Isaiah 17: A prophecy against Damascus & Israel

• v.1-3 A focus on the north
• v.4-11 The focus on Israel
• v.12-14 A focus on the nations of the world

[Preliminary Comment: The prophetic spotlight next turns briefly to Damascus [v.1-3] but more on Israel who seem to have an alliance with this northern godless city [v.4-11] and finally the peoples of the world who are against God and will come under His judgment.]

v.1-3 A focus on the north

v.1 A prophecy against Damascus:

‘See, Damascus will no longer be a city
    but will become a heap of ruins.

v.2 The cities of Aroer will be deserted
    and left to flocks, which will lie down,
    with no one to make them afraid.

v.3 The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim,
    and royal power from Damascus;
the remnant of Aram will be
    like the glory of the Israelites,’
declares the Lord Almighty.

[Notes: The city in the north is censured, nearby towns & the land similarly. Aram & Israel will suffer the same fate.]

v.4-11 The focus on Israel

v.4  ‘In that day the glory of Jacob will fade;
    the fat of his body will waste away.

v.5  It will be as when reapers harvest the standing corn,
    gathering the corn in their arms –
as when someone gleans ears of corn
    in the Valley of Rephaim.

v.6  Yet some gleanings will remain,
    as when an olive tree is beaten,
leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches,
    four or five on the fruitful boughs,’
declares the Lord,
the God of Israel.

v.7  In that day people will look to their Maker
    and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.

v.8  They will not look to the altars,
    the work of their hands,
and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles
    and the incense altars their fingers have made.

v.9  In that day their strong cities, which they left because of the Israelites, will be like places abandoned to thickets and undergrowth. And all will be desolation.

v.10 You have forgotten God your Savior;
    you have not remembered the Rock, your fortress.
Therefore, though you set out the finest plants
    and plant imported vines,

v.11  though on the day you set them out, you make them grow,
    and on the morning when you plant them, you bring them to bud,
yet the harvest will be as nothing
    in the day of disease and incurable pain.

[Notes: Israel’s splendor will be gone and down as far as Jerusalem, the land will be cleared, yet there will be a remnant left. When it happens, people will turn to God, they will no longer rely on their idols. The land will be left desolate and all this will be because you turned from God. However hard you resist, you will fall.]

v.12-14 A focus on the nations of the world

v.12 Woe to the many nations that rage –
    they rage like the raging sea!
Woe to the peoples who roar –
    they roar like the roaring of great waters!

v.13 Although the peoples roar like the roar of surging waters,
    when he rebukes them they flee far away,
driven before the wind like chaff on the hills,
    like tumble-weed before a gale.

v.14 In the evening, sudden terror!
    Before the morning, they are gone!
This is the portion of those who loot us,
    the lot of those who plunder us.

[Notes: All the nations [against God] will fall; they can roar but they will fall and it will come on them speedily.]

For those who may wish to make a study of this chapter, to perhaps think some more about what you have been reading, use the link below: