Oracle of Damascus - Isaiah Seventeen
The Introduction:
Will Damascus be destroyed forever? Or was it destroyed in the past? Is a nuclear explosion implied in the ancient texts of Yahweh?
There are a boat-load of voices in either camp. Many trusted teachers and students of the Living Word, say that Damascus will be destroyed in an instant and will never be inhabited again.
The other tine of the meat fork, says it has been demolished in the past by Assyrian kings, Tiglath-Pileser or Sennacherib. Some even say Damascus has repeatedly been flattened and rebuilt and that the prophecy was fulfilled sometime long ago.
But! Lest we partake of the fallacious argumentum ad verecundiam, or Appeal to Authority fallacy, and believe one side or the other for the sake of the reputable ladies and gents that hold that point of view, let us now look to the facts to prove to ourselves which side the proverbial road we should lay our convictions upon.
The Prophecy:
Let us begin the expedition into the prophetic! Please keep your hands, feet, and prejudiced inside the vehicle at all times. No food or drinks allowed. You might, in ecstasy over the stupendous revelation that I am about to display before you, spill your soda on your keyboard or drop your device in your ketchup laden fries.
The lights darken and the air is electrified with anticipation. Then suddenly the rich voice of James Earl Jones thunders:
“Isaiah Seventeen, verses one through three:
The burden against Damascus.
“Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city,
And it will be a ruinous heap.
The cities of Aroer are forsaken;
They will be for flocks
Which lie down, and no one will make them afraid.
The fortress also will cease from Ephraim,
The kingdom from Damascus,
And the remnant of Syria;
They will be as the glory of the children of Israel,”
Says the Lord of hosts.”
The lights come back on and disappointment catches in your throat as you realize that was the entirety of the prophecy. You, like me, did not find anything to affirm or negate the total destruction of Damascus. The ambiguity of the prophecy is too much. Before you leave your seat let me breakdown the passage for you.
The Interpretation:
“Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city.”
The sentence lacks time constraints, unless there is a syntactic phrase here that I am ignorant of. Cease for a day, a year, or forever? Next!
“And it will be a ruinous heap.”
Respected pastors and Bible scholars have said this means unlivable, as in forever ruined, but in my study of the Hebrew, I found it literally means “ruin, heap of ruins”. Some translations call it “a refuse heap”. I am not a scholar so there is possibly something I’m missing.
“The cities of Aroer are forsaken;”
This is a strange statement to follow the previous. Aroer is commonly, but not indisputably, believed to be an area east of the Dead Sea, far south of Damascus. There is also an Aroer a short distance southeast of Be’er Sheva and another many miles north of Jerusalem.
According to the Jewish Encyclopedia:
“The reading "the cities of Aroer are forsaken" (Isa. xvii. 2) is probably incorrect, as it presents many geographical difficulties, occurring as it does in connection with "the burden of Damascus." While it is possible that there may have been another Aroer near Damascus, it is more likely that the passage should be rendered "the cities thereof shall be forsaken." This emendation, proposed by Lagarde, has been quite generally accepted by modern scholar”
“The fortress also will cease from Ephraim,”
Ephraim was the Northern Kingdom of Israel. This appears to mean Israel would lose its physical fortresses, but the historical context could also mean that Israel will lose allied protection of Damascus and the fortresses in the region of Aroer. Because Israel had been allied with Hamath and Damascus for protection. If the kingdom of Damascus crumbled Israel would loose its northern protection.
“The kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria; They will be as the glory of the children of Israel,”
This is God finishing touches to the devastating image He just painted. Damascus and the remnant of Syria would fizzle away like the once glorious and indomitable Israel.
“Says the Lord of hosts.”
Period! Signed, sealed, and delivered! You cannot break, subvert, or impede the fulfillment of this prophecy.
The Investigation: Part One – Past Fulfillment
Thus far the passage seems to justify the belief that the prophecy was fulfilled around 730 B.C. or does it? From what I read, the Assyrians did not level the city. They took and enslaved it repeatedly in history.
Also there is major timing issues!
