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 Yahweh of Armies.
“It will happen in that day that the glory of Jacob will be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh will become lean. 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. 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 Yahweh, 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. 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. 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. 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.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11 The ten tribes gloried in their multitude and alliance…
The ten tribes gloried in their multitude and alliance with other nations: therefore he saith that they shall be brought down, and the Syrians also.
It seemeth that the Prophet would comfort the Church in declaring the destruction of these two kings of Syria and Israel, when as they had conspired the overthrow of Judah.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv3–11 Isa 17:3 The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim,…
Isa 17:3 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.
Ver. 3. The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim.] Heb., Shall sabbatise, or rest. Ephraim, or the ten tribes, had joined with Syria in a confederacy against Judah; they justly therefore partake with them in their punishment.
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Shall be as the glory of the children of Israel.] Poor glory now; but so their low condition is called ironically and by way of contempt, saith Oecolamp.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv3–11 The fortress; either Samaria, their chief fortress; or all…
The fortress; either Samaria, their chief fortress; or all their fortress or strong holds, the singular number being put for the plural; or all their strength and glory, which answers to the kingdom in the next clause.
And the remnant of Syria; or, and from (which particle is easily understood from the former clause) the remnant of Syria. So the sense is, The remainders of Damascus and Syria shall be a headless body, a people without a king.
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They shall be as the glory; an ironical speech, implying their contemptible condition; for their glory is supposed to be departed from them, by what he had already said of them. The sense is, Syria shall have as much glory as Israel, i.e. neither of them shall have any at all.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv6, 9 Mercy is here reserved, in a parenthesis, in the…
Mercy is here reserved, in a parenthesis, in the midst of judgment, for a remnant that should escape the common ruin of the kingdom of the ten tribes. Though the Assyrians took all the care they could that none should slip out of their net, yet the meek of the earth were hidden in the day of the Lord's anger, and had their lives given them for a prey and made comfortable to them by their retirement to the land of Judah, where they had the liberty of God's courts. 1. They shall be but a small remnant, a very few, who shall be marked for preservation (Isa 17:6): Gleaning grapes shall be left in it. The body of the people were carried into captivity, but here and there one was left behind, perhaps one of two in a bed when the other was taken, Luk 17:34. The most desolating judgments in this world are short of the last judgment, which shall be universal and which none shall escape. In times of the greatest calamity some are kept safe, as in times of the greatest degeneracy some are kept pure. But the fewness of those that escape supposes the captivity of the far greatest part; those that are left are but like the poor remains of an olive tree when it has been carefully shaken by the owner; if there be two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough (out of the reach of those that shook it), that is all. Such is the remnant according to the election of grace, very few in comparison with the multitudes that walk on in the broad way. 2. They shall be a sanctified remnant, Isa 17:7, Isa 17:8. These few that are preserved are such as, in the prospect of the judgment approaching, had repented of their sins and reformed their lives, and therefore were snatched thus as brands out of the burning, or such as having escaped, and becoming refugees in strange countries, were awakened, partly by a sense of the distinguishing mercy of their deliverance, and partly by the distresses they were still in, to return to God. (1.) They shall look up to their Creator, shall enquire, Where is God my Maker, who giveth songs in the night, in such a night of affliction as this? Job 35:10, Job 35:11. They shall acknowledge his hand in all the events concerning them, merciful and afflictive, and shall submit to his hand. They shall give him the glory due to his name, and be suitably affected with his providences. They shall expect relief and succour from him and depend upon him to help them. Their eyes shall have respect to him, as the eyes of a servant to the hand of his master, Psa 123:2. Observe, It is our duty at all times to have respect to God, to have our eyes ever towards him, both as our Maker (the author of our being and the God of nature) and as the Holy One of Israel, a God in covenant with us and the God of grace; particularly, when we are in affliction, our eyes must be towards the Lord, to pluck our feet out of the net (Psa 25:15); to bring us to this is the design of his providence as he is our Maker and the work of his grace as he is the Holy One of Israel. (2.) They shall look off from their idols, the creatures of their own fancy, shall no longer worship them, and seek to them, and expect relief from them. For God will be alone regarded, or he does not look upon himself as at all regarded. He that looks to his Maker must not look to the altars, the work of his hands, but disown them and cast them off, must not retain the least respect for that which his fingers have made, but break it to pieces, though it be his own workmanship - the groves and the images; the word signifies images made in honour of the sun and by which he was worshipped, the most ancient and most plausible idolatry, Deu 4:19; Job 31:26. We have reason to account those happy afflictions which part between us and our sins, and by sensible convictions of the vanity of the world, that great idol, cool our affections to it and lower our expectations from it.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv3–11 The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim,.... The ten…
