Bible Study: January 11, 2023

Okay, so tonight we're going to look at Isaiah 23. And Isaiah 23, like most of these prophecies that we have been reading lately, has an amazing occurrence in it.

One of those things that just absolutely proves the existence of God, that He's in control of everything.

You know, that He's in control of the earth. He certainly allows us to... He allows Satan to do the things that he'll allow Satan to do, but ultimately it is God who is sovereign, and His will will be done.

You know, later on Isaiah will come to Isaiah 45, where it says, His Word will not return to Him void.

And as we look at these prophecies we've been through, as we, you know, back at the learning about King Ahaz and learning about how His resistance to God, you know, led God to the prophecy of Jesus Christ being born, that Christ would always be with us.

All those prophecies that were fulfilled perfectly with Christ's birth.

When we look at the prophecies that we've been talking about, you know, a couple weeks ago we talked about Babylon and how God named Cyrus specifically 150 years before Cyrus was born, as he would be the one who would lead the Medes and Persians to conquer Babylon.

As we look at the, when we think back on the wilderness of the sea and what Semiramis did is she reclaimed that land that became Babylon from the sea, and then how God turned those canals, or Cyrus, used Cyrus to turn those canals back around to lead to Babylon's destruction.

We're going to see that. We're going to see that here again tonight. You know, one of the things that you learn...

Okay. Okay, sorry about that. One of the things you learn in the book of Isaiah is you can't just read through the book of Isaiah and understand it.

You know, you have to take the time in order to look at the chapters. You have to do some of the outside work to understand the history that's involved with these prophecies, so that you can understand what God has done and what he prophesied, you know, hundreds of years in advance.

You have to take the time and take it slowly to appreciate it. If you just read through, for instance, in chapter 23, you'd scratch your head. You'd, you know, maybe just believe everything that God said here, but you have to take the time to look at it.

So tonight, this prophecy is about Tyre. And Tyre is one of those places we've heard about. You know, it's in the Bible from the Old Testament into the New Testament.

It has a fascinating history. You know, many of the... well, almost all the history books say it's one of the oldest cities on earth.

Some say more than 4,000 years old. Some say that it began back into the 2750 BC, so an ancient, ancient history.

And we're going to start with some of that history of Tyre tonight, because in order to appreciate this prophecy against Tyre, you have to know some of the history of it.

So I'm going to start with that with a PowerPoint, and then we're going to... then as you see what we talk about from history, secular history, about Tyre and some of the facts of it. And we look through chapter 23, and it also a corresponding prophecy against Tyre that we find in Ezekiel 26, 27, and 28.

We get a very good view of what God prophesied against Tyre that happened, and a vision of what he's talking about for Tyre in the future, because as we've talked about, most of these prophecies are dual prophecies. So let me...

If I can do this right, let me put this PowerPoint up, and we'll spend just a few minutes talking about that to begin this study.

Can you all see that? Yep.

Let me...

um...

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Okay, so this is an introductory history of Tyre. It's a fascinating history if you ever want to go and look at it in more detail, but this will give you an overview of this city of Tyre.

You know, it says here...

one of the things I've already said... Let me move my little bar here so I can read what I've got down here.

It's one of the oldest cities in the world dating back more than 4,000 years. That's significant.

We're going to see it in the Bible at the beginning of Israel's history as they were coming out of Egypt, and God led them into the Promised Land, and as they began to conquer the cities there as well.

It was the major... it was the major city along with Sidon, which we're going to see in Isaiah 23 as well.

A major city of ancient Phoenicia. You remember that Phoenicia was a shipfaring people. They were the explorers of the world.

In David's time, he was associated with the king Hyrum of Tyre, and we'll look at these verses. I'll get a little ahead of myself here, but we'll look at some of the verses where Solomon was involved with Tyre, and as they explored that area, the Mediterranean Sea.

It has, as many of these ancient cities did. It was founded in paganism. They believed that their city was was founded by their great god, whose name is Melchart, and they claimed that Tyre was the birthplace of Oeropa. Now, Oeropa, you know, she's the one who gave the name to Europe, and she, that statue and that idol, is still around.

Maybe you've seen some of the some of the statues that have recently been displayed about, figure out where my little cursor is here. Yeah, here are some statues that you've probably seen of Oeropa, and you can see she's writing a bull there. This is in front of the European Union's capital, if you will, the one on the left.

The one on the right is a more modern version of it. It's also there. You can see Oeropa writing the bull. It gives you the the idea of the woman writing the beast.

And of course, that we see in Revelation 13, and that's Europe. The whole story of of Europe, Oeropa, the goddess, is that she was the epitome of human beauty.

And Zeus, the Greek god, was so enamored with her that he came in the form of a bull, and captured her, kidnapped her, and whisked her away.

So that's what that depicts. And it's just really interesting in modern-day Europe that they still have that image.

Oeropa, the namesake for Europe is there, and we still have a woman and a beast, and that figure that's there with us, it hails back to that pagan time.

So, okay. One of the things we're going to see about Tyre is that it has a unique geography. The next slide, I'll have a map of Tyre.

But it's a unique geography, and the unique way that the Tyre itself was built, and the way the city was, really figures into the prophecy that we're going to look at in Isaiah 23 tonight.

It did have a port and an industrial center that was on the mainland, right on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of Jerusalem, in the area of Phoenicia.

But it was a port and industrial center that consisted of two parts. The main trade center was on an island.

That was where the ships came in, and this island was only like a thousand yards off of the mainland.

But it was separated by the water, of course, but it was a large enough island that all the cities, the main industry, and all the harbor and everything was right on that island.

