Isaiah 17 Study Notes

17:1-3 The next pronouncement is directed against Damascus, an ancient city and the capital of Syria. From the time of Solomon (1Kg 11:23-25) to the mid-eighth century, there was fighting between Israel and Syria. Isaiah 7 describes how Isaiah encouraged Ahaz of Judah to resist the threat of a Syrian-Ephraimite alliance. Assyria under Tiglath-pileser III absorbed Damascus into its growing empire.

17:2 The best known cities of Aroer were in Moab, but it seems odd that they are mentioned in the middle of a pronouncement against Damascus. Perhaps these are a different set of cities or perhaps, as some have suggested, the text should be emended to say “its cities are deserted forever” (Brevard Childs, Isaiah).

17:3 As the next passage demonstrates, it is not good for Aram that its splendor will be like that of Israel (v. 4). Both of these nations will be destroyed.

17:4 On that day (vv. 7,9) points to a future but unspecified period. The first image of the destruction of Israel is a diseased body.

17:5 A second image of destruction is a reaper picking grain. The Valley of Rephaim was southwest of Jerusalem. The meaning of its name is ominous: “Valley of the Departed.”

17:6 The third image of destruction concerns the harvesting of an olive tree. It was shaken, and the fallen olives were eaten. But this image also shows that, though the devastation will be extensive, it will not be total. A remnant, represented by olives that stayed attached to the tree, will survive.

17:7-8 On that day (v. 4) points to a time beyond the judgment. Indeed, the judgment of God will cause the remnant to turn from false worship to the worship of the true God who created them. Asherah was a Canaanite goddess of love and war. The plural form (Asherahs) signifies that the reference is to wooden poles or trees associated with her worship.

17:9 On that day signals the future time of judgment again (see v. 4). The destruction will turn cities into abandoned woods and mountaintops. The reason for their abandonment is the Israelites, who, as v. 10 explains, have sinned by forgetting God.

17:10-11 To remember God involves more than a mental activity; it implies obeying and worshiping him. To forget him points to Israel’s disobedience. Isaiah spoke of Israel’s bad end by using a plant analogy. Israel worked hard to grow beautiful plants. They exerted their energy but ended up with nothing. Israel’s self-sufficient efforts will also end up empty.

17:12 The opening exclamation Ah! is the same word earlier translated as “Oh” (see 1:4). It begins a pronouncement that has the form of a funeral dirge. The nations were agitated; they roared and raged (Ps 2:1-4). Their agitation is compared to the pounding of waves. Rushing water is often an image of social and religious chaos (Ps 18:16; 29:3; 32:6).

17:13 Though the nations rage, God’s rebuke will quiet them by driving them away (Pss 2; 48). Chaff was light and wind blew it away, so God’s rebuke will blow away the tumultuous nations.

17:14 God’s judgment comes quickly, in a single day (in the evening . . . before morning). The victim of the nations (God’s people) speaks here in the first person (us).