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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>I S A I A H.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. XVII.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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Syria and Ephraim were confederate against Judah
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+7:1,2"><I>ch.</I> vii. 1, 2</A>),
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and, they being so closely linked together in their counsels, this
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chapter, though it be entitled "the burden of Damascus" (which was the
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head city of Syria), reads the doom of Israel too.
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I. The destruction of the strong cities both of Syria and Israel is
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here foretold,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+17:1-5,9-11">ver. 1-5 and ver. 9-11</A>.
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II. In the midst of judgment mercy is remembered to Israel, and a
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gracious promise made that a remnant should be preserved from the
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calamities and should get good by them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+17:6-8">ver. 6-8</A>.
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III. The overthrow of the Assyrian army before Jerusalem is pointed at,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+17:12-14">ver. 12-14</A>.
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In order of time this chapter should be placed next after
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+19:1-25"><I>ch.</I> ix.</A>,
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for the destruction of Damascus, here foretold, happened in the reign
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of Ahaz,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+16:9">2 Kings xvi. 9</A>.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Isa17_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa17_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa17_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa17_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa17_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Doom of Syria and Israel.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 712.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from
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<I>being</I> a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
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2 The cities of Aroer <I>are</I> forsaken: they shall be for flocks,
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which shall lie down, and none shall make <I>them</I> afraid.
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3 The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom
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from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall be as the
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glory of the children of Israel, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> of hosts.
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4 And in that day it shall come to pass, <I>that</I> the glory of
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Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax
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lean.
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5 And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the corn,
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and reapeth the ears with his arm; and it shall be as he that
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gathereth ears in the valley of Rephaim.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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We have here the burden of Damascus; the Chaldee paraphrase reads it,
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<I>The burden of the cup of the curse to drink to Damascus in;</I> and,
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the ten tribes being in alliance, they must expect to pledge Damascus
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in this cup of trembling that is to go round.
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1. Damascus itself, the head city of Syria, must be destroyed; the
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houses, it is likely, will be burnt, as least the walls, and gates, and
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fortifications demolished, and the inhabitants carried away captive, so
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that for the present it is <I>taken away from being a city,</I> and is
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reduced not only to a village, but to <I>a ruinous heap,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+17:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>.
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Such desolating work as this does sin make with cities.
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2. The country towns are abandoned by their inhabitants, frightened or
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forced away by the invaders: <I>The cities of Aroer</I> (a province of
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Syria so called) <I>are forsaken</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+17:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>);
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the conquered dare not dwell in them, and the conquerors have no
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occasion for them, nor did they seize them for want, but wantonness; so
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that the places which should be for men to live in are for <I>flocks to
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lie down in,</I> which they may do, and none will disturb nor dislodge
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them. Stately houses are converted into sheep-cotes. It is strange that
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great conquerors should pride themselves in being common enemies to
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mankind. But, how unrighteous soever they are, God is righteous in
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causing those cities to spue out their inhabitants, who by their
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wickedness had made themselves vile; it is better that <I>flocks should
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lie down there</I> than that they should harbour such as are in open
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rebellion against God and virtue.
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3. The strongholds of Israel, the kingdom of the ten tribes, will be
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brought to ruin: <I>The fortress shall cease from Ephraim</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+17:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>),
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that in Samaria, and all the rest. They had joined with Syria in
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invading Judah very unnaturally; and now those that had been partakers
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in sin should be made partakers in ruin, and justly. When <I>the
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fortress shall cease from Ephraim,</I> by which Israel will be
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weakened, the kingdom will cease from Damascus, by which Syria will be
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ruined. The Syrians were the ring-leaders in that confederacy against
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Judah, and therefore they are punished first and sorest; and, because
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they boasted of their alliance with Israel, now that Israel is weakened
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they are upbraided with those boasts: "<I>The remnant of Syria shall be
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as the glory of the children of Israel;</I> those few that remain of
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the Syrians shall be in as mean and despicable a condition as the
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children of Israel are, and the glory of Israel shall be no relief or
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reputation to them." Sinful confederacies will be no strength, no stay,
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to the confederates, when God's judgments come upon them. See here what
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the glory of Jacob is when God contends with him, and what little
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reason Syria will have to be proud of resembling the glory of Jacob.
