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Dateline: 10/07/07: 1400H.
Isaiah 17:1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
Damascus, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, is soon to be turned into a pile of rubble. It has been conquered numerous times, but it was never removed from being a city by any of its conquerors. In this modern time, there are only three ways a city could end up like this. A thermo-nuclear weapon could vaporize it. It could be fire bombed. It could be buried by a volcano. The fire bomb scenario is unlikely since this only works in cities built of wood, and Damascus is built of stone and brick. Also, that part of Syria is not volcanically active. So this too is unlikely. Also, verse 2 speaks of many cities being forsaken. In the past, no conqueror abandoned Damascus after taking it because it controlled the trade routes, and in the modern day it is also a tourist attraction. The city would have to be turned into a pile of radioactive dust to prevent it from becoming a city again.
Isaiah 17:2 The cities forever are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
If Syria is consumed in a nuclear war, then the inhabitants will flee, and the first to return will be animals and flocks. The following verses indicate that the nations will not want to come near to Israel at this time. They will flee away. Therefore, Syria will be an uninhabited buffer zone between Babylon, which is in Iraq, and Israel. While we should assume that "cities" refers to other cities in Syria, we should not restrict the scope of cities to this country. Damascus will simply be the greatest offender that merits being nuked. Other Arab capitals will probably join Damascus new status as a pile of radioactive rubble.
Isaiah 17:3 The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria as the glory of the sons of Israel will become, says YHWH of hosts.
Ephraim is the West Bank, the high hill country of Israel. Right now there are about 200,000 Jews in settlements, which are heavily fortified against the Arabs. After Damascus is destroyed these fortifications will no longer be needed. Damascus will cease to be the capital of a country. Right now Syria's head of state is Mr. Assad. I know he is called "president," but don't let this modern usage fool you. He is absolute dictator of that country as was his father before him.
In 724-722 B.C. the sons of Israel were carried into exile by Assyria (north of Syria). This was the beginning of the exile of the northern kingdom. Likewise, the remnant of Syria will be exiled in the end of days. Syria's glory will fade away as did the glory of Israel some 2730 years ago.
Isaiah 17:4 And in that day it shall come to pass, that the glory of Jacob shall be made low, and the fertile places of his flesh shall wax lean.
But Israel will not escape unharmed. One should imagine the provocation that Syria could unleash on Israel to cause Israel to retaliate and annihilate it with nuclear weapons. Syria has the world's largest deployed chemical weapons arsenal of missiles aimed at Israel. It has more such weapons than Iraq ever had. Possibly Syria is seeking nuclear weapons also. Syria has been in a perpetual state of war with Israel since 1948. There is a prophecy in Hosea 6:11 that says, " Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity of my people." So when the captivity of the Northern Kingdom is ended, Israel will face a "harvest." The greatest part of the crop shall be removed.
Isaiah 17:5 And it shall be as when the harvestman gathers the corn, and reaps the ears with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathers ears in the valley of Rephaim.
Not much will be left of Israel after this next war. Israel is confident that it can defend itself. However, it is being betrayed by its godless leadership, Olmert, Peres, and Barak.
Isaiah 17:6 Yet gleanings shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the LORD God of Israel.
A remnant will be left, like the gleanings left over from the harvest, the grain spilled by the harvesting machines or the olives that could not be reached at the top of the trees. The description here is of a holocaust type event. Israel could be gassed again by chemical war heads and sudden success by its armed enemies around it. Syrian artillery and tank shells could also contain poison gas. If they were to attack with a sudden blitzkrieg of missiles and simultaneous air and group assaults, Israeli defenses could be overwhelmed.
Isaiah 17:7 In that day shall the man gaze upon his Maker, and his eyes shall look to the Holy One of Israel.
Israel will win the war, but not without massive losses. Victory will not be attributed to the might of the Israeli military, but will depend on God's deliverance. After this victory, the remnant left in the land will truly seek God, and they will repent and mend their ways.
