7 In that day shall men look to their Maker, and their eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.
But as for me, I will look to Yahweh. I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.
"Come, and let us return to Yahweh; For he has torn us to pieces, And he will heal us; He has injured us, And he will bind up our wounds.
In that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness. The humble also shall increase their joy in Yahweh, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
Israel, return to Yahweh your God; For you have fallen because of your sin. Take words with you, and return to Yahweh. Tell him, "Forgive all our sins, And accept that which is good: So we offer like bulls our lips. Assyria can't save us. We won't ride on horses; Neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, 'Our gods!' For in you the fatherless finds mercy."
Again will I build you, and you shall be built, O virgin of Israel: again shall you be adorned with your tambourines, and shall go forth in the dances of those who make merry. Again shall you plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant, and shall enjoy [the fruit of it]. For there shall be a day, that the watchmen on the hills of Ephraim shall cry, Arise you, and let us go up to Zion to Yahweh our God. For thus says Yahweh, Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout for the chief of the nations: publish you, praise you, and say, Yahweh, save your people, the remnant of Israel. Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, [and] with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her who travails with child together: a great company shall they return here. They shall come with weeping; and with petitions will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn. Hear the word of Yahweh, you nations, and declare it in the isles afar off; and say, He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as shepherd does his flock.
In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave for an inheritance to your fathers. But I said, How I will put you among the children, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of the nations! and I said, You shall call me My Father, and shall not turn away from following me. Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so have you dealt treacherously with me, house of Israel, says Yahweh. A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping [and] the petitions of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten Yahweh their God. Return, you backsliding children, I will heal your backsliding. Behold, we are come to you; for you are Yahweh our God. Truly in vain is [the help that is looked for] from the hills, the tumult on the mountains: truly in Yahweh our God is the salvation of Israel.
Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, you backsliding Israel, says Yahweh; I will not look in anger on you; for I am merciful, says Yahweh, I will not keep [anger] forever. Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against Yahweh your God, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed my voice, says Yahweh. Return, backsliding children, says Yahweh; for I am a husband to you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
The children of Israel said to Yahweh, We have sinned: do you to us whatever seems good to you; only deliver us, we pray you, this day. They put away the foreign gods from among them, and served Yahweh; and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.
These shall lift up their voice, they shall shout; for the majesty of Yahweh they cry aloud from the sea. Therefore glorify Yahweh in the east, even the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel, in the isles of the sea!
Yahweh will strike Egypt, smiting and healing; and they shall return to Yahweh, and he will be entreated of them, and will heal them.
It shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and those who are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again lean on him who struck them, but shall lean on Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. A remnant shall return, [even] the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.
The children of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days. There was no Passover like that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did any of the kings of Israel keep such a Passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah, and broke in pieces the pillars, and hewed down the Asherim, and broke down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.
For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the Passover otherwise than it is written. For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, The good Yahweh pardon everyone who sets his heart to seek God, Yahweh, the God of his fathers, though not [cleansed] according to the purification of the sanctuary. Yahweh listened to Hezekiah, and healed the people.
So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, even to Zebulun: but they ridiculed them, and mocked them. Nevertheless certain men of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Isaiah 17
Commentary on Isaiah 17 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 17
Isa 17:1-11. Prophecy Concerning Damascus and Its Ally Samaria, that is, Syria and Israel, which had leagued together (seventh and eighth chapters).
Already, Tiglath-pileser had carried away the people of Damascus to Kir, in the fourth year of Ahaz (2Ki 16:9); but now in Hezekiah's reign a further overthrow is foretold (Jer 49:23; Zec 9:1). Also, Shalmaneser carried away Israel from Samaria to Assyria (2Ki 17:6; 18:10, 11) in the sixth year of Hezekiah of Judah (the ninth year of Hoshea of Israel). This prophecy was, doubtless, given previously in the first years of Hezekiah when the foreign nations came into nearer collision with Judah, owing to the threatening aspect of Assyria.
1. Damascus—put before Israel (Ephraim, Isa 17:3), which is chiefly referred to in what follows, because it was the prevailing power in the league; with it Ephraim either stood or fell (Isa 7:1-25).
2. cities of Aroer—that is, the cities round Aroer, and under its jurisdiction [Gesenius]. So "cities with their villages" (Jos 15:44); "Heshbon and all her cities" (Jos 13:17). Aroer was near Rabbahammon, at the river of Gad, an arm of the Jabbok (2Sa 24:5), founded by the Gadites (Nu 32:34).
for flocks—(Isa 5:17).