The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim,.... The ten tribes, now in confederacy with the Syrians, whose metropolis or fortress was Samaria, which seems to be intended here; and should be destroyed, at least taken out of the hands of the Israelites, and they be carried captive by Shalmaneser king of Assyria, Kg2 17:6 and this may be understood, not of that particular city and fortress only, but of all their strongholds, the singular being, put for the plural. The Targum is, "the government shall cease from Ephraim"; they shall have no more a king over them, nor have they to this day:
and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria; Damascus was the head city of Syria, where the kings of Syria had their palace; but now that and the rest of Syria should no more be a kingdom of itself, but should be subject unto others, as it has been ever since:
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they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the Lord of hosts; that is, the Syrians, who were in alliance with Israel, should share the same fate; should be carried captive as they were; should have their metropolis and other cities, and their whole kingdom, taken from them, and be stripped of their grandeur and wealth, and have no more glory than they had; which was none at all; or at least very small, as the next verse shows Isa 17:4.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 The fortress - All their fortresses; the singular number…
The fortress - All their fortresses; the singular number being put for the plural. Remnant - The remainders of Damascus and Syria shall be an headless body, a people without a king. Of Israel - Syria shall have as much glory as Israel; that is, neither of them shall have any at all.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10 Verse 3. The remnant of Syria - "The pride…
Verse 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.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv3, 7, 9, 10 Isa 17:3-6. The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim…
Isa 17:3-6. The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim — The meaning may be, that Damascus being destroyed, that fortress or protection, in which the Ephraimites had placed their confidence, should be taken; or, that at what time Damascus should be overthrown, and deprived of all government and power, the Ephraimites also should be weakened, and deprived of their chief fortresses by the Assyrians; which latter seems to be the true sense: see Hos 10:14; Mic 1:6. The reader will observe, the Syrians of Damascus bordered upon the Ephraimites; and though they had long lived in a state of hostility with them, yet their King Rezin, on receiving some injuries from Uzziah, king of Judah, had found means to unite them with him in an expedition against Jerusalem. As the design of that expedition was wholly frustrated, (see Isa 7:3-9,) so it hastened the destruction of both those nations: for the Assyrians, who were called in by Ahaz to his help, and who had a long time threatened Syria, took this occasion to seize and destroy Damascus, and transport the Damascene Syrians to Assyria and Media, which same fate, partly at the same time, and partly a little after, befell the Ephraimites also; a common cause involving these nations in a common calamity. In that day, the glory of Jacob shall be made thin — Hebrew, ירל, attenuabitur, shall be diminished, emptied, or exhausted. And the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean — Their principal citizens shall be spoiled of their dignity and wealth, and carried, with their property, into Assyria. And it shall be as when a harvest-man gathereth the corn — Taking care, as far as may be, that all be gathered in, and nothing left. So shall the whole body of the ten tribes be carried captive, some few gleanings only being left of them as it is in harvest. As he that gathereth ears in the valley of Rephaim — A very fruitful place near Jerusalem. Thus “the prophet explains the judgment upon Ephraim by two similes, and both elegant; the first taken from a beautiful body reduced by a consumption, meaning that their state should be deprived, not only of its chief citizens, but of all its power, wealth, and honour; that whatever it formerly possessed, which gave excellence and beauty, should entirely waste away and be consumed. The second simile is taken from the autumnal gathering in of fruits, or from that fertile harvest, whether of corn, wine, or oil, which used to be gathered in the valley of Rephaim.” Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, &c. — “Whereas the reapers are wont to leave a few ears of corn, and those that gather grapes and olives, a few of the worst bunches of the grapes, and of the worst berries of the olives, so, from the harvest, which the Assyrian should reap in Ephraim, a few men, and those of the least consequence, should be left as a remnant in the land.” This accordingly came to pass: some few Israelites were left after their captivity, who joined themselves to Judah, and were carried captive to Babylon with them, from whence also they returned with them.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv3–11 The fortress - The strong place of defense; the…
The fortress - The strong place of defense; the fortified place.
Shall cease - Shall come to an end; shall cease to be, for so the word שׁבת shâbath is often used, Gen 8:22; Isa 24:8; Lam 5:15.
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From Ephraim - The name given to the kingdom of Israel, or to the ten tribes, because Ephraim was the largest of the ten, and was a leading tribe in their councils (see the note at Isa 7:2). Ephraim, or the kingdom of Samaria, is mentioned here in connection with Damascus or Syria, because they were confederated together, and would be involved in the same overthrow.
