Isaiah 17:3 "The fortress will disappear from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus; and the remnant of Syria will be like the glory of the children of Israel, says the Lord of hosts."

Isaiah is prophesying against both Syria and Israel here. It is a time when the kingdom of Israel is divided, and the northern ten tribes, of which Ephraim is the largest, have allied themselves with Syria. Together, they plan on attacking Judah, the southern kingdom, but Isaiah has told King Ahaz of Judah that this plan will fail (Isaiah 17:1-7). Now Isaiah is further expounding on how Israel and Syria will be defeated, and Syria's glory will match Israel's, that is, it will be brought low.

Isaiah says "the fortress will disappear from Ephraim". He means that the protection Israel has as members of God's chosen people will be removed. God is letting his people get what they have chosen, and will no longer protect them as His special ones. Israel will be no different than Syria now, because she has thrown her lot in with a foreign nation against her sister, Judah.

Israel had the benefit of Isaiah telling them this would happen, so when it did, the people could look back on Isaiah's words and see where they had gone wrong and lost God's protection. But this loss of protection can happen in our own nations, families, and individual lives, as well. We are meant to take Isaiah's words to heart and look back on where we may have gone wrong and lost God's protection. Have we allied ourselves with an enemy against a family member, as Israel did? Have we forgotten the promises of our Baptism and faith, and let the fears and worries of the world lead us into unholy alliances, or reliance on earthly powers and comforts?

Everything in the Bible is meant for us to learn from and apply to our own lives. It is a living word. We should not read the Bible merely to think "Oh, ok, that happened." We should read it to think "How does this apply to me, or my times, or my nation, or the Church? What can I learn from this?" If we read Isaiah's words here in that spirit, we can reflect back on the times in our lives when our fortress may have disappeared, when we turned from God's protection. We don't have Isaiah telling us directly when this is happening, as Israel did, but we have his words in the Bible, and that is meant to do the same thing for us.

Today is the feast of the Guardian Angels, special protectors that God has gifted to us. Let's thank them today for being a big part of our fortress, and remember to rely on their help so that we don't allow ourselves to be led from God's protection.