And then Old Tyre, they called it. It was about a half a mile east that was on the mainland.

And of course, here again, we have the estimate in some of the encyclopedias that it was founded in 2750 BC.

When you think of 2750 BC and we're in 2000, you know, 2023 AD, you're seeing a city that is somewhere between 4 and 5,000 years old.

It has existed during that time. It's not nearly of the stature today that it was back then, but it still exists.

I see some people waiting that I've just been overlooking, so let me let them in.

Okay, they were a colonizing people. You know, one of their main industries I have up there is purple.

You know, through the Bible you see purple seems to be a royal color. We read back in the book of Acts when we were going through the study on Acts about purple and Lydia and all that.

But purple seems to have been quite the color and highly prized back in ancient times, and Tyre was known from that.

Something called a muralish shellfish, and it was highly valued back in that time. So Tyre became known for it, and it held royal connotations.

Even today, purple is associated with royalty. But the word phoenicia actually comes from kind of a form of phoenicia.

It literally means purple people. So what they were known for, that industry, was highly prized and highly known back then.

And it was a very wealthy area. I mentioned that it was colonizing, that they were famous for their shipfaring expeditions.

Solomon was enamored with what Tyre was able to do, as they explored. You can imagine, as they explored the Mediterranean Sea and those unknown lands over there.

And they did colonize Tarshish. This colony was formed. Boy, I think they said...

Boy, I forget the date. But anyways, one of the earliest colonies, Tarshish, is where Spain is today. It's on the southern border of Spain.

And as far as they were concerned, it was the far ends of the Earth. Because as far as they could see past Spain, there was nothing but an Atlantic Ocean.

And so they did not really venture past that. So coming up is a couple of maps. You can see on the left side there where Tyre and Sidon actually are.

You know, you're becoming quite familiar with this area that we've been talking about for the last several weeks. That includes Israel, Judah, Jerusalem, Edom, Moab, Ammon.

You see Phoenicia up there on the north side of Israel. You see Phalicia, a different city or different country down below it.

But there are Tyre and Sidon. They're about 20 miles apart. The graphic says they're sitting right there on the Mediterranean Sea, perfectly situated.

So they became very wealthy because ships came and went. And they became wealthy because of everyone who was moving out and about around that time and the city of Tyre there.

On the right, you can see over to the east of the Mediterranean Sea, that's where Tyre and Sidon are. And you can see where Tarshish is right there at the base of the southern, the southwestern part of Spain.

So that was quite for that day and age, for them to colonize over in that area. They went back and forth between those areas and all those coasts of northern Africa.

All that exploration around Italy in that area, but they went out to the farthest end of Tarshish.

So when we look at Isaiah 23, it's going to talk about the ships of Tarshish. Just talking about these Tyrian ships that went back and forth in those areas.

Quite a wide range, as you can see. It's just interesting that we have all this history around the Mediterranean Sea.

And then in the end time, when we look at Revelation, we have all the things going on around that Mediterranean Sea as well.

We have the King of the North, of course, up in Europe. We have the King of the South down in the Middle East.

And then, of course, off to the east, where Russia, North Korea, and China are.

Let's see what else we've got here. Yeah, there's an interesting verse in Ezekiel 26 verse 3.

We'll look at Ezekiel 26 a little bit later in conjunction with Isaiah 23.

But God says about Tyre, I will bring many nations against you. And when you look at Tyre, their history, indeed that is what has happened to them.

History shows that Nebuchadnezzar besieged Tyre for 13 years. He got the dates there at 585 to 572 BC.

We will be looking at that in Ezekiel's prophecy, also in Isaiah's prophecy.

Remember, by comparison, that Babylon conquered Judah in around 586 BC. So around that time, Babylon was the first world-ruling empire. He was there, and so nations feared him.

But for 13 years, he besieged Old Tyre. That's the city on the mainland.

He was never able to defeat or enter into the island, or what we might call New Tyre.

They were founded about the same time, but he was never able to do anything with New Tyre.

But he was able to defeat Old Tyre, and that city fell. But then in 332 BC, a couple hundred years later, Alexander the Great, with the Brecco-Macedonian Empire, he besieged that island city in 332 BC, destroying the city. And how he conquered that city is an amazing fulfillment of the prophecy recorded in Isaiah and in Ezekiel. We will get to that a little bit. It is one of those things that happened that is unique in the history of the earth. One of the prophecies, or one of the settings there of a Tyre, and what happened to them unique in the history of the earth, could only be predicted by God, could only have happened if God allowed Alexander the Great to be part of that, because in this modern day and age, how would anyone think of that?

It'll be quite interesting. So remember some of these things, because I'll reference back to them when we go through some of the prophecies. Okay, I will. Well, actually, I'll tell you. I'll tell you. I forgot I put this map in here. To the left, you will see the map of Old Tyre. You know, that's on the mainland there, right on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. And then you see the island. Now that's expanded. It's only you can see a thousand yards, a half a mile or so, they say, that you can come out to New Tyre. And so what happened is, you know what, I'm going to come back to this. I'm going to, well, am I going to come back to this a little later? Hold on just a minute. Ah, okay, I messed it up. I'm going to come back to that a little bit later. I'll bring that map back up in a little bit. Let's go to Ezekiel 26. With all that in mind, let's begin there, because Ezekiel has a pretty complete prophecy of what is going to happen of Tyre.

And it will tie in and help us to better understand what is recorded in Isaiah 23.

And let's begin in verse 1 of Ezekiel. No, no, no, no, I know what I wanted to do before I did that.

Let's look at Tyre. Let's look at Tyre in the Bible, so we can see how prevalent it is in the Bible.

