Isaiah 23
AS in the burdens of Babylon, Philistia, Moab, Damascus, Egypt, Dumah, Arabia and Jerusalem, which have on previous occasions been before us, there had been a partial fulfilment of the prophecy, and the final development will be seen in the coming day.
Tyre was a very ancient city; it is even said to have been founded as early as the flood which engulfed the world in Noah’s time. However, that may be, it was a fortified city, when the children of Israel under Joshua took possession of the land God had designed for them.
Tyre was within the boundaries of the tribe of Asher, but the Asherites settled down among, instead of driving out, the inhabitants of the country (Joshua 19:29; Judges 1:31).
It was an independent kingdom in David’s and Solomon’s times, we know from 2 Samuel 5:11; 1 Kings 5:1 and 9:11, and other passages. Of its wealth Zechariah 9:3 testifies.
But it is from Ezekiel 27, verses 1 to 25, that we get our knowledge of the importance of Tyre in that day. Its trade was with countries near and far, to the east and north, and the south and west, by land and sea. The builders of the city had adorned it with costly wood and ivory, fine linen with broidered work, blue and purple, and the city’s boast was “I am perfect in beauty.”
With devotion to commerce and the adornment of their city, the citizens had not neglected the arts of war; an army was maintained, besides the walls and towers of defense around the place.
Tyre thus very fully represents the world and its ways, upon which judgment is soon to fall, and not the less severely because long delayed. When in Ezekiel 26-28 the judgment of Tyre is pronounced, it will be noticed the prophecy goes on to include the judgment of Satan (28:11- 19) since he is the ruler and god of this world.
Judgment fell on Tyre in a 13 year siege by Nebuchadnezzar, lasting from B. C. 585 to B. C. 572. They would have escaped it, had they heeded the word of Jeremiah the prophet (chapter 27:1-11), but they were full of self-confidence and rejoiced over Jerusalem’s fall (Ezekiel 26:1-14). Serious are the consequences of warnings despised.
The ancient Tyre has disappeared, both the original main land city and its later island site, but Tyre will be found a city in the day to come, for Psalm 83:7 numbers it among the enemies which will unite with Assyria in the attack upon the Holy Land which we have before considered, and Jeremiah 25:22 includes it as one of the kingdoms to come under the judgments of the last days which will take in the whole world. Then Isaiah 23 will be fulfilled.
Nevertheless, the Millennium will bring in a restored Tyre, for her merchandise and her hire shall be holy to Jehovah (verse 18 of our chapter). Psalm 45:12 sees the “daughter of Tyre” coming with a gift then, and Psalm 87:4 includes Tyre with Egypt, Babylon, Philistia and Ethiopia as enjoying the blessing of God in that day.
The Lord in Matthew 11:21, 22 and Luke 10:13, 14 spoke of the past judgment on Tyre and its neighbor, Sidon, saying that if the mighty works He had done in Chorazin and Bethsaida of Galilee had been done in them, they would have repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
It is pleasing to note the present work of grace in such a scene of judgment, connecting together Mark 3:8; Luke 6:17 and Acts 21:3, 4 with its record of disciples found, perhaps to the surprise of the travelers, at Tyre.
ML 08/13/1933