Prophecy of Isaiah

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 21: The Burden of Tyre 

Since Isaiah chapter 13 and the burden of Babylon, the prophet has announced an entire series of burdens against what may be considered to have been the world of ancient Israel at this time in history, with the death of Ahaz and the first few years after Hezekiah had become king of Judah. In the course of these burdens, there is no mercy for Babylon, nor for the king of Babylon. But there is mercy for the Israel in the burdens of Moab and Damascus. There was also mercy for the Israelites of the “land shadowing with wings”, which are evidently those of the Assyrian deportations who were portrayed as making a future supplication to God. Then there were expressions of hope and mercy for the people of Judah who would flee into Egypt, although they would suffer for having done so, and plausibly also for those who would flee into Arabia. However in the course of those burdens, there was no hope or mercy extended to the Egyptians, Ethiopians, Edomites or Arabians. Then finally, in the Valley of Vision, which was an oracle against Jerusalem, there were continued expressions of hope for the people of Judah in the face of an ominous condemnation, even if that hope is expressed enigmatically in the promise of the Key of David. Now we come to the final burden of the series, and it is the burden of Tyre, and even though Tyre itself is condemned, as Jerusalem had been, there are still messages of hope and mercy for at least a portion of its people, as we shall see here in our discussion of Isaiah chapter 23.

So now, discussing the Burden of Tyre, we must first make an insistence, that the Phoenicians of the Judges and Kingdom periods of ancient Israel certainly had been Israelites, at least for the most part, in spite of the general insistence of modern Jewry that they had been Canaanites. So on most Bible maps which are published today, a land labeled as Phoenicia is demarcated in a manner where it appears to have been separate from the land of the tribes of Israel. But that is not true, and every Bible map which has done so has perpetuated a lie which is contrary to the actual text of Scripture. The evidence of this is seen as early as Judges chapter 5, where in the Song of Deborah the prophetess had lamented that “17 Gilead abode beyond Jordan: and why did Dan remain in ships? Asher continued on the sea shore, and abode in his breaches.”

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 22: The Justice in Judgment

With our last presentation here, The Burden of Tyre, concluding Isaiah chapter 23 the prophet seems to have finally come to the end of his long list of burdens concerning certain of the people of the ancient world of Israel. So, as we hope to have explained, the burdens of Babylon, Moab, Damascus, Egypt, the Desert of the Sea, Dumah – which much more likely should have been Edom, the burden of Arabia and the burden of Jerusalem in the Valley of Vision, and finally, the burden of Tyre, had all actually been directed at Israelites who had been in the process of being taken into captivity, or in the process of trying to avoid captivity. So even where statements are made concerning Babylonians, Egyptians or Arabians, they were made for the sake of the children of Israel, and not for the sake of those others. The entire Bible was written for the sake of the children of Israel, and the others are of no consequence unless Yahweh uses them to punish Israel. So each of the burdens were ominous warnings for Israel, but Israel was also granted some degree of hope or mercy throughout.

As we closed Isaiah chapter 23, concerning the Tyrians the promise of mercy was quite subtle, where, speaking of the merchandise of ancient Tyre, the Word of Yahweh declared that it would be “for them that dwell before the LORD, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.” This message of hope for the Israelites of Tyre, those of the Tyrians who dwell before Yahweh, evokes the words of Christ in Luke chapter 12 where He told His disciples, in part: “27 Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28 If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith? 29 And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.” Having food and raiment is enough of a blessing, and it is also probably better than one may expect in a time of judgment. The word for durable is עתיק or athiq (# 6266) and Strong’s defined it as “probably antique, i.e. venerable or splendid” so it is evident that Yahweh would even clothe them well. Likewise, He would also feed them well, as the word for sufficiently is שׂבעה or sobah (# 7654) which is defined as satiety, so that they would be satisfied with their victuals.