Isaiah 17 Study Notes

17:7-8 On that day (v. 4) points to a time beyond the judgment. Indeed, the judgment of God will cause the remnant to turn from false worship to the worship of the true God who created them. Asherah was a Canaanite goddess of love and war. The plural form (Asherahs) signifies that the reference is to wooden poles or trees associated with her worship.

17:9 On that day signals the future time of judgment again (see v. 4). The destruction will turn cities into abandoned woods and mountaintops. The reason for their abandonment is the Israelites, who, as v. 10 explains, have sinned by forgetting God.

17:10-11 To remember God involves more than a mental activity; it implies obeying and worshiping him. To forget him points to Israel’s disobedience. Isaiah spoke of Israel’s bad end by using a plant analogy. Israel worked hard to grow beautiful plants. They exerted their energy but ended up with nothing. Israel’s self-sufficient efforts will also end up empty.

17:12 The opening exclamation Ah! is the same word earlier translated as “Oh” (see 1:4). It begins a pronouncement that has the form of a funeral dirge. The nations were agitated; they roared and raged (Ps 2:1-4). Their agitation is compared to the pounding of waves. Rushing water is often an image of social and religious chaos (Ps 18:16; 29:3; 32:6).

17:13 Though the nations rage, God’s rebuke will quiet them by driving them away (Pss 2; 48). Chaff was light and wind blew it away, so God’s rebuke will blow away the tumultuous nations.

17:14 God’s judgment comes quickly, in a single day (in the evening . . . before morning). The victim of the nations (God’s people) speaks here in the first person (us).