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17. Oracle Against Damacus

¹ A prophecy against Damascus:

   “See, Damascus will no longer be a city
   but will become a heap of ruins.
² The cities of Aroer will be deserted
   and left to flocks, which will lie down,
   with no one to make them afraid.
³ The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim,
   and royal power from Damascus;
the remnant of Aram will be
   like the glory of the Israelites,” declares the LORD Almighty.

    ⁴ “In that day the glory of Jacob will fade;
   the fat of his body will waste away.
⁵ It will be as when reapers harvest the standing grain,
   gathering the grain in their arms—
as when someone gleans heads of grain
   in the Valley of Rephaim.
⁶ Yet some gleanings will remain,
   as when an olive tree is beaten,
leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches,
   four or five on the fruitful boughs,” declares the LORD, the God of Israel.

    ⁷ In that day people will look to their Maker
   and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
⁸ They will not look to the altars,
   the work of their hands,
and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles That is, wooden symbols of the goddess Asherah
   and the incense altars their fingers have made.

⁹ In that day their strong cities, which they left because of the Israelites, will be like places abandoned to thickets and undergrowth. And all will be desolation.

    ¹⁰ You have forgotten God your Savior;
   you have not remembered the Rock, your fortress.
Therefore, though you set out the finest plants
   and plant imported vines,
¹¹ though on the day you set them out, you make them grow,
   and on the morning when you plant them, you bring them to bud,
yet the harvest will be as nothing
   in the day of disease and incurable pain.

    ¹² Woe to the many nations that rage—
   they rage like the raging sea!
Woe to the peoples who roar—
   they roar like the roaring of great waters!
¹³ Although the peoples roar like the roar of surging waters,
   when he rebukes them they flee far away,
driven before the wind like chaff on the hills,
   like tumbleweed before a gale.
¹⁴ In the evening, sudden terror!
   Before the morning, they are gone!
This is the portion of those who loot us,
   the lot of those who plunder us.

3. The fortress shall cease. ⁴⁴     “Le secours venant d’Ephraim cessara;” — “The assistance coming from Ephraim shall cease.”
    ^FT262 “Sera diminué;” — “Shall be made thin.” — Eng. Ver.
    ^FT263 “‘Like the leaving of the ploughed field, or on the topmost bough.’ I adopt with pleasure the interpretation of this disputed passage proposed in the excellent Lexicon of Parkhurst, v.חרש as being most natural, and in strict conformity with the Jewish law, Leviticus 19:9, 10; Deuteronomy 24:19-21; which commanded ‘a leaving of the ploughman, and of the branches of the vine and olive,’ to be given up to the use of the poor in harvest. Avarice would be apt to make these leavings very scanty.” — Bishop Stock.
    ^FT264 Whom they left. — Eng. Ver.
    ^FT265 Woe to the multitude. — Eng. Ver.
    ^FT266 “Mais il me semble plustost qu’il se prend ici pour Helas.” — “But I rather think that here it stands for Alas!”
    ^FT267 “Toutes les fois donc que nous voyous les merchans avoir la bride sur le col pour nous ruiner.” “Whenever then we see the wicked have the bridle on their neck to ruin us.”
    ^FT268 “And like the gossamer before the whirlwind.” — Lowth. “And like thistle-down before the storm.” — Stock. He points out the reason why the Lord determines to cut off the kingdom of Syria. Amos (Amos 1:3) enumerates additional reasons, but the most important was that which the Prophet mentions, namely, that they had drawn the kingdom of Israel to their side for the purpose of making war against the Jews. The Israelites were undoubtedly allured, by the blandishments of the Syrians, to form an alliance with them against their brethren. It was a pretext exceedingly fitted to impose upon them, that the Syrians would aid them against all their enemies; and hence also the Israelites placed confidence in the forces and power of the Syrians to such an extent, that they reckoned themselves able to oppose any adversary. All Israel is here, as in many other passages, denoted by the name Ephraim, which was the chief tribe of that people. Now, “the assistance and kingdom” are said to “cease” from any place, when its strength is broken and its rank is thrown down.

And the remnant of Syria. That is, both of these nations, the Syrians and the Israelites, shall be brought to nothing; and, for the purpose of giving additional weight to the prophecy, he states that it is God who declares it; for he immediately adds these words, saith Jehovah of hosts Now, when the Lord punished so severely those two kingdoms, he unquestionably promoted in this way the benefit of his Church, delivering it by the destruction of its enemies. And, indeed, in destroying both nations, he employed as his agents the Assyrians, to whom even the Jews had applied; and although in this respect they had heinously sinned, yet their offense did not hinder the Lord from promoting the benefit of his Church, or from delivering it by bringing its enemies into conflict with each other. Hence we perceive how great is the care which God exercises over us, since he does not spare even the greatest kingdoms in order to preserve us. We ought also to observe, that though all the wicked enter into a league, and join hands to destroy us, yet the Lord will easily rescue us from their jaws. Besides, we ought to remark that it is advantageous to us to be deprived of earthly aids, on which it is in vain for us to rely in opposition to God; for when we are blinded by our prosperity, we flatter ourselves, and cannot hear the voice of God. It therefore becomes necessary to remove these obstructions, that we may perceive our helplessness, as was the case with the Israelites, who were bereft of their aid after Syria had been destroyed.