Perhaps this oracle is shorter because Damascus had not had the history of contact with Judah in recent years that the other nations mentioned in these oracles did. However the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles document incessant hostilities between the Arameans and Israel and Judah earlier in history. Damascus was the capital of Aramea and the leader of a coalition of Aramean city states (cf. Isa. 7:8). It stood about 150 miles north-northeast of Jerusalem.
49:23 Hamath, 110 miles north of Damascus, and Arpad, 95 miles north of Hamath, were allied city states that would hear disheartening and shameful news. The sea may have been some local body of water or some local symbol that Jeremiah used as a figure of disquietude.573The lovely Pharpar River flowed through the city (cf. 2 Kings 5:12).
49:24 The bad news was that Damascus had panicked and fled before an enemy. She would behave like a woman in childbirth, namely, fearfully and helplessly.
49:25 Yahweh announced that the town that had brought joy to Him and that others praised for its beauty and leadership had become deserted. Damascus was considered to be one of the most beautiful cities of ancient times.574Even today many visitors to Damascus comment on its unusual beauty.
49:26-27 When Yahweh destroyed the city all her young soldiers would perish and it would burn down (cf. Amos 1:4), even the fortified towers named in honor of a number of great Aramean kings named Ben-hadad (lit. son of [the god] Hadad).575
Jeremiah indicated no reason for Yahweh's destruction of Damascus. One of the major reasons for divine judgment on all the nations and groups mentioned in these oracles was their hostility to the seed of Abraham. God had promised to curse those who cursed Israel (Gen. 12:3), and every one of these oracles assured the fulfillment of that promise. Judging Israel's enemies was part of covenant faithfulness for the suzerain of all the earth.
