Isaiah 17:4 - Exposition

The glory of Jacob shall be made thin . There is reason to believe that the deportation of the Israelites was gradual. Sargon, on taking Samaria for the first time, in B.C. 722, carried off no more than 27, 290 of the inhabitants. Over the remainder he appointed governors, and required them to pay the same taxation as before. About B.C. 715 he placed a number of Arabs in Samaria, probably deporting natives to make room for them. The continuant of a remnant of Israelites in the land down to B.C. 625 is indicated by 2 Chronicles 34:9 . The fatness of his flesh shall wax lean (comp. Isaiah 10:16 ). Depopulation is primarily intended; but there is, perhaps, also a more general reference to depression, wasting, and misery.