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英文原文
Syria and Ephraim were confederate against Judah (Isa 7:1,2), and, they being so closely linked together in their counsels, this chapter, though it be entitled "the burden of Damascus" (which was the head city of Syria), reads the doom of Israel too. I. The destruction of the strong cities both of Syria and Israel is here foretold, Isa 17:1-5,9-11. II. In the midst of judgment mercy is remembered to Israel, and a gracious promise made that a remnant should be preserved from the calamities and should get good by them, Isa 17:6-8. III. The overthrow of the Assyrian army before Jerusalem is pointed at, Isa 17:12-14. In order of time this chapter should be placed next after Isa 19:1-25, for the destruction of Damascus, here foretold, happened in the reign of Ahaz, 2Ki 16:9.
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The Doom of Syria and Israel (712 BC)
论叙利亚和以色列的默示（主前712年）
¹ 论大马士革的默示。看哪，大马士革不再为城，必变作乱堆。
² 亚罗珥的城邑必被撇弃；它们必成为羊群躺卧之处，无人惊吓。
³ 以法莲的保障必被废除，大马士革的国位必消灭，亚述所剩下的必归于无有；万军之耶和华说，他们必如以色列家的荣耀。
⁴ 到那日，雅各的荣耀必衰残，他肥胖的身躯必消瘦。
⁵ 必像收割的人收敛禾捆，用手割下穗子；也像在利乏音谷拾取穗子。
此处我们读到论大马士革的默示；迦勒底意译本读作：「咒诅之杯递给大马士革饮的默示」；而十支派既与叙利亚结盟，便也要指望在这轮流的震怒之杯中陪大马士革同饮。1. 大马士基本身——叙利亚的京城——必被毁灭；房屋大概被焚，至少城墙、城门和防御工事被拆毁，居民被掳去，所以目前它「不再为城」，不但变为村庄，更化为「乱堆」（赛 17:1）。罪对城邑就是如此行荒凉的工作。2. 乡镇被居民撇弃，被入侵者或吓走、或强迁：「亚罗珥」（叙利亚一省份如此称呼）「的城邑被撇弃」（赛 17:2）；被征服者不敢住在其中，征服者也不需要它们，他们占据它们并非因缺乏，而是因放纵；所以本该供人居住之处，反倒成了「羊群躺卧之处」，它们可以躺卧，无人惊动、无人赶逐。华美的房屋变成羊圈。伟大的征服者竟以作人类公敌自夸，实在奇怪。然而无论他们多么不义，神使那些城邑吐出其中的居民却是公义的——因为他们自己的恶行使自己变为卑贱；羊群在那里躺卧，胜过容留那些公然背叛神和美德的人。3. 以色列——十支派国度——的坚固保障必归于毁坏：「以法莲的保障必被废除」（赛 17:3），就是撒玛利亚的那座，以及其余一切。他们曾极不自然地与叙利亚联盟入侵犹大；如今凡有分于罪的，也必有分于毁坏，这是公义的。当「以法莲的保障」被废除、以色列因此被削弱之时，「大马士革的国位」也必消灭、叙利亚因此被毁。叙利亚人是那抵挡犹大的同盟之首，所以他们首先受罚、受罚最重；因为他们曾夸口与以色列结盟，如今以色列既被削弱，他们的夸口便成了他们的讽刺：「亚述所剩下的必如以色列家的荣耀」——叙利亚人所剩下那少数的人，必处于与以色列人同样卑微可鄙的境地，而以色列的荣耀对他们必无救济、无声誉可言。罪的同盟当神的审判临到之时，对同盟者既无力量、也无支持。请看这里神与雅各相争之时，雅各的荣耀是何等光景，叙利亚模仿以色列的荣耀也毫无可夸。（1）它如一个患痨病的人那样消瘦（赛 17:4）。「雅各的荣耀」就是他们的人数——他们如同海边的沙那样众多；但这荣耀「必衰残」——当多人被剪除、少数留下之时。那时「他肥胖的身躯」——他们所夸口、所仰仗的——「必消瘦」，通国的身体要成为一具骷髅，只剩皮包骨。以色列死于缠绵之疾；十支派的国度渐渐衰微；神对他们「如蛀虫」（何 5:12）。今世一切的荣耀都是如此：它很快枯萎、消瘦；但为雅各属灵后裔所预备的，是极重无比、永远的荣耀，不受任何这样的衰残——神殿中的肥甘，必不「消瘦」。（2）它如庄稼被农夫从田间收去一样，被亚述军队全数收取带走（赛 17:5）。庄稼是田野的荣耀（诗 65:13）；但一旦收割完毕，荣耀在哪里呢？百姓因罪使自己成熟可毁，他们的荣耀便如庄稼被农夫从田间割下取去那样迅速、那样轻易、那样公义、那样无可抗拒地被砍下、被取去。神的审判被比作「庄稼熟透之时镰刀的插入」（启 14:15）。得胜的军队如细心的农夫在利乏音谷——那里庄稼格外丰盛——必不留下一个穗子，必不放过任何他们能下手之物。
英文原文
The Doom of Syria and Israel (712 BC)
¹ The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
² The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
³ The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the LORD of hosts.
