Isaiah 17:1 The oracle concerning Damascus. “Behold, Damascus is about to be removed from being a city and will become a fallen ruin.
This is quite a statement. Damascus is going to be wiped out. The Hebrew is interesting in the description. The grammar states it is going to be taken away and removed. One could state it will be a ruined ruin or a ruined heap!
This is a photograph of the neighborhood of Jobar in Damascus. The photo is compliments of a Russian drone. The link to the article below contains video of further destruction in Damascus.
This is the city of Damascus, Syria. The country of Syria has been in Civil War since the spring of 2011. Damascus is the oldest continually inhabited city on the planet. The city’s had residents and inhabitants for over 5,000 years. There is some debate of what the meaning of the name is. In the Hebrew, according to Strong’s Concordance, it means “silent is the sackcloth weaver”. According to Wikipedia, the Damascus metropolitan area had approximately 5 million people.
That was before refugees started leaving the city and region in the thousands upon thousands. The New York Times estimates 4 million people have left the country. More than 200,000 have died. Other estimates have the figure topping 310,000. The actual number of deaths is difficult to assess due to the level of violence in the country. Data taken was in September of 2015.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/09/14/world/middleeast/syria-war-deaths.html?_r=0
The following countries and entities have military hardware in Syria: Russia, opposing Syrian factions, Iran, Lebanon, Hezbollah, United States, ISIS, France, Great Britain, and China. Israel has reportedly flown some air missions into the country. Did I miss any one?
Speculation and conjecture are Damascus would be the recipient of a nuclear blast. As of December 2015, that remains to be seen. Vladimir Putin has mentioned nuclear weapons are an option in the conflict. It is thought a nuclear weapon would bring about the complete destruction of Damascus noted in Isaiah 17:1.
…will become a fallen ruin… Based on recent history of the ongoing civil war, Damascus may experience a methodical and slow demise. The bombing and shelling are taking their toll. The visual images are stunning and demonstrate the complete, absolute, and utter destruction. The pictures are a ruinous heap of rubble.
Are we watching the Burden of Damascus unfold in our time?
