June 16
Reading: Isaiah 23
1 The oracle concerning Tyre.
Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for Tyre is laid waste, without house or harbor!
From the land of Cyprus it is revealed to them.
2 Be still, O inhabitants of the coast;
the merchants of Sidon,
who cross the sea, have filled you.
3 And on many waters
your revenue was the grain of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile;
you were the merchant of the nations.
4 Be ashamed, O Sidon,
for the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying:
“I have neither labored nor given birth,
I have neither reared young men nor brought up young women.”
5 When the report comes to Egypt,
they will be in anguish over the report about Tyre.
6 Cross over to Tarshish;
wail, O inhabitants of the coast!
7 Is this your exultant city
whose origin is from days of old,
whose feet carried her to settle far away?
8 Who has purposed this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,
whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth?
9 The LORD of hosts has purposed it, to defile the pompous pride of all glory,
to dishonor all the honored of the earth.
10 Cross over your land like the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish;
there is no restraint anymore.
11 He has stretched out his hand over the sea;
he has shaken the kingdoms;
the LORD has given command concerning Canaan to destroy its strongholds.
12 And he said: “You will no more exult, O oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon;
arise, cross over to Cyprus, even there you will have no rest.”
13 Behold the land of the Chaldeans! This is the people that was not; Assyria destined it for wild beasts. They erected their siege towers, they stripped her palaces bare, they made her a ruin.
14 Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for your stronghold is laid waste.
15 In that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, like the days of one king. At the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:
16 “Take a harp; go about the city,
O forgotten prostitute!
Make sweet melody; sing many songs,
that you may be remembered.”
17 At the end of seventy years, the LORD will visit Tyre, and she will return to her wages and will prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. 18 Her merchandise and her wages will be holy to the LORD. It will not be stored or hoarded, but her merchandise will supply abundant food and fine clothing for those who dwell before the LORD.
Isaiah 23 predicts the fall of Tyre, a result of the judgment of the Sovereign Lord. Tyre and Sidon were cities to the north-west of Israel, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. These cities were known from the time of Isaiah until the time of Christ as being filled with sinners and idolatry. Tyre and Sidon were constantly tempting Israel into “harlotry.” (vss. 15-18) Solomon disobeyed the Lord by marrying women from Tyre, as did other sons of Israel.
Harlotry was a constant metaphor for Israel’s disobedience and idolatry. Israel was God’s chosen bride. The Lord committed Himself to her in the covenant at Sinai, and Israel had likewise committed herself to Him. Now, Israel is whoring after other gods. God’s bride is breaking her covenant promise. If the Lord is our Savior, this is what we do when we sin.
God will judge Tyre and Sidon for how they have led His people astray. These great cities of the coast were beautiful, wealthy, and prideful. They will be destroyed and forgotten. It will be the empire of Babylon that will carry out the sentence while the wealth of Tyre was shipped away. (Ezekiel 29:18-20) Even then, after this judgment, Tyre will return to her wicked ways. (vs. 17) But ultimately the wealth of Tyre will all belong to the Lord and His people. (vs. 18) In the end, the Lord will reclaim and repurpose the wealth of all the nations as His own.
Did you know that everything is the Lords? Of course! But have you thought about what this means? Every nation on earth is His. All the peoples everywhere are His. All the money, land, buildings are His. Everything we make are His. He owns it all.
It is easy to become discouraged by all the people in the world who use God’s stuff in ungodly ways. But keep in mind that someday the Lord will take it all back and give it all to His children. Forever.