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(1.) It is wasted like a man in a consumption,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+17:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
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<I>The glory of Jacob</I> was their numbers, that they were as the sand
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of the sea for multitude; but this glory <I>shall be made thin,</I>
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when many are cut off, and few left. Then the <I>fatness of their
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flesh,</I> which was their pride and security, <I>shall was lean,</I>
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and the body of the people shall become a perfect skeleton, nothing but
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skin and bones. Israel died of a lingering disease; the kingdom of the
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ten tribes wasted gradually; God was to them <I>as a moth,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+5:12">Hos. v. 12</A>.
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Such is all the glory of this world: it soon withers, and is made thin;
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but thee is a far more exceeding and external weight of glory designed
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for the spiritual seed of Jacob, which is not subject to any such
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decay--fatness of God's house, which will not <I>wax lean.</I>
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(2.) It is all gathered and carried away by the Assyrian army, as the
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corn is carried out of the field by the husbandmen,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+17:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.
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The corn is the glory of the fields
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+65:13">Ps. lxv. 13</A>);
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but, when it is reaped and gone, where is the glory? The people had by
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their sins made themselves ripe for ruin, and their glory was as
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quickly, as easily, as justly, and as irresistibly, cut down and taken
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away, as the corn is out of the field by the husbandman. God's
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judgments are compared to the <I>thrusting in of the sickle when the
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harvest is ripe,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+14:15">Rev. xiv. 15</A>.
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And the victorious army, like the careful husbandmen in the valley of
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Rephaim, where the corn was extraordinary, would not, if they could
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help it, leave an ear behind, would lose nothing that they could lay
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their hands on.</P>
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<A NAME="Isa17_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa17_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa17_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Doom of Syria and Israel.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 712.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>6 Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an
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olive tree, two <I>or</I> three berries in the top of the uppermost
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bough, four <I>or</I> five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof,
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saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> God of Israel.
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7 At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall
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have respect to the Holy One of Israel.
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8 And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands,
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neither shall respect <I>that</I> which his fingers have made, either
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the groves, or the images.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Mercy is here reserved, in a parenthesis, in the midst of judgment, for
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a remnant that should escape the common ruin of the kingdom of the ten
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tribes. Though the Assyrians took all the care they could that none
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should slip out of their net, yet the meek of the earth were hidden in
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the day of the Lord's anger, and had their lives given them for a prey
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and made comfortable to them by their retirement to the land of Judah,
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where they had the liberty of God's courts.
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1. They shall be but a small remnant, a very few, who shall be marked
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for preservation
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+17:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>):
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<I>Gleaning grapes shall be left in it.</I> The body of the people were
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carried into captivity, but here and there one was left behind, perhaps
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one of two in a bed when the other was taken,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+17:34">Luke xvii. 34</A>.
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The most desolating judgments in this world are short of the last
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judgment, which shall be universal and which none shall escape. In
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times of the greatest calamity some are kept safe, as in times of the
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greatest degeneracy some are kept pure. But the fewness of those that
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escape supposes the captivity of the far greatest part; those that are
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left are but like the poor remains of an olive tree when it has been
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carefully shaken by the owner; if there be <I>two or three berries in
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the top of the uppermost bough</I> (out of the reach of those that
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shook it), that is all. Such is the <I>remnant according to the
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election of grace,</I> very few in comparison with the multitudes that
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walk on in the broad way.
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2. They shall be a sanctified remnant,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+17:7,8"><I>v.</I> 7, 8</A>.