Those of the “Already Fulfilled” Camp say that the Assyrian kings Tiglath-Pileser III, Sennacherib, Shalmaneser III, or Sargon II are responsible for fulfilling this prophecy, and they will point to passages like:
Amos 1:3-5 – Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, Because they have threshed Gilead with implements of iron. But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, Which shall devour the palaces of Ben-Hadad. I will also break the gate bar of Damascus, And cut off the inhabitant from the Valley of Aven, And the one who holds the scepter from Beth Eden. The people of Syria shall go captive to Kir,” Says the Lord.
Then they point to this passage’s fulfillment:
2 Kings 16:9 – For the king of Assyria (Tiglath-Pileser III) went up against Damascus and took it, carried its people captive to Kir, and killed Rezin.
According to Encyclopedia.com:
“(Damascus) was captured by Hazael during the reign of Jehu (842–815 b.c.e.; see II Kings 10:33) and annexed by Tiglath-Pileser III in his campaign against Aram and Israel in 733 b.c.e. At about the same time, Isaiah (17:2) mentioned Aroer as belonging to Damascus, but the reading is doubtful (cf. Septuagint) and another place may be meant.”
Indeed Amos 1 is fulfilled but that does not mean the same for Isaiah 17.
Let’s look at the erroneous time frames:
731 B.C. – Tiglath-Pileser III enslaved and did not raze Damascus. (Encyclopedia Britannica)
725 B.C. – Shalmaneser V overruns Israel but does not harm Damascus. (Encyclopedia Britannica)
Sennacherib did not attack Damascus, from what I could see.
720 B.C. – Sargon II annexed Damascus into his kingdom. (Encyclopedia Britannica)
But!
712 B.C. – Isaiah prophesies against Damascus. (Nabataea.net)
*600 B.C. – Jeremiah prophesies against Damascus. (Wikipedia)
According to this, Isaiah would be recounting an attack that happened sum8-20 years past, not prophesying about the future. Same goes for Jeremiah (Chapter 49:23-27), I’ll reference this one farther down.
The Investigation: Part Two – Future Fulfillment
In my Bible's footnotes I saw an ingot of peculiar value. “The cities of Aroer are forsaken;”had a reference mark which said “Septuagint: It shall be forsaken forever.” And that steered my investigations into another direction.
The Septuagint is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Hebrew. It was translated into the Greek language at the request of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285–247 BC) by seventy-two Hebrew translators—six from each of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.
The Septuagint reads like this:
“THE WORD AGAINST DAMASCUS. Behold, Damascus shall be taken away from among cities, and shall become a ruin;
abandoned for ever, to a fold and resting-place for flocks, and there shall be none to go after them.
And she shall no longer be a strong place for Ephraim to flee to, and there shall no longer be a kingdom in Damascus, or a remnant of Syrians; for thou art no better than the children of Israel, than their glory; thus saith the Lord of hosts.” (Emphasis added)
According to seventy-two Hebrew translators of the original Hebrew text, Damascus would be destroyed forever, abandoned to wildlife, and no longer be a help to Israel.
Thus seeing that Damascus and its surrounding territories are still very much inhabited this prophecy has not yet come to pass.
Now another question is begged: How will it happen?
The Strategy:
I am a notorious speculator and I do have a theory about how this will play out. Many of the “Future Fulfillment” Camp point to these two passages:
Jeremiah 49:23-27 – “Against Damascus. ‘Hamath and Arpad are shamed, For they have heard bad news. They are fainthearted; There is trouble on the sea; It cannot be quiet. Damascus has grown feeble; She turns to flee, And fear has seized her. Anguish and sorrows have taken her like a woman in labor. Why is the city of praise not deserted, the city of My joy? Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, And all the men of war shall be cut off in that day,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, And it shall consume the palaces of Ben-Hadad.’”
Isaiah 17:14 – “Then behold, at eventide, trouble! And before the morning, he is no more.”
Seeing the fire, the consuming of the palaces, sudden destruction over night, and the unlivable aftermath, some would conjecture that this is talking about a nuclear (pronounced Nyu- or nu-KLEE-ar) attack, often attributed to Israel.
What else could wipe out approximately 41 square miles in one night and render it unlivable, save to wildlife?
I agree with this conclusion but with some reserve. I cannot imagine any circumstance that would cause Israel to vaporize 2.6 million people and radiate countless others.
Israel has one of the most sophisticated armed forces in the world and are one of the most humane nations concerning military operations.
