Isaiah 23:1-18--An Oracle Concerning Tyre and Sidon

Isaiah 23
English Standard Version

An Oracle Concerning Tyre and Sidon
23 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.

---

You may remember hearing about Tyre and Sidon in other places in the Bible, though they are rarely mentioned.  However, the king of Tyre was so wicked that Satan himself was prophetically referred to as the prince of Tyre in Ezekiel 38.  These people were sea merchants who did much business with people from faraway places like what would today call Spain and Portugal.  Their homes and seaports and harbors would be destroyed, and no one nearby would give them refuge--I brough up Spain earlier because that's how far away they'd have to go to find someone who would take them in.

The people of Tyre and Sidon were known for their pride and arrogance.  In fact, this is why Satan is compared to them, because his sin that made him fall was pride.  The people of Sidon would run to Cyprus as refugees, and though they would take shelter there, they would not assimilate or be truly welcomed by the people of Cyprus.  These cities would be abandoned and forgotten for 70 years (the same amount of time that Judah would be in exile in Babylon), but the LORD would bring these city-states back to life.  This was a promise for the people of Judah and Jerusalem and all of Israel as well because the same LORD could take their cities and Land that had been destroyed and bring them back to life after 70 years of being barren and laying fallow.  The LORD would change the heart of the people of Tyre and Sidon so that they would want to use their lands and supplies to bless the people of the LORD.  Today, these cities are located in modern-day Lebanon, and the Lebanese people have a long history with Christianity (one of the few "Christian nations" in the Middle East).  They most certainly have been a blessing to Israel and to Christians and Jews, though there is some trouble in that region as people of other religions and worldviews are taking hold and diminishing the influence of Christianity in that nation and region of the world.  Pray for this area that God would allow the Christians there to bless His people as He has prophesied.  God said that is what He wants, so it is okay for us to pray for it.  Pray for them to be a witness to all their neighbors and to help change their culture.  I'm not exactly sure how he wants to use them, but God wants to take this nation that was so much like Satan and transform them to be made in His image and likeness and to do His will and do good to His people.