17:1 Here is a message about Damascus: “Look, Damascus is no longer a city, it is a heap of ruins!
Isaiah received a heavy prophetic warning message from Jehovah concerning Damascus. Damascus was the capital city of Syria. Isaiah looked into the future and saw that Damascus was to be destroyed. There was nothing left in the city except for a heap of ruins.
Damascus may be the oldest city in the world. It has been destroyed and rebuilt several times in various locations.
17:2 The cities of Aroer are abandoned. They will be used for herds, which will lie down there in peace.
“The cities of Aroer” is a suburban area near Damascus. This entire area would be destroyed by the Assyrians. However, the land will not be completely destroyed like that of Babylon. The land will still be good for grazing.
17:3 Fortified cities will disappear from Ephraim, and Damascus will lose its kingdom. The survivors in Syria will end up like the splendor of the Israelites,” says the Lord who commands armies.
Ephraim represented the Northern Kingdom. Damascus was the capital city of Syria. Since the Northern Kingdom and Syria established an alliance against the Southern Kingdom to remove an anointed Davidic king, then they would be destroyed by the Assyrian Empire. Syria would be destroyed by Assyria, but a remnant of Syrians would survive. The survivors of Syria would be like the glory of Israel, but the glory of Israel had departed.
17:4 “At that time Jacob’s splendor will be greatly diminished, and he will become skin and bones.
“At that time” usually refers to the Great Tribulation, but here it refers to the Assyrian invasion upon the Northern Kingdom and Syria. The Northern Kingdom was wasting away, leaving the nation with just skin and bones.
17:5 It will be as when one gathers the grain harvest, and his hand gleans the ear of grain. It will be like one gathering the ears of grain in the Valley of Rephaim.
The fields of the Northern Kingdom and Syria will be barren. The Valley of Rephaim was a fertile area west of Jerusalem where David had twice defeated the Philistines.
17:6 There will be some left behind, like when an olive tree is beaten— two or three ripe olives remain toward the very top, four or five on its fruitful branches,” says the Lord God of Israel.
As only a few olives are left on an olive tree’s higher branches, then only a few Israelites and Syrians would be left in the land. However, most of them would be slaughtered. Many others would be deported and relocated.
17:7 At that time men will trust in their creator; they will depend on the Holy One of Israel.
“At that time” refers to the Assyrian Invasion. When the Assyrians invade, many men will turn to Jehovah. Man is so totally depraved and evil, that sometimes God must bring the threat of death upon them so that they can see their Creator. Others would also turn to the Lord at that time of deportation. God would use the destruction of Syria and the Northern Kingdom as a catalyst of bringing men into the Kingdom of God.
17:8 They will no longer trust in the altars their hands made, or depend on the Asherah poles and incense altars their fingers made.
The Asherim were wooden pillars which represented the female goddess Asherah in the Canaanite religion. When the Assyrian Empire invades, then many men will turn to their idols and pray for deliverance. When deliverance does not come, then many men wouldd turn to Jehovah.
17:9 At that time their fortified cities will be like the abandoned summits of the Amorites, which they abandoned because of the Israelites; there will be desolation.
The Assyrians would destroy the Northern Kingdom and Syria, just as Joshua destroyed the Canaanites.
17:10 For you ignore the God who rescues you; you pay no attention to your strong protector. So this is what happens: You cultivate beautiful plants and plant exotic vines.
Since the Northern Kingdom and Syria ignored the protection of the one true God, then their agricultural which they depended upon for survival would be decimated. The beautiful plants and exotic vines may have been the Gardens of Adonis. These gardens represented the death and resurrection of superstitious pagan worship.
17:11 The day you begin cultivating, you do what you can to make it grow; the morning you begin planting, you do what you can to make it sprout. Yet the harvest will disappear in the day of disease and incurable pain.
Disease would destroy the agriculture of the Northern Kingdom and Syria.
17:12 The many peoples massing together are as good as dead, those who make a commotion as loud as the roaring of the sea’s waves. The people making such an uproar are as good as dead, those who make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves.
Verses 12-14 go with chapter 18. The “many peoples” are the Assyrians. Although the Assyrian Empire would conquer the Northern Kingdom and Syria, they would also be destroyed later by the Babylonians.
17:13 Though these people make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves, when he shouts at them, they will flee to a distant land, driven before the wind like dead weeds on the hills, or like dead thistles before a strong gale.
The Assyrian Empire would make a lot of noise when they attacked the Northern Kingdom and Syria, but they will soon become a dead nation. They would become like dead weeds on the hills. They would become like dead thistles before a city gate.
17:14 In the evening there is sudden terror; by morning they vanish. This is the fate of those who try to plunder us, the destiny of those who try to loot us!
The Assyrians would march to Judah and camp by evening. By morning, 185,000 Assyrian soldiers would be killed by the Angel of the Lord. This was the fate of Assyria, because they were arrogant enough to blaspheme Jehovah and attack Jerusalem.