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The burden of Damascus. “Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it will be a ruinous heap.
Verse 1. Damascus. When it was taken by Theglathphalassar, or rather by Sennacherib. Calmet. 10:8. It was again ruined by Nabuchodonosor. Jeremiah 49:24. But after the first taking, it never regained its power. Magni nominis umbra. Calmet.
The cities of Aroer are forsaken. They will be for flocks, which shall lie down, and no one shall make them afraid.
Verse 2. Aroer. Chal. “abandoned, shall be folds for sheep.” Septuagint “left for ever a resting place for flocks and herds, and none shall pursue.” The tribes on the east of the Jordan shall be led captive, as well as those on the west, Ephraim, and so forth Bible.
The fortress shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria. They will be as the glory of the children of Israel,” says the LORD of Armies.
Verse 3. Damascus. Their too great union proved their ruin. Sennacherib took Damascus, as Salmanasar had done Samaria.
“It will happen in that day that the glory of Jacob will be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh will become lean.
Verse 4. Lean. All the power of the kingdom shall fail, as in a mortal illness.
It will be like when the harvester gathers the wheat, and his arm reaps the grain. Yes, it will be like when one gleans grain in the valley of Rephaim.
Verse 5. Raphaim. Near Jerusalem. 3 Kennicott. 21:13. Septuagint “of stones.” Calmet.—It will be equally difficult to find any men left in the kingdom of Israel. Bible.
Yet gleanings will be left there, like the shaking of an olive tree, two or three olives in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outermost branches of a fruitful tree,” says the LORD, the God of Israel.
In that day, people will look to their Maker, and their eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel.
Verse 7. Israel. They obeyed the summons of Ezechias and of Josias, (2 Chronicles 30:1 and 34:6) and every after followed the same worship as Juda. Calmet.
They will not look to the altars, the work of their hands; neither shall they respect that which their fingers have made, either the Asherah poles or the incense altars.
In that day, their strong cities will be like the forsaken places in the woods and on the mountain top, which were forsaken from before the children of Israel; and it will be a desolation.
Verse 9. Left. By the Chanaanites, when the children of Israel came into their land. Challoner.—Their consternation was become proverbial. Joshua 2:9 and 5:11.
For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not remembered the rock of your strength. Therefore you plant pleasant plants, and set out foreign seedlings.
Verse 10. Good. Septuagint “fruitless.” Israel had abandoned the Lord; and could expect nothing but the fruits of death. Calmet.
In the day of your planting, you hedge it in. In the morning, you make your seed blossom, but the harvest flees away in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
Verse 11. Much. Thou hast laboured earnestly, but reaped no benefit. Bible.
Ah, the uproar of many peoples who roar like the roaring of the seas; and the rushing of nations that rush like the rushing of mighty waters!
Verse 12. Multitude, and so forth This and all that follows to the end of the chapter, relates to the Assyrian army under Sennacherib, ( Challoner.) or rather to that of Israel and its allies. Calmet.—After the Assyrians had afflicted Israel, they were also punished. Worthington.
The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters, but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far off, and will be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like the whirling dust before the storm.
At evening, behold, terror! Before the morning, they are no more. This is the portion of those who plunder us, and the lot of those who rob us.
Verse 14. Not be. Phacee and Rasin were presently exterminated.—Spoiled us. The kingdom of Achaz. 4 Kennicott. 17:5.