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These few that are preserved are such as, in the prospect of the
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judgment approaching, had repented of their sins and reformed their
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lives, and therefore were snatched thus as brands out of the burning,
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or such as having escaped, and becoming refugees in strange countries,
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were awakened, partly by a sense of the distinguishing mercy of their
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deliverance, and partly by the distresses they were still in, to return
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to God.
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(1.) They shall look up to their Creator, shall enquire, <I>Where is
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God my Maker, who giveth songs in the night,</I> in such a night of
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affliction as this?
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+35:10,11">Job xxxv. 10, 11</A>.
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They shall acknowledge his hand in all the events concerning them,
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merciful and afflictive, and shall submit to his hand. They shall give
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him the glory due to his name, and be suitably affected with his
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providences. They shall expect relief and succour from him and depend
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upon him to help them. Their <I>eyes shall have respect</I> to him,
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<I>as the eyes of a servant to the hand of his master,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+132:2">Ps. cxxiii. 2</A>.
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Observe, It is our duty at all times to have respect to God, to have
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our eyes ever towards him, both as our Maker (the author of our being
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and the God of nature) and as the Holy One of Israel, a God in covenant
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with us and the God of grace; particularly, when we are in affliction,
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our eyes must be towards the Lord, to <I>pluck our feet out of the
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net</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+25:15">Ps. xxv. 15</A>);
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to bring us to this is the design of his providence as he is our Maker
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and the work of his grace as he is the Holy One of Israel.
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(2.) They shall look off from their idols, the creatures of their own
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fancy, shall no longer worship them, and seek to them, and expect
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relief from them. For God will be alone regarded, or he does not look
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upon himself as at all regarded. He that looks to his Maker must not
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<I>look to the altars, the work of his hands,</I> but disown them and
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cast them off, must not retain the least respect for <I>that which his
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fingers have made,</I> but break it to pieces, though it be his own
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workmanship--<I>the groves and the images;</I> the word signifies
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images made in honour of the sun and by which he was worshipped, the
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most ancient and most plausible idolatry,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+4:19,Job+31:26">Deut. iv. 19; Job xxxi. 26</A>.
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We have reason to account those happy afflictions which part between us
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and our sins, and by sensible convictions of the vanity of the world,
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that great idol, cool our affections to it and lower our expectations
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from it.</P>
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<A NAME="Isa17_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa17_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa17_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Doom of Syria and Israel.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 712.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>9 In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough,
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and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children
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of Israel: and there shall be desolation.
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10 Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and
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hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore
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shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange
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slips:
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11 In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the
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morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: <I>but</I> the harvest
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<I>shall be</I> a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Here the prophet returns to foretel the woeful desolations that should
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be made in the land of Israel by the army of the Assyrians.
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1. That the cities should be deserted. Even the strong cities, which
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should have protected the country, shall not be able to protect
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themselves: They <I>shall be as a forsaken bough and an uppermost
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branch</I> of an old tree, which has gone to decay, is forsaken of its
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leaves, and appears on the top of the tree, bare, and dry, and dead; so
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shall their strong cities look when the inhabitants have deserted them
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and the victorious army of the enemy pillaged and defaced them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+17:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.
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They shall be as the cities (so it may be supplied) which the
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Canaanites left, the old inhabitants of the land, because of the
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children of Israel, when God brought them in with a high hand, to take
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possession of that good land, cities which they built not. As the
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Canaanites then fled before Israel, so Israel should now flee before
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the Assyrians. And herein the word of God was fulfilled, that, if they
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committed the same abominations, <I>the land</I> should <I>spue them
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out, as it spued out the nations that were before them</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+18:28">Lev. xviii. 28</A>),
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and that as, while they had God on their side, <I>one of them chased a
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thousand,</I> so, when they had made him their enemy, <I>a thousand</I>
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of them should <I>flee at the rebuke of one;</I> so that in the cities
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should be desolation, according to the threatenings in the law,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+26:31,De+28:51">Lev. xxvi. 31; Deut. xxviii. 51</A>.
