John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 17:3

"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." — Isaiah 17:3 (ASV)

The fortress shall cease. He points out the reason why the Lord determines to cut off the kingdom of Syria. Amos (Amos 1:3) enumerates additional reasons, but the most important was the one the Prophet mentions: namely, that they had drawn the kingdom of Israel to their side for the purpose of making war against the Jews. The Israelites were undoubtedly allured by the flatteries of the Syrians to form an alliance with them against their brethren. It was a pretext especially suited to deceive them, that the Syrians would aid them against all their enemies. Consequently, the Israelites placed confidence in the forces and power of the Syrians to such an extent that they believed themselves able to oppose any adversary. All Israel is here, as in many other passages, denoted by the name Ephraim, which was the chief tribe of that people. Now, “the assistance and kingdom” are said to “cease” from any place when its strength is broken and its rank is overthrown.

And the remnant of Syria. That is, both of these nations, the Syrians and the Israelites, will come to nothing. For the purpose of giving additional weight to the prophecy, he states that it is God who declares it, for he immediately adds these words: saith Jehovah of hosts. Now, when the Lord punished those two kingdoms so severely, he unquestionably promoted in this way the benefit of his Church, delivering it by the destruction of its enemies.

And indeed, in destroying both nations, he employed the Assyrians as his agents, to whom even the Jews had applied. Although in this respect they had sinned grievously, yet their offense did not hinder the Lord from promoting the benefit of his Church, or from delivering it by bringing its enemies into conflict with each other.

From this we perceive how great is the care God exercises over us, since he does not spare even the greatest kingdoms in order to preserve us. We should also observe that though all the wicked enter into a league and join hands to destroy us, yet the Lord will easily rescue us from their jaws.

Besides, we should remark that it is advantageous for us to be deprived of earthly aids, on which we rely in vain in opposition to God. For when we are blinded by our prosperity, we flatter ourselves and cannot hear the voice of God. It therefore becomes necessary to remove these obstructions, so that we may perceive our helplessness, as was the case with the Israelites, who were deprived of their aid after Syria had been destroyed.