So let's go back to the book of Judges.

Look up Judges and find my notes here. Judges 1, I think it was verse 31, if I remember right.

Judges 1.

Wow. Based on the search here, the first time it's mentioned is in Joshua 19.

Okay, Joshua. Okay, okay, well okay, yeah, it's cited. It's cited as mentioned in Judges.

So, yeah, Judges 1, 31. Yeah, remember the prophecy in Isaiah 23 is on Tyre and Sidon.

So in Judges 1, 31, we find Sidon, right? It says, it says, "'Nordid,' this is where they're expelling the people for the land as God gives Israel the promised land, and in some cases they did not drive the people out. And Judges 1, 31, it says, "'Nordid Asher drive out the inhabitants of Ako, or the inhabitants of Sidon, or of Aelab, Aksib, Hiba, Haefik, and or Rahab." So, we find a very early reference to that area of the world.

There was a city up there before Israel went in there. Sidon actually preceded Tyre as a great city. Tyre eventually eclipsed it as the greatest city of the Phoenician area. If we move on to Judges 10, Judges 10 and verse 6.

You know, Israel did what Israel often does. For 40 years, God took them out of Egypt. They were in the wilderness for 40 years. He taught them His ways, provided everything for them. But as soon as they came in contact with pagan nations, they seemed to adopt their ways. We find that in chapter 10, verse 6. The children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Eternal, and they served the Baals and the asterisks, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the people of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines. And they forsook the Lord and did not serve Him. So, here again, Sidon had an effect on them. And Israel, we're told to come out of the world. Israel did come out of the world, but they just could not resist. And so, God, we have to learn to resist the world while we're in it. And we do that with, of course, God's Holy Spirit, something that Israel did not have. In 1 Kings 7, we find...

Okay, 1 Kings 7 and verse 13. Am I in 1 Kings 7? Oh, yeah, this is Hyrum of Tyre. Yeah, King Solomon sent and brought Hyrum from Tyre. He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a bronze worker. He was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill, and working with all kinds of bronze work. So he came to King Solomon and did all his work.

So here we have Solomon. Of course, Solomon built the temple of God, built the house for himself.

In 1 Kings 11, Hyrum figured prominently in his reign in 1 Kings 9. 1 Kings 9 verse 26.

Here we see Solomon joining in with the seafaring attitude of seafaring wiles of the Tyrians. In verse 26, King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at Izzian Gebur, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea, the land of the Vietnam. And Hyrum sent his servants with the fleet, Seaman, who knew the sea, to work with the servants of Solomon.

They went to Ophir and acquired 420 talents of gold from there and brought it to King Solomon.

So Solomon, you know, kind of was partnering with Hyrum. We find his name throughout the Old Testament when they're building the temple. He brings in the cedars, the cedar of Lebanon, that adorns the temple as well. If we go to 1 Kings 16, we find a famous Sidonian, a Phoenician, who's become part of Israel.

Let's make sure I'm not skipping one here. Yeah, 1 Kings 16, and verse 31.

1 Kings 16, verse 31.

Yeah, okay. As it came to pass, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. Just talking of King Ahab, we remember King Ahab. It was he and his wife Jezebel who we meet here that took the stand against Elijah with the prophets of Baal and that whole story, that Ahab took his wife Jezebel, the daughter of Eph-Bael, king of the Sidonians, and he went and served Baal and worshiped him. So here we have a king of Israel, you know, marrying a daughter of the Sidonians, and of course, he starts worshiping Baal. Later on in chapter 17, chapter 17 and verse 8, we find Elijah. You know, after he goes off and God is feeding him with ravens, we see in the early verses of chapter 17, and then God sends him in verse 9 to Zarephath that says, arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, dwell there, see, I've commanded a widow there to provide for you. And of course, you have that act of faith of this widow from the Sidonians who gives to Elijah her last morsel because she believes what God has said. So we have an act of faith that happens here from a Tyrian woman that is quite notable.

We move over to the New Testament. We don't find Tyre just disappear. We find in the New Testament that Christ, you know, was in Tyre. In Matthew 15 and verse 21, we're going to read 21 through 28.

You know, this area was alive and well during that time as well. Christ had some interactions with the people there and said some things about them. Verse 21 of Matthew 15, it says, Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to him, saying, have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David. My daughter is severely demon-possessed. But Christ answered her not a word, and his disciples came and urged him, saying, send her away, for she cries out after us. But Christ answered and said, I wasn't sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And she came and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs. She could have been quite offended. And she said, Yes, Lord, even the little dog, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which come, which fall from the master's table. And Jesus answered and said to her, O woman, great is your faith, let it be to you as you desire. And her daughter was healed from that very hour. So here we have him and Tyre in sight. And here's another act of faith like the widow and xeripath in Tyre in sight in this region just north of Israel.

Just north of Israel. In Mark, we find Tyre again. And we see that it's not an area that was unfamiliar with Christ. They listened to his messages and they followed him in Mark 3.

Mark 3 and verse 8.

Let's pick it up in verse 7. Mark 3 verse 7. Jesus withdrew his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed him and from Judea and Jerusalem and Idumea.

