The Book Of Isaiah. Day 73, A Prophecy Against Damascus And Israel, Part Three

The section we are studying is titled "A Prophecy Against Damascus And Israel" in the version of the Old Testament that I use. The prophecy has regarded Israel moreso than Damascus (or Aram, of which Damascus was the capital). The Assyrian Empire will cause the fall of both nations but, as we've already been told here in Chapter 17, a day is coming when the people of Israel will turn back to the Lord. And a day is coming when the Lord will judge the enemies of Israel. 

The Arameans have been idolaters for ages; the Israelites only for a few hundred years. But the Lord is going to allow the same enemy to invade and conquer Israel as well as Aram because: "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, 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." (Isaiah 17:10-11)

The invader will tread underfoot the crops in the fields and the grapes on the vines. In some cases they may even have set grain fields on fire, which was a common tactic of enemy armies. Even if those things didn't happen, drought or disease would come and destroy the harvests, for the Lord warned the people before giving them the promised land that He would withhold rain and cause crops to fail if they did not remain faithful to Him. He said they would plant much but harvest little. He said He would send locusts and worms to eat much of what was produced and that He would cause diseases to strike the vineyards. (You can find a comprehensive list of the curses for disobedience in Deuteronomy 28.)

Disasters are going to abound because sin has abounded for centuries without any widescale repentance taking place in spite of all He has said and done in an effort to get them to acknowledge their wickedness. He is going to bring on the land the curses outlined in Deuteronomy 28. But all is not lost! He will judge the heathen nations that plunder Israel and, after the descendants of Jacob have responded appropriately to the discipline He has administered, His people Israel will cast aside all their idols and turn back to the one and only God.

Chapter 17 ends with the Lord promising through the prophet Isaiah that all the nations---past, present, and future---who have hated and attacked and persecuted the tribes of Israel will be judged. "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! 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. 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." (Isaiah 17:12-14) Those heathen nations that plagued the descendants of Jacob on the pages of the Bible---where are they today? Where is the Assyrian Empire? Where is the Babylonian Empire? Where is the Roman Empire? They have been blown away like chaff; they are no more, just as the Lord said.