Isaiah 29:17 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

The forest of Lebanon, which was a barren mountain and a desolate wilderness, shall by God's wonderful providence become a fruitful and populous place; and these places, which are now fruitful and populous, shall then become as barren and desolate as that forest. The sense is confirmed by that parallel place, Isaiah 32:15. And from both places compared together, this seems to be a prophecy of the rejection of the wicked and unbelieving Jews, whose sins and marvellous judgments, and particularly infatuation, are declared in the foregoing verses; and of the calling of the Gentiles, of which he speaks in the following verse, as appears further by comparing that verse with Isaiah 35:5. And this opinion may receive some countenance from Matthew 15:7, &c., where Christ expounds the foregoing words, Isaiah 29:13, upon which these have a dependence, of his own times.