Remember that's Edom. We talked about Idumea and Edom a few weeks ago. And beyond the Jordan, and those from Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they heard how many things he was doing, came to him. So here we have this nation, or this city, these Phoenicians, Tyre and Sidon, again interacting with the people of God. And yet we'll see, and we're not going to take time tonight to look at Ezekiel 28, yet God will compare the king of Tyre to Satan. Back in Isaiah 14, when we talked about Babylon, and God compared Babylon to Satan, in Ezekiel 28, he compares Tyre to Satan and talks about it there. And yet there were people from Tyre that did indeed follow, or at least listen. If we go to Luke 10, Christ uses Tyre and Sidon as an example against the people who simply were refusing him during that day. When he would talk, you know, you remember the Jews, the Pharisees, they just would kind of resist him, much like King Ahaz. He just didn't want anything to do with God. He didn't want God to prove that he would be with them or anything. And the Pharisees and Sadducees, the Jews of his day, had the same approach. So in Luke 10 and verse 13, Christ, as he's talking, he says, Woe to you, Corazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon and the judgment than for you. And then he goes on, he says the same thing, and compares another one to Sodom.

So, you know, as Christ talks about it, there is something in Tyre and Sidon that did that they did some receive what he had to say. And finally, even after Christ's death and resurrection, as we went, as we go into the New Testament times in Acts 21, we find the Apostle Paul going to Tyre as well. And he finds he finds disciples there.

So let's pick it up in Acts 21 and verse 1. It says, It came to pass, says Acts 21. When it came to pass that when we departed from then and set sail, running a straight course, we came to cause the following day it arose from there to Patar, and finding a ship going to Phoenicia, you know where that is in the map, we went aboard and set sail. When we incited Cyprus, we passed it on the left, sailed to Syria, and landed at Tyre. For there the ship was to unload her cargo. And finding disciples in Tyre, we stayed there seven days. They told Paul through the Spirit not to go to Jerusalem. If you were with us on the Bible study through the book of Acts, you'll remember that. Paul went up anyway because God wanted him to go up to Jerusalem for that feast. When we had come to the end of those days, we departed and went on our way. And all those from Tyre accompanied us with wives and children till we were out of the city, and we went out down on the shore and prayed. And when we had taken our leave of one another, we boarded the ship, they returned home. And when we had finished our voyage from Tyre, we came to Ptolemais, greeted the brethren, and stayed with them one day. So Tyre and Sidon are well known in the Bible. Old Testament time, New Testament time. You see the people of God interacting with Tyre, the Tyrians, T-Y-R-E-A-N-S, they call them, and the Sidonians. So they're well known to Israel. They're here throughout the Bible. And yet we have this prophecy in Isaiah 23.

And as I said, we're going to go back to Ezekiel 26 first. You know, the prophecy against Tyre.

And it's quite an interesting prophecy, but let's look first at Ezekiel 26, and then I'll go back to that map that I hope I can pull up again, and we can reference it again. And Isaiah, or Ezekiel 26, actually Ezekiel 26, 27, and 28 are all about Tyre. 26 and 27, those give some of the history, some of the fulfilled prophecies of Tyre. Also talks about some of the future. We're going to talk about that and see what that dual prophecy is for a head for Tyre. And of course, chapter 28, we're not going to take the time to look at chapter 28 today, but you can see where God will then take the Prince of Tyre, and then he's going to talk about all these character traits of that and compare it to Satan and give us a view of what the character of Satan is like in chapter 28.

That's a very good complementary chapter to Isaiah 14, where God compares the King of Babylon to Satan.

So, you know, in light of all the history we talk about tonight, that might be an interesting thing to review later on. But let's look at chapter 26 and read the first few verses there.

Again, here's Tyre taking a position against Jerusalem.

Now, we had that one slide that talked about Nebuchadnezzar coming against Tyre in 585 to 572 BC.

Then we had Alexander the Great coming and completing the conquest of New Tyre.

Later on, the Muslims conquered Tyre. The Muslims conquered Tyre, and their history has gone on in that way. Let me get back to that slide there. Somehow I've messed something up here.

Let me just advance it this way for now, if I can even make that happen.

Yeah, let me go ahead and read verse three. Verse 4 then of Ezekiel 26 says, And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers.

I will also scrape her dust from her and make her like the top of a rock.

And shall be a place for spreading nets in the midst of the sea, for I have spoken, it will become a plunder for the nations. Now, that is what Nebuchadnezzar did.

He pretty much destroyed the old city. When it says, I'll break down her towers, I'll destroy her walls, I'll scrape her dust from her and make her like the top of a rock.

Nebuchadnezzar left it a pretty desolate place. And we can go on through verse 7 there.

It talks specifically mentions Nebuchadnezzar coming forward and doing this. Now, remember, Ezekiel wrote this before the final defeat of Judah. He was one of the ones who was brought over earlier to Babylon as well. So he specifically mentions Nebuchadnezzar. And then in verse 11, it concludes the part where it talks about what Nebuchadnezzar is going to do with the hood of his horses. He will trample all your streets. He will slay your people by the sword, and your strong pillars will fall to the ground. So we have a city that's been laid waste.

And then in verse 12, it says, they will plunder your riches. Now, it turns out that this prophecy is a different way than Nebuchadnezzar. They will plunder your riches and pillar your merchandise.

They will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses. Well, that's actually Nebuchadnezzar. They will lay your stones, your timber, and your soil in the midst of the water.

