Initial Declaration Concerning Syria (Incorporating Israel) (Isaiah 17:1-3)
Analysis.
· The Burden of Damascus. “Behold Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it will be a ruinous heap (Isaiah 17:1).
· The cities of Aroer are forsaken. They will be for flocks who will lie down, and none will make them afraid (Isaiah 17:2).
· The fortress also will cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus (Isaiah 17:3 a).
· And as for the remnant of Syria, they will be as the glory of the children of Israel,” Says Yahweh of hosts (Isaiah 17:3 b).
In ‘a' Damascus (which represents Syria) is to be destroyed, while in the parallel Syria is to have its glory so dimmed that it will be like that of (northern) Israel. In ‘b and parallel cities, fortress and kingdom will be forsaken and will cease, along with those of Israel (Ephraim).
‘The Burden of Damascus.
“Behold Damascus is taken away from being a city,
And it will be a ruinous heap.
The cities of Aroer are forsaken.
They will be for flocks who will lie down,
And none will make them afraid.
The fortress also will cease from Ephraim,
And the kingdom from Damascus,
And as for the remnant of Syria.
They will be as the glory of the children of Israel,”
Says Yahweh of hosts.'
This oracle was probably given prior to the sacking of Damascus around 735/4 BC. In it Isaiah links Damascus and Syria, with Ephraim (Israel) and the cities of Aroer. Assuming these to be the cities of Aroer in Moabite territory they had once belonged to the Syrian empire (2 Kings 10:33), and also previously to Israel (Joshua 13:9; Joshua 13:16; Judges 11:26; 1 Chronicles 5:8). That may be why they are linked here. They were the furthest reaches of Syria's one time empire, and of the old Israel. This then links this passage back to the previous chapter and indicates that the destruction will go as far down as the Arnon in Transjordan, where Moabite territory begins. On the other hand it is always possible that there were other ‘cities of Aroer'. But it may well be that Syria still saw the cities as theirs even though the Moabites had snatched them back.
The prophecy indicates that Damascus will be sacked and cease to be a city, becoming a ruinous heap; that the cities of Aroer (wherever they were) will become deserted and occupied only by sheep, who will be left alone there with no human beings around to disturb them; that Ephraim (Israel) will cease having fortified cities, having totally lost their independence; that Damascus will have lost kingship; and that Syria will become minuscule.
‘They will be as the glory of the children of Israel, says Yahweh of hosts.' The ‘glory' of a nation represented what resources it possessed and what status it had (see Isaiah 8:7; Isaiah 10:3; Isaiah 17:4; Isaiah 22:18; Isaiah 60:13; Ezekiel 25:9). Israel will have been minimalised in both departments. Its ‘glory' will be little. Thus what is left of Syria too will have little status. And all this will be brought about as a result of Yahweh's word.