I will break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven, and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of Eden: and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir, saith the LORD.
I will break also the bar of Damascus - i:e., the bar of its gates (cf. Jeremiah 51:30, "her (Babylon's) bars are broken"). And cut off the inhabitant - singular for plural, 'inhabitants.' Henderson, because of the parallel,
Him that holdeth the sceptre, translates, 'the ruler.' But the parallelism is that of one clause complementing the other, "the inhabitant" or subject here answering to "him that holdeth the sceptre" or ruler there, both ruler and subject alike being cut off.
From the plain of Aven - the same as Oon or Un, a delightful valley, four hours' journey from Damascus, toward the desert; proverbial in the East as a place of delight (Josephus Abassus). It is here parallel to "Eden"
(From the house of Eden), which also means pleasantness; situated at Lebanon. Since Josephus Abassus is a doubtful authority, perhaps the reference may be rather to the valley between Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, called El-Bekaa, where are the ruins of the Baal-bec temple of the sun; so the Septuagint render it On, the same name as the city in Egypt bears dedicated to the sun-worship (Genesis 41:45; "Aven," margin, Ezekiel 30:17, Heliopolis, i:e., 'the city of the sun'). It is termed by Amos "the valley of Aven," or vanity from the worship of idols in it. The name Baal-bec is an abbreviation of Baal-bik'ah, 'Baal (i:e., the sun-god) of the valley,' Bik'ah means a broad vale between hills.
And him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of Eden - not Eden, man's original Paradise, with the first syllable long х `Eeden (H5730)], but Eden х `Eden (H5729)], with the first syllable short. The house of pleasure, at the foot of Anti-Libanus, probably the summer pleasure-house of the King of Damascus, where, in the midst of his earthly delights, he was to be cut off by God. Such is the end of unsanctified pleasure.
And the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir - a region subject to Assyria (Isaiah 22:6) in Iberia, the same as that called now, in Armenian, Kur, lying by the river Cyrus, which empties itself into the Caspian Sea. Kur is part of the present name Kurgistan, our 'Georgia.' Esarhaddon subdued Armenia, according to the Assyrian inscriptions (Rawlinson, Herodotus, 1: 481). His father Sennacherib had been slain by the two parricides, who fled into Armenia; hence, probably, Esarhaddon made war against that country. Tiglath-pileser fulfilled this prophecy, when Ahaz applied for help to him against Rezin, king of Syria, and the Assyrian king took Damascus, slew Rezin, and carried away its people captive to Kir. Aram, the Hebrew for Syria, means lofty (implying some quality of the son of Shem of that name), as Canaan, on the contrary, means crouching in submission, according to Noah's prophecy of him. Aram fled from some oppressing power, to the mountains of Armenia (originally Minni, har meaning mountain). From the Armenian Kir the Syrian descendants of Aram had been led to settle in the lovely region of Damascus. Now they must go back to their rugged ancient home, against their will (Pusey). As they had tried to lay bare the Holy Land of its Israelite owners, so must they go away themselves, leaving their own land bare х gaalaah (H1540)] of its inhabitants.