The Book Of Isaiah. Day 72, A Prophecy Against Damascus And Israel, Part Two

A common enemy---Assyria---will cause the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel and the fall of the kingdom of Aram (referred to as Damascus in Chapter 17, since Damascus was its capital city). A common enemy will cause the fall of both nations but a common fate won't befall both nations; the Israelites will turn back to the Lord. As we studied in yesterday's text, a day is coming when they will "turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel", but the same is not said of the idolatrous Arameans.

A time is coming, after the Lord has disciplined them, when the people of Israel will no longer cry out to their idols or bow at their pagan altars but will "look to their Maker", as the Lord said in yesterday's text, and they will place all their trust in Him for security rather than in their armies, their alliances, or their fortified cities. 

When the Lord brought the Israelites into the promised land, they took fortified cities from the tribes of Canaan and used them for themselves. But when the Assyrians flood into the land, they will lose or abandon these cities because they cannot hold onto them. This fulfills the warning the Lord gave them before He ever brought them into the land. He said if they turned from Him to idolatry, He would remove them from the land just as He removed the tribes of Canaan from the land. This seems to be what Isaiah is predicting in the next verse: "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." (Isaiah 17:9) The cities abandoned by the tribes of Canaan will be abandoned once again.

This is going to happen because the Israelites have become like those who inhabited the land before them. "You have forgotten God your Savior; you have not remembered the Rock, your fortress." (Isaiah 17:10a) It's true that their hearts will turn back to the Lord in time, for we never hear of the descendants of Jacob being idolaters after the Lord disciplines Israel with Assyria and after He disciplines Judah with Babylon, but the discipline must come because they are not going to turn back to Him otherwise. 

It is far better for us to heed the warnings of the Lord and to correct our ways before we reach the point where it will take discipline to turn us around. The Lord has sent a number of prophets to Israel and Judah already, urging the people to change their ways. He will continue to send them prophets up until the day He has no choice but to take corrective action. Neither the northern kingdom of Israel nor the southern kingdom of Judah had to be conquered; the people could have repented and turned back to the Lord and then He could have poured out blessings rather than allowing them to be defeated by their enemies. But just as our earthly parents sometimes had to take corrective measures to get us back on the right track, the Lord is taking these measures out of love. The people are destroying themselves spiritually and He doesn't want that to happen. Hardship must come because their hearts are so hard. It will take troubled times to soften their hearts.