Isaiah 17:1

The burden of Damascus,.... A heavy and grievous prophecy, concerning the destruction of it; the Arabic version is, "the prophecy of Isaiah concerning Damascus;'' and the Targum is, "the burden of

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

ISAIAH CHAPTER 17 Damascus, Samaria, Israel, and their cities, to be ruined by the Assyrians, . A remnant shall consider and repent, . The rest plagued for their impiety, . The woe of Israel’ s enemies, . The burden of Damascus; both of that city and kingdom, as appears from ,3. It shall be a ruinous heap: this was fulfilled by Tiglath-pileser, , although afterwards it was re-edified and possessed by another sort of inhabitants.

Isaiah 17:1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from [being] a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.Ver. 1. The burden of Damascus.] See Isaiah 13:1. Of Damascus.] That is, of the kingdom of Syria, the head city whereof was Damascus; and it was destroyed by Shalmaneser five or six years after this burdenous prophecy; the like whereunto, see Isaiah 49:23 Amos 1:2 Zechariah 9:1. It had been taken before by Tiglathpileser, and hath been rebuilded since, being at this day a noble city of the East - civitas laetitiae et laudabilis, as Jeremiah calleth it. And it shall be a ruinous heap.] It was so till re-edified, and inhabited by a new people.

XVII. (1) The burden of Damascus.—Syria, it will be remembered, had been “confederate with Ephraim,” i.e., with the kingdom of Israel, against Judah in the reign of Ahaz, and the prophet had then foretold its overthrow by Assyria (Isaiah 7:1-16). In 2 Kings 16:9, 2 Chron. 28:29, we have a partial fulfilment of that prediction. Writing probably early in the reign of Hezekiah, Isaiah now looks forward to a further fulfilment in the future. Damascus is taken away from being a city . . .—The words emphasise the result of the Assyrian invasion. The city of ancient days (Genesis 15:2) should lose glory and be no more worthy of the name; struck out, as it were, from the list of the great cities of the world. The cities of Aroer are forsaken.—The LXX. and other versions seem to have followed a different text, and give, “The cities are forsaken for ever.” Taking Aroer as the right reading, we note that there were two cities of the name, one in the tribe of Reuben (Deuteronomy 2:36; Deuteronomy 3:12), afterwards in the possession of Moab (Jeremiah 48:19), and the other in that of Gad, near Rabbah of Ammon (Numbers 32:34; Joshua 13:25; 2 Samuel 24:5). The present passage seems to imply a closer connection with Damascus. and therefore a more northern position than that of either of these cities. The latter of the two Just named may, however, have been in alliance with Damascus, and so have shared its fate during the Assyrian invasion. Possibly it may have been chosen for special mention on account of the significance of its name (“laid bare”) as ominous of utter ruin. The picture of the “flocks” wandering through the streets of the city reminds us of that of Babylon in Isaiah 13:21. The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim.—The alliance of the two kingdoms is still prominent in Isaiah’s thoughts. Both shall fall, he predicts, together; and, with a stern, grave irony, he paints the downfall of “the remnant of Syria.” It shall be “as the glory of the children of Israel,” i.e., shall be fleeting and transient as that had been proved to be. There is, perhaps, a special reference to Hosea 9:11, “Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird.”

CHAPTER XVII Judgments of God upon Damascus, 1-3; and upon Israel, 4-6. Good effects of these judgments on the small remnant or gleaning that should escape them, 7, 8. The same judgments represented in other but stronger terms, and imputed to irreligion and neglect of God, 9-11. The remaining verses are a distinct prophecy, a beautiful detached piece, worked up with the greatest elegance, sublimity, and propriety; and forming a noble description of the formidable invasion and sudden overthrow of Sennacherib, exactly suitable to the event, 12-14. This prophecy by its title should relate only to Damascus; but it full as much concerns, and more largely treats of, the kingdom of Samaria and the Israelites, confederated with Damascus and the Syrians against the kingdom of Judah. It was delivered probably soon after the prophecies of the seventh and eighth chapters, in the beginning of the reign of Ahaz; and was fulfilled by Tiglath-pileser's taking Damascus, and carrying the people captives to Kir, (2Kg 16:9,) and overrunning great part of the kingdom of Israel, and carrying a great number of the Israelites also captives to Assyria; and still more fully in regard to Israel, by the conquest of the kingdom, and the captivity of the people, effected a few years after by Shalmaneser. - L. NOTES ON CHAP. XVII Verse 1. The burden of Damascus.] Which is, according to the common version, The cities of Aroer are forsaken. It has already been observed by the learned prelate that the prophecy, as it relates to Damascus, was executed in the beginning of the reign of Ahaz, probably about the third year. If we credit Midrash, the Damascenes were the most extensive and flagrant of all idolaters. "There were in Damascus three hundred and sixty-five streets, in each of these was an idol, and each idol had his peculiar day of worship; so that the whole were worshipped in the course of the year." This, or any thing like this, was a sufficient reason for this city's destruction. A ruinous heap] For מעי mei, "a ruinous heap," the Septuagint reads לעי lei, "for a ruin," the Vulgate כעי kei, "as a ruin." I follow the former.

1–3. The fate of Damascus.

The burden of Damascus - The oracle indicating calamity or destruction to Damascus (see the note at Isaiah 13:1). “Damascus is taken away.” That is, it shall be destroyed.

1. Burden — An oracle, a declaration, or a conviction moving to utter a threat. See Isaiah 13:1. Later critical scholars reject this phrase here, as added by copyists.