The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
The verse belongs to the series of burdens in Isaiah 13-23 concerning nations such as Babylon, Philistia, and Moab. It is a prophecy against Damascus, then one of Asia's great merchant cities and among Syria's most ancient cities. That city stood at the foot of the southeast range of the Anti-Libanus Mountains beside a fertile valley. It pronounces God's judgment upon Damascus that it will be taken away from being a city, subverted and left in ruins as a ruinous heap.
Its fall would come by capture by Assyria, being laid waste with its inhabitants taken captive. It also foretells the temporary subversion of the Assyrian empire. Its fate is contrasted with Tyre's distinct fate, for Tyre would be destroyed in a different way, becoming a bare rock where fishermen spread their nets rather than a ruinous heap. Its destruction was not permanent, for Damascus was devastated in the past but was rebuilt by the time of Medo-Persian rule and later became a populated city again.
Its present prosperity does not mean the prophecy failed, because the verse does not forbid rebuilding. Its prediction will be fulfilled again in a fuller sense when Damascus is utterly destroyed. It begins a sequence of judgments upon various nations, sections and peoples, including the land of rustling wings, Egypt, Philistia, the wilderness, the valley of vision and Tyre, that carries forward to God's final judgments upon the whole earth. It is an example of God foretelling the fate of cities, showing that biblical prophecy traces the rise and fall of earthly powers.
The verse belongs to the series of burdens in Isaiah 13-23 concerning nations such as Babylon, Philistia, and Moab. It is a prophecy against Damascus, then one of Asia's great merchant cities and among Syria's most ancient cities. That city stood at the foot of the southeast range of the Anti-Libanus Mountains beside a fertile valley. It pronounces God's judgment upon Damascus that it will be taken away from being a city, subverted and left in ruins as a ruinous heap.
Its fall would come by capture by Assyria, being laid waste with its inhabitants taken captive. It also foretells the temporary subversion of the Assyrian empire. Its fate is contrasted with Tyre's distinct fate, for Tyre would be destroyed in a different way, becoming a bare rock where fishermen spread their nets rather than a ruinous heap. Its destruction was not permanent, for Damascus was devastated in the past but was rebuilt by the time of Medo-Persian rule and later became a populated city again.
Its present prosperity does not mean the prophecy failed, because the verse does not forbid rebuilding. Its prediction will be fulfilled again in a fuller sense when Damascus is utterly destroyed. It begins a sequence of judgments upon various nations, sections and peoples, including the land of rustling wings, Egypt, Philistia, the wilderness, the valley of vision and Tyre, that carries forward to God's final judgments upon the whole earth. It is an example of God foretelling the fate of cities, showing that biblical prophecy traces the rise and fall of earthly powers.