Ha! a tumult of many peoples! they make a noise as the noise of the seas; -- and the rushing of nations! they rush as the rushing of mighty waters.
Isaiah hears sound before impact: nations surging toward God's people with the noise of an ocean in storm. Commentators read this as a crisis still ahead, and they ask two questions — who are these crowds, and what stops them?
Water here stands for people. One writer states the symbol plainly:
The sea and great waters stand for masses of people — people taken in the mass, unformed and undirected.
Another writer shows what state those crowds are in:
The sand points to the countless masses of mankind. The sea, as a symbol, speaks of the wild and revolutionary forces and principles at work among them. In other words, the mass of the human race is here shown to be in unrest and turmoil.
The plural matters. Kelly asks when history ever matched what follows in verses 13-14:
When was all this fulfilled in the past, from the day Isaiah wrote? Where was there ever such a gathering of all these nations and their complete dispersion? On the contrary, Israel was broken and scattered, and so were the Jews afterwards. Here it is not one nation triumphing over God's people. It is a gathering of all nations. They seem to be waiting only for the morning to swallow up Israel. But before the light dawns, they and their leader are gone. It will surely happen, for the mouth of Jehovah has spoken it.
Kelly also reads the opening cry as "Ho!" rather than "Woe" — a shout that calls attention to the tumult of many peoples.
The prophecy moves from events of Isaiah's own day toward the last days:
Isaiah 17 is proof of how the aim is the last days, reached through present circumstances. Here the occasion is the Assyrian, not Babylon... But Jacob is brought low at the same time. Yet in the remnant there is deliverance and salvation, even in Israel's lowest condition. The remnant looks to God. The nation is judged for leaving Jehovah and trusting its own ways; the multitude of nations comes up, but they are destroyed.
The verses just before this one describe a people busy planting, yet forgetful of God. Trotter ties that forgetfulness to the trouble that follows:
It is clear from several passages that many of the Jews will return to their own land in unbelief. In Isaiah 17:10-11 we find them there. They still forget the God of their salvation and take no notice of the Rock of their strength. They plant pleasant plants and set the land with foreign cuttings... This is clearly the time of trouble we have already heard about. It is the time when the nations and the multitude of many peoples rush like the rushing of many waters. But it is to their own destruction, and to Israel's deliverance... It is the last great crisis — a shortened time of tribulation like no other.
One writer points to the moment of rescue. It comes when nothing looks able to save the city:
Isaiah says of the gathered nations that they "roar like the roaring of many waters" — that is, against Zion. The prophet Zechariah describes the sorrow and distress of the chosen city when surrounded by her enemies, with seemingly no prospect of rescue. But in her last extremity, when her case looks hopeless to every outward eye, the Lord suddenly steps in to help her.
Another writer hears the same rebuke on a lake in Galilee:
Isaiah pictures many nations gathered together against the people of Israel to swallow her up like a mighty sea-storm. But God rebukes the enemies of His people, and, just as it happened on the Galilean lake, what was terror at evening was, by morning, gone.
- Noise. The roar of many peoples pictures crowds in unrest — loud, wild, and "unformed and undirected."
- Gathering. Not one empire but many nations. They wait for morning to swallow up Israel, on a scale no past invasion has matched.
- Cause. The storm falls on a people back in their own land. They forget the God of their salvation and trust their own planting.
- Rebuke. God rebukes them, and the flood breaks up — help arrives at the point where the case looks hopeless.
- Morning. Terror at evening, gone by morning: the God who acted on the Galilean lake acts on this sea of nations.
The nations rush as the rushing of many waters; but he will rebuke them, and they shall flee far away, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a whirling [of dust] before the whirlwind
Isaiah pictures the nations pouring over God's people like a flood tide — roaring, unstoppable. Then one word from God turns them into dust blowing off a hilltop. Three questions follow: who are these nations, when does this happen, and why does so much noise end in nothing?
The verse piles up water language, and Scripture uses that image in a settled way. Commenting on the symbols of prophecy, one writer explains why floods stand for people rather than for anything else:
Where we find "great waters," "many waters," the idea is wholly different. It is not applied to us inwardly or outwardly. It is a mighty unformed mass, often seen in violent motion. It is used for masses of people as such — people not marked out by particular forms or institutions... Rivers came to mean, symbolically, nations, armies of people under a certain direction or influence, flowing onward actively in a given direction.
So the roar is a crowd, not an ocean. Unlike a river, this mass has no direction given to it.
The detail that decides the meaning is the plural — not one empire, but many nations at once:
Let the nations gather their multitudes; let them rush on like mighty waters. But the rebuke comes, and they flee and are chased, yes, like thistle-down before the whirlwind... When was all this accomplished in the past, from the day Isaiah wrote? Where was seen the gathering of all these nations and their complete dispersion? On the contrary, Israel was broken and scattered, as were the Jews afterwards. Here it is not one nation triumphing over God's people, but a gathering of all nations. They seem to be only waiting for the morning to swallow up Israel, but before the light dawns they and their leader are gone.
Thistle-down is Kelly's picture of the attackers: dry, weightless, gone the moment the wind touches it.
Commentators differ on how much of this has happened. Some see the chapter answered in part when Assyria crushed Damascus, with a larger fulfilment still to come:
Tiglath-pileser, King of Assyria, carried out the judgment on Damascus and made it a heap of ruins. But the judgment is also future. And the enemies of Israel, who trouble His people, will be troubled "in that day."