Now, that's an interesting verse because what happened when Alexander conquered okay yeah i've gave you some of the history here i've gotten ahead of myself and some things but here on this side you can see Tyre talking about the many nations later they were conquered by the muslims then the crusaders the muslims took the city again and reduced Tyre to ashes but sire is still there today in the form of um in the form uh in the in leaven now this is the this is the slide i had up before this is um this is are you sharing that screen did i not i'm not sharing that screen okay well no that must be what the problem was and let me go back and try that one more time okay now do you see two maps up there yes okay okay um okay so you see on the left the old tire that's on the mainland um there that we saw and then you see that little island of Tyre that's out there that's about a half a mile maybe a thousand yards away separated by the sea what alexander did was take all of the alexander the great did was take all of the ruins all of the stuff of the houses that were broken down all of the stuff that was of the walls that were broken down everything in old tire and he willed to causeway from the mainland out to the island city of new tire we'll call it and so you see that little strip of land there that's called you know the causeway they it was protected by the sea but he used all the ruins of old tire dumped them into the sea so that they could go over there and then they conquered they conquered new tire in 3032 BC you'll see up there the little dotted line that says present coastline today on the right there is a photograph of tire but what you can see is that what alexander did we had that little jut out where he he put all that into the sea from old tire to combine it so you can almost see the outline of new of new tire in that picture on the right that was all done by taking the broken down houses the broken down walls the broken down towers and everything of old tire that nevocate nezor did and then alexander and his team dropped them into the water and built were able to build that causeway so now the coastline looks like it just juts out there but that was something that alexander actually did so even the secular commentaries in history will reference a Ezekiel 26 12 as this is a fulfillment of prophecy that is clear there because of what history shows that alexander did and how how that all those walls and homes and everything were dumped into the sea to build out that thing so it's kind of an amazing prophecy when you look at it and what happened to tire now they remember the tie the tyrians they were shipfaring people when they would when they were attacked they would flee so the people from the old city when it was under conquest by Babylon they they went out to new tire right because it's protected by the sea and they thought that they were going to be safe there some of them went on ships to Tarshish can't get much further away from old tire than all the to go all the way to Tarshish flee from the enemy flee from the invading armies and that's what they that's what they they did if we go back to Isaiah 23 now we see that in in the verses of Isaiah 23 when we begin there so let me let me pull this let me pull this down and let's look at this prophecy of Isaiah written in the 700s BC now that's a hundred what is that 120 years before Nebuchadnezzar actually went in and broke down old tire some 700 some 400 years before Alexander the Great and he did and he fulfilled the prophecy that Ezekiel wrote in you know sometime in the early 600s 600s BC so Isaiah 23 verse 1 with all that in the background that we have now we can see what's going on with tire because we know something about and we know something about the attitudes of the people and what they did it says the burden or the prophecy against tire whale you know the bible says whale that means there's a time of trouble coming this is a time of of this is a time of trouble for the people of tire whale you ships of Tarshish because those ships of Tarshish they were well known they were they were merchants around that sea but they were also ships that would take people to Tarshish to get away from any trouble on the mainland whale you ships of Tarshish for it is waylaid waste so that there is no house no harbor from the land of cypher it is it is revealed to them so this is referring to what Nebuchadnezzar did wow i don't know if you noticed the isle of cypress that was there on that map but from the isle of cypress it's revealed to them you can see it's been broken down old tire it's gone it's gone and what alexander eventually did was also visible from cypress that was there be still you know so be still you inhabitants of the coastland that's that area of phoenicia be still you inhabitants of the coastland you merchants of sitan whom those who cross the sea have filled it was a very wealthy city people came from near and far to trade with the people of tire their their purple was well known it was a rich city and people came from everywhere to work with them so it was a very rich area and on great waters the grain of shahore shahore is another name for the Nile the harvest of the river is her revenue and she is the marketplace for the nations so it's kind of letting us know tire and siding a tremendously a tremendous area of a tremendous area of commerce verse four be ashamed be ashamed oh sitan for the sea has spoken the strength of the sea saying i don't labor nor bring forth children neither do i rear young men nor bring up virgins well what that means when we read things like that is the strength of tire is gone no more young men no more strength no more vitality in the nation you know it's just just dried up it's time it's time is over is what god is saying i don't labor i don't bring forth children i don't rear young men i don't bring up virgins no wives no army none of those things that that can spell a a vital and a vibrant nation when the report when the report reaches egypt now remember back in those days uh when you had these these powers the asyrian power and so when the asyrian power where they would go out being a very cruel nation people would people would wilt at the idea of syria coming to them and when they heard a nation falling to a syria they would be worried uh and they're understandably so when what happens when a syria comes on our doorstep it was the same thing with babylon as they began their kind that they began their conquering way so when the report and if we look back at isaiah 19 verse 16 it'll talk about egypt and and how babylon and these nations went in against egypt as well when they saw egypt fall of course tyre was like whoa okay we've got we've got a global well a rural local power here he was out trying to take over everyone that was the way of the world and that in those days one power would just try to take over one city then go and take another one and take another one they wanted to be the dominant power you know you had a syria doing that for a while then you had babylon the first world ruling empire the world at that time being that area around the mediterranean then the means and persians and the greeks and then the romans and you know that whole area that all the resurrections of the roman empire so when the report reaches egypt they will also be in agony at the report of tyre when one falls the other one thinks wow we're next you can kind of feel the anxiety that they would feel in that time and age seeing what the will of those nations were and what their modes of operation were you know god kind of calls tire out on he knows he knows what they're doing crossover to tarshish whale you inhabitants of the coastland you know they would try to run they had this colony over in tarshish far far away whale inhabitants of the coastland is this your joyous city whose antiquity is from ancient days whose feet carried her far off to dwell saying you know try to cross over there is this your joyous city is this something that's lasted forever what's going