“I will break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven, and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of Eden: and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir, saith the Lord.”
The promise to break the bar of Damascus and to cut off the inhabitants from the valley of Aven and the one who holds the scepter from Beth-eden (northward to Assyria) articulates the comprehensive destruction of Syrian political power and the exile of the leadership. The breaking of the bar and the cutting off of inhabitants indicates a complete destruction of the city's fortifications and the removal of its population, suggesting depopulation and the end of Damascus as a functioning political entity. The exile northward to Assyria foreshadows the eventual Assyrian domination of the region, suggesting that God's judgment will come through the same empire that the prophet Hosea indicates will devastate Israel.
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