Darby takes the future view, but he will not press these verses as proof:
I refer to Isaiah 17:12-14 only because it applies to the same truth. I admit that in itself it does not carry on its face the evidence that it cannot apply to Sennacherib. So, though I present it as the same truth, I do not use it as an argument.
Sennacherib was a king of Assyria. Honest reading admits the picture may fit him — and still reaches beyond him.
God does not send an army against this flood. He rebukes it. One writer compares it to a storm on the Galilean lake that was gone by morning:
He portrays the gathering together of many nations against the people of Israel to swallow her up like a mighty sea-storm. But God rebukes the enemies of His people, and, as it was on the Galilean lake, what at evening was trouble, in the morning was "not."
For God's people, help comes only when their case looks hopeless — and the rescue is hard to believe:
But in her last extremity, when her case, to all outward appearance, will be hopeless, the Lord suddenly steps in to help her... The remnant confess that Jehovah's intervention was so unlooked for and wonderful that "we were like them that dream." They could hardly believe it at first. They had been crying to the Lord for this very thing, but the answer went so far beyond what they expected — as with the saints praying for Peter's deliverance — that they were struck with astonishment.
Peter's friends had prayed for his deliverance, and were stunned when it came. Answered prayer can arrive too big to take in.
- Roar. The "many waters" stand for crowds: masses of people in motion, with no settled shape.
- Rush. The threat is many nations at once, not one empire. That plural makes commentators look past Sennacherib to a gathering still ahead.
- Rebuke. God answers noise with a word. Isaiah describes no battle — only a rebuke, like the one on the Galilean lake.
- Removal. What roared like the sea ends as chaff and thistle-down: dry, weightless, chased off by wind. Trouble at evening, gone before morning.
- Rescue. Help comes at the last moment. It goes so far beyond what anyone expected that those saved feel like people dreaming.
behold, at eventide, trouble; before the morning they are not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.
Isaiah 17 opens with judgment on Damascus. It closes with the roar of massed nations sweeping down on God's people. Here that night of terror is over before daylight. Who are these spoilers, when does this happen, and what turns the tide so fast?
The chapter compares the attacking nations to seas and rushing waters. One writer sets that picture beside what happened on the lake in Galilee.
He portrays the gathering together of many nations against the people of Israel to swallow her up like a mighty sea-storm. But God rebukes the enemies of His people. As it was on the lake in Galilee, what was trouble in the evening was "no more" in the morning.
The terror does not fall out of nowhere. Earlier in the chapter Israel lies desolate because of her idolatry. This verse is the last turn of that story.
Their idolatry had left them desolate. But in the hour of their desperate grief, the nations seem ready once more to swallow them up. Then the rebuke comes, and the rushing crowds are like chaff before the wind (v. 12-14). When God's people are faithless, they can still act by the caution and wisdom of the natural man. But when they do not rest on God, they are weaker than the world. And once God gives them over to chastening, they break to pieces at once.
Evening and morning are only hours apart, and that gap is the whole point. The crisis does not wind down; it stops.
This is clearly the time of trouble we have already been hearing about. It is the time when the nations and the crowds of many peoples rush like rushing waters. But it ends in their destruction, and in Israel's deliverance… It is the last great crisis — the shortened period of tribulation like no other. How suddenly it closes!
The attack has a leader, and a crowd behind him. One writer asks when history ever matched this picture.
When was all this fulfilled in the past, from the day that Isaiah wrote? Where do we see the gathering of all these nations and their complete scattering? The opposite happened: Israel was broken and scattered, and so were the Jews later. Here it is not one nation triumphing over God's people, but a gathering of all nations. They seem to be waiting only for the morning to swallow up Israel. But before the light dawns, they and their leader are no more. Surely it will happen, for the mouth of Jehovah has spoken it.
Commentators differ over how firmly the words point to the future. One writer will not press them that far:
I only mention this passage as teaching the same truth. I admit that on its own it does not show, on the face of it, that it cannot apply to Sennacherib. (I am not explaining all prophecy here.) So although I give it as the same truth, I do not use it as proof.
"Portion" and "lot" are words for an allotted share — an inheritance. Here the plunderers receive one. Damascus had already had a first taste of this under Assyria.
Damascus was the ancient city of Syria, mentioned for the first time in Genesis 15. Syria and Ephraim had made common cause against the house of David. Tiglath-pileser, King of Assyria, carried out the judgment on Damascus and made it a heap of ruins. But the judgment is also future. And the enemies of Israel, who trouble His people, will be troubled "in that day."
The rescued speak this verse — "us." Writing on Psalm 126, one commentator describes that morning for people who had given up hope.
But at her lowest point, when her case looks hopeless, the Lord suddenly steps in to help her… The remnant confess that Jehovah's help was so unexpected and wonderful that "we were like those who dream." They could hardly believe it at first. They had been crying to the Lord for this very thing, yet the answer went so far beyond what they expected that it left them stunned — as it did the believers who prayed for Peter's release.
- Cause. The night of terror follows Israel's idolatry. A faithless people is weaker than the world, and chastening breaks it fast.
- Roar. The enemy comes as massed nations, like seas and rushing waters, waiting only for daylight to swallow Israel up.
- Rebuke. God does not fight a long war. He rebukes them, as on the lake in Galilee, and the roar becomes chaff before the wind.
- Morning. By dawn they and their leader are gone. The rescue goes so far beyond the prayer that the rescued feel like dreamers.
- Portion. The spoilers get an inheritance of their own: those who trouble God's people are troubled in that day.