Introduction: Tyre (also called, presumably because of its ports, the Stronghold of the Sea) and Sidon were separate kingdoms which are now in the country of Lebanon. Both were very significant, wealthy and proud! Shihor (Sihor) was a town in the delta of the Nile, an area which was frequently flooded as the waters came down the Nile. This placed it in a very fertile area. Tyre was on a very rocky island about 60-70 metres into the sea from another city. The rock city had two ports one for Sidon (on the northern side of the rocky island) and one for the supplies and trading with Egypt (on the south side of the island). A causeway was built around this time and the modern city of Tyre is basically along the causeway and the old city of Palaetyrus which was on the mainland. It seems as if no one is sure where Tarshish was but it was obviously very involved in major expensive trading!
1 The oracle concerning Tyre.
Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for Tyre is laid waste, without house or harbor!
From the land of Cyprus
it is revealed to them.
2 Be still, O inhabitants of the coast;
the merchants of Sidon, who cross the sea, have filled you.
3 And on many waters
your revenue was the grain of Shihor,
the harvest of the Nile;
you were the merchant of the nations.
4 Be ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea has spoken,
the stronghold of the sea, saying: – that is Tyre has said…
“I have neither labored nor given birth,
I have neither reared young men
nor brought up young women.” – Tyre has said ‘I’ve nothing to offer you, I’ve lost even my most noble and wanted people! The cry is heard as far as Egypt and Tarshish as seen in the following verses!
5 When the report comes to Egypt,
they will be in anguish over the report about Tyre.
6 Cross over to Tarshish;
wail, O inhabitants of the coast!
7 Is this your exultant city
whose origin is from days of old,
whose feet carried her
to settle far away?
8 Who has purposed this
against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,
whose merchants were princes,
whose traders were the honored of the earth? – The surrounding nations cry out to Tyre saying, ‘where is your past glory who has done this to you?’
9 The LORD of hosts has purposed it,
to defile the pompous pride of all glory,
to dishonor all the honored of the earth.
10 Cross over your land like the Nile,
O daughter of Tarshish;
there is no restraint anymore. – The people of Tyre had apparently been under the control of Tarshish. As the city is destroyed the remaining inhabitants are released from the bond which subjugation to the enslaving Tarshish had over the common people in Tyre to work for them has gone. They are no longer ‘restrained’ from being free! They don’t have to go to Tarshish and work in the mines around Tarshish!
11 He (God) has stretched out his hand over the sea;
he has shaken the kingdoms;
the LORD has given command concerning Canaan (a vast area from Tyre into Persia!)
to destroy its strongholds.
12 And he said:
“You will no more exult,
O oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon;
arise, cross over to Cyprus,
even there you will have no rest.”
Comment: God claims responsibility for what has happened, and gives His reason for acting in this way! And the reason is – ‘to defile the pompous pride of all glory,
to dishonor all the honored of the earth.‘ To be continued tomorrow.
Ecclesiastes 12: 12-13 – The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.
Prayer: Help me to realize and live out the truth that You hate pride of the wrong sort and hate injustice of any sort!
As I read it! 