And the remnant of Syria - That which is left of the kingdom of Syria after the capital Damascus shall be destroyed.
They shall be as the glory of the children of Israel - That is, as the defenses, or the strongly fortified towns and fastnesses of the kingdom of Israel shall pass away or be destroyed, so shall it be with the kingdom of Damascus. As they are allied with each other, they shall fare alike. The Chaldee reads this, ‘And the dominion shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus.’
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11 Damascus. Their too great union proved their ruin. Sennacherib…
Damascus. Their too great union proved their ruin. Sennacherib took Damascus, as Salmanasar had done Samaria.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On vv4, 9 ב) Ephraim (and Damascus) small and again great
ב) Ephraim (and Damascus) small and again great
Isa_17:4-8
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4 And in that day it shall come to pass, that the glory of Jacob shall 2be made thin,
And the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean.
5 And it shall be 3as when the harvestman gathereth the corn,
And reapeth the ears with his arm;
And it shall be 4as he that gathereth ears in the valley of Rephaim.
6 5Yet 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 6in the outmost fruitful branches thereof,
Saith the Lord God of Israel.
7 At that day shall 7a man look to his Maker,
And his eyes shall 8have respect to the Holy One of Israel.
8 And he shall not 9look to the altars, the work of his hands,
Neither shall 10respect that which his fingers have made,
Either the 11groves or the 12images.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
Isa_17:4. משׁמן again only Isa_10:16.—רזה Niph. emaciari only here; comp. Isa_10:18.
Isa_17:5. קָמָה Isa_37:27.—וְהָיהָ “and it goes,” comp. Isa_13:14.—קָצִיר is difficult. The connection leads us first to expect the meaning “reaper,” and many take it so, letting קָצִיר be said metonymically for קוֹצֵר or אַנְשֵׁי קציר (Gesen.). Others take קָמָה in apposition with קָצִיר, or קָצִיר = “harvest time” (when the harvest time takes away the stalks. Ewald). קָצִיר may also be treated as accusative of time: “As one gathers stalks of grain in the harvest.” All of these explanations have a certain harshness. Against Delitzsch, who makes קציר=קוֹצֵר it may be objected: why does Isaiah use this very common word in a sense that it never has elsewhere, and for which sense there offered another word (קוֹצֵר Psa_29:7; Amo_9:13; Jer_9:21, and often) equally current? The same may be objected also to Gesenius and Ewald. To take קמה as apposition is harsh for the reason that then one of the two words would be superfluous. I therefore prefer to take קציר as accusative of time, and to regard the word as a substantive treated adverbially like other marks of time (בֹּקֶר, לַיְלָה, יום, etc., comp. Ewald, § 204 b).—Then the suffix of זרעו relates to the notion of reaper ideally present in קציר.
Ver 6. נֹקֶף again only Isa_14:13.—גרגר isἅπ. λεγ.—אמיר only here and Isa_17:9.—סָעִיף “branch.” again only Isa_27:10. The suffix in סעיפיה relates to ;זַיִת פֹּרִיָּה is in apposition with the suffix (in ramis ejus fecundae) with the signification of an adversative clause.
Isa_17:8. The אֲשֵׁרִים (אֲשֵׁרוֹתonly in Jdg_3:7; 2Ch_19:3; 2Ch_33:3) are in any case the images or symbols of Astarte, of the female principle, which had the form of στῆλαι, pillars set upright (from אָשַׁר rectum, erectum esse, according to Movers; perhaps, according to a statement of Herodotus II. 106, γυναικὸς αἰδοῖα were visible).
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. Like one ties two threads into one knot, so the Prophet, Isa_17:3, has entwined in one another the of destiny of Damascus and Ephraim. It is true that in what follows there is nothing more said of Syria. But when it was said, Isa_17:3, that “the remnant of Syria” shall be like “the glory of Jacob,” and if now, Isa_17:4-8, the course of development of “the glory of Jacob” is portrayed as a prospective sinking to a minimum and then again as a mounting up to the most glorious nearness to God, is not the same course of life by implication prophesied of Syria? Therefore, Ephraim shall be reduced to almost nothing. The Prophet declares this in a threefold image. First he compares the destruction of Israel to the growing leanness of a fat man (Isa_17:4), second to the grain harvest, where the reaper with full arm, cuts and gathers the ears (Isa_17:5); third to the olive harvest where the fruits are beaten off the trees. But with this third figure he lets appear already in perspective a better time. The Prophet only indirectly intimates that the tree will be robbed of the chief part of its fruits. He lays the chief stress here on the gleaning: there remain hanging in the top and on the boughs some scattered fruit, that shall be beaten off by subsequent effort (Isa_17:6). Thus a remnant is left to Israel, and this remnant shall be converted: Shear-Jashub (Isa_10:20 sqq.). Notice with what art this address also is arranged. There is a crescendo and decrescendo of shadow, which gradually merges into light. In the first figure (Isa_17:4) the shadow still appears faint; in the second (Isa_17:5) it reaches its full extent; in the third (Isa_17:6) it yields unnoticed to the light. This light the Prophet depicts here in the first place from its subjective side, as a turning of the heart to God (Isa_17:7) and a turning away from idols (Isa_17:8). The objective salvation first appears in the fourth turn of his discourse (Isa_17:12-14).
