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. read more
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. read more
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. read more
JUDGMENT ON GENTILE NATIONS This is a long lesson to read, but the study put upon it need not be proportioned to its length. There is a sameness in the chapters, and their contents are not unlike what we reviewed in the preceding lesson. Note the names of the nations and their contiguity to God’s chosen people. They have come in contact with their history again and again, which is why they are singled out for special mention. It will be well here to review what was said about these Gentile... read more
The Burden of Damascus Isa 17:1-6 "Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city" ( Isa 17:1 ). Damascus never dreamed this desolation. Men seldom do dream the wisest things. They have debased dreaming into nightmare. Damascus was the fair metropolis of Syria; she said, I shall always be clothed in purple and fine linen; the course of Damascus is a course of ascent and ever-increasing illumination. When cities do not pray they go down. The city as a whole may not pray, but there are... read more
"Handfuls of Purpose" For All Gleaners "And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the corn, and reapeth the ears with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the valley of Rephaim." Isa 17:5 How beautiful is this picture! How suggestive of fertility, of abundance upon abundance, of harvest music and harvest joy! Yet in this text there is no sound of music. The harvest is represented as a harvest of devastation. This is the burden of Damascus. Damascus is disfranchised;... read more
Penitence and Punishment Isa 17:10-11 That is the loss we have all to mourn. Why do we grieve over merest trifles? The thing to mourn over is spiritual loss, heart-alienation from God. We are given to tears: why do we not weep over the right causes; why misspend our sorrows? The literal, solemn, universal fact is that we have gone away from God; then why cry about something secondary and superficial? Why afflict ourselves about symptoms, whilst the cruel persistent disease is feeding on the... read more
"Handfuls of Purpose" For All Gleaners "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 of grief and of desperate sorrow." Isa 17:11 Once more we come to the harvest. What will the harvest be? is the great question which men should put to themselves. Syria and Ephraim entered into an alliance which grew with amazing rapidity. At a certain time, all appeared to be prosperous, plentiful, and... read more
God In Opposition Isaiah 17:14 ; Isa 18:4-5 Reading some portions of Isaiah is like passing through a succession of thunderstorms on a dark night: no sooner is one over than another begins: the darkness is cut to pieces by lightning, and the most solid things are rent and torn by the very demon of anger: nations are split like soft wood; empires are shattered like the toys of a child; as for kings, they melt like bubbles on a stream; thrones are no more accounted of than the stubble which is... read more
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Geneva Study Bible - Isaiah 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, Leviticus 26:16 . read more