The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish! for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, none entering in. From the land of Chittim it is revealed to them.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle! The merchants of Sidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished thee.
Isaiah 23 brings the last of Isaiah's judgments on nearby nations, and it falls on Tyre, the great trading port of the ancient world. Verse 2 tells that rich coast to fall silent, and the chapter explains why a harbour crowded with traders suddenly has nothing to say.
The command to be still is not an invitation to rest. It is the hush that follows ruin. One writer sets that silence against the crowds and cargo that once filled the place:
What a change! Silence now rules where their neighbours, the merchants of Sidon, once crowded in, and where the riches of the Nile were gathered. "The market of nations" is now a waste!
Tyre held the place a global trading capital holds today, and its fall shook the known world:
This city is the pattern of the world's commercial glory. It was wealthy, corrupt, and self-confident. Nebuchadnezzar took it after a long siege, though he did not destroy it... Tyre and its people were the centre of trade in the ancient world. Theirs was the market for all the goods and luxuries of that day. Through "the ships of Tarshish" they were the link between west and east. So its fall was bound to hurt people everywhere, and hurt them deeply. We know from elsewhere that the siege dragged on for an unusual length of time — thirteen years. But that only made the moral effect of its fall greater.
The verse addresses an "isle," or coast. To Israel, such places meant trade:
The Jews saw islands as sources of wealth, as centres of trade and commerce (Isa. 23:2; Ezek. 27:3-15).
Sidon was Tyre's neighbour, and the verse names its merchants as the source of this wealth. Sidon has its own record with God, and it is not a good one:
The prophets announce Sidon's destruction. They charge it with being a "pricking brier" to the house of Israel, and a "grieving thorn" around them (Ezek. 28:21-24). The Lord says of Sidon, along with Tyre, that they took His gold and silver and pleasant things and carried them into their pagan temples. They also sold the children of Judah to the Greeks, to move them far from their own border (Joel 3:4-8). We do not read that Nebuchadnezzar took Sidon; in fact his long siege of Tyre probably made Sidon richer.
So the trade that filled Tyre flowed from a neighbour already under God's sentence — and one that may well have gained by Tyre's fall.
The ruin is not politics or bad luck. Behind the invading army stands a purpose:
The burden of Tyre shows us the whole pride of human glory stained. It shows all the honoured of the earth brought into contempt. The occasion is Nebuchadnezzar's capture of Tyre. But the prophecy goes further — even to the days when her merchandise will be holiness to the Lord (Isa. 23).
Isaiah's judgments answer more than one kind of human pride, each in its own city:
Meanwhile the pride of commerce was judged in Tyre, as the pride of nature was in Egypt.
Tyre fell, but its love of gain did not die with it. Commentators read the chapter as a live warning about money:
The opposition that Tyre showed has carried on into modern times. The trade that made that city famous has spread its wings over the cities of our day. They follow in Tyre's steps with the same unrighteousness, and the same doom awaits them... The spirit of Mammon rules this age. It twists the truth, until truth becomes the profession of greedy men who think that gain is godliness.
Jesus later named Tyre and Sidon. His point, though, was not about them:
The Lord recalled Tyre and Sidon (Matt. 11), but only to show the far greater guilt of the cities where He did most of His mighty works... In other words, the measure of privilege is always the measure of responsibility.
- Filled — The coast owed its plenty to Sidon's ships crossing the sea; its life was trade, and trade was its glory.
- Silenced — Where the merchants once crowded in, silence falls. The market of nations becomes a waste.
- Purposed — This is no accident of history. God stains the pride of human glory and brings the honoured of the earth into contempt.
- Repeated — Modern trading cities walk in Tyre's steps. The same greed brings the same doom.
- Redeemed — The prophecy runs past the ruin to a day when the very merchandise of Tyre will be holiness to the Lord.
And on great waters, the seed of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile, was her revenue; and she was the market of the nations.
Isaiah 23 carries "the burden of Tyre." Verse 3 shows where the city's wealth came from: Egypt's grain crossed the sea and passed through her hands to the world. So why does God judge a city that only bought and sold?
The verse names a river, and the name points to Egypt. Tyre's income grew in fields that were not hers.
This refers to the river Nile. In Joshua 13:3 an older translation calls it "Sihor which is before Egypt." In Isaiah 23:3 the river carried Egypt's harvest down to the sea, and the Syrian merchants collected it there.
One commentator reads verses 2 and 3 together and sets the city's old trade beside the silence that follows. He uses an older translation, "market of nations," where the ESV has "merchant of the nations."
What a change! Silence now fills the place where their neighbours, the merchants of Sidon, once crowded in, and where the riches of the Nile were gathered — "the market of nations," now a ruin.
Tyre was not just one rich town. She sat at the hinge between east and west.
This city is the picture of the world's commercial glory: wealthy, corrupt, and self-confident... Tyre and the Tyrians were the centre of trade in the ancient world. They were the marketplace for all the goods and luxuries of that day, and the link between west and east through "the ships of Tarshish." So its fall was bound to hurt people everywhere on earth.
Isaiah does not spell out every moral reason for this judgment. He does name one: pride.
Here the moral reasons are not given in full; we must search other prophets for all of them. But the passage does say that Jehovah opposes the proud, that He scorns the glory of man, and that He treats all trust in earthly strongholds as worthless. Even in exile the Tyrians would find no rest.
Another writer digs beneath the pride to what Tyre was by birth and by trade.