2. And in that day—God of Israel.
Isa_17:4-6. “In that day” Isa_17:4, here refers to the time of judgment announced in Isa_17:2-3. “The glory of Jacob,” also refers back to Isa_17:3, where the same expression is employed with only the difference of Israel for Jacob, which seems to have a rhetorical reason (comp. Isa_9:7). Moreover the Prophet speaks here of Israel-Ephraim in a sense that declares what it has in common with Judah. For the grand outlines of that picture of the future that Isaiah draws here, comprehend equally the history of Judah and Ephraim. Moreover it must not be supposed that Isaiah has in mind only the political ruin that ensued, say after the shining reign of Jeroboam II. This growing lean embraces the entire time in which the Ten Tribes exist as a remnant. It therefore lasts still at the present time.
The second figure describes the same matter only in greater extent. It is presented in a measure as having three degrees. First, is called to mind how the reaper gathers the standing grain stalks; second, how then the other arm cuts off the ears; third, how the ears are gathered, and that in the valley of Rephaim, the fruitful plain that extends in a south-west direction from Jerusalem. Such a rich harvest shall the enemies hold in Ephraim; so thoroughly, therefore, shall Ephraim be emptied out, plundered. The “gathering of ears” mentioned in the second half of Isa_17:5, may mean the gathering proper for binding into sheaves (Gen_37:7); but it could mean, too, the gleaning of the ears left lying, as by the poor (Rth_2:2 sqq.). The former better suits the context, in as much as the latter notion appears in the following verse. In Isa_17:5 the whole work of the enemies is described, and that in two stages, that are indicated by the “and it shall be” prefixed, just as the battle and the booty form the two sharply distinguished occupations of the warrior,—The valley of Rephaim is mentioned in the Old Testament, Jos_15:8; Jos_18:16; 2Sa_15:18; 2Sa_15:22; 2Sa_23:13. Most persons conclude from our present passage that it was fruitful. Only Ewald [and Aben Ezra, J. A. A.], finds in the passage the notion of a “dry valley,” as he also takes מלקט in the sense of gleaning. At present, indeed, the valley is desert (comp. Knobel in loc.). Further statements see in Arnold’s article “Thäler in Palästina,” Herz. R. Encycl. xv. p. 614. [“Robinson speaks of it en passant, as the cultivated valley or plain of Rephaim (Palestine I. 323).” J. A. A.].—But (Isa_17:6) there is left on him, i.e., on Jacob (we would say “of him,” comp. Isa_10:22) a gleaning secundum percussionem or ad similitudinem percussionis oleae, that is two or three berries in the highest top. Four or five are beaten off with a stick from the branches, because they had not been brought down by the shaking. In the boughs, of course, more remain hanging, because they have greater extent than the tree-top. That is, it is declared, that although the tree is fruitful, yet only a few berries hang on it. Spite of its fruitfulness, it is now so empty that only a little is left for the gleaner. Thus, too, Israel, though now richly blessed, will be reduced to a minimum.
3. At that day—the images.
Isa_17:7-8). The little gleaning is the small remnant of Israel that plays so great a part in the divine economy of salvation, Isa_6:13; Isa_10:21; Rom_9:27; Rom_11:4 sq. In that day, i.e., when Israel shall be reduced to the small remnant, will the man look (Isa_22:4; Isa_31:1) to his Maker, the Holy One of Israel (comp. on Isa_1:4), but he will cast not one more look of fear and trust toward the idols. At last he sees that they are only the work of his own, of human hands (Isa_44:9 sqq.).—הָאָדָם “the man,” is never anywhere else specially used of Israel. The general expression is doubtless chosen because the Prophet declares what concerns not Israel alone, but essentially all mankind, and what especially is applicable to Syria, too, which all along is conceived of as united with Israel.
