Isaiah 23

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
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.
But it is from Ezekiel 27:1-25,1The 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. 8The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners: thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots. 9The ancients of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy calkers: all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise. 10They of Persia and of Lud and of Phut were in thine army, thy men of war: they hanged the shield and helmet in thee; they set forth thy comeliness. 11The men of Arvad with thine army were upon thy walls round about, and the Gammadims were in thy towers: they hanged their shields upon thy walls round about; they have made thy beauty perfect. 12Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs. 13Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy merchants: they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market. 14They of the house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs with horses and horsemen and mules. 15The men of Dedan were thy merchants; many isles were the merchandise of thine hand: they brought thee for a present horns of ivory and ebony. 16Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of the wares of thy making: they occupied in thy fairs with emeralds, purple, and broidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and agate. 17Judah, and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants: they traded in thy market wheat of Minnith, and Pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm. 18Damascus was thy merchant in the multitude of the wares of thy making, for the multitude of all riches; in the wine of Helbon, and white wool. 19Dan also and Javan going to and fro occupied in thy fairs: bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were in thy market. 20Dedan was thy merchant in precious clothes for chariots. 21Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they occupied with thee in lambs, and rams, and goats: in these were they thy merchants. 22The merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy merchants: they occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold. 23Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad, were thy merchants. 24These were thy merchants in all sorts of things, in blue clothes, and broidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords, and made of cedar, among thy merchandise. 25The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market: and thou wast replenished, and made very glorious in the midst of the seas. (Ezekiel 27:1‑25) 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 26:1-141And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 2Son of man, because that Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people: she is turned unto me: I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste: 3Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up. 4And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock. 5It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God: and it shall become a spoil to the nations. 6And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain by the sword; and they shall know that I am the Lord. 7For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people. 8He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field: and he shall make a fort against thee, and cast a mount against thee, and lift up the buckler against thee. 9And he shall set engines of war against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers. 10By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover thee: thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach. 11With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets: he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground. 12And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise: and they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses: and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water. 13And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease; and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard. 14And I will make thee like the top of a rock: thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built no more: for I the Lord have spoken it, saith the Lord God. (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 83:77Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre; (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 25:2222And all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea, (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 45:1212And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall entreat thy favor. (Psalm 45:12) sees the “daughter of Tyre” coming with a gift then, and Psalm 87:44I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there. (Psalm 87:4) includes Tyre with Egypt, Babylon, Philistia and Ethiopia as enjoying the blessing of God in that day.