Tyre is a Canaanite... The Canaanite was always under the doom of being the lowest of servants to his brothers, and even at his proudest he is still that. Tyre is a merchant at heart, and his stated object is even to serve. No doubt his first aim is to serve himself. He does not have the true spirit of service for God. He finds in other people's need the chance for his own gain, and this is what we find here as the cause of his judgment... Growing rich out of the need of others, as a habit, hardens the heart, as hardly needs saying; and so it is with Tyre here, and for this she is judged. Tyre is plainly the world of money.
One writer sees a strategy behind Tyre's rise: trade that makes the curse on the ground look as though God never spoke it.
Through trade Satan tries to make the curse ineffective. The earth was to bring forth thorns and thistles, and man was to eat bread by the sweat of his brow. Satan would set that sentence aside by gathering the different products of the earth and filling the eye and the mind with them. He would try to hide the thorns by spreading a carpet of Tyrian goods over them... So Tyre gains a prominence her trade might not otherwise have given her. Not that trade in itself was sin, for we read that her merchandise in the coming day is to be used for the Lord (Isaiah 23:17-18).
The judgment had a date in history, but it does not end there.
The burden of Tyre shows us all the pride of human glory stained, and everyone honoured on earth brought into contempt. The occasion is Nebuchadnezzar's capture of Tyre, but the prophecy reaches farther — right on to the days when her merchandise will be holy to Jehovah.
- Source. Shihor is the Nile. Egypt's harvest came down the river to the sea, and Syrian merchants carried it on. Tyre's income grew in someone else's fields.
- Scale. She was the meeting point of east and west, and the storehouse of the ancient world's goods. So her fall hurt everyone.
- Sin. Service was her stated trade, but her real aim was herself. Making money out of what people lack hardens the heart, and for this she is judged.
- Sentence. Jehovah opposes the proud. He scorns the glory of man and treats trust in strongholds as nothing. Even in exile the Tyrians found no rest.
- Sequel. Trade is not sin. In the day to come, the same merchandise that once hid the curse will be holy to the Lord.
Be thou ashamed, Sidon, for the sea hath spoken, the strength of the sea, saying, I have not travailed nor brought forth, neither have I nourished young men [nor] brought up virgins.
Isaiah 23 pronounces judgment on Tyre. At verse 4 the prophet turns to Sidon, the neighbouring city on the same coast. There the sea speaks and says it never had children. Why should the ruin of one trading port silence a whole shoreline?
Kelly reads the sea's words as a figure of speech. Sidon's shame is not distant sympathy. It is the loss of her own.
Sidon was too closely allied to Tyre, too tightly bound up with it, not to feel and suffer deeply. Tyre had been Sidon's boast until then, so now Tyre's disgrace was bound to darken their neighbours. The sea itself, by a bold but fitting figure, mourns her desolation: who was left of her family line, now that Tyre was no more? And it was the same with Egypt. The Sidonians profited from Egypt more directly than any other foreign nation did, yet they grieved no more over the ruin of Tyre than over the ruin of their great southern ally.
Sidon is the older city, and Tyre grew out of her. Isaiah says so later in the same chapter.
This city was probably named after Sidon, the eldest son of Canaan and so a great-grandson of Noah. It gave its name to the people of Phoenicia, and for that reason Scripture calls them Sidonians (Deut. 3:9; Josh. 13:4, 6), but never Tyrians. Tyre, the prophet Isaiah teaches us, was a daughter of Sidon (Isa. 23:12). The mother city does appear in prophecy. Even so, she is not the target of God's condemnation as openly as her wealthier and more famous daughter Tyre, and she has not sunk so low.
Why did one city's fall shake a whole coast? Look at what Tyre was.
This city is the picture of the world's commercial glory: wealthy, corrupt, and self-confident. Nebuchadnezzar took it after a long siege, though he did not destroy it… Tyre and the Tyrians were the centre of trade in the ancient world. They were the marketplace for all the goods and luxuries of that day, and the link between west and east through "the ships of Tarshish." So its fall was bound to hit people everywhere, and to hit them hard… Yet in our own day, would the whole earth not feel the fall of the proudest seat of modern commerce?
The chapter asks who planned this against Tyre, and it answers. The emptied sea goes back to the LORD's purpose, not to the ups and downs of trade.
"The LORD of hosts has purposed it, to defile the pompous pride of all glory, to dishonor all the honored of the earth"… Here the moral reasons are not given in full. We must search the other prophets for all of them. But the passage does state the LORD's opposition to the proud, His scorn for the glory of man, His contempt for all trust in earthly strongholds. Even in exile the Tyrians would find no rest.
The judgment had a date in history. But the prophecy does not stop there.
The immediate aim was the capture of this great seat of ancient commerce by Nebuchadnezzar. But the Spirit of prophecy does not stop with the LORD's purpose against its merchant princes at that time, when He brought the honoured of the earth into contempt, stained the pride of all glory, and struck the ships of Tarshish in their strength. Tyre did reappear after the Chaldean was overthrown. Whatever that amounted to, the prophecy looks on to a brighter day, when her merchandise and her wages will be holiness to the LORD.
- Grief — Sidon must be ashamed, for Tyre was her own daughter city. The sea speaks like a mother left with no children.
- Pride — Tyre pictures the world's trading glory: wealthy, corrupt, self-confident. Its fall reached the ends of the earth.
- Purpose — The LORD of hosts purposed it. He opposes the proud, scorns the glory of man, and has only contempt for trust in earthly strongholds.
- Reach — Trade tied the nations together. Tyre's ruin darkened her neighbours, and Sidon grieved for Egypt, her great southern ally, just as deeply.
- Promise — The prophecy runs past Nebuchadnezzar to a brighter day. Then Tyre's merchandise and wages become holiness to the LORD.