Two idols are mentioned by name, as those that were particularly worshipped by the idolatrous Israelites: אשׁרים and חמנים. (Isa_27:9). [“groves” and “images” Eng. Bib. Tr.].—Regarding the latter it has been ascertained, that thereby are meant the images of בַּעַל חַמָּז Baal-Hamon, Son_8:11, the Sun-god, the superior male god of the Phœnicians. The word, beside the present text, and Isa_27:9, occurs Lev_26:30; Eze_6:4; Eze_6:6; 2Ch_14:4; 2Ch_34:4; 2Ch_34:7. See further under Text. and Gram.—It is only doubtful whether אשׁרה signifies only the Astarte pillars, or the goddess herself, and the groves consecrated to her (Deu_16:21, comp. Gesenius, Thes. pag. 162 with Otto Strauss, Nahumi de Nin. vat. Prolegg. pag. 24). Moreover it is undecided whether Astarte (אַשְׁתֹּרֵת kindred to אֶסְתֵּר, ἀστήρ, “star”) signifies only the moon, or Vinus, the star of good fortune, or the entire heaven of night as distinguished from the domain of Baal, the heaven of day (comp. P. Cassel on Jdg_2:13; “Moon and stars, the luminaries of the heavens by night, are mingled in Astaroth; they are the sum total of the entire host of heaven.”)
Footnotes:
[2]be reduced.
[3]as one in harvest gathereth corn, and his arm reapeth the ears.
[4]as one gleaning ears.
[5]And gleanings shall, etc.
[6]in its, the fruit trees boughs.
[7]the man turn.
[8]look to.
[9]turn to.
[10]look to what his.
[11]Ashtaroth.
[12]Or, sun images.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv3–11 fortress . . . cease--The strongholds shall be pulled…
fortress . . . cease--The strongholds shall be pulled down (Samaria especially: Hos 10:14; Mic 1:6; Hab 1:10).
remnant of Syria--all that was left after the overthrow by Tiglath-pileser (Kg2 16:9).
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as the glory of . . . Israel--They shall meet with the same fate as Israel, their ally.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11 3. The fortress… shall cease from Ephraim — During…
3. The fortress… shall cease from Ephraim — During their confederacy, Damascus was the defence of Israel or Ephraim — so called because this tribe was the chief of the ten tribes of Israel. In the fall of Damascus this defence comes to an end. So does the glory of that city, and of the chief part of Syria, cease. Its inhabitants are removed. Ephraim loses its bulwark, and Damascus its position as the capital. Syria throughout becomes as miserable as depopulated Israel. One cannot but see bitter irony in the comparing of the glory of Damascus with that of decayed Israel.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv3–11 3. The fortress also … Ephraim] Perhaps: And the…
3. The fortress also … Ephraim] Perhaps: And the bulwark shall be removed from Ephraim, meaning the kingdom of Damascus, which had been like a breakwater, sheltering Israel from the Assyrian onslaught. It is, however, equally possible to understand the “fortress” of Samaria, or collectively of the fortified cities of North Israel; and the parallelism with the next clause may be thought to favour this sense. But the mention of Samaria seems premature in this stanza, which deals with the ruin of Syria.
and the remnant of Syria: they shall be] A.V. here follows the accentuation of the Hebrew; it is better to neglect it and render and the remnant of Syria shall be, &c., letting the first member of the verse end with “Damascus.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv4–11 (4) The glory of Jacob shall be made thin.—The…
(4) The glory of Jacob shall be made thin.—The word is the same as that rendered “impoverished” in Jdg_6:8. “Jacob” stands as commonly in the prophets, like Israel, for the northern kingdom, and the words point, therefore, to the downfall, or, adopting the prophet’s figurative language, the emaciation, of that kingdom.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv3–11 The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim. Sargon did…
The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim. Sargon did not destroy Samaria on the occasion of his first capture. But he says that he "reduced it to a heap of ruins" on the occasion of its second capture ("Records of the Past," l.s.c.). And the kingdom from Damascus. We do not hear of any King of Damascus after Rezin, who was slain by Tiglath-Pileser about B.C. 732. Damascus, however, reasserted her independence in B.C. 721, and probably set up a king at the same time. In B.C. 720 she was reduced and destroyed. Nothing more is heard of her until B.C. 694 the eleventh year of Sen-nacherib when her "governor" is Assyrian Eponym, and she must therefore have been absorbed into the Assyrian empire. The remnant of Syria. This phrase shows that the great blow which struck down Syria Tiglath-Pileser"s capture of Damascus and slaughter of Rezin was a thing of the past. Syria was already but "a remnant." Now she was to cease to exist altogether. They shall be as the glory of the children of Israel. Ironical. The irony is made apparent by the next verse.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv6, 7, 10 Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it
Isa_17:6
Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it
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Autumn: the diminutions of life
The prophet is here predicting a season of national calamity.
