Isaiah 17:12-14

ד) The World-Power (Assyria) Rises and Falls

Isaiah 17:12-14

12          18Woe to the 19multitude of many people,

Which make a noise like the noise of the seas;

20And to the rushing of nations,

That make a rushing like the rushing of 21mighty waters!

13     22The nations shall rush like the rushing of mighty waters:

23But 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 24a25 rolling thing before the whirlwind.

14     26And 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.

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL

All expositors notice how suitably the Prophet here fits the sound to the subject. “And it waves and seethes and roars and hisses,”—one not only sees, one hears, too, the nation-waves rolling in.

Isaiah 17:12. הָמָה, comp. Isaiah 16:11; Isaiah 51:15.—הָמוֹן, comp. Isaiah 13:4; Isaiah 33:3; Isaiah 60:5.—שָׁאָה Niph. only here. שָׁאוֹז comp. on Isaiah 13:4; Isaiah 24:8; Isaiah 25:5; Isaiah 66:6.—כַּבִּיר comp. Isaiah 10:13; Isaiah 16:14; Isaiah 28:2.

Isaiah 17:13. On גער בו comp. Isaiah 5:26. גָּעַר in Isa. again only Isaiah 54:9.—The construction with בְּ (as of a verb. dimicandi) like Genesis 37:10; Nahum 1:4, and often.—ממרחק “far away;” like מִקֶּדֶם “eastward,” Genesis 11:2.—Pual רֻדַּף occurs only here, as also the noun מֻרְדָּף derived from the Hophal is found only in Isaiah 14:6.

Isaiah 17:14. וְ before הנה, [“nothing is more common in Hebrew idiom than the use of and after specifications of time (see Gesen., § 152 a)—J. A. A., Green, § 287, 3].—בלהה in Isaiah only here.—שָׁסָה, Isaiah 10:13; Isaiah 42:22. שֹׁסִים, as Drechsler remarks, is, so to speak, term. techincus for the oppressors of the Theocracy: Judges 2:14; Jer 50:11; 2 Kings 17:20, and often.—גורל with לְ is the lot assigned to the בוזזים (Isaiah 42:22; Isaiah 42:24).

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. The Prophet sees and hears in spirit the tumult of approaching nations, which he compares to the roar of mighty waters. But at the chiding of the Lord they vanish like chaff or whirlwinds of dust before the wind (Isaiah 17:12-13). The evening when that tumult approaches is one of terror; but only the next morning and all has vanished without a trace left. This, he says, shall be the lot of those that come to rob us (Isaiah 17:14).

2. Woe—rob us.

Isaiah 17:12-14. הוי (comp. on Isaiah 1:4), “woe,” need not be taken in any other sense than the usual one. For the crowding on of countless hordes of nations might well, in the first moment, occasion a cry of woe, even if it is afterwards changed into a cry of joy. It is evident that the Prophet by this swelling billow of nations means the nations led by the Assyrian world-power.—The expression “the chaff before the wind” recalls Psalms 35:5.—But the phrase “chaff of the mountains,” is not found elsewhere. The chaff which is blown away from an elevation exposed to the wind (threshing floors were made on elevations for the sake of the stronger breeze: comp. Herz. R. Encycl. III p. 504 sq.). גלגל is not merely a wheel (Isa 17:28), or the whirlwind, but also that which is whirled upwards by the wind (Psalms 83:14). At evening time, as night comes on, the invasion of the enemy is more dangerous and terrible than by day. But the evening of terror is quickly changed into a morning of joy. That became literally true by the sudden destruction of the power of Sennacherib in one night, 2 Kings 19:35.

In conclusion the Prophet generalizes the thought just expressed: finally it ever happens so to the enemies of the Lord and of His people. It cannot be doubted that “our plunderers”, and “our spoilers” include also the Syrians and Ephraimites. We learn from this, from what point of view we must contemplate the connection of Isaiah 17:12-14 with what precedes. The Prophet would show that all enemies of the kingdom of God must finally succumb, that there is therefore no reason to fear them.

Isaiah 17:12-14 stand in no clearly marked connection with what precedes, and the Isaiah 17:1-11 form in themselves a disconnected whole, like the following prophecies, Isaiah 18:1-7 and Isaiah 19:1-25. Thus the conjecture presents itself that these Isaiah 17:12-14, are a supplement added later that has the double object: 1) to make Isaiah 17:0 conform to the two following by the mention of Assyria; 2) to restore a closer connection with Isaiah 18:0 and to prepare for the understanding of the passage Isaiah 18:5-6. For without these verses Isaiah 18:6 would apparently connect with nothing. At the same time—and this is an additional gain, accompanying the two main objects— Isaiah 17:0 is completed by the mention of Assyria. For Syria, Ephraim, Assyria were then the chief enemies of Judah. Only the mention of Assyria made it possible for the Prophet to conclude with the generalization of. Isaiah 17:14 b.

Footnotes:

[18]Woe! a tumult of many nations! they make, etc.

[19]Or, noise.

[20]And a rushing of peoples! they are rushing like, etc.

[21]Or, many.

[22]Peoples are rushing like, etc.

[23]But he rebukes it, and it flees, etc, and is chased, etc.

[24]Or, thistle-down.

[25]whirling dust before the storm.

[26]At evening time behold horror.