Against Tyre
23
📚The burden concerning Tyre. Wail, you ships of Tarshish 📖,
for it is laid waste,
so that there is no house,
no harbour.
From the land of Cyprus 📖
it is revealed to them.
23:1 Other prophecies concerning Tyre are in Ezek 26:1—28:19; Amos 1:9-10. In those days Tyre was a famous city and very important seaport (v 3) on the Mediterranean coast. Part of the city was built on the mainland. This was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in 572 BC. Part of the city was built on two rocky islands about 800 meters from shore. This part was destroyed by Alexander the Great in 332 BC.⚜
2 📚Be still,
you inhabitants of the coastland,
you whom the merchants of Sidon 📖
who cross the sea, have filled.
3 📚And on great waters the grain
of Sihor,
the harvest of the river,
is her revenue;
and she is a marketplace
for the nations.
4 📚Be ashamed, O Sidon,
for the sea has spoken,
the strength of the sea 📖, saying,
“I am not in labour,
nor do I bring forth children,
nor do I rear young men or
bring up virgins”.
5 📚When word comes to Egypt,
they will be in great pain
at the report about Tyre.
23:5 Egypt would grieve at the loss of a great trading and commercial partner. The river in v 3 speaks of Egypt’s River Nile.⚜
6 📚Cross over 📖 to Tarshish.
Wail, you inhabitants
of the coastland!
7 📚Is this your joyous
city, city of antiquity,
of ancient 📖 days?
Her own feet have carried her
far away 📖 to sojourn.
8 📚Who has taken this counsel
against Tyre,
the crowning city,
whose merchants are princes,
whose traders are the honourable
of the earth?
9 📚The LORD of hosts has planned
it to stain the pride of all glory,
and to bring into contempt
all those honoured in the earth.
23:8-9 Who planned it? Nebuchadnezzar? Alexander? Yes, but behind them, working out His purposes, God Himself did the planning. His purpose? The same as we see in Isa 2:11-18.⚜
10 📚Overflow through your land
like a river,
O daughter of Tarshish 📖;
there is no more strength.
11 📚He stretched out his hand
over the sea,
he shook the kingdoms.
The LORD has given a command
against the merchant city,
to destroy its strongholds.
12 📚And he said,
“You will no longer rejoice,
O you oppressed virgin daughter
of Sidon 📖.
Arise, cross over to Cyprus 📖.
There also you will have no rest”.
13 📚See the land of the Chaldeans.
This people did not exist until
the Assyrian founded it
for those who dwell in the desert.
They set up its towers,
they erected its palaces.
And he brought it to ruin.
23:13 Before the Babylonians became a powerful kingdom the Assyrians destroyed Babylon (689 BC). Isaiah says the same thing would happen to Sidon.⚜
14 📚Wail, you ships of Tarshish!
For your stronghold is destroyed.
23:14 Verse 1.⚜
15 📚And it will come about in that day,
that Tyre will be forgotten
seventy years,
in accordance with the days
of one king.
At the end of seventy years Tyre will
sing like a prostitute.
16 📚Take a harp,
go about the city,
you prostitute who has been
forgotten.
Make sweet melody,
sing many songs,
so that you may be remembered.
17 📚And it will happen at the end of seventy years that the LORD will visit Tyre, and she will return to her hire, and act the prostitute 📖 with all the kingdoms of the world, on the face of the earth.
23:15-17 Tyre would be restored to its place as a city of trade and commerce. This happened between the destruction of the city by Nebuchadnezzar and the more complete destruction by Alexander the Great.⚜
18 📚But her profit and her pay will be set apart for the LORD. It will not be stored up or hoarded. For her profit will be for those who dwell before the LORD, for an abundance to eat, and for fine clothing.
23:18 The Lord commanded that money made by a harlot should not be given to Him (Deut 23:18). However, the wealth of a city doomed to destruction could come into the treasury of the Lord (Josh 6:17, 19). The promise here is that the wealth of Tyre would benefit the servants of God. But we are not told how this wealth would come to them. Compare (Isa 60:5-11; 61:6).⚜