Isaiah 17:8 And he shall not gaze to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images.
Currently, much of Israel is full of Church iconography from the Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches. There is a Muslim shrine on the Temple mount. The work of removing idolatry from Israel began with the exile in 724 B.C., but has still been present in diminishing degrees until this day. All remnants of this idolatry are going to disappear as God pours out his Spirit on Israel and Christians begin to repent of their pagan traditions.
Isaiah 17:9 In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken forest, and an uppermost branch, which they left from before the sons of Israel: and there shall be desolation.
If Syria mounts a chemical missile attack on Israel's cities, or manages to acquire nuclear weapons, then Israel's cities will also be uninhabited for quite some time due to chemical and nuclear contamination.
Isaiah 17:10 Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the Rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, even a foreign plant you shall sow.
The prophet gives the reason that Israel will not win the next war in the classic sense. They have forgotten the LORD (YHWH) who became the Messiah Yeshua. The majority of the nation does not believe in the God of the Bible. Secular (i.e. worldly) Israel planted a foreign plant in the land known as secular Zionism. It was a goodly plant, but it was foreign because it was not committed to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It was Zionism without God. The type of Zionism to aspire to is religious Zionism and not secular Zionism. There are many religious Zionists in Israel, but they are only a small part of the population. As we approach this war, even secular Zionism is diminishing as more and more Jews think they should give up the land or Jerusalem and move aside for Arab terrorists. What is wrong with secular Zionism is not its nationalist ideal. That much is good. What makes it foreign in God's eyes is that it does not acknowledge Him as LORD and Messiah. Therefore, we who believe in Yeshua the Messiah are the true Zionists, who would urge Israel to recommit to the God of the Bible.
Isaiah 17:11 In the day shalt thou make thy plant to backslide, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flower: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
Secular Zionism is dying, and is now being replaced by traitorous liberalism and quislings who will betray Israel. Like true liberals they cannot find it in themselves to understand and judge true evil as really evil. Therefore, they want to appease the terrorists rather than deal with them. The same disease has infected the leadership of the United States and Europe. But true evil is evil, and the liberals who do not rely on God and godly methods to deal with it will find themselves defeated by it. Secular Zionism flowered in 1948. In 1967 it reached its pinnacle of success. 1973 was the turning point, and since then it has been downhill for Israel as Zionism without God has morphed into weak liberalism. Therefore, the prophet says that they will harvest grief and sorrow.
When God deals with Israel, we should not despair, but realize the reason why He is dealing judgment using Israel's enemies. We should be ready to raise the banner against Israel's enemies since God will preserve a remnant of Israel, but the turning point will only come in God's timing.
Isaiah 17:12 Oye! a tumult of many peoples, as the tumult of seas they will make a tumult, even a crash of nations as a crash of mighty waters being crashed.
We are now passing peak oil. In the next war, the world will find itself cut off from its cheap oil supply in the Middle East. Likely Israel will send some nuclear warheads into the oil fields of its enemies. Other nations will be sucked in. Over a million men are ready to fight a nuclear war between India and Pakistan. Russia, China, and Europe all have interests to defend in the Middle East. At the end of the chaos, the nations of the world will find their economies in ruin, the people starving, and the prosperity of the oil age a vanishing dream.
Isaiah 17:13 Nations as a crashing of many waters they will crash and He rebukes them with it, and they fly from a far place, and they are chased as the chaff of the hills before wind, and like a rolling thing before the storm.
God will use the chaos in the nations to roll them back from the borders of Israel. They will get serious about securing the oil supply rather than trying to force a demonic peace on Israel with its sworn enemies. They will go to Iraq to build Babylon into a new commercial center. Meanwhile they will leave Israel alone for a time.
Isaiah 17:14 The time is evening, and behold a calamity occurs before morning. Is this not the portion of ones plundering us and the dice for those preying upon us?
What will the nations lose at the end of this next war? They will lose the prosperity of the oil age. If many in Israel die in this war, you can bet that many more will perish in the nations.
