Isaiah 23:17–18

We believe the burden on Tyre is milder than the rest 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 stage of man's successful and wealthy activity, carried on in forgetfulness of God and independence of Him.

Tyre was to be forgotten for seventy years (Isaiah 23:15). It is not clear what time this refers to. The prophecy that Jerusalem would be destroyed for seventy years also takes in "the nations round about" (Jeremiah 25:9-11). Scripture names Tyre among the nations that would serve Nebuchadnezzar, and his son, and his son's son (Jeremiah 27:2-7). So the seventy years of Jerusalem's captivity and the seventy years of Tyre may have run at the same time, or close to it. Nebuchadnezzar besieged Tyre for thirteen years.

But the conqueror himself falls to an avenger. Babylon falls. The full seventy years that saw the remnant of Judah return had a revival in store for Tyre — but a revival of her immoral ways. She catered for profitable trade to all the luxurious habits and corruptions of the nations.

Scripture often uses "fornication" as a symbol. Here are a few instances among many: 2 Chronicles 21:11; Isaiah 23:17; Ezekiel 16:29. It means sinful dealings with the world.

Tyre envied Jerusalem at first, and later rivalled her. Satan uses her to display the glory and riches of the world, so she becomes an instrument against God. Through commerce Satan tries to make the curse powerless. The earth was to bring forth thorns and thistles, and man was to eat bread by the sweat of his brow. Satan would get around that sentence 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 merchandise over them. Trade in itself was not sin, for we read that her merchandise in the coming day is to be used for the Lord. Her hatred of Jerusalem was no greater than that of the other nations. But the principle behind her opposition was more subtle, and it had a stronger hold on the greedy leanings of fallen nature.

Tyre is a picture of the commercial expansion and glory of the world. Behind this commercial glory stands Satan, the god of this age (see Ezekiel 28:11-19). A revival of Tyre is also predicted. Look at a statement in the beautiful forty-fifth Psalm, a Psalm of the coming kingdom. When the King appears, surrounded by His own, "The daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift" (Psalm 45:12). Isaiah's vision points to the same thing: "And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the Lord."

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 carry the same unrighteousness, and they await the same doom. The spirit of money rules the age. Its influence twists the truth, so that truth becomes the profession of greedy men who think that gain is godliness. We turn away from such people.

The judgment on Tyre is milder than the rest, we believe, because Tyre was not an oppressor of Israel. It gives us a picture of the world — not the world that oppresses and enslaves the people of God, but the world as the scene of man's successful and wealthy activity, carried on in forgetfulness of God and in independence from Him.

Tyre is above all the merchant. Even his stated aim is to serve. No doubt his first aim is to serve himself. He does not have the true spirit of service for God. Instead he finds in other people's need a chance for his own gain, and that is the cause of his judgment here... It hardly needs saying that a habit of gaining riches from the needs of others hardens the heart. So it was with Tyre, and for this she is judged. Tyre is plainly the world of money.

The immediate aim was Nebuchadnezzar's capture of this great centre of ancient trade. But the Spirit of prophecy does not stop with what the LORD purposed against her merchant princes at that time. Then He brought the honoured men of the earth into contempt, stained the pride of all glory, and struck the ships of Tarshish in their strength. Whatever Tyre's reappearance after the Babylonian power fell, the prophecy looks on to a brighter day, when her merchandise and her wages will be holy to the LORD.

Still, the last verse shows that even this scene, though largely fulfilled in the past, has its bright side in the day of joy for the whole earth. "Her merchandise and her wages will be holy to the LORD. It will not be stored or hoarded" — as it was in former days, when heartless tricks of greed decided how she traded and what she traded for — "but her merchandise will supply abundant food and fine clothing for those who dwell before the LORD." The daughter of Tyre will be there with a gift, when the King greatly desires the beauty of His earthly bride (Ps. 45:12).

Satan uses Tyre — envious of Jerusalem at first, and later her rival — to display the glory and riches of the world, so Tyre becomes a tool against God. Through commerce Satan tries to cancel the curse. The earth was to bring forth thorns and thistles, and man was to eat bread by the sweat of his brow. Satan would get around that sentence by gathering the different products of the earth and filling the eye and the mind with them. He would hide the thorns by spreading a carpet of Tyrian goods over them... Trade in itself was not sin, for we read that in the coming day her merchandise will be used for the Lord (Isa. 23:17-18).

After Tyre's seventy forgotten years, we read that "her merchandise and her wages will be holy to the LORD" (Isa. 23:17-18). This may refer to Tyre sending cedar trees from Lebanon for the building of the second temple (Ezra 3:7). But we must look to a day still future for the prophecy to be fulfilled: compare Ps. 45:12.