Isaiah 17:1

The Bible says in Isaiah 17:1-7, “The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid. The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the LORD of hosts. And in that day it shall come to pass, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean. 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. Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the LORD God of Israel. At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.” In Isaiah chapters 15 and 16 we were told about the judgments that would come upon the country of Moab in what is part of current day Jordan. Now we are told in Isaiah chapter 17 about the judgments that will come upon the land of Assyria, what is current day Syria with Damascus as its capital.

Isaiah 17:7 tells us one of the reasons that God brings judgment: so that man will repent and turn to Him. It says, “At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.” God is trying to wake people up so they will turn to Him and be saved. It says in Ezekiel 33:11, “Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” We know that Jewish people are often trapped by their religious traditions, and do not often turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. But the time of the Great Tribulation will bring trouble to the land of Israel; and many of the Jewish people will finally be ready to turn to Christ partly because of all that they suffer. The Bible says in Romans 11:25-29, “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.”

The Bible says in Isaiah 17:8-14, “And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images. In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation. Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips: 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. Woe to the multitude of many people, which 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! The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall 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. And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.” Once again we are reminded of the reasons that these judgments from God fell upon these people. Isaiah 17:8 is what we would call humanism today. It says, “And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made.” “The work of his hands” refers to the works of man’s hands. In other words a humanistic person is focused on man and not God, and therefore focused on what man has accomplished. In contrast to humanism the spiritual person is focused on what God has done and what God will do. A spiritual person recognizes his sinful nature and his many failures, and has confidence in the mercy of God through Christ. A spiritual person will always make his or her best effort, but will at the same time seek God’s will in all things and depend greatly upon what the Lord will accomplish and what the Lord will do. Those who trust in mankind are not trusting in God, and it says in Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

Emphasizing why judgment came upon these people, the Bible says in Isaiah 17:10, “Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength.” Living by faith has everything to do with what you think about. When we do not think about God, we have in effect “forgotten” God. The Bible says in Psalm 10:4, “The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.” Jesus said in Luke 10:27, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.”

The Bible says in Isaiah 18:1-7, “Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia: That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled! All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. For so the LORD said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest. For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches. They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them. In that time shall the present be brought unto the LORD of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, the mount Zion.” This time the country of Ethiopia comes under God’s judgment. In the chapters previous to this we have seen God’s judgment pronounced upon Babylon, Assyria, Moab, and Israel itself. No country will escape judgment and no person will escape judgment because all have sinned, and because God sees all and knows all. Of course, each person can avoid judgment by coming to Jesus Christ for forgiveness. It is much better to be the object of God’s grace through Christ instead of the object of God’s wrath against sin. Christ is the King of kings, and He is the greatest of all leaders. As the greatest leader, Jesus has the greatest solution to the worst of all problems: the sin problem. John the Baptist pointed at Jesus and said, “Behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world.”

What is interesting to notice about this judgment upon Ethiopia is that like other judgments, it ends with a promise of future blessing. God loves to be merciful and compassionate. God loves to show His kindness to men and to women. That is why God sent His Son Jesus to come into the world and to die for the sins of the world. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” The future blessing pronounced in Isaiah 17:7 speaks of the Kingdom of Christ that will be centered in Jerusalem. In that day people will come “to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, the mount Zion.”

The Bible says in Isaiah 19:1-12, “The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it. And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom. And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards. And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts. And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up. And they shall turn the rivers far away; and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither. The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and every thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no more. The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish. Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they that weave networks, shall be confounded. And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish. Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellers of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings? Where are they? where are thy wise men? and let them tell thee now, and let them know what the LORD of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt.”

The first thing to notice about the judgment that came upon Egypt is that with the judgment came in-fighting and divisions among the people of Egypt. The Lord giveth peace, and therefore when peace and harmony do not exist in a given situation, it is the Lord who hath taken away that peace. He is the Prince of Peace. One sure way to cause a nation to fall is to cause divisions within. Jesus said in Luke 11:17, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth.”

It is important to notice what is said about the “wise” men of Egypt. It says in Isaiah 19:11-12, “Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellers of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings? Where are they? where are thy wise men?” Wisdom comes from God. God brings the wisdom of the wise to nothing. Those who do not get their wisdom from God will prove themselves to be fools. The Bible says in First Corinthians 3:18-20, “Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.”

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