Isaiah 17

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 17

Judgments of God upon Damascus, Isaiah 17:1-3 ; and upon Israel, Isaiah 17:4-6 . Good effects of these judgments on the small remnant or gleaning that should escape them, Isaiah 17:7 , Isaiah 17:8 . The same judgments represented in other but stronger terms, and imputed to irreligion and neglect of God, Isaiah 17:9-11 . The remaining verses are a distinct prophecy, a beautiful detached piece, worked up with the greatest elegance, sublimity, and propriety; and forming a noble... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 17:1

The burden of Damascus - Which is, according to the common version, The cities of Aroer are forsaken. It has already been observed by the learned prelate that the prophecy, as it relates to Damascus, was executed in the beginning of the reign of Ahaz, probably about the third year. If we credit Midrash, the Damascenes were the most extensive and flagrant of all idolaters. "There were in Damascus three hundred and sixty-five streets, in each of these was an idol, and each idol had his... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 17:2

The cities of Aroer are forsaken "The cities are deserted for ever" - What has Aroer on the river Arnon to do with Damascus? and if there be another Aroer on the northern border of the tribe of Gad, as Reland seems to think there might be, this is not much more to the purpose. Besides, the cities of Aroer, if Aroer itself is a city, makes no good sense. The Septuagint, for ערער aroer , read עד עדי adey ad , εις τον αιωνα , for ever, or for a long duration. The Chaldee takes the... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 17:3

The remnant of Syria "The pride of Syria" - For שאר shear , "remnant," Houbigant reads שאת seeth , "pride," answering, as the sentence seems evidently to require, to כבוד cabod , "the glory of Israel." The conjecture is so very probable that I venture to follow it. As the glory - בכבוד bichbod , "In the glory," is the reading of eight MSS., and ten editions. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 17:4

In that day - That is, says Kimchi, the time when the ten tribes of Israel, which were the glory of Jacob, should be carried into captivity. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 17:5

As when the harvestman gathereth "As when one gathereth" - That is, the king of Assyria shall sweep away the whole body of the people, as the reaper strippeth off the whole crop of corn; and the remnant shall be no more in proportion than the scattered ears left to the gleaner. The valley of Rephaim near Jerusalem was celebrated for its plentiful harvest; it is here used poetically for any fruitful country. One MS., and one ancient edition, has באסף beesoph , "In gathering," instead of ... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 17:8

The altars, the work of his hands "The altars dedicated to the work of his hands" - The construction of the words, and the meaning of the sentence, in this place are not obvious; all the ancient Versions, and most of the modern, have mistaken it. The word מעשה maaseh , "the work," stands in regimine with מזבחות mizbechoth , "altars," not in opposition to it; it means the, altars of the work of their hand; that is of the idols, which are the work of their hands. Thus Kimchi has... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 17:9

As a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch "the Hivites and the Amorites" - והאמיר החרש hachoresh vehaamir . No one has ever yet been able to make any tolerable sense of these words. The translation of the Septuagint has happily preserved what seems to be the true reading of the text, as it stood in the copies of their time; though the words are now transposed, either in the text or in their Version; οἱ Αμαρῥαιοι και οἱ Ευαιοι , "the Amorites and the Hivites." It is remarkable... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 17:10

Strange slips "Shoots from a foreign soil" - The pleasant plants, and shoots from a foreign soil, are allegorical expressions for strange and idolatrous worship; vicious and abominable practices connected with it; reliance on human aid, and on alliances entered into with the neighboring nations, especially Egypt; to all which the Israelites were greatly addicted, and in their expectations from which they should be grievously disappointed. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 17:12

Wo to the multitude - The three last verses of this chapter seem to have no relation to the foregoing prophecy, to which they are joined. It is a beautiful piece, standing singly and by itself; for neither has it any connection with what follows: whether it stands in its right place, or not, I cannot say. It is a noble description of the formidable invasion and the sudden overthrow of Sennacherib; which is intimated in the strongest terms and the most expressive images, exactly suitable to... read more

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