⁴ And in that day it shall come to pass, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean.
⁵ And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the corn, and reapeth the ears with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the valley of Rephaim.
We have here the burden of Damascus; the Chaldee paraphrase reads it, The burden of the cup of the curse to drink to Damascus in; and, the ten tribes being in alliance, they must expect to pledge Damascus in this cup of trembling that is to go round. 1. Damascus itself, the head city of Syria, must be destroyed; the houses, it is likely, will be burnt, as least the walls, and gates, and fortifications demolished, and the inhabitants carried away captive, so that for the present it is taken away from being a city, and is reduced not only to a village, but to a ruinous heap, Isa 17:1. Such desolating work as this does sin make with cities. 2. The country towns are abandoned by their inhabitants, frightened or forced away by the invaders: The cities of Aroer (a province of Syria so called) are forsaken (Isa 17:2); the conquered dare not dwell in them, and the conquerors have no occasion for them, nor did they seize them for want, but wantonness; so that the places which should be for men to live in are for flocks to lie down in, which they may do, and none will disturb nor dislodge them. Stately houses are converted into sheep-cotes. It is strange that great conquerors should pride themselves in being common enemies to mankind. But, how unrighteous soever they are, God is righteous in causing those cities to spue out their inhabitants, who by their wickedness had made themselves vile; it is better that flocks should lie down there than that they should harbour such as are in open rebellion against God and virtue. 3. The strongholds of Israel, the kingdom of the ten tribes, will be brought to ruin: The fortress shall cease from Ephraim (Isa 17:3), that in Samaria, and all the rest. They had joined with Syria in invading Judah very unnaturally; and now those that had been partakers in sin should be made partakers in ruin, and justly. When the fortress shall cease from Ephraim, by which Israel will be weakened, the kingdom will cease from Damascus, by which Syria will be ruined. The Syrians were the ring-leaders in that confederacy against Judah, and therefore they are punished first and sorest; and, because they boasted of their alliance with Israel, now that Israel is weakened they are upbraided with those boasts: "The remnant of Syria shall be as the glory of the children of Israel; those few that remain of the Syrians shall be in as mean and despicable a condition as the children of Israel are, and the glory of Israel shall be no relief or reputation to them." Sinful confederacies will be no strength, no stay, to the confederates, when God's judgments come upon them. See here what the glory of Jacob is when God contends with him, and what little reason Syria will have to be proud of resembling the glory of Jacob. (1.) It is wasted like a man in a consumption, Isa 17:4. The glory of Jacob was their numbers, that they were as the sand of the sea for multitude; but this glory shall be made thin, when many are cut off, and few left. Then the fatness of their flesh, which was their pride and security, shall wax lean, and the body of the people shall become a perfect skeleton, nothing but skin and bones. Israel died of a lingering disease; the kingdom of the ten tribes wasted gradually; God was to them as a moth, Ho 5:12. Such is all the glory of this world: it soon withers, and is made thin; but thee is a far more exceeding and external weight of glory designed for the spiritual seed of Jacob, which is not subject to any such decay—fatness of God's house, which will not wax lean. (2.) It is all gathered and carried away by the Assyrian army, as the corn is carried out of the field by the husbandmen, Isa 17:5. The corn is the glory of the fields (Ps 65:13); but, when it is reaped and gone, where is the glory? The people had by their sins made themselves ripe for ruin, and their glory was as quickly, as easily, as justly, and as irresistibly, cut down and taken away, as the corn is out of the field by the husbandman. God's judgments are compared to the thrusting in of the sickle when the harvest is ripe, Re 14:15. And the victorious army, like the careful husbandmen in the valley of Rephaim, where the corn was extraordinary, would not, if they could help it, leave an ear behind, would lose nothing that they could lay their hands on.