on with you your days your days are numbered who has taken verse eight who has taken this council against tire the crowning city whose merchants are princes whose traders are the honorable of the earth so we have this city that has become well known it was it was marked for its pride it was seen as the you know it was just seen as one of the crowning cities of that day you can imagine it was like we live in a society this is not you know not dissimilar to probably what the attitudes of tire were they were rich they were wealthy they thought they had the world by the tail and here here now they had a threat coming against them and um and on verse nine it says who is you know who whose will this was the lord of hosts has purposed it what's going on in tire who has taken council against tire the lord of hosts has purposed it we see that over and over these prophecies we have nations that become wealthy that are doing well they become prideful they become like all those things that we read about satan back in isaiah 14 that you'll read about in isekiel 28 they become like him they become like satan they get further and further away from god god takes his vengeance on them verse nine the lord of hosts has purposes why to bring to dishonor the pride of all glory you know when we uh when we go back and you look at the things of satan it's it's pride he thought he thought he was the greatest the most beautiful the most creative he had everything but what he forgot was that it was god who gave him all his he was a created being and everything he had was given by god something that we all have to remember about ourselves no matter what we are able to do whatever god might work through any of us it's always god who makes it possible it is never us we are just dust and the the thing that we do is yield to god and allow his will to be done and always give him the glory but here we have a city that's very prideful very rich and god is allowing this to happen to tire and remember we've seen these prophecies around all the nations all around israel and juda as we looked at those maps and as we've gone from chapter 13 now through 23 we see all those nations with the prophecies that god has they've all ended up in the same thing they always have a prophecy against them and here we have you know the last one we're talking about now here in phoenicia in tire and side and the lord has purposed it to bring the to bring to dishonor the pride of all glory to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth to bring low you know the high and mighty ones you know we read a few weeks ago and i think we've read it a couple of times and from obadiah the little one chapter prophecy against edom where god says though you may climb to the top of the mountain or to the highest eagle's nest i will bring you down and so we see that again here with tire overflow he says in verse 10 and some of these things now that we have the history you know we don't spend a lot of time looking at a lot of these verses because the context just flows when you know what the history of tire is and what happened to them and the wealth that they had and everything we can kind of see where this prophecy is and where it's going and it comes to a conclusion here in a few verses it says overflow through your land like the river like the Nile oh daughter of tarshish there is no more strength you know just just go flow throw through the land go wherever you're going but there is no more strength god stretched out of his hand over the sea he shook the kingdoms the lord has given a commandment against Canaan to destroy its strongholds and that's an interesting verse because you know we we look at the land of Canaan we look at that whole area around Israel and Jordan that god you know took abraham out of the land of her and took him into this land and all these kingdoms were around there and god did shake those kingdoms you know he brought them all down we have looked at prophecy after prophecy after prophecy in that area and here's the latest one that we have that says the lord is given a commandment to destroy its strongholds god you know god there is no stronghold against god and in verse 12 he says and he said god said you will rejoice no more you will rejoice no more all the singing in all the singing all the wealth all the merchants all the all the activity that went on in Tyre and Sidon it would be no more he said you will rejoice no more oh you oppressed virgin daughter of sion arise go to cypress you know you can't flee to tarshish anymore can't flee to can't flee to new Tyre anymore it's been conquered try to go to cypress that's an island out in the middle of the sea as well try to flee there but you can't run from god that's what he's saying here arise cross over to cypress there also you will have no rest you can't flee from the destruction when god brings it brings it up upon a nation and then he says in verse 13 he's referring to babylon here he says behold the land of the caledians you know we know the caledians are the babylonians this people which was not okay this people which was not Assyria founded it for wild beasts of the desert they set up its towers they raised up its palaces and brought it to ruin now what he's referring to there is what we talked about back in chapter 21 a few weeks ago i referenced it already um here um here this evening you remember in the prophecy of the wilderness of the sea and we were talking about babylon and how samaramas um reclaimed the land by channeling the waters of their Euphrates and then uh the ancient city of babylon was built on that reclaimed what land and then as cypress came in he he did something with the river as well and that led to the downfall of babylon and it returned to being a marsh again remember all those chapter all those verses from chapter 14 and that's what he's talking about here this people these babylonians which was not this people which was not the syria founded it for wild beasts of the desert they set up its towers they raised up its palaces and they brought it to ruin a syria built it up it was handled the babylonians built it up but because of what because of their lifestyle the way they the way they handled things because of their pride because of the way that they discounted god and you remember all the things about a syria right i mean a syria is like they would they would challenge nations and they would say there's no god that can stand against us there's no king that can stand against us why would you think your god israel or juda could ever stand against us they would challenge god and a syria got brought down babylon the same way it got brought down because of the pride now is as tires time they raised up as palaces and they brought it to ruin and he finishes this section with wail you ships of tarshish for your strength is laid waste and verse 13 there he's referring to Nebuchadnezzar and the babylon you know the the babylonian people who would who would come there first against tire well let me pause there i've i've gone through a lot um any any questions or comments because verse 15 is is quite an interesting verse and i'm not sure we know exactly what it means but i will give you a thought on it in a minute here and then we'll talk about the future of tire a little bit yeah dardo as mr shabby um we have been reading today and also in the past that god actually punishes these nations that basically are arrogant and proud and basically they somehow do something to to israel uh for example egypt um moab edom and so on is there any indication in scripture what actually tire did to to israel or is it just punished entire because of their pride and arrogance it looks more like their pride and arrogance that's the same question i had i went back to see did tire ever try to attack israel what you see more with tire is that they're in concert with them right they're helping them they help build a temple they're doing the ship things together they seem to be more of a people at peace except for verse one um i guess