Jeremiah 49:23

PROPHECY AGAINST DAMASCUS

"Of Damascus. Hamath is confounded, and Arpad; for they have heard evil tidings, they are melted away, there is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet. Damascus is waxed feeble, she turneth herself to flee, and trembling hath seized: anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her, as of a woman in travail. How is the city of praise not forsaken, the city of my joy? Therefore her young men shall fall in the streets, and all the men of war shall be brought to silence in that day, saith Jehovah of hosts. And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall devour the palaces of Benhadad."

"There is sorrow on the sea ..." (Jeremiah 49:23). Damascus was not situated on a sea, but on the river Barada; and therefore this expression is a metaphor drawn from the restlessness of the ocean, indicating the grief and sorrow of Damascus, as indicated in the following verse. However, in the Old Testament, rivers (especially the Nile) were sometimes called "seas." This could be another instance of the same usage.

"Hamath ... Arpad ..." (Jeremiah 49:23). During Sennacherib's invasion of Judah, Rabshakeh (his commander) mentioned the pagan gods of these cities, which Sennacherib had destroyed, and from this warned Hezekiah and Jerusalem not to trust in Jehovah (Isaiah 36:18). Hamath marked the farthest extent of the Solomonic empire, which was mentioned as having been restored by Jeroboam I (2 Kings 14:25). This ruthless, pagan city fully deserved the judgment of God pronounced upon then. One of their most intolerable sins was their slaughter of the people of Gilead with "threshing instruments of iron" (Amos 1:3). This happened during the Syrian war against Israel in the reign of Jehu (2 Kings 10:32,33,13:7).

"Fire in the wall of Damascus ..." (Jeremiah 49:27). This verse is almost identical with Amos 1:4. Again it appears that Jeremiah was familiar with the prophets who were before him, Amos having prophesied in the eighth century B.C. There is additional comment on this in Vol. 1 of the Minor Prophets Series, pp. 55,56.

Note that there is nothing in this prophecy that speaks of Damascus as a waste, or without inhabitants. Damascus has continued as an important city even until this day; and the Encyclopedia Britannica gave the population as 383,239 in 1933.[9] This is impressive evidence that these prophecies are the words of God and not the words of men. Oh, but Damascus was on a river! So were Nineveh, and Babylon!

"As of a woman in travail ..." (Jeremiah 49:24, also Jeremiah 49:22). This expression or its equivalent is found many times in Jeremiah's writings.