-- When the report came into Egypt, they were sorely pained at the news of Tyre.
Isaiah 23 is a word of judgment on Tyre, the greatest trading city of the ancient world. Verse 5 shows the news reaching Egypt, so why did Egypt ache over a city on the Phoenician coast, and who struck it?
Egypt's harvest came down the Nile to Tyre, and Tyre traded it on to the nations. When Tyre fell, Egypt lost that trade. One commentator reads verses 2–5 together, taking in Sidon, Tyre's neighbour on the same coast:
What a change, when silence reigned where once their neighbours had crowded in, the merchants of Sidon, where the treasures of the enriching Nile were gathered — "the market of nations," now a waste! … Sidon was too closely allied to Tyre, too tightly bound up with it, not to feel and suffer keenly; and as Tyre had been its boast before, so now its downfall could not but darken their neighbours. The Sidonians, though they profited from Egypt more directly than any other foreign nation, did not grieve more over the ruin of Tyre than over that of their great southern ally.
Grief ran along the trade routes. Sidon, which gained more from Egypt than any other nation did, mourned the ruin of Tyre as deeply as it mourned Egypt's.
Tyre was the hinge of world trade, so her collapse could not stay local:
This city is the type of the world's commercial glory: wealthy, corrupt, and self-confident… Tyre and the Tyrians were the centre of the trade of the ancient world. The city was the warehouse of all the goods and luxuries of that day, and the link between west and east through "the ships of Tarshish." Its fall, then, could not help but bring pain to people everywhere on the earth… Yet how greatly would the fall of the proudest seat of modern commerce make itself felt today, to the ends of the earth?
Verse 5 names Egypt and Tyre together. One writer sets the two judgments side by side, and points to Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king who captured the city:
The judgment of Tyre is by Nebuchadnezzar, yet it looks beyond that, in verses 9 and 18. Up to this point it had long been the untouched power of commerce, and its pride. This was judged now, just as the natural pride of man was judged in Egypt.
Verse 9 answers the chapter's own question of who brought Tyre down. The answer is moral, not military:
Here the moral reasons are not given in full; we must search other prophets for all of them. But Jehovah's opposition to the proud is stated, His scorn for the glory of man, His disregard for all trust in earthly strongholds. Even in exile the Tyrians would find no rest.
The tone of this judgment is milder than others in Isaiah, and one writer says why:
The burden on Tyre is milder than the rest, we believe, because Tyre was not an oppressor of Israel. It shows us the world, not as oppressing and enslaving the people of God, but as the scene of man's successful and wealthy activities, carried on in forgetfulness and independence of God.
The prophecy does not stop at the wreckage that made Egypt tremble. Commentators note that the same chapter that announces Tyre's fall also promises a future in which her trade is turned over to God:
Nebuchadnezzar's capture of this great seat of ancient commerce was the immediate aim. But the Spirit of prophecy does not stop with what Jehovah purposed against its merchant princes then… Whatever Tyre's reappearance after the overthrow of the Chaldean (Babylonian) power, the prophecy looks on to a brighter day, when her merchandise and her earnings shall be holiness to Jehovah.
- Pride. Tyre stands for the world's commercial glory: wealthy, corrupt, self-confident. Its pride had gone untouched until now, and God brings it down.
- Purpose. Verse 9 names who struck the blow. The Lord opposes the proud and sets no store by trust in earthly strongholds.
- Report. Egypt's harvest came down the Nile to Tyre. Losing Tyre meant losing the market of nations.
- Reach. A centre of world trade cannot fall in silence. Its collapse brings pain to people everywhere, then as now.
- Restoration. The burden ends in hope. God promises a day when Tyre's trade will be holiness to the Lord.
Pass over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the coast!
Isaiah's judgments on the nations end with a message about Tyre, the richest trading port of the ancient world. Here the prophet stops speaking about her sailors and neighbours and speaks straight to the Tyrians themselves. The call to cross the sea and wail is no trading voyage. It is an order to run. It also asks what becomes of a people whose whole security rests on wealth.
The ships of Tarshish had always sailed to Tyre. Now the direction reverses. The proud merchants must make the voyage themselves, as refugees.
Verses 6-7 finish these messages with a direct appeal to the Tyrians themselves. They taunt her proud merchants with the reversal waiting for them, the just repayment for what they had done… Far from being an attraction to the ships of Tarshish, they must go and wail there themselves. They are men whose land the sea surrounds, whose city was full of laughter. Their years of proud security reached back nearly as far as Sidon's, and Tyre was richer and more famous still. Yes, they must go, and trudge in pain and sorrow, looking for shelter in a strange land.
Kelly notes that the word here can be read as "isle" or as "coast". The sea had kept Tyre secure for centuries; now it is only her road out.
The verse only lands if you know what Tyre was. She was the marketplace where east met west.
This city is the type of the world's commercial glory: wealthy, corrupt, and self-confident. Nebuchadnezzar captured her after a long siege, though he did not destroy her. Tyre and the Tyrians formed the centre of the merchandise of the ancient world, the market of all the goods and luxuries of that day, the link through "the ships of Tarshish" between the west and the east. So her fall was bound to hurt people everywhere on earth… And in our own day, would the collapse of the proudest centre of modern commerce not be felt to the ends of the earth?
Who planned Tyre's downfall? The answer given is God Himself, set against all human pride. And the flight commanded here leads nowhere better.
"The LORD of hosts has purposed it, to defile the pompous pride of all glory, to dishonor all the honored of the earth"… "The LORD has given command concerning Canaan to destroy its strongholds. 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'"… The full moral reasons are not given here; we must look to other prophets for them. But the passage does state Jehovah's opposition to the proud, His scorn for the glory of man, His contempt for all trust in strongholds on earth. Even in exile the Tyrians would find no rest.
