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Isaiah 17

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Judgment Against Damascus and Ephraim 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. ​

The Remnant Will Turn to God 7–8

7
In that day shall men look unto their Maker, and their eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel. ​
8
And they shall not look to the altars, the work of their hands; neither shall they have respect to that which their fingers have made, either the Asherim, or the sun-images. ​

Desolation Due to Forgetting God 9–11

9
In that day shall their strong cities be as the forsaken places in the wood and on the mountain top, which were forsaken from before the children of Israel; and it shall be a desolation. ​
10
For thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength; therefore thou plantest pleasant plants, and settest it with strange slips. ​
11
In the day of thy planting thou hedgest it in, and in the morning thou makest thy seed to blossom; but the harvest fleeth away in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow. ​

Woe to the Invading Nations 12–14

12
Ah, the uproar of many peoples, that roar like the roaring of the seas; and the rushing of nations, that rush like the rushing of mighty waters! ​
13
The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but he shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like the whirling dust before the storm. ​
14
At eventide, behold, terror; and before the morning they are not. This is the portion of them that despoil us, and the lot of them that rob us. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Isaiah 17

Verse 1

The burden of Damascus — Massa is a load lifted and carried, the word that heads the oracles of chs. 13–23 (13:1; 15:1; 19:1; 21:1; 22:1; 23:1). 'The head of Syria is Damascus' (Isa 7:8). 'Taken away from being a city' came true when the king of Assyria 'went up against Damascus, and took it… and slew Rezin' (2 Kgs 16:9).

Verse 2

The cities of Aroer — Aroer names towns east of the Jordan, one by the river Arnon (Deut 2:36) and one 'before Rabbah' (Josh 13:25). Their emptiness is described with the words of the promised peace, 'none shall make them afraid' (Lev 26:6; Mic 4:4), here the quiet of ruined places where 'flocks' lie down (cf. Ezek 25:5; Zeph 2:6).

Verse 3

The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim — Ephraim and Damascus stood together against Judah (Isa 7:1–2), and the oracle ends their alliance in one sentence. 'Fortress' (mibtsar) is a fortified city. The 'remnant of Syria' is to share the fate of 'the glory of the children of Israel', which v.4 then describes.

Verse 4

the glory of Jacob shall be made thin — 'Glory' (kabod) comes from the root for heavy, and the heavy thing 'shall be made thin'. The 'fatness of his flesh' that 'shall wax lean' recalls Moses' words, 'Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked' (Deut 32:15). Isaiah has already said, 'send among his fat ones leanness' (Isa 10:16).

Verse 5

the valley of Rephaim — The reaper takes the standing grain whole, 'with his arm', and the picture is of a field cleared. The valley of Rephaim (rendered 'the valley of the giants' in Josh 15:8) lay on the border of Judah by Jerusalem, and it was there that 'the Philistines also came and spread themselves' (2 Sam 5:18).

Verse 6

gleaning grapes shall be left — The law left the last fruit for the poor: 'When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again' (Deut 24:20). Isaiah uses that gleaning for the remnant, 'two or three berries… four or five', and repeats it in Isa 24:13. Paul calls such a remnant 'according to the election of grace' (Rom 11:5).

Verse 7

shall a man look to his Maker — After the stripping comes the turning of the eyes: 'a man' looks to the LORD, and 'his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel', the title Isaiah uses throughout the book. It is the reverse of Isa 31:1, where men trust in horses and chariots, 'but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel'.

Verse 8

the work of his hands — The altars are what Ephraim had built: 'Ephraim hath made many altars to sin' (Hos 8:11). 'Groves' are the asherim, the images of Asherah, for which 'the LORD shall smite Israel' (1 Kgs 14:15). Isaiah's phrase, 'that which their own fingers have made', is the one of Isa 2:8.

Verse 9

his strong cities — Ma'oz, 'stronghold', is the word that returns in v.10 as 'the rock of thy strength': the fortresses are named with the very word for the refuge that was forgotten. They are left like the 'uppermost branch' (amir, found only here and in v.6), the high bough where a few berries hung.

Verse 10

the rock of thy strength — Tsur, 'rock', is Moses' name for God: Jeshurun 'lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation' (Deut 32:15), and 'Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God' (Deut 32:18). 'Strength' is the ma'oz of v.9; the planting 'with strange slips', foreign cuttings, takes the place of trust in it.

Verse 11

the day of grief and of desperate sorrow — The planting is hurried, flowering by morning, yet the 'harvest shall be a heap'. 'Desperate' is anush, incurable, the word used of the 'wound' that 'refuseth to be healed' in Jer 15:18. The principle is stated in Hos 8:7, 'they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind'.

Verse 12

the noise of the seas — 'Noise' is hamah, the verb of the harp-like moaning in Isa 16:11; here it is the roar of many peoples, 'like the rushing of mighty waters'. Isaiah had already pictured the king of Assyria as 'the waters of the river, strong and many' (Isa 8:7). 'Woe' (hoy) begins a short oracle on 'the rushing of nations'.

Verse 13

God shall rebuke them — The rush of the nations ends with one word, 'rebuke' (ga'ar), the word used of the Red sea, 'He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up' (Ps 106:9). The 'chaff of the mountains' is driven before the wind, and the 'rolling thing' (galgal, a wheel or whirling thing) is the figure of Ps 83:13, 'make them like a wheel'.

Verse 14

at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not — The overnight end matches the Assyrian camp, 'when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses' (Isa 37:36). The speaker counts himself with Judah: 'the portion' (cheleq) and 'the lot' (goral), the words for an assigned share, fall to those who 'spoil us'.