we're that was ezekiel 26 verse one that says because you said against jerusalem remember back there and one so there was something in there but it appears to be more of the pride because unlike babylon as syria these others tire and and you have the people of tire who actually do there are some people who listen to god right i mean you see that even in christ time so it's an interesting thing i know i've been thinking about ezekiel 28 why does god compare the king or the prince of tire to satan you can understand it with babylon because of his pride and everything but why why the prince of tire um because while they're an evil nation they're not of god there is there's something and i think that's just food for thought you know one day we'll understand it and maybe it indicates that satan you know can look like he could be in concert with us that we can work with it and not realize the effect he has on us i'm not sure i'm not sure what that is hey savior did you have something yeah sure brother shaby uh the the point um it seems that i'm tired for a while had a spirit for it seems for a very long time get a spirit of ambitiousness of wanting and um a covetousness okay okay um in regards to because when when bruce land fell they they said oh no all of that from us meaning we won't have any competition on the scene but they had a type of spirit of covetousness and um Amos chapter one talks about the three sins of them um they forgot the brotherly covenant because remember they had a good relationship in David with talisman but some reason salomon sensed that there was a new underlining thing but he didn't highlight it he said yeah we'll do a bar i'm not going to take anything free from you guys yeah you referenced amis one i say yeah in verse nine yeah verse nine and ten these three transgressions of tire they delivered up the whole captivity to eat them they didn't remember the covenant of brotherhood and i will set the fire upon the wall of tire which will devour his palaces yeah so maybe they were one of them they sat back but you know they were very happy when things happened to Jerusalem they they you know and god sometimes punishes you know when when nations have glee at the downfall of another so yeah one one other point there was a city 300 plus years ago that was very similar made by the spaniards called port royal instead of a country coming in and dominating god had it sing twice this is in jamaica it was said to be wanted to reach the cities at that time very good dale yes i was thinking the the uh the uh the seacup 28 i think talking about satan and every precious stone was his covering and uh it reminds me of course of the babble on the great you know in part of that in the end time of course all kinds of precious goods and you know materialism and the outward blitz and appearance of everything and just uh my father satan every precious stone was his covering and that that got to his pride and and tire has the same uh that's the same characteristics it seems exactly yeah yep and we'll get to that because the way the ways some of those things about tire is worded goes directly to revelation 18 right that's what you're referring to um and and as you as we talk about the future of tire and what what that is you know we'll we'll get there in a minute so okay well let's look at let's look at verse 15 because verse 15 in isaiah 23 is an interesting verse here you know god talks about their strength is laid waste he talks about all these things we know from history that you know tire has had this troubled past and it says that she'll come to pass in that day the tire will be forgotten 70 years according to the days of one king at the end of 70 years it will happen to tire as in the song of the harlot take a harp go about the city you've forgotten harlot make sweet melody sing many songs that you may be remembered so we have kind of like a resurrection if you will of of tire and she's out making mary again and it shall be the it shall be at the end of the 70 years that the lord will deal with tire she will return to her well let's just stop there and it shall be at the end of 70 years that the lord will deal with tire now the only i have you know i've looked in our our commentary i've looked in either other commentaries i've looked at history to see what happened 70 years later can't find anything the only clue the only clue that might we might have of what god is talking about in verses 15 down to the first sentence of verse 17 and 17 would play into the last part of 17 as well is that you remember that jerusalem fell or juda fell in 586 bc to babylon it was the same about the same time that that that tarshish or not tarshish babylon was beseeging old tires in that same time frame new tire didn't fall until much later but but but old tire did and and and and i'm sure you thought well 70 years is the prophecy where jerusalem falls and then the people can return and rebuild the temple rebuild the walls and there's just one there's maybe this is 100 pure speculation but maybe that's what god is talking about it will be at the end of 70 years the lord will deal with tire because when we go back to the book of ezra and as we see the rebuilding of the temple after after the jews have been out for for 70 years we find a reference to tire okay ezra ezra 3 i can never get back to ezra 3 ezra 3 and verse 7 i believe it is yeah verse 6 we'll look at verse 6 this is the the you know they're up there they're beginning to rebuild it says from the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the lord although the foundation of the temple the lord had not been laid as a verse always to remember because it shows us that as the temple was being rebuilt they didn't have to hold temple built before daily sacrifices began and the rebuild of jerusalem they just needed to have the the the altar there the foundation of the temple hadn't been laid but they were offering sacrifices but in verse 7 it says they also gave money to the masons and the carpenters and food drink and oil to the people of sidon and tire to bring cedar logs from leavenon to the sea to japa according to the permission which they had from sirens king of persia and then it goes on from there so you know i mean there it's interesting that tire you know babylon conquers tire 70 years later the jews are back and then we have a reference to tire here in in ezra 3 maybe complete coincidence maybe nothing at all but there is some some reason that god has isaiah 23 verses 7 15 to 17 in there i don't know that well i know that we won't know until until much later but one day he'll he'll he'll let us know but perhaps just perhaps ezra 3 7 and the reference the tire is in there referencing that same 70 years that same 70 years but maybe maybe not let me let me continue here because there is a future part of this prophecy in verse 17 you know it is the last sentence there says she will return to her higher she will commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth her gain and her pay will be set apart for the lord it will not be treasured nor laid up for her gain will be for those who dwell before the lord to eat sufficiently and for fine clothing i don't know if that i can address chapter or verse 18 you know tonight i think that's going to take a little bit more time and god revealing what that means unless that area of the world when christ returns you know is going to be profitable because the people of of israel will return to that land we're told over and over in prophecies and it will be that that land but she will return to her higher and she will commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth now that's different than what we read about tire but that isn't different than what we hear about the end time civilization if we go to is equal again as equal and look at the prophecy that god gave is equal we've read through some of it through the time of hyram not hyram nevika nezor and and alexander the great but if we look at chapter 27 and as you go down through the detail