This burden is milder in tone than others in Isaiah. One writer traces that to something Tyre never did.
The burden on Tyre is milder than the others, we believe, because Tyre was not an oppressor of Israel. It gives us a picture of the world — not the world oppressing and enslaving the people of God, but the world as the scene of man's successful and wealthy activity, carried on in forgetfulness of God and independence from Him.
The pattern did not die with the city. One writer sees it alive in the cities of today.
The trade that made that city famous has spread its wings over the cities of our own day. They follow in the steps of Tyre, they share the same unrighteousness, and the same doom is waiting for them… The spirit of Mammon — the love of money — rules the age. Under its power the truth gets twisted, and becomes the religion of greedy men who suppose that gain is godliness.
The chapter does not stop at the wailing. Commentators look further: the trade God judges here will one day belong to Him.
The burden of Tyre shows us all the pride of human glory stained, and all the honoured people of the earth brought into contempt. The occasion is Nebuchadnezzar's capture of Tyre, but the prophecy goes further — on to the days when her merchandise will be holiness to Jehovah.
Kelly adds that Tyre's wealth will then feed and clothe those who dwell before the LORD, instead of filling her own treasuries.
- Pride — Tyre falls by God's own purpose: "to defile the pompous pride of all glory." The cause is moral, not military.
- Reversal — The ships once sailed to Tyre; now Tyre's merchants must sail out as refugees. The taunt of verse 6 is the just return of their own dealings.
- No refuge — Crossing the sea saves nothing. Even in exile, "there you will have no rest."
- Warning — Tyre stands for wealth enjoyed in forgetfulness of God, not for tyranny. That is why her successors are easy to find today.
- Redemption — The trade God judges will one day be holiness to Jehovah — no longer hoarded, but spent on those who dwell before Him.
Is this your joyous [city], whose antiquity is of ancient days? Her feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn.
Isaiah's "burden" here falls on Tyre, a great trading port whose ships and wealth linked the ancient world. The prophet turns from the howling sailors to the city herself. His question — is this really the cheerful, age-old city? — raises the theme of the chapter: what happens to glory so old it feels permanent.
Isaiah is not asking for information. He is taunting merchants who had grown proud. His question ends with a picture of people leaving home on foot.
Verses 6-7 finish these addresses with a direct appeal to the Tyrians themselves. They taunt the proud merchants with the reversal that awaited them, the just repayment of their deeds… Far from drawing the ships of Tarshish to her, Tyre's people must go and howl there themselves. These are the men of the land ringed by the sea, whose city rang with joy, and whose years of proud security were only a little less ancient than Sidon's, and yet more prosperous and distinguished! Yes, they must go and trudge on in sorrow and pain, looking for some refuge in a foreign land.
This burden is milder than Isaiah's others. One writer ties that to how Tyre had treated Israel.
We believe this burden is milder than the others because Tyre did not oppress Israel. So it does not picture the world oppressing and enslaving the people of God. It pictures the world as the stage of man's successful and wealthy activity, carried on in forgetfulness of God and independence from Him.
Isaiah does not spell out every reason for this fall. But he does make clear what God was against.
Here the moral reasons are not given in full. We must search the other prophets for all of them. But this much is stated: the LORD stands against the proud. He scorns the glory of man. He has no regard for trust placed in earthly strongholds. Even in exile the Tyrians would find no rest.
The verse points to Tyre's great age. Travellers to the site later described what became of her.
They are convinced that the waves of the sea now roll where the vast and splendid palaces of Tyrian wealth and luxury once stood. The storm of God's anger has swept away the monuments of her trade and prosperity, and they are as if they had never been. Another traveller says he found only a jumble of broken walls, pillars, vaults and so on, with not so much as one whole house left.
Tyre's kind of trade did not die with her. The warning reaches the cities of today.
The commerce so famous in that city has spread its wing over the cities of our day. They follow in the steps of Tyre. With the same unrighteousness, they await the same doom… The spirit of Mammon — the love of money — rules the age. Under its influence men twist the truth, and it becomes the profession of greedy men who suppose that gain is godliness. From such we turn away.
Tyre is not written off for ever. Isaiah's prophecy ends with her trade put to a new use.
Tyre stands for the commercial expansion and glory of the world. Behind this commercial glory stands Satan, the god of this age… A revival of Tyre is also predicted… Isaiah's vision points to it: "her merchandise and her wages will be holy to the LORD."
- Exultant — Tyre's mark was joy built on wealth: a world busy with its own success, getting on well without God.
- Ancient — her age saved nothing. Years of proud security are not the same as safety.
- Opposed — the fall was no accident of trade. God stood against her pride and against her trust in strongholds.
- Scattered — her people trudged out to look for refuge abroad. Travellers later found broken walls where palaces had stood.
- Holy — the last word over her trade is not ruin. Isaiah says her merchandise and her wages will be holy to the LORD.
Who hath purposed this against Tyre, the distributor of crowns, whose merchants were princes, whose dealers were the honourable of the earth?
"The burden of Tyre" turns on a question. Who brought down the greatest trading city of the ancient world? The verse first names what Tyre was: a city that handed out crowns, with merchants who ranked as princes. Then it leaves the question open, and the next verse gives the answer.
The titles in this verse are not flattery. Tyre sat at the centre of world trade, and wealth came to her from every direction.
