John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 17:1

"The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap." — Isaiah 17:1 (ASV)

The burden of Damascus. Here he prophesies against the kingdom of Syria, and mentions the chief city in which the seat of the kingdom lay. It was fitting that this calamity, like others which came before it, should be described, so that the righteous could confidently believe that God would one day assist them, and would not always permit them to be oppressed by the wicked without end. The king of Syria had formed an alliance with Israel against Judah, as we saw previously in the seventh chapter; and since the Jews were not able to contend with him, and were deprived of other help, they might also have doubts about God’s assistance, as if He had utterly abandoned them. Therefore, to free them from these doubts, he threatens the destruction of that kingdom, from which they would readily conclude that God fought in defense of His people.

It is uncertain at what time Isaiah uttered this prophecy, for, as I have already remarked, he does not follow chronological order in threatening each nation with the punishment it deserved. But, as far as I am able to conjecture, he foretold these events when those two kings—that is, the kings of Israel and Syria—invaded Judea and formed an alliance to destroy it and the whole Church (Isaiah 7:1–2). For, by joining the Israelites and Syrians together, he summons them to a mutual judgment, to show that the only advantage they had derived from their wicked and disgraceful conspiracy was to be involved in the same destruction. In this way, Isaiah intended to comfort godly people of the tribe of Judah, for he focuses chiefly on them, so that they might not be discouraged, and not on the Syrians or even the Israelites, whose destruction he foretells.

Behold, Damascus is taken away. The demonstrative particle Behold, seals the certainty of the prophecy. When he expressly mentions Damascus, this does not mean that the other parts of the kingdom are exempt, but it was customary for the prophets to use a part to represent the whole, thereby including the fate of the entire nation in the destruction of its metropolis. For what can ordinary towns expect when the kingdom's citadel has been stormed? Yet there is another reason why the prophets pronounce heavier threats on the chief and royal cities, and especially direct their discourse against them. It is because a polluted flood of crimes overflows from them into the whole country.