[ISAIAH 17] 13. if there still be a tenth part in it; Even the "tenth," which constitutes a remnant, shall have to face a purging judgment. as with a terebinth: The second half of the verse is obscure but, on the basis of IQIsa and what is now know about pre-exilic spelling, W. F. Albright renders the latter part of this verse as follows:
The commemorative stelae of deceased people and the sacred trees of a goddess were standard items of furnishing at a typical bama or funerary shrine located usually on some height. These "high places" (Hebr bamot) were used for cultic purposes by both Canaanites and Hebrews. The destruction and desecration such cultic centers must have been of fairly common occurrence in the turbulent days of Isaiah. Relapse and reform followed hard upon one another. Accordingly, such a familiar iconoclastic action would make a good simile for the trials in store for the surviving remnant. . .
- Like the terebinth goddess and the oak of Asherah,
- Cast out with the stelae of the high place.
The commemorative stelae of deceased people and the sacred trees of a goddess were standard items of furnishing at a typical bama or funerary shrine located usually on some height. These "high places" (Hebr bamot) were used for cultic purposes by both Canaanites and Hebrews. The destruction and desecration such cultic centers must have been of fairly common occurrence in the turbulent days of Isaiah. Relapse and reform followed hard upon one another. Accordingly, such a familiar iconoclastic action would make a good simile for the trials in store for the surviving remnant. . .
- from page 270, Jerome Bible Commentary