Part of the city of Tyre (the name means rock) stood on an island off the mainland in the Mediterranean Sea. It was an ancient Phoenician city. Scripture mentions it for the first time in Joshua 19:29, where it is called "the strong city." Its trade was remarkable, and Ezekiel 27 describes its full range. Seafaring men lived there, and Isaiah describes this wealthy and influential city as "the bestower of crowns, whose merchants were princes..." (Isa. 23:8). In that same chapter of Ezekiel we read how Syria, Persia, Egypt, Spain, Greece and every part of the ancient world laid their finest and most precious things at the feet of Tyre. She sat on a throne of ivory, dressed in blue and purple.
The word behind "merchant" has a second use in Hebrew.
The Canaanites were the descendants of Canaan. In some places the term Canaanite seems to cover any of the people living in the land of Canaan. The same Hebrew word is translated "merchant" in Job 41:6, Proverbs 31:24 and Isaiah 23:8. So Zechariah 14:21 may mean, "there shall no more be the merchant in the house of the LORD of hosts." Compare John 2:16.
Isaiah is not asking for information. The answer comes in the next verse, with the reason behind it.
And why was this? Who would strike down the proud city of Phoenicia?... The answer follows in verse 9: "Jehovah of hosts has purposed it, to stain (or profane) the pride of all glory, to bring to nothing all the honourable of the earth." Here the moral reasons are not given in full. We must search the other prophets for all of them. But the passage does state Jehovah's opposition to the proud, His scorn for the glory of man, His contempt for all trust in earthly strongholds.
These writers quote older translations, which print God's name as "Jehovah" where the ESV has "the LORD."
Tyre was more than a place on the map. Her fall reached far beyond her own harbour.
The last of these local judgements now comes before us — "the burden of Tyre." This city is the type of the world's commercial glory: wealthy, corrupt, and self-confident. Nebuchadnezzar took her after a long siege, though he did not destroy her.
The chapter's last word about Tyre is not judgement.
The burden of Tyre shows us all the pride of human glory stained, and all the honourable of the earth brought into contempt. The occasion is the capture of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar, but the prophecy goes further — on to the days when her merchandise will be holiness to Jehovah (Isa. 23).
One writer looks behind Tyre's commerce, and then ahead to her revival.
Tyre typifies the commercial expansion and glory of the world. Behind this commercial glory stands Satan, the god of this age. Read Ezekiel 28:11-19. Nebuchadnezzar carried out judgment upon Tyre (Ezek. 29:17-18). A revival of Tyre is also predicted. Look at a statement in the beautiful Psalm 45, a psalm of Christ's coming reign. When the King appears, surrounded by His own, "The daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift" (Ps. 45:12). This is what Isaiah's vision points to: "And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the Lord."
- Crowned. Tyre gave out crowns and made her traders princes. Syria, Persia, Egypt, Spain and Greece laid their best goods at her feet.
- Named. Her merchants share a name with Canaan. One Hebrew word means both "merchant" and "Canaanite."
- Questioned. The question of verse 8 has one answer in verse 9: the LORD of hosts purposed it, against pride and against trust in strongholds.
- Typified. Tyre pictures the world's commercial glory: wealthy, corrupt, self-confident. Her fall shook the whole ancient world, and a modern collapse would shake ours.
- Redeemed. The prophecy runs past Nebuchadnezzar to a day when Tyre's trade becomes holy to the Lord, and Tyre brings her gift to the King.
Jehovah of hosts hath purposed it, to profane the pride of all glory, to bring to nought all the honourable of the earth.
Isaiah 23 closes a series of judgments with a message about Tyre, the great trading city of the ancient world. Verse 8 asked who planned the fall of a city whose merchants were princes, and verse 9 answers: the Lord of hosts.
One commentator sets the question of verse 8 beside the answer. The older translation he quotes reads "stain (or, profane)" where the ESV reads "defile".
And why was this? Who would strike down the proud city of Phoenicia? "Who has purposed this against Tyre, that gives crowns, whose merchants were princes, whose dealers were the honourable of the earth?" (v. 8). The answer follows in verse 9. "Jehovah of hosts has purposed it, to stain (or, profane) the pride of all glory, to bring to nothing all the honourable of the earth."… Here we are not given the moral reasons in full; we must search other prophets for them all. But the passage does state Jehovah's opposition to the proud, His scorn for the glory of man, His disregard for all trust in earthly strongholds.
Why does this judgment sound less severe than the ones before it? One writer answers, and says what Tyre stands for.
Tyre's burden is comparatively mild, we believe, because Tyre was not an oppressor of Israel. It gives us a picture of the world — not the world oppressing and enslaving the people of God, but the world as the scene of man's successful and wealthy activities. These go on in forgetfulness of God and independence from Him.
A city that central to trade could not fall quietly, and its fall raises a question for today.
Tyre and the Tyrians formed the centre of the trade of the ancient world… So its fall was bound to hurt people everywhere on earth, all the more because trading rivals were fewer then than now. Yet in our day, how could the fall of the proudest seat of modern commerce not be felt to the ends of the earth?
God used a real king and a real siege. But one writer marks verse 9 and verse 18 as the points where the prophecy reaches past that history.
Isaiah 23. The judgment of Tyre is by Nebuchadnezzar, yet it looks out beyond that, in verses 9 and 18. Up to this point Tyre had long been the untouched power of commerce, and its pride. God judged this now, just as He judged the natural pride of man in Egypt.
Another writer gathers these same words into one plan announced over the whole earth.
We are told of "a purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth." We are told that "this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations." The Lord of hosts has purposed it — and who shall annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?… We read, moreover, of the Lord's purpose "to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth."
One writer traces the line from ancient Tyre to the trading cities of today.