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2. That the country should be laid waste,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+17:10,11"><I>v.</I> 10, 11</A>.
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Observe here,
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(1.) The sin that had provoked God to bring so great a destruction upon
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that pleasant land. It was <I>for the iniquity of those that dwelt
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therein.</I> "It is <I>because thou hast forgotten the God of thy
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salvation</I> and all the great salvations he has wrought for thee,
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hast forgotten thy dependence upon him and obligations to him, and
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<I>hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength,</I> not only who
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is himself a strong rock, but who has been thy strength many a time, or
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thou wouldst have been sunk and broken long since." Note, The God of
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our salvation is the rock of our strength; and our forgetfulness and
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unmindfulness of him are at the bottom of all sin. <I>Therefore</I>
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have we <I>perverted our way, because we have forgotten the Lord our
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God,</I> and so we undo ourselves.
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(2.) The destruction itself, aggravated by the great care they took to
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improve their land and to make it yet more pleasant.
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[1.] Look upon it at the time of the seedness, and it was all like a
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garden and a vineyard; that pleasant land was replenished with pleasant
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plants, the choicest of its own growth; nay, so nice and curious were
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the inhabitants that, not content with them, they sent to all the
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|
neighbouring countries for strange slips, the more valuable for being
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|
strange, uncommon, far-fetched, and dear-bought, though perhaps they
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had of their own not inferior to them. This was an instance of their
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pride and vanity, and (that ruining error) their affection to be
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<I>like the nations. Wheat, and honey, and oil</I> were their staple
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commodities
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+27:17">Ezek. xxvii. 17</A>);
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but, not content with these, they must have flowers and greens with
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|
strange names imported from other nations, and a great deal of care and
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|
pains must be taken by hot-beds to make these plants to grow; the soil
|
|
must be forced, and they must be covered with glasses to shelter them,
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|
and early in the morning the gardeners must be up to make the seed to
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|
flourish, that it may excel those of their neighbours. The ornaments of
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|
nature are not to be altogether slighted, but it is a folly to be
|
|
over-fond of them, and to bestow more time, and cost, and pains about
|
|
them than they deserve, as many do. But here this instance seems to be
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|
put in general for their great industry in cultivating their ground,
|
|
and their expectations from it accordingly; they doubt not but their
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|
plants will grow and flourish. But,
|
|
|
|
[2.] Look upon the same ground at the time of harvest, and it is all
|
|
like a wilderness, a dismal melancholy place, even to the spectators,
|
|
much more to the owners; for <I>the harvest shall be a heap,</I> all in
|
|
confusion, <I>in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.</I> The
|
|
harvest used to be a time of joy, of singing and shouting
|
|
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|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+16:10"><I>ch.</I> xvi. 10</A>);
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|
|
|
but this harvest the hungry eat up
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|
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|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+5:5">Job v. 5</A>),
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|
which makes it a day of grief, and the more because the plants were
|
|
pleasant and costly
|
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|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+17:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>)
|
|
|
|
and their expectations proportionably raised. The harvest had sometimes
|
|
been a day of grief, if the crop was thin and the weather unseasonable;
|
|
and yet in that case there was hope that the next would be better. But
|
|
this shall be desperate sorrow, for they shall see not only this year's
|
|
products carried off, but the property of the ground altered and their
|
|
conquerors lords of it. The margin reads it, <I>The harvest shall be
|
|
removed</I> (into the enemy's country or camp,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:33">Deut. xxviii. 33</A>)
|
|
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|
<I>in the day of inheritance</I> (when thou thoughtest to inherit it),
|
|
<I>and there shall be deadly sorrow.</I> This is a good reason why we
|
|
should not lay up our treasure in those things which we may so quickly
|
|
be despoiled of, but in that good part which shall never be taken away
|
|
from us.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Isa17_12"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa17_13"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa17_14"> </A>
|
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|
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<A NAME="Sec4"> </A>
|
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Doom of Syria and Israel.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 712.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
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</TABLE>
|
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<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>12 Woe to the multitude of many people, <I>which</I> make a noise