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The Doom of Syria and Israel (712 BC)
叙利亚与以色列的厄运（主前712年）
⁶ 其间所剩下的，就如人打橄榄树—在尽上的枝梢上剩下两三个果子，在多结果子的枝条上剩下四五个果子。这是耶和华—以色列的神说的。 ⁷ 当那日，人必仰望造他们的主，眼目重看以色列的圣者。 ⁸ 他必不仰望祭坛，就是自己所打的；也不重看自己指头所作的，无论是木偶或偶像。
此处怜悯在审判之中，作为一个插句，被保留给那要逃脱十支派国度普遍覆灭的余数。亚述人虽竭尽所能不让一人脱网，但地上的谦卑人却在耶和华发怒的日子被隐藏，他们的性命给他们作为掠物，又因退到犹大地而得着安慰，在那里他们得以自由进入神的院宇。1. 他们必只是一个小的余数，极少数被标出存留（赛 17:6）：「其间所剩下的就如打橄榄树。」百姓的主体被掳去，但这里一个、那里一个被留下，也许是两个人在床上，一个被取去，一个被留下（路 17:34）。今世最具毁灭性的审判也不及最后的审判——那将是普世的，无人能逃脱。在最大的灾难之时，仍有人被保全安全，正如在最大的败坏之时，仍有人被保全纯洁。但逃脱者的稀少，意味着绝大部分人都被掳去；所留下来的，不过像橄榄树被主人仔细打过之后剩下的残余；在「树顶尽上的枝梢上」（打橄榄的人够不着的地方），若有「两三个果子」，那就是全部了。这就是「照着拣选之恩的余数」，与那许多走在宽路上的人相比，是极少的。2. 他们必是一个成圣的余数（赛 17:7,8）。这些被保留的少数人，是在逼近的审判前景中已经为罪懊悔、改革了生活的人，所以如此从火中被抢出来，如同抽出来的柴；又或是逃脱了、在异乡成为难民的人，他们部分因自己得拯救这特别恩典的觉悟，部分因仍在其中的困苦，被唤醒归向神。（1）他们必仰望他们的造化主，要问：「神我的造化主在哪里，他在这样苦难的夜间赐人诗歌」（伯 35:10,11）？他们要承认他亲手安排了关于他们的一切事，无论是怜悯的还是苦难的，并要顺服他的手。他们要把当归于他名的荣耀归他，并按他的护理受当有的感动。他们要从他指望解救和帮助，并倚靠他来帮助他们。他们的「眼目必重看」他，「如同仆人的眼睛望着主人的手」（诗 132:2）。请留意，我们当始终尊重神，眼目不断仰望他——既仰望他作为我们的造化主（我们本源的创始者、自然之神），又仰望他作为以色列的圣者——与我们立约的神、恩典之神；尤其是我们在苦难中时，眼目必须仰望耶和华，要他把我们的脚「从网里拔出来」（诗 25:15）；引领我们到此，正是他作为我们造化主的护理之目的，也是他作为以色列圣者的恩典之工。（2）他们必转眼不看自己的偶像，就是他们自己幻想所造之物，不再敬拜它们，不再求告它们，不再指望从它们得解救。因为神必独自被尊重，否则他就根本不认为自己是被尊重了。那仰望造化主的，必「不仰望祭坛，就是自己所打的」，反要弃绝它、丢弃它；也不可对「自己指头所作的」存丝毫尊重，反要打碎它，即使是自己手所作的——「无论是木偶或偶像」；这词指着为尊敬太阳而造、并藉以敬拜太阳的形像，那是最古老、最貌似有理的偶像崇拜（申 4:19，伯 31:26）。我们有理由把那些使我们与我们的罪分开的患难看作有福的患难，又因对世界——那大偶像——之虚妄有切身的认识，而冷却我们对它的热爱，降低我们对它的指望。
英文原文
The Doom of Syria and Israel (712 BC)
⁶ Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the LORD God of Israel.