The commerce that made that city famous has now spread over the cities of our day. They follow in the steps of Tyre, and with the same unrighteousness they await the same doom… The spirit of Mammon rules the age. Its influence twists the truth, so that truth becomes the profession of covetous men who suppose that gain is godliness. From such we turn away. We look to the testimony of our Lord, and find that the cares and riches of this world, which commerce increases, are weeds which choke the good seed.
The chapter does not stop at ruin. One writer links verse 18 to a psalm about the coming King.
Tyre typifies the commercial expansion and glory of the world. Behind this commercial glory stands Satan, the god of this age… A revival of Tyre is also predicted. We call attention to a statement in Psalm 45, a psalm of the coming kingdom. When the King appears, surrounded by His own, "The daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift" (Ps. 45:12). It is what is indicated in Isaiah's vision, "And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the Lord."
- Purpose — the fall of Tyre was no accident. The Lord of hosts planned it, to defile — to profane — the pride of all glory.
- Pride — God stands against the proud. He scorns the glory of man and rejects all trust in earthly strongholds.
- Picture — Tyre is not the world persecuting God's people but the world succeeding, rich and busy, with God left out.
- Present — the same trading spirit runs on in modern cities and in covetous hearts, where riches choke the seed.
- Promise — the glory God defiles, He can also make holy. Tyre's own merchandise becomes holiness to the Lord, and her daughter comes to the King with a gift.
Overflow thy land like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish there is no more restraint.
This verse sits inside the burden of Tyre, the judgement on the world's richest trading city. The Lord of hosts has just said He planned its fall, and now He tells the daughter of Tarshish that nothing holds her back.
Tyre made its living by trade, and the whole ancient world traded through it.
The last of these local judgements comes before us — "the burden of Tyre." This city is the picture of the world's commercial glory: wealthy, corrupt, and self-confident. Nebuchadnezzar took it after a long siege, though he did not destroy it. Tyre and the Tyrians formed the centre of the merchandise of the ancient world. It was the marketplace for all the goods and luxuries of that day, and the link between west and east through "the ships of Tarshish." So its fall was bound to hit people all over the earth, and to hit them hard.
Tarshish is named for its ships, and the location is not settled. A reference work in the collection lays out the difficulty:
A place ships sailed to from Palestine. Some think it means a Spanish city named Tartessus. That would be a fitting place to get silver, iron, tin, and lead. Jonah took a ship at Joppa to sail to Tarshish, which may also point to a place west of Palestine. But other passages speak of apes and peacocks brought by ships of Tarshish too. Those passages link the ships with Ezion-geber, on the Gulf of Akaba, a branch of the Red Sea.
The prophet does not summon these ships only once.
The prophet calls the famous ships of Tarshish, first and again and again, to take up the funeral song for the ruined market of their merchandise. He shows that no house was left to receive them, and no harbour for their ships to enter. Even so, the bad news would reach the far west.
"Jehovah of hosts has purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, to bring to nothing all the honourable of the earth. Overflow your land as the Nile, daughter of Tarshish: there is no more restraint. He stretched out His hand over the sea, He shakes the kingdoms." … The moral reasons are not given in full here. We must search other prophets for all of them. But the passage states Jehovah's opposition to the proud, His scorn for the glory of man, and His disregard for all trust in strongholds on earth. Even in exile the Tyrians would find no rest.
The prophecy had a datable fulfilment, and yet it does not stop there.
The judgment of Tyre is by Nebuchadnezzar, yet looks out beyond it, in verses 9 and 18. Up to this, it had long been the untouched power of commerce, and its pride. This was judged now, just as the natural pride of man was judged in Egypt.
That siege cost the conqueror more than it paid him:
The great Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Tyre, and this is referred to in Ezekiel 29:18, which speaks of his having "no wages" for the long years he spent over it, for the Tyrians had time to remove all their treasure. Still, judgment from God did come on the proud and rich and joyous city, and her glory departed.
This burden falls more lightly than the ones on Israel's enemies. One writer explains why:
The burden on Tyre is milder than the others, and we believe the reason is that Tyre did not oppress Israel. It gives us a picture of the world, not as oppressing and enslaving the people of God, but as the stage for man's successful and wealthy activity, carried on in forgetfulness of God and independence of Him.
The trading city is not written off for ever. Commentators note that the same prophecy that strips her also promises her a place:
The burden of Tyre shows us all the pride of human glory stained, and all the honourable of the earth brought into contempt. The occasion is the capture of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar, but the prophecy goes further — even to the days when her merchandise shall be holiness to Jehovah.
- Purposed. The fall was no accident of trade. The Lord of hosts planned it, to stain the pride of all glory and bring the honoured of the earth to nothing.
- Unrestrained. Nothing now holds the daughter of Tarshish back, and even in exile the Tyrians would find no rest.
- Mourning. The prophet calls the ships of Tarshish, once the link between east and west, to sing the funeral song for their own lost marketplace.
- Instrument. Nebuchadnezzar was the means, and he took the city at great cost and little profit — yet the prophecy looks past him.
- Holiness. The last word over the trading city is not ruin but transfer: her merchandise becomes holiness to the Lord.
He hath stretched out his hand over the sea, he shaketh the kingdoms. Jehovah hath given a commandment concerning Canaan, to destroy the strongholds thereof,
Here Isaiah names the hand behind the fall of Tyre, the richest trading city of the ancient world. The verse raises two questions: whose hand is stretched out over the sea, and why God's command targets one trading city's walls.
Commentators read this fall as God's own purpose, not a political accident.
