Isaiah 23 is a
prophecy against the city of Tyre, which was a rich commercial port. I’m going to point out a few
interesting things and puzzling things about this chapter.
1 The
burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so that there
is no house, no entering in: from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them.
2 Be
still, ye inhabitants of the isle; thou whom the merchants of Zidon, that pass
over the sea, have replenished.
3 And by
great waters the seed of Sihor, the harvest of the river, is her revenue; and
she is a mart of nations.
4 Be thou
ashamed, O Zidon: for the sea hath spoken, even the strength of the sea,
saying, I travail not, nor bring forth children, neither do I nourish up young
men, nor bring up virgins.
5 As at
the report concerning Egypt, so shall they be sorely pained at the report of
Tyre.
6 Pass ye
over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the isle.
7 Is this
your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? her own feet shall carry
her afar off to sojourn. (Isaiah
23:1-7)
If the prophecy is
about Tyre, why are all these other places mentioned—Tarshish, Chittim, Zidon,
and Sihor? I suppose those other
places had ports that depended upon Tyre to buy their goods, or received the
goods they needed from Tyre. You can imagine that if your market for your goods
disappeared, you’d be distressed. Likewise, if your main supplier disappeared,
you would be very worried.
“she is a mart of
nations” – Tyre was like a Wal-mart for countries.
Verse 4 is very
interesting to me. It implies that some of these people needed a reminder that
the sea—the way they transported or received their goods—was not as important
as their families. The sea might
provide a living, but wasn’t the entity that birthed their children, or taught
them, or nurtured them. They might have been so focused on making money, that
they forgot their families were the important thing. This is like an ancient wake-up call for workaholics, isn’t
it?
The next section
tells us who decided this destruction should happen and why.
8 Who
hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are
princes, whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth?
9 The
Lord of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring
into contempt all the honourable of the earth.
10 Pass
through thy land as 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 hath given
a commandment against the merchant city, to destroy the strong holds thereof.
12 And he
said, Thou shalt no more rejoice, O thou oppressed virgin, daughter of Zidon:
arise, pass over to Chittim; there also shalt thou have no rest.
13 Behold
the land of the Chaldeans; this people was not, till the Assyrian founded it
for them that dwell in the wilderness: they set up the towers thereof, they
raised up the palaces thereof; and he brought it to ruin.
14 Howl,
ye ships of Tarshish: for your strength is laid waste. (Isaiah 23:8-14)
The Lord decided to
bring that destruction in order to humble the proud and the rich. Humbled
people are more likely to repent, and the Lord wanted to save them, but their
riches had created a feeling of self-sufficiency that precluded that kind of
humility. Sudden destruction and
financial set-backs would humble them.
The principles still
apply today. Too comfortable circumstances tend to make us more hard-hearted
and deaf to the Lord’s appeals.
Financial set-backs tend to humble us. How much better is it to humble ourselves regardless of our
circumstances!
The next part has
some puzzling elements:
15 And it
shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years,
according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre
sing as an harlot.
16 Take
an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet
melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered.
17 ¶And
it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the Lord will visit
Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication with all the
kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.
18 And
her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the Lord: it shall not be
treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before
the Lord, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing. (Isaiah 23:15-18)
The puzzling thing
here is the idea that Tyre would sing as a harlot, turn to her hire, and commit
fornication with all the kingdoms of the world—all of which has a very negative
connotation—but at the same time the Lord would visit Tyre and her merchandise
would be holiness to the Lord (consecrated), and her merchandise would be for
them that dwell before the Lord—all of which as a very positive connotation and
implies following the law of consecration.
What are we to make
of this? The question we might ask
ourselves is, is it possible for people committing fornication to follow the
law of consecration? Probably not. Even the early Saints of this
dispensation had a hard time with consecration, so it doesn’t make sense for
people committing sins of immorality to succeed at it.
This means there is
an alternate meaning for fornication in this instance. I suspect Isaiah uses it as a
particularly crude way of referring to “doing business” because of the way
business contracts and agreements tend to be temporary and continue only so
long as both parties want them to.
Kind of a gross comparison, but that makes it a little easier to see
what Isaiah is trying to say here.
So, I think Isaiah’s
message is that though Tyre would be forgotten for a generation or two after
destruction, eventually Tyre would rebuild itself and regain its commercial
status. It would sing as an harlot
(advertise enticingly to get business) and regain status as a center of commerce. And the Lord would visit it. This might mean the Lord would favor
the city, or it might mean that the Lord would have many believers there. At any rate, the people of Tyre would
have learned an important lesson, and instead of hoarding their wealth, they
would consecrate it to the Lord, and that wealth would be used to help the
poor.
The overall lesson from
this chapter for us today is that financial crashes and destruction are a
wake-up call, an opportunity to humble ourselves, reexamine our priorities, and
repent. Then, in the rebuild, if
we can keep from setting our hearts on riches and instead consecrate, we will
be part of bringing Zion again.
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