3. fortress … cease—The strongholds shall be pulled down (Samaria especially: Ho 10:14; Mic 1:6; Hab 1:10).
remnant of Syria—all that was left after the overthrow by Tiglath-pileser (2Ki 16:9).
as the glory of … Israel—They shall meet with the same fate as Israel, their ally.
4. glory of Jacob—the kingdom of Ephraim and all that they rely on (Ho 12:2; Mic 1:5).
fatness … lean—(See on Isa 10:16).
5. harvestman, &c.—The inhabitants and wealth of Israel shall be swept away, and but few left behind just as the husbandman gathers the corn and the fruit, and leaves only a few gleaning ears and grapes (2Ki 18:9-11).
with his arm—He collects the standing grain with one arm, so that he can cut it with the sickle in the other hand.
Rephaim—a fertile plain at the southwest of Jerusalem toward Beth-lehem and the country of the Philistines (2Sa 5:18-22).
6. in it—that is, in the land of Israel.
two or three … in the top—A few poor inhabitants shall be left in Israel, like the two or three olive berries left on the topmost boughs, which it is not worth while taking the trouble to try to reach.
7. look to his Maker—instead of trusting in their fortresses—(Isa 17:3; Mic 7:7).
8. groves—A symbolical tree is often found in Assyrian inscriptions, representing the hosts of heaven ("Saba"), answering to Ashteroth or Astarte, the queen of heaven, as Baal or Bel is the king. Hence the expression, "image of the grove," is explained (2Ki 21:7).
images—literally, "images to the sun," that is, to Baal, who answers to the sun, as Astarte to the hosts of heaven (2Ki 23:5; Job 31:26).
9. forsaken bough—rather "the leavings of woods," what the axeman leaves when he cuts down the grove (compare Isa 17:6).
which they left because of—rather, "which (the enemies) shall leave for the children of Israel"; literally, "shall leave (in departing) from before the face of the children of Israel" [Maurer]. But a few cities out of many shall be left to Israel, by the purpose of God, executed by the Assyrian.
10. forgotten … God of … salvation … rock—(De 32:15, 18).
plants—rather, "nursery grounds," "pleasure-grounds" [Maurer].
set in—rather, "set them," the pleasure-grounds.
strange slips—cuttings of plants from far, and therefore valuable.
11. In the day … thy plant—rather, "In the day of thy planting" [Horsley].
shalt … make … grow—Maurer translates, "Thou didst fence it," namely, the pleasure-ground. The parallel clause, "Make … flourish," favors English Version. As soon as thou plantest, it grows.
in the morning—that is, immediately after; so in Ps 90:14, the Hebrew, "in the morning," is translated "early."
but … shall be a heap—rather, "but (promising as was the prospect) the harvest is gone" [Horsley].
in … day of grief—rather, "in the day of (expected) possession" [Maurer]. "In the day of inundation" [Horsley].
of desperate sorrow—rather, "And the sorrow shall be desperate or irremediable." In English Version "heap" and "sorrow" may be taken together by hendiadys. "The heap of the harvest shall be desperate sorrow" [Rosenmuller].
Isa 17:12-18:7. Sudden Destruction of a Great Army in Judea (namely that of the Assyrian Sennacherib), AND Announcement of the Event to the Ethiopian Ambassadors.
The connection of this fragment with what precedes is: notwithstanding the calamities coming on Israel, the people of God shall not be utterly destroyed (Isa 6:12, 13); the Assyrian spoilers shall perish (Isa 17:13, 14).
12. Woe … multitude—rather, "Ho (Hark)! a noise of," &c. The prophet in vision perceives the vast and mixed Assyrian hosts (Hebrew, "many peoples," see on Isa 5:26): on the hills of Judah (so "mountains," Isa 17:13): but at the "rebuke" of God, they shall "flee as chaff."
to the rushing … that make—rather, "the roaring … roareth" (compare Isa 8:7; Jer 6:23).
13. shall … shall—rather, "God rebuketh (Ps 9:5) them, and they flee—are chased"; the event is set before the eyes as actually present, not future.
chaff of … mountains—Threshing floors in the East are in the open air on elevated places, so as to catch the wind which separates the chaff from the wheat (Ps 88:13; Ho 13:3).
rolling thing—anything that rolls: stubble.
14. eventide … before morning—fulfilled to the letter in the destruction "before morning" of the vast host that "at eveningtide" was such a terror ("trouble") to Judah; on the phrase see Ps 90:6; 30:5.
he is not—namely, the enemy.
us—the Jews. A general declaration of the doom that awaits the foes of God's people (Isa 54:17).