Here the moral reasons are not given in full; we must search other prophets for them all. But Jehovah's opposition to the proud is stated, His scorn for the glory of man, His disregard of all trust in earthly strongholds. Even in exile the Tyrians would find no rest.
God's hand worked through a named conqueror and a siege that really happened.
The judgment of Tyre is by Nebuchadnezzar, yet it looks out beyond that judgment, in verses 9 and 18. Until now it had long been the untouched power of commerce, and its pride. This was judged now, just as the natural pride of man was judged in Egypt.
Tyre was the hinge between east and west, so her ruin was never a local event.
This city is the type of the world's commercial glory: wealthy, corrupt, and self-confident. Nebuchadnezzar captured her after a long siege, though he did not destroy her... Tyre and the Tyrians formed the centre of the trade of the ancient world. It was the marketplace for all the goods and luxuries of that day, the link through "the ships of Tarshish" between the west and the east. So its fall was bound to hit people all over the earth, and to hit them hard... And in our day, how much more would the overthrow of the proudest seat of modern commerce make itself felt to the ends of the earth!
The word translated Canaan has a second sense in Hebrew.
The same Hebrew word is translated "merchant" in Job 41:6; Proverbs 31:24; Isaiah 23:8. So Zechariah 14:21 may mean "there shall no more be the merchant in the house of the LORD of hosts."
That name is also a charge. The trade itself is what brings the judgment.
Tyre is above all the merchant; his professed aim is even to serve. No doubt his aim is first of all to serve himself. He does not have the true spirit of service for God. Instead he finds in the need of man a chance for his own gain, and this is the cause of his judgment here... Gaining riches from the need of others hardens the heart, as hardly needs saying. So it was with Tyre, and for this she is judged.
Commerce looks harmless. Writers see something else working through it: a rival to the city where God was known.
Ezekiel 26:2 shows that Tyre, the merchant city of the world, was the rival of Jerusalem, the city of God. Tyre said, "I shall be replenished, now that she is laid waste." So Babylon (compare Ezekiel 27 with Revelation 18) is the rival of the new Jerusalem. God was known in the palaces of Jerusalem — the god of this world in Tyre. There people could gratify the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.
Commentators differ on how far the chapter reaches forward. Some read Tyre as the pattern of a world system still to come.
Her great commerce reminds us of a coming world-system. The last book of the Bible, Revelation, describes it. Babylon the Great will be both an ecclesiastical and a commercial world centre. Her commerce is just like the commerce of Tyre (Revelation 18:12-13).
The command to destroy the strongholds is not the last word over Tyre. The chapter closes with her trade turned to a wholly different use.
Still, the last verse shows that even this prophetic scene has its bright side. Much of it was fulfilled in the past, yet it looks on to the day of joy for the whole earth. "And her merchandise and her wages will be holy to Jehovah: it will not be stored or hoarded"... The daughter of Tyre will be there with a gift, when the King greatly desires the beauty of His earthly bride.
- Purpose. Tyre did not just lose a war. God set Himself against her pride and against the glory of man.
- Cause. She is called Canaan — the merchant. The name is the charge: gain taken from other people's need hardens the heart.
- Strongholds. Walls were her confidence, and God's command targets those walls. He sets no value on trust in earthly defences.
- Reach. She was the link between east and west, so her fall shook kingdoms. Commentators see the same pattern in the world-system of Revelation 18.
- End. The chapter does not stop at ruin. Tyre's trade becomes holy to the Lord, and her gain becomes a gift for the King.
and hath said, Thou shalt no more exult, [thou] oppressed virgin, daughter of Sidon get thee up, pass over to Chittim; even there shalt thou have no rest.
Isaiah 23 closes a long run of judgments on the nations with a word against Tyre, the great sea-trading city. This verse is her sentence. Two questions press: who is the "virgin daughter of Sidon," and why does fleeing abroad bring no relief?
Tyre and Sidon stood side by side on the same coast. Sidon was the older city. Tyre grew out of her and then outshone her.
This city was probably named after Sidon, the eldest son of Canaan and so a great-grandson of Noah. It gave its name to the people of Phoenicia, who are therefore called Sidonians in Scripture (Deut. 3:9; Josh. 13:4, 6), but never Tyrians. For Tyre, the prophet Isaiah teaches us, was a daughter of Sidon (Isa. 23:12). The mother city does appear in prophecy. But she is not so much the object of God's denunciation as her wealthier and more famous daughter Tyre, nor has she sunk so low.
Why does such a city fall? The prophet gives only part of the answer here.
Here the prophet does not give the moral reasons in full; we must search other prophets for the rest. But this passage does state the Lord's opposition to the proud, His scorn for the glory of man, and His disregard of all trust in earthly strongholds. Even in exile the Tyrians would find no rest.
Tyre was not just one more city on the list. She stood for something the whole world still recognises: trade and wealth.
This city is the type of the world's commercial glory: wealthy, corrupt, and self-confident. Nebuchadnezzar took it after a long siege, though he did not destroy it… Tyre and the Tyrians formed the centre of the merchandise of the ancient world. It was the marketplace for all the goods and luxuries of that day, and the link through "the ships of Tarshish" between the west and the east.
The fall of Tyre is God's dealing with pride. The judgment falls on an attitude, not just on a city.
The burden of Tyre shows us all the pride of human glory stained, and all the honourable of the earth brought into contempt.
Kelly sets Tyre beside Egypt. Each stood for a different kind of pride, and God dealt with both.
Meanwhile the pride of commerce was judged in Tyre, as the pride of nature was in Egypt.
The verse sends the fleeing Tyrians to Cyprus, called Chittim in older translations. It was a real place, within reach of their own ships and tied to their trade.
