Isaiah 17
by Pastor David Groendyk

At first glance, it’s hard to understand what’s going on in this chapter. The first verse calls it an oracle concerning Damascus (the capital city of Syria), but it sounds a lot like Isaiah is speaking to Israel in a number of verses. A little historical context helps. Remember back in Isaiah 7:1 and 8:4, the prophet described an alliance made between the king of Israel and the king of Syria, as well as how that alliance would fail and both nations would be brought down. Thus, the fall of Damascus would also bring with it the fall of Israel, and vice-versa.

This intertwining of judgment on Damascus and Israel shows what happens when God’s people abandon him to make alliances with the world. Israel’s decision to make an alliance with an enemy nation was not merely a political miscalculation that resulted in losing a war. It was a spiritual abandonment of their Maker and Holy One with whom they were in covenant. How could God’s people do this? Pride. I’ve been struck as I’ve read through Isaiah as well as some other places in Scripture lately at how the authors of Scripture always come back to the sin of pride. It was pride that caused Israel to seek out a different ally, different army, and different protection. They believed either that God was not strong enough or that God was not good enough or that God was not trustworthy enough to be sufficient for them. They thought they could do better without God. They wanted something that God would not give them, so they went somewhere else to get it. So it wasn’t as if King Pekah merely didn’t think things through all the way. It was an active decision to abandon God.

This is how it goes for us too, and this is why the Bible harps on pride so much. If we’re not careful to examine our actions and desires and motives, we will end up supplanting God as the number one Lord of our lives. We will find ourselves serving our own agendas rather than going about God’s business of worship, sanctification, and evangelism. We will find ourselves living shockingly worldly lives with worldly values and worldly goals rather than doing everything we can to glorify and enjoy God. And here’s why we need to be always on the look-out for that pride in ourselves: because God can wipe it all out in an instant if he so chooses. False idols can be decimated (v. 8), fortified cities can be emptied (v. 9), thundering nations can be blown away like dust (v. 13). What ends and goals are you trying to attain in this life? Are you seeking to glorify God in all that you do, and are you doing it in the God-glorifying ways that he has prescribed?

The remnant (vv. 6–8) that God chooses to preserve from the nation of Israel are those who abandon their own man-made attempts at strength and salvation. They are the ones who keep their eyes fixed on their Maker and Holy One. How can we cultivate a life that is centered around God rather than centered around our own selves?