CHAPTER 17
SCRIPTURE: CHAPTER 17, VS 1-5
“ 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.”
APPLICATION: CHAPTER 17, VS 1-5
v. 1-4– This refers to the calling of the Gentiles–the grafting of the “new branches” to the tree. (See Romans 11: 17-24)
v. 5– If you consider gathering ears of corn in your arms, you realize it is difficult to hold them all. It seems inevitably some fall. This is how it is when The Lord gathers His people. Some sift through His arms and fall to satan’s lies. The word for “gathereth” in the first sentence tends to mean more of a gathering as a harvest, from the stalk or vine. The second word for “gathereth” is from a different Hebrew word that denotes gathering from the ground. The Lord will keep trying to bring us back to Him. He will gather us again from the ground as we fall, or try to go our own way.