of it as dale was saying you see all these verses from you know verses 12 verse 17 you see juda the land of israel were your traders all these people that are trading people from all over the world trading with with tire they are a very wealthy oh very wealthy city again verse 24 here's the purple right these were your merchants and choice items and purple clothes if you go down to verse 27 it says your riches your wares and merchandise your mariners and pilots your cockers and merchandisers all your men of war who are in you and the entire company which is in your midst will fall into the midst of the seas on the day of your ruin verse 29 all who handle the ore the mariners all the pilots of the sea will come down from their ships and stand on the shore they will make their voice heard because of you they will cry bitterly and cast dust on their heads they will roll about in ashes they will shave themselves completely bald because of you they will gird themselves with sackcloth and weep for you with bitterness of heart and bitter wailing in their wailing for you they will take up a lamentation and lament for you what city is like tire destroyed in the midst of the sea verse 35 all the inhabitants of the isles will be astonished at you their kings will be greatly afraid and their countenance will be troubled the merchants among the peoples will hiss at you you will become a horror and be no more forever so that isn't what happened to ancient tire it's not the city today that it was before but when you read these verses in isekiel 27 when you read that last part of isekiel or isaiah 23 verse 17 it is very reminiscent of what god says about this end time society that is coming that is called revela it is called babylon here babylon mystery the great but the whole society is very very similar to just what we read about so let's go back to revelation 18 and see and see the verses again that likely indicate that tire now remember we have magic babylon mystery the greats the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth we also have a city and a society that's very wealthy very very wealthy and if we look at 18 you know 18 of course beginning in it is the verses we should always remember come out of our people that she partied not that she partake not of her sins and don't partake of her punishment but if we come down to verse 15 of 18 as we see the destruction of the city upon the end of this age and the return of jesus christ we see very similar verbiage to what we saw about tire verse 15 the merchants of these things who became rich by her will stand at a distance for fear of her torment weeping and wailing and saying alas alas that great city that was clothed in fine linen purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls for in one hour such great riches riches came to nothing every shipmaster all who traveled by ship sailors and as many as traded on the sea stood at a distance and cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning saying what is like this great city they threw dust on their heads and cried out weeping and wailing and saying alas alas that great city in which all who had ships on the sea became rich by her wealth for in one hour she is made desolate and so we see the very same things that would indicate this end time society remember you know babylon is a picture of what the character of that society is like tire is a picture of a society that god condemns he compares it to satan is ekule 28 and we have this society and the whole commerce and merchandise of this revelation 18 that has the same conclusion as god judges it that that we read of in in the prophecies against tire so um very likely what we have just read is you know a prophecy that was quite amazing when you see the fulfillment of it in ancient times especially when you look at what alexander the great did and how you know he was he built built that out to new tire and conquered it but then again see the conclusion of these these nations of earth this these nations and the character and the the way they operate and everything of this world how god brings it to conclusion and when christ returns a new a new society is built on the principles of the bible where you know everyone everyone prospers everyone is happy everyone is joyous it's not it's not what i can get from myself and how much i can get and take away from you it's all about it's all about the love joy peace harmony that christ will bring to earth a society is rebuilt in accordance with the bible so um let me let me pause there and uh well that is isaiah 23 for tonight and if there's any other any any conversation discussion on on anything so mr shavy yes sir this is reggie hey reggie i was wondering where tar is today and you know tel Aviv in that area no tire harry's in the same place it's in lebanon today no it is is in lebanon yeah yeah so uh tel aviv would actually be in modern israel israel yeah but it's it's lebanon is up there uh north and so it's in the same area as that still called tire too a very small city today but still called the same okay according to the according to the geography books so well shaby yes sir do you remember that scenario where um where salomon gave haram is it haram the king of terror um a couple cities and he wasn't pleased you think that the relationship saw it from there yes yes okay all right yeah that's right that yeah that's right that's back at first kings too yeah we could have yeah he was on that as well yeah yep that's right so yeah he knew he was up against someone mighty and solid but he probably harvard some issues there going forward so i wasn't in forgiveness i guess so the champion uh yes gardo yeah i think the the analogy that you made about tire being almost like a symbol for the maybe the end time babylonian system it sounds right because right now like you said it's located in lebanon in lebanon basically today is basically a failed state there's really not much going on for for that area right now unless you know they're sitting around in the years ahead and becomes uh some sort of uh center for uh for something uh it sounds basically like a more like a symbolic representation just like babylon yep and where that where that city is is located on the mediterranean is a very attractive attractive place so um you know the future whatever whatever they have up there in that area whatever resources will be for the benefit of of all the people now and not just just that that nation so for some reason every time i hear of tire i always think of new york city i don't know why but it's popped into my mind well it's probably many of the same principles of tire going on in new york city right so all these big cities of the world all these major areas of commerce so let me tell you what the plan for next week is i you know i thought that we would conclude here but you know isaiah 24 is a very nice conclusion and summary of what we've been through in the last 11 chapters of all these prophecies we've been talking about so next week we'll go over chapter 24 and then after that i'll have some review questions for you that'll cover isaiah 13 to 24 by reading through chapter 24 i think is if you read through it ahead of time and as we talk about it next week we'll see many of the things that we've talked about of these prophecies there in isaiah 24 has got kind of recounts for us you know some of the attitudes of the nations that were there and what his judgment on them uh were and then and then we'll go into chapter 25 well actually the conclusion of chapter 24 we always come back to god's kingdom in the return of jesus christ and at the end of chapter 24 we see that so that'll be a nice lead-in into chapter 25 and from there and on so okay okay well hey uh thank you all thank you all for joining if there's nothing else thank you all for being here tonight good great to be great to be with all of you so we will uh you know those are you here in cincinnati we'll see you this week the rest of you we will see i i hope a week from today okay thank you