|
|
like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, <I>that</I>
|
|
make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
|
|
13 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but
|
|
<I>God</I> shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall
|
|
be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like
|
|
a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
|
|
14 And behold at evening tide trouble; <I>and</I> before the morning
|
|
he <I>is</I> not. This <I>is</I> the portion of them that spoil us, and the
|
|
lot of them that rob us.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
These verses read the doom of those that spoil and rob the people of
|
|
God. If the Assyrians and Israelites invade and plunder Judah, if the
|
|
Assyrian army take God's people captive and lay their country waste,
|
|
let them know that ruin will be their lot and portion. They are here
|
|
brought in,
|
|
|
|
1. Triumphing over the people of God. They relied upon their numbers.
|
|
The Assyrian army was made up out of divers nations: it was <I>the
|
|
multitude of many people</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+17:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>),
|
|
|
|
by which weight they hoped to carry the cause. They were very noisy,
|
|
like the roaring of the seas; they talked big, hectored, and
|
|
threatened, to frighten God's people from resisting them, and all their
|
|
allies from sending in to their aid. Sennacherib and Rabshakeh, in
|
|
their speeches and letters, made a mighty noise to strike a terror upon
|
|
Hezekiah and his people; the nations that followed them <I>made a
|
|
rushing like the rushing of many waters,</I> and those mighty ones,
|
|
that threaten to bear down all before them and carry away every thing
|
|
that stands in their way. <I>The floods have lifted up their voice,
|
|
have lifted up their waves;</I> such is the tumult of the people, and
|
|
the heathen, when they rage,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+2:1,93:3">Ps. ii. 1; xciii. 3</A>.
|
|
|
|
2. Triumphed over by the judgments of God. They thought to carry their
|
|
point by dint of noise; but woe to them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+17:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>),
|
|
|
|
for he <I>shall rebuke them,</I> that is, God shall, one whom they
|
|
little think of, have no regard to, stand in no awe of; he shall give
|
|
them a check with an invisible hand, <I>and</I> then <I>they shall flee
|
|
afar off.</I> Sennacherib, and Rabshakeh, and the remains of their
|
|
forces, shall run away in a fright, and shall be chased by their own
|
|
terrors, <I>as the chaff of the mountains</I> which stand bleak
|
|
<I>before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind,</I>
|
|
like thistle-down (so the margin); they make themselves <I>as chaff
|
|
before the wind</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+35:5">Ps. xxxv. 5</A>)
|
|
|
|
and then <I>the angel of the Lord</I> (as it follows there), the same
|
|
angel that slew many of them, shall chase the rest. God will make
|
|
<I>them like a wheel,</I> or rolling thing, and then <I>persecute them
|
|
with his tempest</I> and <I>make them afraid with his storm,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+83:13,15">Ps. lxxxiii. 13, 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
Note, God can dispirit the enemies of his church when they are most
|
|
courageous and confident, and dissipate them when they seem most
|
|
closely consolidated. This shall be done suddenly
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+17:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>At evening-tide</I> they are very troublesome, and threaten trouble
|
|
to the people of God; but <I>before the morning they are not.</I> At
|
|
sleeping time they are cast into a deep sleep,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+26:5,6">Ps. xxvi. 5, 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
It was in the night that the angel routed the Assyrian army. God can in
|
|
a moment break the power of his church's enemies, even when it appears
|
|
most formidable; and this is written for the encouragement of the
|
|
people of God in all ages, when they find themselves an unequal match
|
|
for their enemies; for <I>this is the portion of those that spoil
|
|
us,</I> they shall themselves be spoiled. God will plead his church's
|
|
cause, and those that meddle do it to their own hurt.</P>
|
|
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|
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