria. This is Isaiah's announcement that Israel would be invaded by the same forces about to occupy Damascus. The entire territory of these two nations allied against God's remnant (Judah) was to be made so desolate that sheep would pasture in the ruins of their cities and fortresses. There would be no people in these lands to scare the sheep away.

Isaiah 17:4-6 AFTERMATH OF THE ATTACK: After the destructive forces of God's judgment have done their work, the glory of these two nations, especially Israel, will be only a shadow and skeleton of its former self. It will vanish as the fatness of a man leaves him when he is wasting away with an incurable disease. All that will be left of the two will be one or two scattered, left-over, insignificant survivors. These two nations will be picked clean and left barren like a field gleaned, etc.

QUIZ

1.

How old was the city of Damascus?

2.

What was the alliance between Damascus and Israel for in Isaiah's time?

3.

To what extent was Damascus doomed?