23 The oracle concerning Tyre.
Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for Tyre is laid waste, without house or harbor!
From the land of Cyprus1
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 anguish2 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,3
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;4 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 days5 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.
Section Overview: Uncertain Riches
This section on God and the nations that began with Babylon concludes with Tyre; it thus ends with a great city in the west, as it had begun with a great city in the east. Babylon was a great military power, as Tyre was a great economic power, so both geographically and in terms of influence these peoples represent world power in its broadest sense. Tyre was a very ancient city whose history stretched back to the third millennium BC; the city consisted of two parts, one on the Phoenician coast and the other on a neighboring island, making both defense and trading easier. Its outlook was westward, exploiting the mercantile possibilities of the Mediterranean Sea, not least with Egypt, with whom it became an early trading partner. David and Solomon had good relations with Tyre; Hiram of Tyre made an alliance with David (1 Kings 5:1) and renewed this friendship with Solomon (1 Kings 5:12). Less happily, Solomon took Phoenician wives who brought with them the Ashtoreth cult (1 Kings 11:1, 5). Battles with this religion are a major theme in the Elijah/Elisha stories (1 Kings 17–2 Kings 13)
Once again we have to ask if the prophet has some specific event in mind. There are various possibilities. Between Isaiah’s own time and 332 BC Tyre was attacked five times: by the Assyrians (Sennacherib and Esarhaddon), by Nebuchadnezzar, by the Persian Artaxerxes III in 343 BC, and by Alexander the Great in 332 BC. Of these, only Alexander’s attack was a complete success, as he demolished the mainland city and built a causeway to the island. After this Tyre never regained its ancient position. However, like the other oracles, this passage has an eschatological thrust, and much of its language is applied to Babylon in Revelation 18:11–24. As with Babylon in Isaiah 13–14, this is another picture of the glory of this world passing away.
The oracle falls into two broad divisions: the humbling (Isa. 23:1–14) and the restoring (vv. 15–18) of Tyre. Both humiliation and restoration are the work of Yahweh and form a fitting climax to the warning that has run through these chapters: since all nations are under the judgment of God, it would be folly for his people to trust such nations—whether militarily, politically, or commercially.
Section Outline
II.B. The Second Series (21:1–23:18) . . .
3. Uncertain Riches: Tyre (23:1–18)
a. The Lord Will Humble Tyre (23:1–14)
b. The Lord Will Restore Tyre (23:15–18)
Response
The oracle addressing Tyre, like the previous ones, has shown the folly of trusting in human power—whether political, military, commercial, or personal. The world does indeed pass away, along with all its glory and prestige. These chapters prepare the way for the final part of this section on God and the nations, where the whole world—indeed, the universe—is the center of Yahweh’s activities. As in the other oracles, the message here is to trust in the Lord of hosts and not in uncertain power and riches.
More specifically the emphasis is on wealth and the temptations it brings. Wealth can give the illusion that anything can be bought and that happiness and security lie in the stockpiling of possessions. But where everyone and everything can be bought, real value disappears. Riches are not wrong in themselves, nor are other good created things, as is made clear in the Revelation passage quoted above. Indeed, there are anticipations now of this future scene, such as when wealthy people give generously to Christian and other charitable works. We must not despise material possessions but recognize them as gifts from God.
In 1897, on the occasion of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, at the height of late-Victorian imperial splendor, Rudyard Kipling wrote the poem “Recessional,” sounding a cautionary note on the transience of human power:
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre.
In a vastly different world, well over a century later, these words seem even more apposite today.Isaiah 23
Isaiah 24