The prophet comes to denounce the judgments of God against Syria, another nation of the Gentiles. Damascus was the head city of Syria, Isaiah 7:8, Isaiah 17:3, or Aram, (as in the Hebrew,) because it was a country inhabited by the posterity of Aram, one of the sons of Shem; part of it lay betwixt Babylon and Arabia, and was called Mesopotamia, lying betwixt the two rivers of Tigris and Euphrates. Laban and Naaman were of this country. David had war with them, 2 Samuel 8:5, 2 Samuel 10:18. So had Ahab, 1 Kings 20:20; and Joram, 2 Kings 8:28; and Ahaz, Isaiah 7:2. After God's long patience with them he threatens them with ruin, as by Jeremiah in this place, so by Amos, i.
5. Damascus being the head of this country, is sometimes put (as here) for the whole country. Hamath and Arpad were two cities also of Syria, 2 Kings 18:34. The prophet foretells that they also should hear of ill news, an enemy that is coming against them, and that they should be melted through fear, and their courage should fail them, they should be as troubled as the sea, is in a storm, or their inhabitants that lived near to the sea should be troubled.