This chapter can be titled, The oracle concerning Tyre. Tyre was a small island that was controlled by the Kenites and was also a great shipping and commerce connection for the Mediterranean Sea. Tyrus, another name for Satan, gets his name from this place. Study Eze.28 or my works in Topical Teaching at thechristministries.org entitled Who is Satan. Isaiah 23 and verse 1 reads.
Isa.23:1] The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in: from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them.
Tyre means; rock, lower case (not our rock, our Rock is Jesus Christ) that it is laid waste brings us to the end times. Chittim means; bruiser, this is another name for God’s elect. We are used to bruise his head in these end times. Let’s go to Zec.9 and verse 2 reads.
Zec.9:2] And Hamath also shall border thereby; Tyrus, and Zidon, though it be very wise.
[3] And Tyrus did build herself a strong hold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets.
[4] Behold, the Lord will cast her out, and he will smite her power in the sea; and she shall be devoured with fire.
For our God is a consuming fire, Heb.12:29. Back to Isa.23 and verse 2 reads.
Isa.23:2] Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle; thou whom the merchants of Zidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished.
Speaking to the Kenites.
Isa.23:3] And by great waters the seed of Sihor, the harvest of the river, is her revenue; and she is a mart of nations.
This word mart, is the only place in the bible we find this word it is H5505 çâchar pronounced saw-khar’, and means; merchandise. Also gain from traffic. What is being said here is she makes her revenue from the sale of food to the nations. Now we know that there will be a famine in the end times. Amos 8:11 lets us know it is a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.
Isa.23:4] Be thou ashamed, O Zidon: for the sea hath spoken, even the strength of the sea, saying, I travail not, nor bring forth children, neither do I nourish up young men, nor bring up virgins.
What we have here is prophecy being fulfilled right before our eyes. Let’s go to Joel 3 and verse 2 reads.
Joel 3:2] I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
Do not overlook what was just said. Key words are heritage and scattered and parted God’s land.
Joel 3:3] And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.
Look at the perversion in the world today, prophecy fulfilled.
Joel 3:4] Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompence me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head;
Here is where Chittim comes in; bruisers, God’s elect.
Joel 3:5] Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things:
[6] The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.
Taking away their inheritance that God gave to them.
Joel 3:7] Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head:
[8] And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD hath spoken it.
The Sabeans are said here for the most cruel and wicked people. Back to Isa.23 and verse 5 reads.
Isa.23:5] As at the report concerning Egypt, so shall they be sorely pained at the report of Tyre.
They will go hungry, the famine is on.
Isa.23:6] Pass ye over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the isle.
[7] Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn.
They go into captivity when they worship Satan when he comes at the sixth trump.
Isa.23:8] Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth?
[9] The LORD of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth.
They become king makers of these end times, but they pollute the earth with their merchandise. God does not honor this. Let’s see what God’s word has to say about this pride. Job 40 and verse 10 reads.
Job 40:10] Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty.
[11] Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every one that is proud, and abase him.
[12] Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place.
Even the king of Babylon wrote himself in the book of Daniel the lesson he learned the hard way. Dan.4 and verse 37 reads.
Dan.4:37] Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.
Back to Isa.23 and verse 10 reads.
Isa.23:10] Pass through thy land as a river, O daughter of Tarshish: there is no more strength.
Pass is overflowed, as a flood, there is no restraint.
Isa.23:11] He stretched out his hand over the sea, he shook the kingdoms: the LORD hath given a commandment against the merchant city, to destroy the strong holds thereof.
This comes from Tyre, which means; rock, lower case. Not our Rock which is Jesus Christ. Let’s go to Hebrews 12 and pick it up with verse 25 and it reads.
Heb.12:25] See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
[26] Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
[27] And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
[28] Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
[29] For our God is a consuming fire.
We stand on our Rock, Jesus Christ, an immovable Rock. God will destroy all who stand on their rock, Satan. Back to Isa.23 and verse 12 reads.
Isa.23:12] And he said, Thou shalt no more rejoice, O thou oppressed virgin, daughter of Zidon: arise, pass over to Chittim; there also shalt thou have no rest.
Pass over to Cyprus and you will not have any rest either. Our rest is in Jesus. Let’s go to Rev.18 and verse 22 reads.
Rev.18:22] And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;
[23] And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.
[24] And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.
The blood of prophets and saints tells us he is talking to the Kenites, from Tyre. Back to Isa.23 and verse 13 reads.
Isa.23:13] Behold the land of the Chaldeans; this people was not, till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness: they set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof; and he brought it to ruin.
Here we have the Assyrian and Babylon brought in for a reason. Satan is called both king of Assyria and the king of Babylon for prophetic examples throughout the Old Testament. They are brought to ruin, cast into the fire.
Isa.23:14] Howl, ye ships of Tarshish: for your strength is laid waste.
Utterly destroyed by the hand of God.
Isa.23:15] And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot.
This prophecy given to Judah for example to us. Judah went into captivity for her harlotry, worshipping false idols. Judah went into captivity about 496 B.C. -426 B.C. This king is Cyrus, who was named 136 years before he was even born. Jeremiah wrote this prophecy in Jer.25 and verse 11 reads.
Jer.25:11] And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
[12] And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.
Remember all these prophecies are written for our examples for these end times, 1Cor.10:11. Back to Isa.23 and verse 16 reads.
Isa.23:16] Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered.
[17] And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the LORD will visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.
This harlot is Mystery Babylon from Revelation. Let’s go to Rev.17 and verse 1 reads.
Rev.17:1] And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
[2] With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
[3] So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
These are the nations of the world, the one world order that worships Satan.
Rev.17:4] And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
[5] And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
[6] And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
This shows us that these are the Kenites of Tyre that we have been reading about in Isaiah. Let’s skip down to verse 15 for a mystery that the LORD has revealed to his elect.
Rev.17:15] And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
God’s word is always complete. Back to Isa.23 and verse 18 reads.
Isa.23:18] And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the LORD: it shall not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before the LORD, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.
We shall eat of the Tree of Life and drink deep of that Living Water. Durable clothing are our righteous acts that make up our fine linen. Remember we are talking about the end times, we win in the end and God’s truth shall reign. Let’s finish this lesson in Zec.14 and verse 20 reads.
Zec.14:20] In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the LORD’s house shall be like the bowl’s before the altar.
[21] Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts.
Great study today, let’s go to his throne.
Father, we thank you for your word and ask that you bless all that love you in Jesus’s precious name, Amen.
KJV along with The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of The Bible