This oracle deals with Syria (or Aram, Damascus was its capital) and the Northern Kingdom of Israel (Ephraim being its leading tribe), which had formed an alliance to Judah's north in 735-732 B.C. Even though the oracle is addressed to Damascus, it focuses quickly on Israel (17:4). It is probably a mosaic composition alluding to events that happened over many years of Isaiah's ministry that the prophet pieced together under divine inspiration. As in all these oracles, Isaiah's interest was not primarily in the course of events as such but the issues to which these events gave expression. Israel, as well as the other nations addressed in these oracles, refused to depend on God and trusted in man for protection. That is why they received a heavy message (burden) from the Lord
"As the Lord organizes history for the good of his people (the Babylon oracle) and purposes to keep the Davidic promises (the Philistia oracle), opening them to the Gentiles also (the Moab oracle), his actions under all these headings are holy and just. Sin is not overlooked [even in Israel, (the Damascus Ephraim oracle)]."172
17:1-3 God announced that Damascus and the cities of Syria, plus Samaria ("the fortified city,"v. 3), would soon fall.173They would lose their sovereignty and glory and would become grazing lands instead of population centers. Nevertheless the almighty God promised that there would be a few people left in Syria as there would be in Ephraim (cf. 18:7).
17:4-6 Isaiah revealed the reason for this defeat. In the day of God's judgment (cf. vv. 7, 9), Jacob's prosperity would become lean, as when one grows old and loses his former strength, because of her unbelief, her lack of trust in God. She would experience a thorough reaping of her population, as reapers harvested abundant grain crops in the productive valley of Rephaim near Jerusalem. Yet a remnant would survive, like the few olives or fruits left after a harvest for gleaners to collect. This Yahweh, the God who had pledged Himself to Israel, declared.
"Judah need not fear her neighbors; it is God with whom she should come to terms."174
17:7-8 The coming destruction would result in the Israelites and the Arameans (Syrians) turning to their maker, the Holy One of Israel, in trust and away from idols.
17:9-11 The land would be a desolation because the Israelites forgot their God and tried to supply their own needs independent of Him. The description of cultivating plants in these verses represents a pagan custom designed to secure the favor of local gods. Rather than trusting in their saving God the Israelites had planted little seedlings of faith in idols. The Israelites' horticultural attempts had been frustrating as had their attempts to produce satisfaction in life and divine help by pursuing other gods.
"What kind of a gardener is he who plants thistles and expects roses! Folly is Israel's action; she turns to the idols and expects protection."175
17:12-14 Many warriors would descend on Israel like the waves of the sea, but they would quickly dissipate because the Lord would rebuke them. They would disappear like dust before a strong wind. The terror that would be so strong would vanish overnight.176The fact that Isaiah did not mention a particular nation as the enemy suggests that he had more in mind than just one foe and a perspective that extended far beyond his own day. Many nations would punish Israel over the years.
What follows in chapter 18 is an example of how the nations are subject to God, the point of 17:12-14. It describes an eschatological defeat of superpowers one of which would destroy Damascus and Ephraim in Isaiah's day.
18:1-3 The land that lies beyond the rivers of Cush was Cush (Nubia), notable for its ships whose sails looked like the whirring wings of insects over water from a distance.177Cush was at the end of the earth in Isaiah's day and therefore symbolized the ends of the earth; it was a great distance from Judah.178Envoys from Cush may have traveled to Moab, Philistia, and Judah seeking an alliance against Assyria.179
Isaiah called on these messengers from Ethiopia to go to a nation tall and smooth (shaven). This was a common description of the Nubians (or Cushites). They were to go to a people feared far and wide, perhaps the Egyptians or the Assyrians. They were to go to a powerful and oppressive nation whose land was divided by rivers, again perhaps the Egyptians, the Assyrians, or even the Medes. Taken together these descriptions represent all great, aggressive nations.
All the recipients of this message, the "inhabitants of the world and dwellers on earth"(v. 3), were to hear that a sovereign (the Lord) would issue a call to battle. No one could miss that call when it came.
18:4-7 This message by the Cushite envoys harmonized with what Yahweh had told Isaiah. Yahweh would look from His heavenly dwelling place quietly, like the shimmering heat in summer or the encroaching mist in autumn. These are figures that connote coming judgment.
He would prune the nations as a farmer pruned his grapevines and trees, but He would do it before they reached harvest time. In other words, His judging the nations would be perceived as premature. The nations would be so depopulated by this judgment that birds and beasts would feed on the remains of those judged (cf. Rev. 19:17-18).
Then the remaining representatives of all these once powerful and aggressive nations (cf. v. 2) would worship the Lord Almighty (cf. Ps. 68:31; Zech. 14:16; Acts 8:26-36). They would bring their gifts to Him at Mt. Zion. This will be a time of global worship of Messiah.
