Isaiah 23:1-18.  Today we come to the final of the ten messages or burdens about nations.   This one is about Tyre.  Tyre was a leading city on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.  It was populated by Phoenicians.  Phoenicians were famous sailors.  They sailed the Mediterranean moving cargo from nation to nation.  As a result they became quite rich as the various nations depended on them, they were UPS, FEDEX, US Mail, and all the other shipping companies rolled into one.  They also had outposts or colonies all around the Mediterranean.  Tyre was one of their leading cities and had both a village on the mainland and a larger city about 500 yards off the coast on a rock which formed an island.   A couple of other places mentioned in today’s reading are Tarshish and Cyprus.  The word Tarshish in Phoenecian means “smelting”.  Smelting is the process of crushing rock and extracting metal from it.   Often places ar named by people for features or industry for which they are famous.  Garden Grove used to have many citrus orchards, Long Beach has a long beach, Gold Mountain Mine, Ca., and Hershey, Pa. are a few examples.  In our reading Tarshish probably refers to a place in Spain or Sardinia (a large island between Italy and Spain) where metals were smelted.  These metals were then transported by the Phoenicians around the Mediterranean world.  Cyprus is a large island in the Mediterranean between Greece and Turkey near the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea.  Island were an important part of sailing in the Mediterranean providing places for the sailors to stop rest, get food and water, and also find shelter when storms arose.  Sidon was a sister city further up the coast from Tyre.

In our reading today it appears that some Phoenician sailors were returning home from the west and had stopped in Cyprus.  While in Cyprus they got enws that their home port of Tyre had been destroyed.  Verse three tells us that Tyre and Sidon were very rich because of their business of moving important products around the Mediterranean, they were the ‘market of nations”.  As well as metals, grain from Egypt is mentioned.  In verse four when it talks about the sea and the fort of the sea it is probably talking about the sailors and their people in Tyre, their lives have been destroyed.

Although the destruction mentioned here was probably at the hand of Sennacherib (see yesterday’s post) verse 8 asks who has done this.  Verses 9-11 tell us that it was Yahweh, The LORD, who did it.   And we are also given a hint about why, verse 9 mentions honor going to people and also pride.  The two themes of Isaiah so far.  Remember that this is a prophecy and it hadn’t happened at the time the message was originally given.  As proof that it would happen the destruction of Babylon by Sennacherib was used, that destruction had occurred in 702-3 BC.  Tyre was destroyed in 701 BC.

But Tyre’s destruction would not be forever after 70 years it would be restored.  But there would be a change.  Instead of the party city (v. 7) who created kingdoms (v. 8, in those days many kingdoms were a single city with it’s surrounding villages), and was honored (and mourned) by many nations, Tyre would be like an old prostitute wandering the streets looking for customers.  There would be none of the old glory and honor.  The other change is that Tyre would honor God with her money and God would care for those who honored him.

This message is like the one about Egypt (Isaiah 19) where people return to God.  This is encouraging that God is for anyone who is for him.  The chosen people are not a race but those who respond to God.  The message to Judah and to us is that God loves all people but they must respond to him.  No one is immune from judgment and no one is excluded from blessing (a word which has the idea of happiness, it means good word).  But both judgment and blessing are from God’s hand.  The question is will you live in the presence of the LORD (v. 18) and receive his awesome provisions or go out on your own and be destroyed.  Isaiah has used the “Day of the LORD” and “that day” several times to describe these times of judgment in history (though not in this particular one) and introduced this section of Isaiah with a discussion of a final day of judgment, “the Day of the LORD”.  Most of the book of Revelation describes events of that “Day”, or time period.  At the end of Revelation the Holy Spirit along with those who have believed in Jesus ask people to come to him (Revelation 22:17) and the very last verse of the Bible is basically a wish or hope that all men would get the gift of God, Jesus.  Lord help me tell others about you.  Let my life draw them to you.  Let my word explain how to have peace with you.  Let me be a place of honor for you.  Thank you for the gift of eternity with you help me share it with others.  May you be honored.