Daily Devotional Tuesday 19th July 2022
by William Moody
Isaiah 17
An Oracle Concerning Damascus
17:1 An oracle concerning Damascus.
Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city
and will become a heap of ruins.
2 The cities of Aroer are deserted;
they will be for flocks,
which will lie down, and none will make them afraid.
3 The fortress will disappear from Ephraim,
and the kingdom from Damascus;
and the remnant of Syria will be
like the glory of the children of Israel,
declares the LORD of hosts.
4 And in that day the glory of Jacob will be brought low,
and the fat of his flesh will grow lean.
5 And it shall be as when the reaper gathers standing grain
and his arm harvests the ears,
and as when one gleans the ears of grain
in the Valley of Rephaim.
6 Gleanings will be left in it,
as when an olive tree is beaten—
two or three berries
in the top of the highest bough,
four or five
on the branches of a fruit tree,
declares the LORD God of Israel.
7 In that day man will look to his Maker, and his eyes will look on the Holy One of Israel. 8 He will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and he will not look on what his own fingers have made, either the Asherim or the altars of incense.
9 In that day their strong cities will be like the deserted places of the wooded heights and the hilltops, which they deserted because of the children of Israel, and there will be desolation.
10 For you have forgotten the God of your salvation
and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge;
therefore, though you plant pleasant plants
and sow the vine-branch of a stranger,
11 though you make them grow1 on the day that you plant them,
and make them blossom in the morning that you sow,
yet the harvest will flee away2
in a day of grief and incurable pain.
12 Ah, the thunder of many peoples;
they thunder like the thundering of the sea!
Ah, the roar of nations;
they roar like the roaring of mighty waters!
13 The nations roar like the roaring of many waters,
but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away,
chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind
and whirling dust before the storm.
14 At evening time, behold, terror!
Before morning, they are no more!
This is the portion of those who loot us,
and the lot of those who plunder us.(ESV)
The focus now turns to Damascus, the capital of Syria (Aram) which was to the north east of Israel. Its judgment would be like Ephraim which was the name given to the ten tribes that made up the northern kingdom of Israel. Northern Israel was defeated and carried into exile by Assyria in 720BC.
The judgment of Israel (Jacob) is likened to a field being harvested by a reaper (v4-5). But God in His mercy would retain a remnant of people (gleanings, v6). The judgment will cause people to turn from their false gods to remember their Maker (7-8).
The people had suffered, not because other nations were mightier than them, but because they had forgotten their God (9-11). The problem was not outside but inside.
Today when the church is struggling, often we can blame many things and influences on the outside, but before we do that, we should like inside and see if we’re truly right with the Lord.
God is merciful and delights to bless and here we see Him rebuking the roaring nations that surround and threaten His people (v12-14). Never doubt God’s desire to do good to His people, but He longs for our faithfulness.
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