Shipwrecks are sensational catastrophes that always make the headlines in the news. There have been many through the centuries and some, like the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, still attract attention.
An enormous amount of wealth has gone to the sea floor in these sunken vessels and today some of the gold and silver and valuable artifacts are being recovered.
The Apostle Paul wrote, "Thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in the deep." After he wrote this he was shipwrecked again and much detail is given about it in Acts 27.
Last month we wrote about money and this month we take up a similar subject. We call it commerce. The world is full of it. It is the exchange or buying and selling of commodities on a large scale between different places. Necessarily, the transportation of this merchandise is a large part of this commerce. Through the years ships have been the major means of transporting the bulk of this business.
At this time the importance of ships stands out as the United States begins to protect the oil tankers in the Persian Gulf. Trade must go on in order for men to live the comfortable life they so much desire.
In the prophecy concerning commerce and its end, God likens it to the sinking of a ship. We will take this up, but first we must introduce a few things to explain and lead up to that great catastrophe that will cause such a great lamentation to the earth-dwellers in that day.
The government in the earth since the days of Nebuchadnezzar has been given by the God of heaven into the hands of the Gentiles. The book of Daniel tells us much concerning these times of the Gentiles and the four successive empires. In chapter 7 and verse 2 it says, "The four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea." The winds are various disturbing influences, ordered of God in a providential way as He accomplishes His purposes in the government of the earth. The winds of heaven tell us the source from which they are directed.
The change in the alignment of nations even now is manifesting itself, we believe, in France's breaking its relations with Iran. Iran (Persia) will doubtless be aligned with Russia at the end. France will become a part of the revived Roman Empire.
World commerce in prophecy is somewhat separate from, but still connected with, and running parallel to the development of Babylon and the judgments that are foretold in Daniel and Revelation.
The ship of commerce and its sinking are found in Ezek. 27 under the symbol of Tyrus. Another has ably written about this and we quote from William Bothwell.
“This chapter figuratively reviews the glories of Tyrus, its merchant marine and city garrison, its international trade and accumulated wealth. Suddenly, like a ship caught in a storm, it vanishes into the depths of the sea and all with it.
“Ezek. 27:1-71The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, 2Now, thou son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyrus; 3And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus saith the Lord God; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty. 4Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty. 5They have made all thy ship boards of fir trees of Senir: they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee. 6Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; the company of the Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of Chittim. 7Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was that which covered thee. (Ezekiel 27:1‑7): Tyrus viewed as a ship.
“The prophet takes up a lament for Tyrus. Situated in a harbor at the entry of the sea, she is a merchant vessel for the people of the isles, beautifully designed for maritime service (verses 1-3).
“Tyrus sails where there are no restrictive borders. Its builders have perfected it, part by part, to sail into wide and deep waters. The ship's double planking is made of fir from Senir, which is located at Mount Hermon (Deut. 3:99(Which Hermon the Sidonians call Sirion; and the Amorites call it Shenir;) (Deuteronomy 3:9)). The masts are of cedar from Mount Lebanon, between Mount Hermon on the east and Sidon on the west. The ships' oars are of oak from Bashan, which is immediately south of Mount Hermon. The deck is of ivory, inlaid in boxwood (larch) obtained from Cyprus (Chittim). Byssus, the fine linen of Egypt, forms the sails; for banners and awnings the blue and purple fabric comes from the isles of Elishah. Elishah was the son of Javan and the grandson of Japheth.
“The ships of Tarshish are the caravans of the sea and Tyrus, dependent on ship and sea, was highly honored by the multitude of trade, so much so, that Tyrus is the symbol in Scripture of the commercial world in all its earthly glory.
“Ezek. 27:26-3626Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: the east wind hath broken thee in the midst of the seas. 27Thy riches, and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, thy calkers, and the occupiers of thy merchandise, and all thy men of war, that are in thee, and in all thy company which is in the midst of thee, shall fall into the midst of the seas in the day of thy ruin. 28The suburbs shall shake at the sound of the cry of thy pilots. 29And all that handle the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea, shall come down from their ships, they shall stand upon the land; 30And shall cause their voice to be heard against thee, and shall cry bitterly, and shall cast up dust upon their heads, they shall wallow themselves in the ashes: 31And they shall make themselves utterly bald for thee, and gird them with sackcloth, and they shall weep for thee with bitterness of heart and bitter wailing. 32And in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and lament over thee, saying, What city is like Tyrus, like the destroyed in the midst of the sea? 33When thy wares went forth out of the seas, thou filledst many people; thou didst enrich the kings of the earth with the multitude of thy riches and of thy merchandise. 34In the time when thou shalt be broken by the seas in the depths of the waters thy merchandise and all thy company in the midst of thee shall fall. 35All the inhabitants of the isles shall be astonished at thee, and their kings shall be sore afraid, they shall be troubled in their countenance. 36The merchants among the people shall hiss at thee; thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt be any more. (Ezekiel 27:26‑36): The ship Tyrus is broken by the east wind and sinks into the depths of the sea.
“In verse 5, Tyrus is likened to a ship, and in verses 26 and 27 the vessel, brought into great waters, is broken by the east wind. The east wind is a figure of speech and represents Nebuchadnezzar and his Chaldean army coming from the East and destroying Tyrus and its mercantile system. The ship's company, mariners, pilots and caulkers, men of war, and merchants and their merchandise vanish into the sea as the ship founders in the storm (verses 26, 27). The pilots cry aloud in grief: they failed to guide the ship through the storm (verse 28).
“Ships' crews stand upon the land and mourn over Tyrus. Their sense of loss is so keen that the most distraught behavior is their only means of expressing the pent-up bitterness of their souls. The hubbub of the market place and the noise of the traffickers is reduced to silence and every countenance is troubled. The peoples of the isles are amazed and the kings afraid. Tyrus is a terror to their minds.
“The prophet received word from the Lord in a progressive way. More and more is revealed to the prophet concerning Tyrus until its presumptuous impiety to reign supreme is exposed. World commerce will receive shock after shock until its complete collapse, until the days just prior to the Lord's appearing (Isa. 23). Tyrus is a figure of the commercial world's terror at such a calamity, as Babylon, by a similar figure, foretells the collapse of the religious world (Rev. 18). One is a prince, the other is a queen in the earth.”
The great markets of the world and the mass of commodities that are bought and sold and transported to all parts of this globe are the very life-sustaining channels that supply most of this world's vast population. What will it be like when the ship sinks?
Ed.