June 10
Reading: Isaiah 17
1 An oracle concerning Damascus.
Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city
and will become a heap of ruins.
2 The cities of Aroer are deserted;
they will be for flocks, which will lie down,
and none will make them afraid.
3 The fortress will disappear from Ephraim,
and the kingdom from Damascus;
and the remnant of Syria
will be like the glory of the children of Israel,
declares the LORD of hosts.
4 And in that day the glory of Jacob will be brought low,
and the fat of his flesh will grow lean.
5 And it shall be as when the reaper gathers standing grain
and his arm harvests the ears,
and as when one gleans the ears of grain
in the Valley of Rephaim.
6 Gleanings will be left in it, as when an olive tree is beaten—
two or three berries in the top of the highest bough,
four or five on the branches of a fruit tree,
declares the LORD God of Israel.
7 In that day man will look to his Maker,
and his eyes will look on the Holy One of Israel.
8 He will not look to the altars, the work of his hands,
and he will not look on what his own fingers have made,
either the Asherim or the altars of incense.
9 In that day their strong cities will be like the deserted places
of the wooded heights and the hilltops,
which they deserted because of the children of Israel,
and there will be desolation.
10 For you have forgotten the God of your salvation
and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge;
therefore, though you plant pleasant plants
and sow the vine-branch of a strange god,
11 though you make them grow on the day that you plant them,
and make them blossom in the morning that you sow,
yet the harvest will flee away
in a day of grief and incurable pain.
12 Ah, the thunder of many peoples;
they thunder like the thundering of the sea!
Ah, the roar of nations;
they roar like the roaring of mighty waters!
13 The nations roar like the roaring of many waters,
but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away,
chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind
and whirling dust before the storm.
14 At evening time, behold, terror!
Before morning, they are no more!
This is the portion of those who loot us,
and the lot of those who plunder us.
Isaiah 17 begins with the oracle against Damascus and moves into an oracle against the nations. Damascus is the capitol of Aram (Syria), Israel’s neighbor to the north-east. Damascus is the oldest continuously inhabited city on earth. It holds a strategic place on the route from the Tigris-Euphrates valley to the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and the Nile River.
The oracle against Damascus is clear: annihilation. (vss. 1-3)
Damascus was an ally of Ephraim, a way of speaking about the Northern Kingdom of Israel. They trusted one another and their false gods and false religion. They will be going down together.
The demise of Damascus and Ephraim is described in three sections, each beginning with “in that day.” It is the day when Assyria will invade, a day of the Lord.
vss. 4-6 The fruit of the land will be decimated.
vss. 7-8 The idolatry of the people will be destroyed. They will recognize the Lord again.
vs. 9 The cities will be laid waste.
In verses 10-11 the Lord explains why this judgment is coming. They “have forgotten the God of your salvation.” Instead, they have made their own religion complete with beautiful gardens, harvests, and delights. In verses 12-14 all the idolatrous nations, who rage like a roaring sea, come under the judgment of the Holy One of Israel.
Why are the nations in an uproar
And the peoples devising a vain thing?
The kings of the earth take their stand
And the rulers take counsel together
Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying,
“Let us tear their fetters apart
And cast away their cords from us!”
He who sits in the heavens laughs,
The Lord scoffs at them.
Then He will speak to them in His anger
And terrify them in His fury, saying,
“But as for Me, I have installed My King
Upon Zion, My holy mountain.” Psalm 2:1-6