He represents the condition of the people under the figure of an autumnal scene. Armed hosts from the north have invaded the country like a sharp wind. The substance of its inhabitants has been carried away before their rapacity, as when the harvest man gathereth the corn, and reapeth the ears with his arm. With this difference, however, that it has been destroyed by the violence of strangers, instead of being garnered for the use of those who had tilled the soil; and the sickle is the sword. The population is thinned, like the trees in the waning part of the year. Only that the wrath of man, unlike the severity of nature, has no benevolent purpose in it. The comforts and blessings of life are shaken down as faded leaves. Only it is without any sign from experience, that they shall be replaced by a new spring. A desolated prospect rises before his sight. Two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough; four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof. The Word of the Lord was a burden in those days, and he felt its weight upon his own heart as he held it over the heads of his people. He comforted himself at least with the thought that the visitation itself, if not his warning, would bring them to a more faithful mind (Isa_17:7-8). There lies in the text, apart from its historical reference, this general truth,--that circumstances of decline and destitution are suited to wean the heart from its vanities. In the day of adversity men consider. And when time and fortune have made the enjoyments of the world fewer, and thrown a longer shadow and a paler tint upon those that remain, the soul naturally remembers its truer and more enduring portions.
1. With some the change relates to their worldly goods and the general prosperity of their affairs.
2. A second class of diminutions concerns the bodily ease and health.
3. The third instance of diminutions to which our attention is called, is found in the encroachments of age.
4. One more instance of destitution is when companions and friends drop off like the foliage of summer, and we are more and more frequently bereft. (N. L.Frothingham.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv5, 7, 10 Isa_17:5-7. And it shall be as when the harvestman,…
DIMINUTIONS AND CHANGES OF LIFE
Isa_17:5-7. And it shall be as when the harvestman, &c.
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God’s visitations of judgment are the subject of the prophet’s burdens (Isa_17:1). So the text. Adversities and sorrows set in. Blessings gone, except a few. “Two or three berries,” &c.
I. The various illustrations of the text.
1. In the adverse changes of life. Many who were rich and prosperous are now poor. All gone, except two or three berries. Some so through their own folly, &c.; others by the allotment of Providence, sickness, &c. (H. E. I., 4403–4406, 4975–4986).
2. In the failure of bodily health and vigour. Once strong and robust, &c.; now left but a few berries, &c.
3. In the bereavements of kindred and friends. Once a crowd of them—parents, brothers, sisters, children—but they have gone, one after another.
4. In the powers and capacities for useful activity. Once active, useful, but now frailty and weakness have superseded. This is distressing to the sensitive, &c. Pushed aside by another generation.
5. It will apply to times and seasons of probation. How wise was old Barzillai! (2Sa_19:31). The indications of age, &c. (Ecc_12:1). Few years left, &c., or even days.
II. The uses we should make of the subject.
1. It should impress us with the vanity of earthly things. All fleeting, all retiring; like the seasons, like streams.
2. The folly of earthly-mindedness. How extreme! Grasping shadows, resting on the moving wave, building castles in the air, &c.
3. The necessity of wisely using our opportunities. For the best ends. Working while it is day—now, while we have light and life.
4. Seeking a fitness for the world of the future (Heb_10:34; Heb_11:3-16).
5. Believing and devotional confidence in God.
Application:—Christ is ever the same. In all His offices, work, and graciousness, He is without a shadow of turning.—Jabez Burns, D.D.: 150 Sketches of Sermons, pp. 296, 297.
This striking passage depicts the process of God’s judgments upon Israel. We may take it as suggestive—
I. Of the sweeping destructiveness of calamities in human life (Isa_17:5). How often has the picture been realised!—
1. In the history of nations. The process of the depopulation and misery with which Israel was threatened, may be imagined from the view given in chap. Isa_3:1-8. Modern parallels may easily be found, the wars of the Roses, the plague of London, &c.
2. In the social calamities of families. One after another is broken up, one relationship after another is severed, until only an “outmost” branch is left as a remnant. Widow, orphans, friendless. Such are those who remain to tell the tale.
3. In the physical calamities of individuals.
4. In the degradation of the soul through the deceitfulness of sin. In some extreme cases, what a sad undermining of character and destruction of capacity do we behold.
