Isaiah 17-19

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 17

Syria and Ephraim were confederate against Judah (Isa. 7:1, 2), and, they being so closely linked together in their counsels, this chapter, though it be entitled ?the burden of Damascus? (which was the head city of Syria), reads the doom of Israel too. I. The destruction of the strong cities both of Syria and Israel is here foretold, Isa. 17:1-5, 9-11. II. In the midst of judgment mercy is remembered to Israel, and a gracious promise made that a remnant should be preserved from the calamities... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 17:1-5

We have here the burden of Damascus; the Chaldee paraphrase reads it, The burden of the cup of the curse to drink to Damascus in; and, the ten tribes being in alliance, they must expect to pledge Damascus in this cup of trembling that is to go round. 1. Damascus itself, the head city of Syria, must be destroyed; the houses, it is likely, will be burnt, as least the walls, and gates, and fortifications demolished, and the inhabitants carried away captive, so that for the present it is taken... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 17:6-8

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... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 17:9-11

Here the prophet returns to foretel the woeful desolations that should be made in the land of Israel by the army of the Assyrians. 1. That the cities should be deserted. Even the strong cities, which should have protected the country, shall not be able to protect themselves: They shall be as a forsaken bough and an uppermost branch of an old tree, which has gone to decay, is forsaken of its leaves, and appears on the top of the tree, bare, and dry, and dead; so shall their strong cities look... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 17:12-14

These verses read the doom of those that spoil and rob the people of God. If the Assyrians and Israelites invade and plunder Judah, if the Assyrian army take God's people captive and lay their country waste, let them know that ruin will be their lot and portion. They are here brought in, 1. Triumphing over the people of God. They relied upon their numbers. The Assyrian army was made up out of divers nations: it was the multitude of many people (Isa. 17:12), by which weight they hoped to carry... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 17

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 17 This chapter contains a prophecy of the ruin of Syria and Israel, the ten tribes; who were in alliance; and also of the overthrow of the Assyrian army, that should come against Judah. The destruction of Damascus, the metropolis of Syria, and of other cities, is threatened, Isaiah 17:1 yea, of the whole kingdom of Syria, together with Ephraim or the ten tribes, and Samaria the head of them, Isaiah 17:3 whose destruction is expressed by various similes, as by... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 17:1

The burden of Damascus, .... A heavy and grievous prophecy, concerning the destruction of it; the Arabic version is, "the prophecy of Isaiah concerning Damascus;' and the Targum is, "the burden of the cup of cursing to give Damascus to drink.' Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city ; a kingdom, as the Targum; it was the head of one, but now its walls were demolished, its houses pulled down, and its inhabitants carried captive; this was done by Tilgathpilneser king of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 17:2

The cities of Aroer are forsaken ,.... The inhabitants of them being slain, or carried captive, or obliged to flee. Aroer was a city by the river Arnon, on the borders of Moab and Ammon, Deuteronomy 2:36 , Deuteronomy 3:12 , it was originally in the hands of the Amorites, and sometimes in the hands of the Moabites and Ammonites: it was given by Moses to the Reubenites and, Gadites, from whom it was taken by the Syrians, and in whose possession it seems to have been at this time; see 2... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 17:3

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, 2 Kings 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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 17:4

And in that day it shall come to pass ,.... It being much about the same time that both kingdoms were destroyed by the Assyrians: that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin ; the same with Ephraim and Israel, the ten tribes, whose glory lay in the superior number of their tribes to Judah; in the multitude of their cities, and the inhabitants of them; but now would be thinned, by the vast numbers that should be carried captive: and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean : like a... read more

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