The Old Testament refers to it several times in connection with its "ships." It first points to Cyprus. But Jeremiah 2:10 and Ezekiel 27:6 speak of the "isles of Chittim," so the Prophets clearly group other islands with Cyprus.
So the command sends her along the sea lanes her own ships knew. Even there she finds no rest.
The chapter does not stop at the wreckage. The same prophecy that drives Tyre from her land ends with her wealth put to a new use.
The immediate aim was Nebuchadnezzar's capture of this great seat of ancient commerce. But the Spirit of prophecy does not stop with the Lord's purpose then against its merchant princes. At that time He brought the honourable of the earth into contempt, stained the pride of all glory, and struck the ships of Tarshish in their strength. Whatever the reappearance of Tyre after the Chaldean conqueror fell, the prophecy looks onward to a brighter day. Then her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the Lord.
- Daughter. The verse calls Tyre the daughter of Sidon. Sidon was the mother city; the daughter grew richer and more famous — and fell further.
- Purposed. The fall is no accident of history. The Lord purposed it. He opposes the proud, scorns the glory of man, and disregards all trust in strongholds.
- Pride. Tyre stands as the type of the world's commercial glory — wealthy, corrupt, self-confident. God judged the pride of commerce in her, as He judged the pride of nature in Egypt.
- Flight. Cyprus lay within reach of her own ships, but it offered no refuge. Even in exile the Tyrians would find no rest.
- After. The prophecy runs past the ruin to a brighter day. Then the very merchandise that fed her pride becomes holiness to the Lord.
Behold the land of the Chaldeans this people did not exist; the Assyrian founded it for the dwellers in the desert they set up their towers, they destroyed the palaces thereof; he brought it to ruin.
Isaiah is announcing the fall of Tyre, the proud merchant city of the sea. Here he turns to the land of the Chaldeans — a people who were not even a nation, yet the ones who will leave Tyre in ruins.
The chapter has already said who decided Tyre's fall. Verse 13 answers the next question: by whose hand?
Jehovah opposes the proud. He scorns the glory of man. He thinks little of all trust in earthly strongholds… In the next verse we have the instrument He meant to employ: "Behold the land of the Chaldeans: this people did not exist. The Assyrian founded it for the dwellers in the wilderness: they set up their towers, they destroyed its palaces; he brought it to ruin." Compared with old Tyre, the Chaldeans were a nation of only yesterday. The prophet sees them bringing Tyre to ruin.
The older wording these writers follow reads "the Assyrian founded it for the dwellers in the wilderness," where the ESV has "Assyria destined it for wild beasts." A dictionary entry traces where this people came from and what the verse means:
The land of the Chaldeans was strictly the southern part of Babylonia, but Scripture's many references to the Chaldeans show that the name covers the people of all Babylonia. Scripture mentions the city of Ur of the Chaldeans, and the Chaldeans who raided Job's camels; after that we do not read of them for some fifteen hundred years, until God sent them to punish Judah. This passage has been interpreted in various ways. The meaning appears to be that it was the Chaldeans who were going to destroy Tyre. They were a people who had not been counted among the nations until the Assyrians consolidated them into a nation. They had earlier lived in the wilderness. Lowth translates the verse like this: "Behold the land of the Chaldeans; this people was of no account; (the Assyrian founded it for the inhabitants of the desert; they raised the watch towers, they set up the palaces of it): this people has reduced her to a ruin."
The verse ties this people to the Assyrian. One writer weighs how new their power was.
In judging Tyre, an ancient city, the Lord shows that He would use a much newer power — the Chaldeans. Of them Jehovah says, "this people was not, till the Assyrian founded it for those who live in the wilderness" (verse 13). Babel was the beginning of Nimrod's kingdom. But only in the days of Nebuchadnezzar did it become a world power to carry out God's judgment on the nations.
The same source adds what this new nation did to the empire that founded it:
In Isaiah 23:13 we learn that the Chaldeans were not an old nation. God used them to punish Tyre and Sidon. They became a nation by building on the foundations of the Assyrian kingdom, which they destroyed.
A people that "was not" brings down the great city of trade. One commentator draws out the rule behind it:
It is not man that governs in any case, but God. God is sovereign, and therefore acts according to His own will. It is not a question of which party has the most strength or the most wisdom. It was not because of their superior power that Babylon, or Persia, or Greece, or Rome gained the empire of the world. Most of them had small beginnings.
One writer names the king who struck the blow, and shows where the chapter looks beyond him.
The judgment of Tyre is by Nebuchadnezzar, yet looks out beyond it, in verses 9 and 18. Up to this, it had long been the untouched power of commerce, and its pride. This was judged now, just as the natural pride of man was in Egypt.
But Nebuchadnezzar did not finish it:
Nebuchadnezzar, who carried Judah away captive to Babylon, only partly carried out the overthrow of Tyre foretold in Isaiah 23 and Ezekiel 26. Later Alexander captured this ancient and princely merchant city on the sea and destroyed it completely, as Ezekiel 26:3-4 said. He sold the rest of her inhabitants into slavery.
- Nobody. The Chaldeans were desert tribes of no account, unheard of for some fifteen hundred years, until God sent them to punish Judah.
- Named. Assyria made them into a nation. The prophet names this people of yesterday as the ruin of old, princely Tyre.
- Used. God states His purpose against pride earlier in the chapter. This verse names the tool He chose.
- Unmatched. Superior strength and wisdom do not win empires. Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome all began small. God alone governs.
- Finished. Nebuchadnezzar struck the first blow and Alexander the last. The prophecy still looks beyond them both.