II. Of the hopefulness of human life even when it is at its worst (Isa_17:6). Though the reaper has made sure work, yet enough remains to give hope. There is here true gospel, suggesting such thoughts as these:—
1. Begin at the point of your ability, however low it may be. Every man is rightly expected to make use of whatever power he has. If it is only sight, or only hearing, or only one hand, one talent out of ten, he must use it. The loss of the other nine will not excuse his neglect of the one he has.
2. Beginning thus low down, yet in earnest, we have the assurance of improvement and progress. We have abundant illustration of this in the history of the “remnant” that was left in Israel (2Ch_30:11; 2Ch_34:6; 2Ch_34:9, &c.). We see here an encouragement for every sinner who will awake, though late, to the true purposes of life. Redemption is the favourite work of God. He is on the side of feeble, struggling men, and delights to encourage and help “the remnant” which is spared (H. E. I., 934–941, 956, 958, 2368, 4790–4792; P. D., 474). The very purpose for which Christ came into the world was to help the struggling, to save the lost. Those who have been brought down to the extremity of need and the verge of despair may find friendship and help in Him (H. E. I., 928, 929).—William Manning.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v10 Isa 17:10 - Isa 17:11.
Isaiah
THE HARVEST OF A GODLESS LIFE
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Isa 17:10 - Isa 17:11.
The original application of these words is to Judah’s alliance with Damascus, which Isaiah was dead against. He saw that it would only precipitate the Assyrian invasion, as in fact it did. Judah had forsaken God, and because they had done so, they had gone to seek for themselves delights-alliance with Damascus. The image of planting a garden of pleasures, and ‘vine slips of a stranger’ refers to sensuous idolatry as well as to the entangling alliance. Then follows a contemptuous description of the rapid growth of this alliance and of the care with which Israel cultivated it. ‘In a day thou makest thy plant to grow’ {or fencest it}, and next morning it was in blossom, so sedulously had they nursed and fostered it. Then comes the smiting contrast of what it was all for-’A harvest heap in the day of sickness and incurable pain.’
Now we may take this in a more general way as containing large truths which affect the life of every one of us.
I. The Sin of a Godless Life.
{a} Notice the Sin charged. It is merely negative-forgettest. There is no charge of positive hostility or of any overt act. This forgetfulness is most natural and easy to be fallen into. The constant pressure of the world. It indicates alienation of heart from God.
It is most common among us, far more so than active infidelity, far more so than gross sin, far more so than conscious hostility.
{b} The implied Criminality of it. He is the ‘Rock of thy strength’ and the ‘God of thy salvation.’ Rock is the grand Old Testament name of God, expressing in a pregnant metaphor both what He is in Himself and what in relation to those who trust Him. It speaks of stability, elevation, massiveness, and of defence and security. The parallel title sets Him forth as the Giver of salvation; and both names set in clear light the sinful ingratitude of forgetting God, and force home the question: ‘Do ye thus requite the Lord, oh foolish people and unwise?’
{c} The implied Absurdity of it. What a contrast between the safe ‘munitions of rocks’ and the unsheltered security of these Damascene gardens! What fools to leave the heights and come down into the plain! Think of the contrast between the sufficiency of God and the emptiness of the substitutes. Forgetfulness of Him and preference of creatures cannot be put into language which does not convict it of absurdity.
II. The Busy Effort and Apparent Success of a Godless Life.
{a} If a man loses his hold on God and has not Him to stay himself on, he is driven to painful efforts to make up the loss. God is needed by every soul. If the soul is not satisfied in Him, then there are hungry desires. This is the explanation of the feverish activity of much of our life.
{b} Such work is far harder than the work of serving God. It takes a great deal of toil to make that garden grow. The world is a hard taskmaster. God’s service is easy. He sets us in Eden to till and dress it, but when we forget Him, the ground is cursed, and bears thorns and thistles, and sweat drips from our brows.
Men take more pains to damn themselves than to save themselves. There is nothing more wearying than the pursuit of pleasure. ‘Pleasant plants’-that is a hopeless kind of gardening. There is nothing more degrading.
‘Ye lust and desire to have,’-what a contrast is in, Ask and have! We might live even as the lilies or the ravens, or with only this difference, that we laboured, but were as uncaring and as peaceful as they.
God is given. The world has to be bought. Its terms are ‘Nothing for nothing.’
{c} Such work has sometimes quick, present success.
‘In the day.’ It is hard for men to labour towards far-off unseen good. We like to have what will grow up in a night, like Jonah’s gourd. So these present satisfactions in a worldly life appeal to worldly, sensuous natures. And it is hard to set over against these a plant which grows slowly, and only bears fruit in the next world.
