Isaiah 17:1-11 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Isaiah 17:1-11. Let’s go!
Isaiah 17:1-11 (NIV)
1 An oracle concerning Damascus: “See, Damascus will no longer be a city but will become a heap of ruins.
2 The cities of Aroer will be deserted and left to flocks, which will lie down, with no one to make them afraid.
3 The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim, and royal power from Damascus; the remnant of Aram will be like the glory of the Israelites,” declares the LORD Almighty.
4 “In that day the glory of Jacob will fade; the fat of his body will waste away.
5 It will be as when a reaper gathers the standing grain and harvests the grain with his arm– as when a man gleans heads of grain in the Valley of Rephaim.
6 Yet some gleanings will remain, as when an olive tree is beaten, leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches, four or five on the fruitful boughs,” declares the LORD, the God of Israel.
7 In that day men will look to their Maker and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
8 They will not look to the altars, the work of their hands, and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles and the incense altars their fingers have made.
9 In that day their strong cities, which they left because of the Israelites, will be like places abandoned to thickets and undergrowth. And all will be desolation.
10 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,
11 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.
On verses 1-11: Isaiah’s next oracle is for the nation of Aram (represented by its capital city Damascus). But as we can see starting from verse 3, really this is a message not only for Aram but also for Israel (aka “Ephraim” (v3), “Jacob” (v4)). That is because Aram and Israel were working together as an alliance against Assyria and were putting pressure on Judah to join their alliance. Isaiah’s message is that the glory and power of Israel and Aram will be taken away (v3-4), just like when grain is harvested (v5). Playing still with the image of a harvest, Isaiah says that all the hard work that Aram and Israel put into planning their strategy and defense will come to nothing, just like a farmer who works so hard to plant and grow crops but is not able to harvest them (v9-11). That is because Israel and Aram had forgotten about God and stopped trusting in Him (v9).
But there is still a sliver of hope, Isaiah says. For after Israel and Aram’s glory and power are taken away like a harvest, there will still be something small left over, a that remnant will look to the LORD again instead turning to their idols (v5-8).
What can we learn from this?
1. Don’t place your trust in alliances and people as much as you place your hope in the LORD.
2. Are you a crisis-driven believer, someone who turns to God only when you have a problem? Don’t be a crisis-driven believer who only runs to God when they have no other choice. People who only look to God in a crisis will never grow. Instead, look to God every day and in every season.
3. Even when God takes something away, in His mercy God often leaves a reason for hope.
Father, I say today that my hope is not so much in the people I ally myself with or in my own plans or circumstances. My hope is in You. Without You I got nothing. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
