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Isa_17:4-8
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.
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.
Isa_17:5. ÷ָîָä Isa_37:27.— åְäָéäָ “and it goes,” comp. Isa_13:14.— ÷ָöִéø is difficult. The connection leads us first to expect the meaning “reaper,” and many take it so, letting ÷ָöִéø be said metonymically for ÷åֹöֵø or àַðְùֵׁé ÷öéø (Gesen.). Others take ÷ָîָä in apposition with ÷ָöִéø , or ÷ָöִéø = “harvest time” (when the harvest time takes away the stalks. Ewald). ÷ָöִéø may also be treated as accusative of time: “As one gathers stalks of grain in the harvest.” All of these explanations have a certain harshness. Against Delitzsch, who makes ÷öéø = ÷åֹöֵø it may be objected: why does Isaiah use this very common word in a sense that it never has elsewhere, and for which sense there offered another word ( ÷åֹöֵø Psa_29:7; Amo_9:13; Jer_9:21, and often) equally current? The same may be objected also to Gesenius and Ewald. To take ÷îä as apposition is harsh for the reason that then one of the two words would be superfluous. I therefore prefer to take ÷öéø as accusative of time, and to regard the word as a substantive treated adverbially like other marks of time ( áֹּ÷ֶø , ìַéְìָä , éåí , etc., comp. Ewald, § 204 b).—Then the suffix of æøòå relates to the notion of reaper ideally present in ÷öéø .
Ver 6. ðֹ÷ֶó again only Isa_14:13.— âøâø is ἅð . ëåã .— àîéø only here and Isa_17:9.— ñָòִéó “branch.” again only Isa_27:10. The suffix in ñòéôéä relates to ; æַéִú ôֹּøִéָּä is in apposition with the suffix (in ramis ejus fecundae) with the signification of an adversative clause.
Isa_17:8. The àֲùֵׁøִéí ( àֲùֵׁøåֹú only in Jdg_3:7; 2Ch_19:3; 2Ch_33:3) are in any case the images or symbols of Astarte, of the female principle, which had the form of óôῆëáé , pillars set upright (from àָùַׁø rectum, erectum esse, according to Movers; perhaps, according to a statement of Herodotus II. 106, ãõíáéêὸò áἰäïῖá were visible).
2. And in that day—God of Israel.
Isa_17:4-6. “In that day” Isa_17:4, here refers to the time of judgment announced in Isa_17:2-3. “The glory of Jacob,” also refers back to Isa_17:3, where the same expression is employed with only the difference of Israel for Jacob, which seems to have a rhetorical reason (comp. Isa_9:7). Moreover the Prophet speaks here of Israel-Ephraim in a sense that declares what it has in common with Judah. For the grand outlines of that picture of the future that Isaiah draws here, comprehend equally the history of Judah and Ephraim. Moreover it must not be supposed that Isaiah has in mind only the political ruin that ensued, say after the shining reign of Jeroboam II. This growing lean embraces the entire time in which the Ten Tribes exist as a remnant. It therefore lasts still at the present time.
The second figure describes the same matter only in greater extent. It is presented in a measure as having three degrees. First, is called to mind how the reaper gathers the standing grain stalks; second, how then the other arm cuts off the ears; third, how the ears are gathered, and that in the valley of Rephaim, the fruitful plain that extends in a south-west direction from Jerusalem. Such a rich harvest shall the enemies hold in Ephraim; so thoroughly, therefore, shall Ephraim be emptied out, plundered. The “gathering of ears” mentioned in the second half of Isa_17:5, may mean the gathering proper for binding into sheaves (Gen_37:7); but it could mean, too, the gleaning of the ears left lying, as by the poor (Rth_2:2 sqq.). The former better suits the context, in as much as the latter notion appears in the following verse. In Isa_17:5 the whole work of the enemies is described, and that in two stages, that are indicated by the “and it shall be” prefixed, just as the battle and the booty form the two sharply distinguished occupations of the warrior,—The valley of Rephaim is mentioned in the Old Testament, Jos_15:8; Jos_18:16; 2Sa_15:18; 2Sa_15:22; 2Sa_23:13. Most persons conclude from our present passage that it was fruitful. Only Ewald [and Aben Ezra, J. A. A.], finds in the passage the notion of a “dry valley,” as he also takes îì÷è in the sense of gleaning. At present, indeed, the valley is desert (comp. Knobel in loc.). Further statements see in Arnold’s article “Thäler in Palästina,” Herz. R. Encycl. xv. p. 614. [“Robinson speaks of it en passant, as the cultivated valley or plain of Rephaim (Palestine I. 323).” J. A. A.].—But (Isa_17:6) there is left on him, i.e., on Jacob (we would say “of him,” comp. Isa_10:22) a gleaning secundum percussionem or ad similitudinem percussionis oleae, that is two or three berries in the highest top. Four or five are beaten off with a stick from the branches, because they had not been brought down by the shaking. In the boughs, of course, more remain hanging, because they have greater extent than the tree-top. That is, it is declared, that although the tree is fruitful, yet only a few berries hang on it. Spite of its fruitfulness, it is now so empty that only a little is left for the gleaner. Thus, too, Israel, though now richly blessed, will be reduced to a minimum.
3. At that day—the images.
Isa_17:7-8). The little gleaning is the small remnant of Israel that plays so great a part in the divine economy of salvation, Isa_6:13; Isa_10:21; Rom_9:27; Rom_11:4 sq. In that day, i.e., when Israel shall be reduced to the small remnant, will the man look (Isa_22:4; Isa_31:1) to his Maker, the Holy One of Israel (comp. on Isa_1:4), but he will cast not one more look of fear and trust toward the idols. At last he sees that they are only the work of his own, of human hands (Isa_44:9 sqq.).— äָàָãָí “the man,” is never anywhere else specially used of Israel. The general expression is doubtless chosen because the Prophet declares what concerns not Israel alone, but essentially all mankind, and what especially is applicable to Syria, too, which all along is conceived of as united with Israel.
Two idols are mentioned by name, as those that were particularly worshipped by the idolatrous Israelites: àùׁøéí and çîðéí . (Isa_27:9). [“groves” and “images” Eng. Bib. Tr.].—Regarding the latter it has been ascertained, that thereby are meant the images of áַּòַì çַîָּæ Baal-Hamon, Son_8:11, the Sun-god, the superior male god of the Phœnicians. The word, beside the present text, and Isa_27:9, occurs Lev_26:30; Eze_6:4; Eze_6:6; 2Ch_14:4; 2Ch_34:4; 2Ch_34:7. See further under Text. and Gram.—It is only doubtful whether àùׁøä signifies only the Astarte pillars, or the goddess herself, and the groves consecrated to her (Deu_16:21, comp. Gesenius, Thes. pag. 162 with Otto Strauss, Nahumi de Nin. vat. Prolegg. pag. 24). Moreover it is undecided whether Astarte ( àַùְׁúֹּøֵú kindred to àֶñְúֵּø , ἀóôÞñ , “star”) signifies only the moon, or Vinus, the star of good fortune, or the entire heaven of night as distinguished from the domain of Baal, the heaven of day (comp. P. Cassel on Jdg_2:13; “Moon and stars, the luminaries of the heavens by night, are mingled in Astaroth; they are the sum total of the entire host of heaven.”)
Footnotes:
be reduced.
as one in harvest gathereth corn, and his arm reapeth the ears.
as one gleaning ears.
And gleanings shall, etc.
in its, the fruit trees boughs.
the man turn.
look to.
turn to.
look to what his.
Ashtaroth.
Or, sun images.