The Burden of Damascus

Isaiah 17 from the 12th century Bible de Abbey de Foigny, (Volume II), Bibliothèque nationale de France, Ms. Latin 15178

​Today’s equivalent to the Cuban Missile Crisis is the stand off between the Western Alliance and Russia over Syria. 
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The past events of history are prologues for the future events yet to happen. Similarly, prophecies in the Bible that haven been fulfilled often serve as indicators for a greater future fulfillment. The prophecy in Isaiah 17, the destruction of Damascus, was fulfilled within a decade of Isaiah'a chilling prophecy. The military superpower of the day, the Assyrians, came in and did what they did best. Damascus was captured by Tiglath-pileser III of Assyria in 732 B.C. Ten years later, Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel, fell to the Assyrians. One hundred years after Isaiah, Jeremiah prophesied the fall of the rebuilt city of Damascus. And, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took the city.

Today, Syria does not loot goods from Jacob. They did that in the past with the trade routes hence that reference by Isaiah. Today, Syria's singular offense is harboring Hezbollah. The destruction of Damascus it seems will happen again, and may well be one of the triggers to the blowback, which results in the time of Jacob's trouble and Armageddon, when Jerusalem is surrounded by armies.

Isaiah 17 from the Gutenberg Bible, Volume II, Burgos, Spain,

The following are the Biblical passages typically associated with Damascus: Isaiah 17, Jeremiah 49:23-30, Zechariah 9:1-8, and Revelation 9.

Isaiah 17 Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold Damascus shall cease to be a city, and shall be as a ruinous heap of stones. 2 The cities of Aroer shall be left for flocks, and they shall rest there, and there shall be none to make them afraid. 3 And aid shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus: and the remnant of Syria shall be as the glory of the children of Israel: saith the Lord of hosts. 4 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall grow lean. 5 And it shall be as when one gathereth in the harvest that which remaineth, and his arm shall gather the ears of corn: and it shall be as he that seeketh ears in the vale of Raphaim. 6 And the fruit thereof that shall be left upon it, shall be as one cluster of grapes, and as the shaking of the olive tree, two or three berries in the top of a bough, or four or five upon the top of the tree, saith the Lord the God of Israel. 7 In that day man shall bow down himself to his Maker, and his eyes shall look to the Holy One of Israel. 8 And he shall not look to the altars which his hands made: and he shall not have respect to the things that his fingers wrought, such as groves and temples. 9 In that day his strong cities shall be forsaken, as the ploughs, and the corn that were left before the face of the children of Israel, and thou shalt be desolate. 10 Because thou hast forgotten God thy saviour, and hast not remembered thy strong helper: therefore shalt thou plant good plants, and shalt sow strange seed. 11 In the day of thy planting shall be the wild grape, and in the morning thy seed shall flourish: the harvest is taken away in the day of inheritance, and shall grieve thee much. 12 Woe to the multitude of many people, like the multitude of the roaring sea: and the tumult of crowds, like the noise of many waters. 13 Nations shall make a noise like the noise of waters overflowing, but he shall rebuke him, and he shall flee far off: and he shall be carried away as the dust of the mountains before the wind, and as a whirlwind before a tempest. 14 In the time of the evening, behold there shall be trouble: the morning shall come, and he shall not be: this is the portion of them that have wasted us, and the lot of them that spoiled us. (Isaiah 17:1-14)

Jeremiah 49 Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)
23 Against Damascus. Emath is confounded and Arphad: for they have heard very bad tidings, they are troubled as in the sea: through care they could not rest. 24 Damascus is undone, she is put to flight, trembling hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her as a woman in labour. 25 How have they forsaken the city of renown, the city of joy! 26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets: and all the men of war shall be silent in that day, saith the Lord of hosts. 27 And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall devour the strong holds of Benadad. 28 Against Cedar and against the kingdoms of Asor, which Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon destroyed. Thus saith the Lord: Arise, and go ye up to Cedar, and waste the children of the east. 29 They shall take their tents, and their flocks: and shall carry off for themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels: and they shall call fear upon them round about. 30 Flee ye, get away speedily, sit in deep holes, you that inhabit Asor, saith the Lord: for Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon hath taken counsel against you, and hath conceived designs against you. (Jeremiah 49:23-30)

Zechariah 9 Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)
1 The burden of the word of the Lord in the land of Hadrach, and of Damascus the rest thereof: for the eye of man, and of all the tribes of Israel is the Lord's. 2 Emath also in the borders thereof, and Tyre, and Sidon: for they have taken to themselves to be exceeding wise. 3 And Tyre hath built herself a strong hold, and heaped together silver as earth, and gold as the mire of the streets. 4 Behold the Lord shall possess her, and shall strike her strength in the sea, and she shall be devoured with fire. 5 Ascalon shall see, and shall fear, and Gaza, and shall be very sorrowful: and Accaron, because her hope is confounded: and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Scallion shall not be inhabited. 6 And the divider shall sit in Azotus, and I will destroy the pride of the Philistines. 7 And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth: and even he shall be left to our God, and he shall be as a governor in Juda, and Accaron as a Jebusite. 8 And I will encompass my house with them that serve me in war, going and returning, and the oppressor shall no more pass through them: for now I have seen with my eyes. (Zechariah 9:1-8 )

Revelation 9 Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)
13 And the sixth angel sounded the trumpet: and I heard a voice from the four horns of the great altar, which is before the eyes of God, 14 Saying to the sixth angel, who had the trumpet: Loose the four angels, who are bound in the great river Euphrates. 15 And the four angels were loosed, who were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year: for to kill the third part of men. 16 And the number of the army of horsemen was twenty thousand times ten thousand. And I heard the number of them. 17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision: and they that sat on them, had breastplates of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone, and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions: and from their mouths proceeded fire, and smoke, and brimstone. 18 And by these three plagues was slain the third part of men, by the fire and by the smoke and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. 19 For the power of the horses is in their mouths, and in their tails. For, their tails are like to serpents, and have heads: and with them they hurt. 20 And the rest of the men, who were not slain by these plagues, did not do penance from the works of their hands, that they should not adore devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and wood, which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: 21 Neither did they penance from their murders, nor from their sorceries, nor from their fornication, nor from their thefts. (Revelation 9:13-21)