After prophesying against Babylon, the Philistines and Moab, Isaiah turns to Damascus (to the northeast of Israel/Samaria) and to Samaria/Ephraim itself. This is the fourth of five prophecies in the set that runs from chapter 13 through chapter 20.
Isaiah 17:1-3, Damascus a heap
A prophecy against Damascus:
“See, Damascus will no longer be a city
but will become a heap of ruins.
The cities of Aroer will be deserted
and left to flocks, which will lie down,
with no one to make them afraid.
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.
As in 13:1 and 15:1, the first word in this chapter is massa', meaning "burden" or "oracle." The cities of Aroer will become fields for flocks of animals. Ephraim (that is, Israel) will no longer have fortified cities and power will be gone from Damascus/Aram.
Motyer says that the only known "Aroer" in the Old Testament is in Numbers 32:34-36, where a town of Aroer is a town in Ephraim. If this is the same region, then Damascus is indeed blended with Ephraim.
Isaiah 17:4-6, Jacob harvested
“In that day the glory of Jacob will fade;
the fat of his body will waste away.
It will be as when reapers harvest the standing grain,
gathering the grain in their arms—
as when someone gleans heads of grain
in the Valley of Rephaim.
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.
Israel, at time allied with Syria against Judah, is being included in this destruction. The Valley of Rephaim is just south of Jerusalem, so the invasion from the north has gone quite deep into the region once controlled by the twelve tribes. (Grogan, p.117, then dates this oracle to 735-732 BC, shortly before Syria and its capital, Damascus, fell to Assyria.)
The country will be "harvested" as if reapers are going through and taking everything from the standing stalks. Yet, yet -- there is a promised remnant! Here the "gleanings" correspond to the promised remnant; the promised remnant is a theme throughout many of the Old Testament prophets.
Isaiah 17:7-9, Turning back to their maker
In that day people will look to their Maker
and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
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.
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.
A day is coming, "that Day", in which the remnant look back to the Holy One. They will forsake their silly idols ("work of their hands") and abandon the Canaanite fertility gods.
Isaiah 17:10-11, Desolation
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,
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.
As with Babylon, eventual desolation is forecast, days of "disease and incurable pain."
Motyer says that the initial "You" in this passage is feminine singular, thus viewing Ephraim as a woman, "mother country" of the Jewish people. The "imported vines", says Motyer, are probably imported for worshiping the fertility gods; see Isaiah 1:29-31 for an example.
Isaiah 17:12-14, Raging Waters
Woe to the many nations that rage—
they rage like the raging sea!
Woe to the peoples who roar—
they roar like the roaring of great waters!
Although the peoples roar like the roar of surging waters,
when he rebukes them they flee far away,
driven before the wind like chaff on the hills,
like tumbleweed before a gale.
In the evening, sudden terror!
Before the morning, they are gone!
This is the portion of those who loot us,
the lot of those who plunder us.
The focus now turns back to the other nations, to the world of the ANE. The nations rage -- like the angry chaotic sea! -- against Israel and YHWH. As Grogan points out, this passage echoes the beginning of Psalm 2. lthough Israel will undergo judgment and pain, the others will be rebuked. This focus on the rest of the ANE world will continue in the next chapter, this time turning to Egypt.
Some Random Thoughts
The Old Testament concept of gleaning, dating back to the Law of Moses (Leviticus 19:9-10, Deuteronomy 24:21) becomes, in the prophetic books, a metaphor for a remnant of followers of YHWH. That concept continues throughout the New Testament, clearly visible in the book of Revelation. God secures a "remnant" for "that Day" is a belief in the background of many messages in Old or New Testament. (See this GotQuestions column, for example.)
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