⁷ At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.
⁸ And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images.
Mercy is here reserved, in a parenthesis, in the midst of judgment, for a remnant that should escape the common ruin of the kingdom of the ten tribes. Though the Assyrians took all the care they could that none should slip out of their net, yet the meek of the earth were hidden in the day of the Lord's anger, and had their lives given them for a prey and made comfortable to them by their retirement to the land of Judah, where they had the liberty of God's courts. 1. They shall be but a small remnant, a very few, who shall be marked for preservation (Isa 17:6): Gleaning grapes shall be left in it. The body of the people were carried into captivity, but here and there one was left behind, perhaps one of two in a bed when the other was taken, Lu 17:34. The most desolating judgments in this world are short of the last judgment, which shall be universal and which none shall escape. In times of the greatest calamity some are kept safe, as in times of the greatest degeneracy some are kept pure. But the fewness of those that escape supposes the captivity of the far greatest part; those that are left are but like the poor remains of an olive tree when it has been carefully shaken by the owner; if there be two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough (out of the reach of those that shook it), that is all. Such is the remnant according to the election of grace, very few in comparison with the multitudes that walk on in the broad way. 2. They shall be a sanctified remnant, Isa 17:7,8. These few that are preserved are such as, in the prospect of the judgment approaching, had repented of their sins and reformed their lives, and therefore were snatched thus as brands out of the burning, or such as having escaped, and becoming refugees in strange countries, were awakened, partly by a sense of the distinguishing mercy of their deliverance, and partly by the distresses they were still in, to return to God. (1.) They shall look up to their Creator, shall enquire, Where is God my Maker, who giveth songs in the night, in such a night of affliction as this? Job 35:10,11. They shall acknowledge his hand in all the events concerning them, merciful and afflictive, and shall submit to his hand. They shall give him the glory due to his name, and be suitably affected with his providences. They shall expect relief and succour from him and depend upon him to help them. Their eyes shall have respect to him, as the eyes of a servant to the hand of his master, Ps 132:2. Observe, It is our duty at all times to have respect to God, to have our eyes ever towards him, both as our Maker (the author of our being and the God of nature) and as the Holy One of Israel, a God in covenant with us and the God of grace; particularly, when we are in affliction, our eyes must be towards the Lord, to pluck our feet out of the net (Ps 25:15); to bring us to this is the design of his providence as he is our Maker and the work of his grace as he is the Holy One of Israel. (2.) They shall look off from their idols, the creatures of their own fancy, shall no longer worship them, and seek to them, and expect relief from them. For God will be alone regarded, or he does not look upon himself as at all regarded. He that looks to his Maker must not look to the altars, the work of his hands, but disown them and cast them off, must not retain the least respect for that which his fingers have made, but break it to pieces, though it be his own workmanship—the groves and the images; the word signifies images made in honour of the sun and by which he was worshipped, the most ancient and most plausible idolatry, De 4:19, Job 31:26. We have reason to account those happy afflictions which part between us and our sins, and by sensible convictions of the vanity of the world, that great idol, cool our affections to it and lower our expectations from it.
