By Marylou Barry
When the Hebrew prophet Isaiah wrote his biblical account some 2,700 years ago, he relayed a prophecy God had given him about the destruction of Damascus, Syria. He couched nothing in ambiguity.
“See, Damascus will no longer be a city but will become a heap of ruins. The cities of Aroer will be deserted and left to flocks, which will lie down, with no one to make them afraid … though you set out the finest plants and plant imported vines, though on the day you set them out, you make them grow, and on the morning when you plant them, you bring them to bud, yet the harvest will be as nothing in the day of disease and incurable pain … In the evening, sudden terror! Before the morning, they are gone! This is the portion of those who loot us, the lot of those who plunder us.” – Isaiah 17:1-2, 10-11, 14, NIV.
So, if I am reading this correctly, somewhere between planting and harvesting seasons in some unnamed year, someone is going to annihilate Damascus, Syria, with its million-plus population, in an overnight raid? The harvest will be “as nothing”? The attack will be “sudden terror” with survivors experiencing “disease and incurable pain”? Aroer (unclear, but possibly Jordan) will be likewise afflicted? Before the morning “they are not”? This information has been out there for over two millennia and NO ONE IS PAYING ANY ATTENTION?
In the several English-language Christian and Jewish Bible translations I consulted, the wording of Isaiah 17 varies little. Descriptions conjure up fears of not just sudden destruction and possible radiation sickness, but also of Saddam’s still-unaccounted-for WMD’s rumored to be stored in Syria. WHY, I wondered, would any believer choose to live in the only city of undisputed identity whose destruction is guaranteed in writing by the Judeo-Christian God?
Damascus was around before Abraham and still touts itself as the oldest continuously occupied city in the world. Despite Syria’s majority Islamic government, 10 percent of Damascenes (160,000) still identify themselves as Christians, although only 1 percent of those (1,600) claim to be evangelicals. A still tinier Jewish population remains – fewer than 100 souls nationwide as of 2003.
With one burning question, I decided to contact the U.S. offices of the major Christian denominations in Syria and see what they had to say. In emails to the Greek Orthodox, Syriac Catholic, Maronite, Byzantine Catholic, and Syriac Orthodox churches, I wrote:
In reading Isaiah 17, I see that the city of Damascus and some of the surrounding areas will be destroyed one day in what appears to be an overnight nuclear attack. The fact that the city has never been completely destroyed in its 4,000-year history leads me to believe this event is still in the future.
My question is, why do members of your church, who presumably believe the Bible, continue to live there when they know this is going to happen? Are they financially unable to move? Do they have a different interpretation of this prophecy than the very obvious one? Very briefly, what is your church’s position on this? Any short comments you would like to add would be greatly appreciated.
Of the five recipients, only one, a representative of the Byzantine Catholic Church, even bothered to respond. In a friendly and courteous tone, he explained his belief that Isaiah 17 had already been fulfilled.
“Damascus has been destroyed a few times, I think,” he wrote.
As proof, he quoted the Jerome Biblical Commentary, a publication of the Roman Catholic Church with which the Byzantine Catholic Church is in full communion. The Jerome commentary, he said, states that:
“threats against Aram [Note: Syria] and Israel should be seen in relation to the coalition that threatened Judah at that time [and that] this provides the background for 7:1-8:4.”
Meanwhile I searched for clues about what happened to Damascus in 732 BCE, the only occasion I could find of a major attack on the city. Here is what I discovered:
”Believed to be the world’s oldest continuously inhabited city, it has evidence of occupation from the 4th millennium BC … Tiglath-Pileser III King of Assyria (r. 745–727 BC) … defeated his northern neighbour, Urartu (743 BC), then subjugated Syria and Palestine (734) and took over the throne of Babylon.” – Encyclopedia Britannica (http://www.britannica.com/ebc/article-9380758)
“Syria suffered (11th–6th cent. B.C.) long invasions and intermittent control by the empire of Assyria. Babylonian conquerors also found success in Syria … The Syrians were subjected to massacres, plundering, and forced deportations. The king (Tiglath-Pileser III) defeated Urartu and became master of Syria. Appealed to by Ahaz, king of Judah, for assistance against Pekah of Israel and Resin of Damascus, he responded by defeating Ahaz’s enemies and capturing Damascus”. – Information Please Almanac (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/world/A0861413.html)
“Damascus is one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities … In 732 BC Damascus was conquered by the Assyrians, under Tiglath-pileser III (r. 745–727 BC).” – The History Channel (http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do?articleId=207058)
“In 732 Tiglath-Pileser defeated the Aramean-Israelite coalition, and Aram, including Damascus, was divided into Assyrian provinces, collectively known as Aram Naharain (See 744–727). This was the effective end of Aram as a political entity, although the Aramaic language subsequently became the lingua franca of western Asia and replaced Hebrew as the spoken language in Palestine.” – Bartleby’s Encyclopedia of World History (http://www.bartleby.com/67/106.html)
“Ahaz meanwhile summoned the aid of the Assyrians; and the new policy finally led to the conquest of Damascus by an Assyrian army in 732 B.C. (II Kings xvi. 9). Concerning the city and its inhabitants during a period of 200 years there is no information. According to I Kings xx. 34, a quarter of the city was assigned to the Ephraimitic merchants. II Kings xvi. 10 et seq. mentions an altar in the city, of which Ahaz ordered a copy to be made.” – The Jewish Encyclopedia (http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=21&letter=D&search=Damascus)
So, what I draw from all this is that, while Syria was subjugated, invaded, controlled, and mastered; and Syrians were massacred, plundered, and deported; Damascus itself was only captured, conquered, and divided into provinces. At very least an altar was still standing, and a quarter of the city was assigned to merchants.
What would merchants have wanted there if everything had been reduced to “a heap of ruins”? Where would they have found shelter? What would the stench have been like? Who would have gone there to shop? How would the merchants, their customers, and the altar-copiers have functioned if everything had been destroyed and there were no groceries or supplies? How could so many lives have been ended and so many structures demolished in one night without the use of aircraft, artificial lighting and modern weapons?
I wrote the Byzantine spokesman again with this information and asked if he could provide any evidence, beyond St. Jerome’s opinion, that Damascus had ever been destroyed. That was weeks ago and he has not responded.
But life, as always, goes on. An estimated 1,600,000 residents of Syria’s capital alone – including 160,000 Christians who claim to believe what the Bible says – wait in the shadow of doom, apparently comforted by the false assurance that danger has passed when it really may be just beginning.
Iran continues exporting weapons for others to use in another proxy war, just as it did in Iraq and Lebanon II. And its proxy deception will work again, setting up Syria and possibly Jordan to take the hit that rightfully belongs to Iran. Ezekiel 38 and 39 clearly indicate that Iran will be still be around to lead the even bloodier future “Gog” invasion of Israel, a prophecy from which Syria and Jordan are inexplicably – and eerily – absent.
So, if the historians are wrong and the ancients simply forgot to record an earlier destruction of the Syrian capital, the civilian residents of Damascus may come through just fine. When all this is over, scaremongers like me will owe them an apology, as will the careless historians – now conveniently deceased – who omitted this crucial event from their writings. If the historians are wrong, a tragedy for the people of Damascus will have been averted and they can all have a good laugh at what will have proved a faulty exegesis.
But may God have mercy on them if the historians are right.