III. The End of it all.
‘A harvest heap in the day of grief.’ This clearly points on to a solemn ending-the day of judgment.
{a} How poor the fruit will he that a God-forgetting man will take out of life! There is but one heap from all the long struggle. He has ‘sowed much and brought home little.’ What shall we take with us out of our busy years as their net result? A very small sack will be large enough to hold the harvest that many of us have reaped.
{b} All this God-forgetting life of pleasure-seeking and idolatry is bringing on a terrible, inevitable consummation.
‘Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.’
No doubt there is often a harvest of grief and desperate sorrow springing, even in this life, from forgetting God. For it is only they who set their hopes on Him that are never disappointed, and only they who have chosen Him for their portion who can always say, ‘I have a goodly heritage.’ But the real harvest is not reaped till death has separated the time of sowing from that of ingathering. The sower shall reap; i.e. every man shall inherit the consequences of his deeds. ‘They that have planted it shall eat it.’
{c} That harvest home will be a day of sadness to some. These are terrible words-’grief and desperate sorrow,’ or ‘pain and incurable sickness.’ We dare not dilate on this. But if we trust in Christ and sow to the Spirit, we shall then ‘rejoice before God as with the joy of harvest,’ and ‘return with joy, bringing our sheaves with us.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v9 A Woe upon Israel’s Enemies
A Woe upon Israel’s Enemies
v. 9. In that day shall his strong cities, namely, those of Ephraim, the northern kingdom, be as a forsaken bough and an uppermost branch, literally, "like the forsaken places in the forests and mountain summits," ruined strongholds in remote parts of the country, which they left because of the children of Israel, which the Canaanites deserted in retiring before the children of Israel; and there shall be desolation, all the great fortresses of Israel sharing the fate of these ruined castles. The prophet now addresses Ephraim directly:
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v. 10. Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, the only one who can bring true redemption, and hast not been mindful of the Rock of thy strength, Jehovah being the one true Rock of Ages, Deu 32:15-18, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants and shalt set it with strange slips.
v. 11. 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. It was because the northern kingdom, on the whole, had left the true God that its people had, literally, "planted plantings of pleasantness," had taken up the various sensuous heathen cults and had then planted a strange vine in their garden, namely, by becoming allies of the king of Damascus. The new plant had then been carefully fenced in, namely, by shrewd political schemes, so that the strange plant grew to maturity very rapidly, like a hothouse plant, for the alliance brought about a plan to attack Judah. But the whole scheme was frustrated by the action of Jehovah, who promptly reserved the garden of Ephraim as a heap, heaped up in the harvest, in the day of grief. Such is the consequence of the denial of the Lord and of fraternizing with the enemies of God. While Jehovah, however, used Assyria as His tool in punishing Ephraim, the great world-power itself would not escape His avenging power.
v. 12. Woe to the multitude of many people, with the turmoil and tumult of their advance, 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 enemies of Israel, who are also types of the enemies of the Church, are pictured as being in a state of seething unrest, anxiously striving to harm the Lord’s people.
v. 13. The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters, in an apparently irresistible tidal wave; but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, rather, it, the threatening tide of hostility, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, the picture being taken from the open threshing-floors of the Orient, which were usually situated in elevated places, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind, like whirling dust or particles of straw from the threshing-floor, as the wind picks them up and flings them away.
v. 14. And behold at evening-tide trouble, horror falling upon the approaching enemies; and before the morning he is not, before ever the day dawns, they are destroyed. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us. Thus the Lord will finally carry out His sentence of punishment upon all enemies of His Church and its work.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv4, 6, 8, 10 It will come about
It will come about
This phrase is used here to mark an important event that will happen. If your language has a way for doing this, you could consider using it here.
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the glory of Jacob will become thin, and the fatness of his flesh will become lean
Here "Jacob" refers to the kingdom of Israel. Israel would no longer be glorious. Rather it would be weak and poor. (See: Metonymy and Metaphor)
It will be as when a harvester gathers the standing grain ... in the Valley of Rephaim
There will be nothing left in the land after God punishes the people of Israel. (See: Simile)
the Valley of Rephaim
This is a valley where people normally grew and harvested much food. (See: How to Translate Names)
translationWords
glory
Jacob
flesh
harvest
reap
grain
glean
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv3–10 17:3 The strategic fortified towns of Israel were the…
17:3 The strategic fortified towns of Israel were the pride of Israel, but they could not resist God’s purposes.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.