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The Doom of Syria and Israel (712 BC)
论叙利亚与以色列的灾祸（主前712年）
⁹ 到那日，他们的坚固城必像树林中所撇弃的地方，又像山顶上所撇弃的枝子；都因以色列人的缘故成为荒凉。 ¹⁰ 因为你忘记了拯救你的神，不记念那作你保障的磐石；所以你栽上佳美的树秧子，插上异样的枝子。 ¹¹ 栽种的日子，你周围圈上篱笆，又早晨使你所种的开花；但在愁苦极其伤痛的日子，所收割的都不过是一堆。
在此先知又回来预言以色列地将因亚述大军而遭的可悲荒凉。1. 那些城邑必被弃绝。连本应保护全国的坚固城，也不能保护自己：它们「必像一棵老树上所撇弃的枝子和山顶上的枝条」——那树已经朽坏，叶子尽都脱落，枝条在树顶上赤裸、枯干、死寂；当居民弃城而逃、敌军得胜劫掠、使之面目全非时，他们的坚固城也必如此显出这副光景（赛17:9）。它们必如迦南人——那地旧日的居民——「因以色列人的缘故」所撇下的城邑；当神用大能之手领他们进去得那美地为业、得享他们未曾建造的城邑之时。正如迦南人当日从以色列人面前逃跑，以色列如今也必从亚述人面前逃跑。神的言语在此便得了应验：他们若行同样可憎的事，「那地也要把他们吐出，正如吐出在他们以先的列国一样」（利18:28）；又应验：当他们有神相助时，「一人追赶千人」，当他们使自己与神为敌之时，「千人」也必「因一人的斥责而逃跑」；于是那些城中必有荒凉，正如律法中所警戒的（利26:31；申28:51）。2. 那地必被毁坏（赛17:10-11）。当留意，（1）那惹动神降如此大灾于这美地的罪。乃是「因其中居民的罪孽」。「这是因你忘记了拯救你的神」，忘记了他为你所行的一切大拯救，忘记了你对他的倚靠与对他的亏欠；「也不记念那作你保障的磐石」——他自己是坚固的磐石，又多次作了你的力量，不然你早已沉沦粉碎。当留意，拯救我们的神就是我们力量的磐石；我们对他的忘记与不留心，乃是一切罪的根源。「我们偏离正路，是因我们忘记了耶和华我们的神」，于是自取灭亡。（2）毁灭本身，更因他们为改良自己的地土、使之更加悦人所费的心血而加重。〔1〕在播种的时候看那地，全然如园子和葡萄园一般；那美地满了佳美的植物，全是本土所产最优的；不但如此，居民如此讲究好奇，竟不以此为足，差人往四围列国去寻购异样的枝子——这些枝子因异样、罕见、远求、价昂而更觉宝贵，尽管他们自己所有的或不逊色。这正是他们骄傲与虚荣的例证，也是（那致命的错误）他们「要像列国一样」的私爱。他们本以「麦子、蜂蜜、油」为大宗货物（结27:17）；却不以此为足，非要从他国进口一些带着稀奇名字的花木，又要费许多心血与劳苦，借温床催生这些植物生长；地土必被强催，又必以玻璃罩遮蔽护庇，园丁一早便须起来使种子发旺，好胜过邻舍。自然之装饰不可全然轻忽，但过于溺爱，在它们身上所费的时间、金钱、心血过于它们所配得的，正如许多人所行，便是愚妄。但此处这一例似乎笼统地表明他们在耕耘土地上的勤勉，以及由此而生的指望；他们毫不怀疑自己的植物必发旺生长。然而，〔2〕在收割的时候看同一块地，全然如旷野——一片凄惨忧郁之地，连旁观者看了也感凄凉，何况那地的主人；因为「所收割的都不过是一堆」——一片混乱——「在愁苦极其伤痛的日子」。收割本是欢乐之时，是歌唱欢呼之时（赛16:10）；但这收割却被饥饿之人吃尽了（伯5:5），使之成了愁苦之日，更因那些植物本是佳美而昂贵的（赛17:10），他们的指望也相应提高，便更加伤痛。收割有时也成了愁苦之日——若庄稼稀薄、天时不宜；但那种情形下尚有来年更好的指望。然而这次必是绝望的伤痛，因为他们所见的，不仅是今年的出产被掳去，更是地土的主权改变了，征服者成了地的主人。旁注读法：「收割之物必被挪去」（被搬到敌国或敌营中，申28:33），「在承受为业之日」（在你以为可以承受之时），「必有致命的伤痛」。这是我们不可将财宝积攒在那些我们如此迅速可能被剥夺之物上的好理由；当积攒在那永不夺去的「上好的分」里。
英文原文
The Doom of Syria and Israel (712 BC)
⁹ In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation.
