290 VISIONS AND PROPHECIES OF ZECHARIAH
Medo-Persian Empire by the rapid march and conquests of Alexander the Great, also foreshadows what will take place in a yet future time, when, driven by fear and consternation of God s judgments which shall then be in the earth, the eyes of all men, and " of all the tribes of Israel " in particular, shall be directed toward Him who was once pierced, but now marches forth conquering and to conquer (Rev. i. 7).
In Isa. xvii. we have a somewhat parallel prediction of men s eyes, and specially of the eyes of Israel, being turned to God as the result of judgment, and there also it is primarily coupled with the burden, or oracle, against Damascus : " In that day" we read, " shall a man look unto his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel ; and he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall he have respect to that which his fingers have made" a passage which reminds us also of the language of the godly remnant in the 26th chapter: " Yea, in the way of Thy judgments, O Lord, have we waited for Thee : to Thy Name and to Thy Memorial is the desire of our soul. With my soul have I desired Thee in the night ; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek Thee early : for when Thy judgments are in the earth the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness" l
But to proceed to the 2nd verse: " And Ha math, also, which border eth thereon " i.e., on Damascus shall be involved in the like fate, and share in the burden of wrath of which Damascus is the " resting-place."
There was a district or small kingdom in Syria, as well as a city of that name (which was its capital), the present Hamath, and within its bounds " in the land of Hamath" Riblah was situated, associated in Jewish memory with terrible sufferings and humiliations at the hands of their conquering foes (2 Kings xxiii. 33, xxv. 6, 7, 20, 21).
Then, having spoken of the two capital cities which represent Syria, the prophet proceeds to speak of the two
1 Isa. xvii. 1-8, xxvi. 8, 9.
