Isa 17:1
17:1 The {a} burden of {b} Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken
     away from [being] a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

     (a) \\Read Geneva "Isa 13:1"\\
     (b) The chief city of Syria.

Isa 17:2
17:2 The cities of {c} Aroer [are] forsaken: they shall be for
     flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make [them]
     afraid.

     (c) It was a country of Syria by the river Arnon.

Isa 17:3
17:3 The fortress also shall cease from {d} Ephraim, and the
     kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall
     be as the {e} glory of the children of Israel, saith the
     LORD of hosts.

     (d) It seems that the prophet would comfort the Church in
         declaring the destruction of these two kings of Syria
         and Israel, when as they had conspired the overthrow
         of Judah.
     (e) The ten tribes gloried in their multitude and alliance
         with other nations: therefore he says that they will be
         brought down and the Syrians also.

Isa 17:4
17:4 And in that day it shall come to pass, [that] the glory of
     {f} Jacob shall be diminished, and the fatness of his flesh
     shall become lean.

     (f) Meaning, of the ten tribes who boasted themselves of
         their nobility, prosperity, strength and multitude.

Isa 17:5
17:5 And it shall be as when the reaper gathereth {g} the grain,
     and reapeth the heads with his arm; and it shall be as he
     that gathereth heads in the valley of {h} Rephaim.

     (g) As the abundance of corn does not fear the harvest men
         that would cut it down: no more will the multitude of
         Israel make the enemies shrink, whom God will appoint
         to destroy them.
     (h) A valley which was plentiful and fertile.

Isa 17:6
17:6 Yet gleaning grapes shall {i} be left in it, as the shaking
     of an olive tree, two [or] three berries in the top of the
     uppermost bough, four [or] five in the outmost fruitful
     branches of it, saith the LORD God of Israel.

     (i) Because God would have his covenant stable, he promises
         to reserve some of this people, and to bring them to
         repentance.

Isa 17:7
17:7 At that day shall a man look to his {k} Maker, and his eyes
     shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.

     (k) He shows that God's corrections always bring fruit, and
         cause his to turn from their sins and to humble
         themselves to him.

Isa 17:9
17:9 In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough,
     and an uppermost branch, which {l} they left because of the
     children of Israel: and there shall be desolation.

     (l) As the Canaanites left their cities when God placed the
         Israelites there, so the cities of Israel will not be
         able to defend their inhabitants any more than bushes,
         when God will send the enemy to plague them.

Isa 17:10
17:10 Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and
      hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength,
      therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set
      it with foreign {m} slips:

      (m) Which are excellent and brought out of other
          countries.

Isa 17:11
17:11 In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the
      morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: [but] the
      harvest [shall be] a heap in the day {n} of grief and of
      desperate sorrow.

      (n) As the Lord threatens the wicked in his law,
          @Le 26:16.

Isa 17:12
17:12 {o} Woe to the multitude of many people, [who] make a
      noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of
      nations, [that] make a rushing like the rushing of mighty
      waters!

      (o) The prophet laments, considering the horrible plague
          that was prepared against Israel by the Assyrians, who
          were infinite in number, and gathered from many
          nations.

Isa 17:13
17:13 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters:
      but [God] shall {p} rebuke them, and they shall flee far
      off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains
      before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the
      whirlwind.

      (p) He adds this for the consolation of the faithful who
          were in Israel.

Isa 17:14
17:14 And behold at the time of evening {q} trouble; [and]
      before the morning he [is] not. This [is] the portion of
      them that plunder us, and the lot of them that rob us.

      (q) He compares the Assyrians to a tempest which rises
          overnight and in the morning is gone.



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