¹⁰ Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips:
¹¹ In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
Here the prophet returns to foretel the woeful desolations that should be made in the land of Israel by the army of the Assyrians. 1. That the cities should be deserted. Even the strong cities, which should have protected the country, shall not be able to protect themselves: They shall be as a forsaken bough and an uppermost branch of an old tree, which has gone to decay, is forsaken of its leaves, and appears on the top of the tree, bare, and dry, and dead; so shall their strong cities look when the inhabitants have deserted them and the victorious army of the enemy pillaged and defaced them, Isa 17:9. They shall be as the cities (so it may be supplied) which the Canaanites left, the old inhabitants of the land, because of the children of Israel, when God brought them in with a high hand, to take possession of that good land, cities which they built not. As the Canaanites then fled before Israel, so Israel should now flee before the Assyrians. And herein the word of God was fulfilled, that, if they committed the same abominations, the land should spue them out, as it spued out the nations that were before them (Le 18:28), and that as, while they had God on their side, one of them chased a thousand, so, when they had made him their enemy, a thousand of them should flee at the rebuke of one; so that in the cities should be desolation, according to the threatenings in the law, Le 26:31, De 28:51. 2. That the country should be laid waste, Isa 17:10,11. Observe here, (1.) The sin that had provoked God to bring so great a destruction upon that pleasant land. It was for the iniquity of those that dwelt therein. "It is because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation and all the great salvations he has wrought for thee, hast forgotten thy dependence upon him and obligations to him, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, not only who is himself a strong rock, but who has been thy strength many a time, or thou wouldst have been sunk and broken long since." Note, The God of our salvation is the rock of our strength; and our forgetfulness and unmindfulness of him are at the bottom of all sin. Therefore have we perverted our way, because we have forgotten the Lord our God, and so we undo ourselves. (2.) The destruction itself, aggravated by the great care they took to improve their land and to make it yet more pleasant. [1.] Look upon it at the time of the seedness, and it was all like a garden and a vineyard; that pleasant land was replenished with pleasant plants, the choicest of its own growth; nay, so nice and curious were the inhabitants that, not content with them, they sent to all the neighbouring countries for strange slips, the more valuable for being strange, uncommon, far-fetched, and dear-bought, though perhaps they had of their own not inferior to them. This was an instance of their pride and vanity, and (that ruining error) their affection to be like the nations. Wheat, and honey, and oil were their staple commodities (Eze 27:17); but, not content with these, they must have flowers and greens with strange names imported from other nations, and a great deal of care and 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, and early in the morning the gardeners must be up to make the seed to flourish, that it may excel those of their neighbours. The ornaments of 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 put in general for their great industry in cultivating their ground, and their expectations from it accordingly; they doubt not but their 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 the harvest shall be a heap, all in confusion, in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow. The harvest used to be a time of joy, of singing and shouting (Isa 16:10); but this harvest the hungry eat up (Job 5:5), which makes it a day of grief, and the more because the plants were pleasant and costly (Isa 17:10) 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, The harvest shall be removed (into the enemy's country or camp, De 28:33) in the day of inheritance (when thou thoughtest to inherit it), and there shall be deadly sorrow. 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.
