023. V. A Prophecy Regarding Phœnicia (23:1-18)
V A PROPHECY REGARDING PHCENICIA (Isaiah 23:1-18) The coming downfall of Tyre (Isaiah 23:1-5). When Shalmaneser IV, about 725 B. C., was laying siege to Tyre, the prophet uttered this message concerning that city of merchants: “Mourn, O homeward bound merchantmen, over the disaster reported to you at Cyprus. The harbors are closed against you. Phœnicia, so long enriched by traffic, whose harvest-fields were in Egypt, is helpless. The lonely sea will not acknowledge her children nourished on her bosom. Egypt herself shall be seized with a panic.
Because Jehovah purposes to humiliate her (Isaiah 23:6-9). “O Tyrians, make haste to flee to distant Tarshish. Tyre is no longer the happy, enterprising city of olden times, the maker of kings, the home of merchants as honored as princes. Jehovah has humililated her because her greatness was never ascribed to him, the true Source of all.
She will lave no chance to escape (Isaiah 23:10-14). “It will be useless to escape, for Jehovah’s power can reach over the sea. Neither in her colonies nor in Cyprus will the fugitives from the ruined city find a resting-place. The recent ruthless spoliation of Chaldea by the Assyrian takes away her hope of deliverance.
Tyre’s future service for Jehovah (Isaiah 23:15-18). For many year—the length of dynasty—Tyre shall be in oblivion. Then she will sing the well-known harlot’s ballad :
Take thy lute and go about the city, Harlot, forgotten now by men!
Play thou with skill, sing many a ditty To win remembrance then.[21] [21]
Thus regaining her traffic with mankind, she shall consecrate her gains to Jehovah and to the use of his faithful servants.”