Charles Ellicott Commentary Isaiah 17

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 Kings 16:2; 2 Chronicles 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 longer 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 Septuagint 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.

The glory of Jacob shall be made thin. —The word is the same as that rendered “impoverished” in Judges 6:8. “Jacob” commonly stands in the prophets, like Israel, for the northern kingdom, and the words therefore point to the downfall, or, adopting the prophet’s figurative language, the emaciation, of that kingdom.

And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the corn. — The work of devastation is described under another image. The conqueror shall plunder the cities of Israel as the reaper cuts off the ears of corn.

With his usual Dantesque vividness, the prophet localizes the imagery. The valley of Rephaim, or, as in Joshua 15:8; Joshua 18:16, “of the giants,” lay to the southwest of Jerusalem in the direction of Bethlehem.

It was famous for its fertility, and was often for that reason attacked by the Philistines, who came to carry off its crops (2 Samuel 23:13). The prophet had looked on the reaper’s work and had seen in it a parable of that of the Assyrian invader.

Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it. —The idea of the “remnant” is still in the prophet’s thoughts, even in the case of the northern kingdom. First the vineyard, then the olive-yard, supplies a similitude. The “shaking” followed the “beating” of Deuteronomy 24:20 , but even after that a few berries might be seen on the topmost bough.

At that day shall a man look to his Maker. —The words are words of warning hardly less than of promise. There is to be a return to the true faith of Israel, but that return will be brought about by a bitter experience of the results of idolatry. The eyes of men will turn in that hour of their calamity to the Holy One of Israel.