12-14
The Doom of Syria and Israel (712 BC)
叙利亚与以色列的厄运（主前712年）
¹² 唉！多民哄嚷，好像海浪砰訇；列邦奔腾，好像猛水滔滔； ¹³ 列邦奔腾，如同多水滔滔；但神斥责他们，他们就远远逃避，又被追赶，如山上的风前糠，又如暴风前的旋风土。 ¹⁴ 看哪，到晚上有惊吓，未到早晨便没有了。这是掳掠我们之人所得的分，是抢夺我们之人的报应。
这些经文宣判了那些欺压抢夺神百姓之人的厄运。亚述人和以色列人若入侵劫掠犹大，亚述军队若掳走神的百姓、荒凉他们的国土，让他们知道，灭亡必是他们所得的分和产业。此处把他们描写为：1. 在神百姓之上夸胜。他们倚靠人数众多。亚述军队由许多民族组成：那是「多民哄嚷」（赛 17:12），他们指望以这重量赢得胜利。他们喧嚷如同海浪澎湃；他们说大话、威吓人、发出威胁，要吓阻神的百姓不至抵抗，又使他们的盟友不来救援。西拿基立和拉伯沙基在他们的演说和书信中制造巨大的声势，要使希西家和他的人民惊惶；跟随他们的列邦「如同多水滔滔」，又如同大水，威胁着要冲走一切前面的事物，带走一切挡路之物。「洪水扬起声音、扬起波浪」；当外邦和万民狂怒时，百姓的喧嚷正是如此（诗 2:1，93:3）。2. 被神的审判所胜。他们想以声势取得胜利；但祸哉他们（赛 17:12），因为他「必斥责他们」，就是神——一位他们并不想到、并不尊重、并不敬畏的——必斥责他们；他要以无形之手给他们一个制止，「他们就远远逃避。」西拿基立、拉伯沙基和他们剩下的军队要在惊吓中逃跑，被自己的恐惧追赶，「如山上的风前糠，又如暴风前的旋风土」，如同蓟花的绒毛（旁注如此）；他们使自己「如风前的糠」（诗 35:5），于是「耶和华的使者」（如该处下文所说），就是杀了许多人的那同一位使者，必追赶其余的人。神要使他们「如轮」，如旋转之物，然后「用风暴追赶他们，用暴风使他们惊惶」（诗 83:13,15）。注意，神能在教会仇敌最勇敢、最有把握时使他们丧胆，在他们似乎最紧密结合时驱散他们。这事必忽然成就（赛 17:14）：「到晚上」他们还十分扰人，并向神的百姓发出威胁；「但未到早晨他们就没有了。」在众人安睡之时，他们被投入沉睡之中（诗 26:5,6）。正是在夜间，天使击溃了亚述军队。神能在片刻之间打破他教会仇敌的权势，即使在它显得最可怕的时候；这话是为着历代神百姓的鼓励而写的——当他们发现自己与仇敌力量悬殊时；「因为这是掳掠我们之人所得的分」，他们自己必被掳掠。神必为他教会的事辩护，凡干预这事的人必自取其祸。
英文原文
The Doom of Syria and Israel (712 BC)
¹² Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
¹³ The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God 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; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.
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 the multitude of many people (Isa 17:12), 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 made a rushing like the rushing of many waters, and those mighty ones, that threaten to bear down all before them and carry away every thing that stands in their way. The floods have lifted up their voice, have lifted up their waves; such is the tumult of the people, and the heathen, when they rage, Ps 2:1,93:3. 2. Triumphed over by the judgments of God. They thought to carry their point by dint of noise; but woe to them (Isa 17:12), for he shall rebuke them, 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, and then they shall flee afar off. Sennacherib, and Rabshakeh, and the remains of their forces, shall run away in a fright, and shall be chased by their own terrors, as the chaff of the mountains which stand bleak before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind, like thistle-down (so the margin); they make themselves as chaff before the wind (Ps 35:5) and then the angel of the Lord (as it follows there), the same angel that slew many of them, shall chase the rest. God will make them like a wheel, or rolling thing, and then persecute them with his tempest and make them afraid with his storm, Ps 83:13,15. 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 (Isa 17:14): At evening-tide they are very troublesome, and threaten trouble to the people of God; but before the morning they are not. At sleeping time they are cast into a deep sleep, Ps 26:5,6. 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 this is the portion of those that spoil us, they shall themselves be spoiled. God will plead his church's cause, and those that meddle do it to their own hurt.
亚兰与以法莲曾结盟攻击犹大（赛7:1,2），他们既在谋略上如此紧密相连，本章虽题为「论大马士革的默示」（大马士革是亚兰的首城），却也宣判了以色列的厄运。本章内容如下：一、预告亚兰和以色列坚固城池的毁灭，赛17:1-5,9-11。二、在审判中仍记念对以色列的怜悯，并赐下恩典的应许：必有余民从灾祸中存留，并要从中得益，赛17:6-8。三、指出亚述大军在耶路撒冷面前的覆灭，赛17:12-14。按时间顺序，本章应排在赛19:1-25之后，因为此处所预告的大马士革之毁灭，是在亚哈斯年间发生的（王下16:9）。