Now Iran on the other hand, has long ago developed nuclear weapons and it would not be to hard to imagine them on purpose or by mistake detonating a nuke in the city.
Also Russia has nukes and is extremely active in Syria. If they could blast Damascus to smithereens and pin it on Israel that would give them the humanitarian right to invade Israel, which happens to be my next point!
I suspect that Isaiah 17:14 does not have to do with Damascus, because the city has not been mentioned for the last eleven verses.
Here is the context to the verse:
“Woe to the multitude of many people Who make a noise like the roar of the seas, And to the rushing of nations That make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters; But God will rebuke them and they will flee far away, And be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, Like a rolling thing before the whirlwind. Then behold, at eventide, trouble! And before the morning, he is no more. This is the portion of those who plunder us, And the lot of those who rob us”- Isaiah 17:12-14 (Emphasis Added)
The subject is the many nations, not Damascus, and the reason for the judgment is because they plundered Israel. Both Isaiah’s and Jeremiah’s proclamation against Damascus do not cite reasons.
On that note, where else have we heard about multitudes of nations coming to plunder Israel? You got it! Ezekial 38 and 39 - The Gog and Magog Invasion.
See my post: Tomorrow’s War – Ezekiel Prophecy
Here is the summary: Russia will lead a coalition of Iran, Turkey, Sudan, Libya, and several other nations against Israel to plunder them for their wealth.
Then God will use supernatural power to bring about a landslide victory on the mountains of Israel.
The destruction of Damascus could be, as many Bible scholars believe, the ignition point of the Gog and Magog Invasion. Someone razes Damascus to the ground, Israel takes the blame, and Russia and its coalition jumps in to bring Israel to justice.
This is purely theoretical, but it does fit together.
The Application:
– First off, if you know anyone in Damascus, Syria. Warn them!
Point out these passages to them and tell them what is ahead. Ezekiel 3:18-19 says God calls His followers to be “watchmen on the wall”, and that we are responsible to raise the alarm when we see danger, if we do not their death will be upon our heads.
So for the sake of everyone concerned warn the people of Damascus!
– Secondly, use this prophecy to point others to Christ.
No one knows the future but the one and true God, and He said:
“For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done,” – Isaiah 46:9-10
“…My signs which I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.”– Exodus 10:2
Let God’s prophecy be known before it happens, that everyone may know that God is real, that He was right about the future, that He will be right about the judgment to come, that He loves them and sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die so that they may escape God’s judgment.
People might mock you now, but when they read the headlines that Damascus has been leveled, they will remember what you said and know that God’s Word is true!
The Conclusion:
Back in approximately 712 B.C. God has prophesied that Damascus will be destroyed and rendered unlivable and you can bet your bottom dollar it will.
He prophesied about the coming Gog and Magog Invasion which we see shaping up daily, like a hurricane on the horizon. Also He foretold the giving of His son for the purification of those that call on His name. Because each of us has sinned and need to be saved from our wretched sin-wrought lives.
Don’t need a savior, you think?
Just look at yourself in God’s mirror, the Ten Commandments:
Have you used God’s name in vain? You are a blasphemer.
Have you ever told a lie? You are a liar.
Have you ever taken something without permission? You are a thief.
Have you ever lusted after another person? You are an adulterer.
Have you hated anyone? According to Christ, you are a murderer.
If you are honest, you have to admit that you have broken 5 out of the 10 commandments. God says if you’ve broken one commandment you are guilty and the punishment is eternal separation from God because He is holy and cannot allow anyone unholy into His presence.
But because He loves each and every human and wants us to be reunited with Him spiritually and later physically, as a good father wants his children to be with him, He sent His son Jesus Christ to fulfill the Ten Commandments and die as a sinless sacrifice for all humanity, then rise from the dead.
All we have to do accept His free gift of salvation.
Just pray to God, repent of all your sins, accept that Jesus died for you and was raised from the dead, and ask Him into your life.
If you want proof that God completed the impossible, I gathered as many Messianic prophecies as I could find as well as their fulfillment by Jesus Christ and compiled them into a post.
The Night the Earth Stood Still - Prophecies of the Messiah:
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Tomorrow’s War – Ezekiel Prophecy
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