For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Isaiah 23:1-9     

1 A prophecy against Tyre:

Wail, you ships of Tarshish!
    For Tyre is destroyed
    and left without house or harbour.
From the land of Cyprus
    word has come to them.

2 Be silent, you people of the island
    and you merchants of Sidon,
    whom the seafarers have enriched.
3 On the great waters
    came the grain of the Shihor;
the harvest of the Nile was the revenue of Tyre,
    and she became the market-place of the nations.

4 Be ashamed, Sidon, and you fortress of the sea,
    for the sea has spoken:
‘I have neither been in labour nor given birth;
    I have neither reared sons nor brought up daughters.’
5 When word comes to Egypt,
    they will be in anguish at the report from Tyre.

6 Cross over to Tarshish;
    wail, you people of the island.
7 Is this your city of revelry,
    the old, old city,
whose feet have taken her
    to settle in far-off lands?
8 Who planned this against Tyre,
    the bestower of crowns,
whose merchants are princes,
    whose traders are renowned in the earth?
9 The Lord Almighty planned it,
    to bring down her pride in all her splendour
    and to humble all who are renowned on the earth.

A. Find Out

1. Which city is to be destroyed? v.1
2. Who will be affected and why? v.1-3
3. Who else will feel it? v.4,5
4. Who again will feel it? v.6
5. How had Tyre influenced others? v.7,8
6. But now why is that coming to an end? v.9

B. Think:

1. What had Tyre been known for?
2. How had it influenced the whole area?
3. But now how was that all to end?

C. Comment:

Tyre had been a coastal city with a harbour (v.1) to whom traders from the whole of the Mediterranean had come so that it became a market place (v.3), a place for trading for all surrounding nations. The ‘merchant navy’ of Tarshish (either Spain or Africa probably) came to it (v.1,6) and would feel it’s loss immensely, for loss is what is coming as this oracle, this serious message, predicts destruction of the city (v.1).

The merchants and seafarers of Cyprus (v.1) of Sidon (v.2), of Egypt (v.3) and of Tarshish (v.1,6) will anguish because of this loss. It is like the sea speaks (v.4) as the word will be carried by ships to Sidon (v.4), Egypt (v.5) and to Tarshish (v.6). Tyre had had great influence and men from there had travelled widely (v.7) and affluence had followed them and kings and princes rose up on the wealth generated from this one place. (v.8)

Yet, as so often happens in sinful humanity, pride rose up (v.9), and pride always pushes away the Lord and claims the glory for itself, declaring, haven’t we done well. It appears that it is because of this pride that the Lord stands against this city and declares its destruction and, for that matter, the destruction of all who will rise up and distort the truth with pride.

D. Application:

1. Beware pride, that distorter of the truth that makes you think that you alone are the cause of your success.
2. Realise that the Lord is the giver of success and praise Him for it.

Passage: Isaiah 23:10-18   

10 Till your land as they do along the Nile,
    Daughter Tarshish,
    for you no longer have a harbour.
11 The Lord has stretched out his hand over the sea
    and made its kingdoms tremble.
He has given an order concerning Phoenicia
    that her fortresses be destroyed.
12 He said, ‘No more of your revelling,
    Virgin Daughter Sidon, now crushed!

‘Up, cross over to Cyprus;
    even there you will find no rest.’
13 Look at the land of the Babylonians,
    this people that is now of no account!
The Assyrians have made it
    a place for desert creatures;
they raised up their siege towers,
    they stripped its fortresses bare
    and turned it into a ruin.

14 Wail, you ships of Tarshish;
    your fortress is destroyed!

15 At that time Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the span of a king’s life. But at the end of these seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:

16 ‘Take up a harp, walk through the city,
    you forgotten prostitute;
play the harp well, sing many a song,
    so that you will be remembered.’

17 At the end of seventy years, the Lord will deal with Tyre. She will return to her lucrative prostitution and will ply her trade with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. 18 Yet her profit and her earnings will be set apart for the Lord; they will not be stored up or hoarded. Her profits will go to those who live before the Lord, for abundant food and fine clothes.

A. Find Out

1. Note again those affected by Tyre’s fall. v.10-12
2. Who were they to look to as an example? v.13
3. What does he reiterate will happen? v.14,15a
4. But yet what will happen? v.15b,17
5. So what should they do? v.16
6. How will Tyre eventually be different? v.18

B. Think:

1. What point is Isaiah making in verses 10-14?
2. How is hope then brought?
3. What is the end outcome?

C. Comment:

Because we tend to deny warnings of bad things happening, Isaiah piles on pictures to reinforce – this IS going to happen to Tyre. To Tarshish comes the call, focus on agriculture and providing for yourself rather than shipbuilding (v.10) because the place where you trade will be gone. The Lord has instructed that the fortresses of Canaan be destroyed (v.11) and that includes Sidon as well as Tyre (v.12a). Even if they escaped to Cyprus they would still find upheaval (v.12b).

If they are unsure as to the Lord’s power, see what He did to the Babylonians (v.13a), what He did to them using the Assyrians (v.13b). Thus the same will happen to Tyre (v.14). For seventy years Tyre will be nothing and so forgotten (v.15a).

But that will not be the end of it because at the end of that seventy years (v.15b,17a) the Lord will allow Tyre to be restored (v.17b) so that she will trade with all the other nations again (v.17c).

Remember this, say the Lord, remember it like a wandering minstrel wandering through the city and singing out the truth as a reminder (v.16). Yet the future of Tyre will be very different, for the money she makes will be used by the Lord and not hoarded for personal gain (v.18a). This is the amazing thing: Tyre will eventually be used to bless the people of God (v.18b).

D. Application:

1. God works in the long term.
2. Try to catch the big picture, not just today and tomorrow.