(The Word for Today) Isaiah 23:1 - Part 1 — Chuck Smith

To the word for today. The word for today is a continuous study of the Bible taught by Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa California. Pastor Chuck is currently teaching from the Old Testament and for those of you following along in your Bibles will be continuing today in Isaiah chapter 23 beginning with verse 1 as we continue with an in-depth message entitled the proclamation against Tyre.

With today's study here's Pastor Chuck.

Isaiah 23 and the Prophecy Against Tyre

Chapter 23 opens with the words the burden of Tyre. Now the prophet has been dealing with several different countries and that judgment of God that will be coming upon these different nations as the result of the Assyrian invasion and then as the result of the later Babylonian invasion.

And last week we saw the predictions upon Edom the area of Idomea and we saw the destruction that would come from Babylon upon the area of Saudi Arabia as they move down on the eastern side of the Jordan River.

Now in chapter 23 we have the prophecies of the destruction of this city of Tyre. Tyre was the chief city of the Phoenicians and from your history books you remember Phoenicia and how that the Phoenician Navy ruled the Mediterranean for so many years.

They were the merchants they had the greatest Navy of the ancient world and they plied the Mediterranean Sea the entire area taking the grain of Egypt to the areas of Greece and Rome and they were just merchantmen traders and they actually had a colony set up as far away as Spain and thus they sort of ruled the Mediterranean as far as merchandising and thus they were an extremely wealthy city.

The city of Tyre is a very ancient city one of the most ancient cities of the world there the claim concerning Herodotus when he visited Tyre in 431 they said that the temple that was built there was built some 2 ,000 years earlier that's questionable and challenged but we do know that the city of Tyre did exist at the time that Joshua came into the land leading the children of Israel in the conquest of the promised land during the time of David.

Hiram who was the king of Tyre at that time had a great liking for David he was an admirer of David and later on as Solomon built the temple Hiram provided many of the skilled men to cut the trees of the forest of Lebanon and bring the cedars down to Joppa where they were brought then overland to Jerusalem where they were used in the building of so many of the great buildings there in Jerusalem but especially the temple at the time of Solomon.

Tyre’s Wealth, Fortifications, and Fall to Alexander

Tyre a very wealthy city ultimately became a very proud city. They had built walls around the city of Tyre that made it a strong powerful city. The walls went right out into the harbor into the Mediterranean and so when they closed the gates of Tyre the only access into the city was by the sea and because the Phoenician Navy ruled the seas though they attempted at times to conquer Tyre by the sea it was never successful and thus because they had the channel open to the sea they could withstand long sieges because they could just resupply the city from the sea.

Now Nebuchadnezzar finally conquered Tyre but it was after a 12-year siege. It took that long but the people of Tyre got tired of the siege of Nebuchadnezzar and so they began to build a city on a island that was a mile offshore and so finally rather than really being conquered they just moved everything offshore to this island and to the new city of Tyre so that by the time Nebuchadnezzar came in and conquered it the city was empty and all of the goods and the wealth was already transferred out to the new city out there on the island and so though he had this long siege it was an empty victory because there were no spoils when he finally took the city the wealth and all had been moved out to this island.

Tyre continued to exist then as a new city on this island about a mile offshore. When Alexander the Great began his conquering he came to the area of Tyre he sent messages out to the city to surrender or to be captured and they sort of scoffed at his demands and so Alexander tried to get together a navy gathering the ships from Sidon and the neighboring areas but he was thoroughly defeated by the navy of Tyre.

Then he struck on a new idea the ruins of the old city that were still lying there the rock that runs the wall and the buildings. With these rocks he built a giant jetty or causeway from the shore on out to this island city and then he scraped the dirt and put it on the rocks and built these scaling type of machines that he moved on this causeway out to the island and he actually by building this giant causeway was able to take the city of Tyre and did conquer it.

It is one of the marvelous annals of history and one of the things that is often pointed to as the brilliant stratagems of war. And so the city then fell to Alexander the Great. It did resist and because of its resistance he was very cruel and fierce in his destruction of the city of Tyre.

He destroyed it so thoroughly that the city of Tyre became lost historically. In fact there were even those who questioned the existence of Tyre because they searched for the site of Tyre and really could not find it.

One day a group of biblical archaeologists were up there in that area and they were watching some fishermen as they were spreading their nets on the rocks there and they noticed that these rocks didn't seem to be natural.

They began to study it and they realized that these rocks were actually set there. And suddenly the whole picture came together. They had found the causeway that Alexander the Great had built. They thought that this was just a peninsula.

They called it a peninsula but actually they discovered it was the causeway that Alexander the Great had built out to this island city of Tyre. And of course it became a one of those remarkable archaeological discoveries that confirm the truth of the bible.

Ezekiel’s Prophecy and the Two Stages of Tyre’s Destruction

Now Ezekiel interestingly enough in chapter 26 he wrote about a hundred years after Isaiah Ezekiel wrote during the time of the Babylonian captivity. But Ezekiel interestingly enough in chapter 26 describes the destruction of Tyre and it is interesting that he in describing the destruction of Tyre uses two pronouns and he and he and he.

And then suddenly he changes and he said and they and they and they. And as you read the prophecies carefully you will realize that he is prophesying of both the destruction that would take place by Nebuchadnezzar and he will do this and he will do that.

And then he goes ahead even further into the future to the time of Alexander the Great and he describes him taking the rocks of the city and casting them into the midst of the sea scraping the dust of the city and casting it into the sea.

And he very graphically describes exactly how Alexander the Great took the city. It was almost as though Alexander the Great had the prophecy of Ezekiel and said wow this is a good idea why don't we do this.

And it was predicted of course by Ezekiel in a very interesting fashion again God's marvelous word of prophecy that stands now here in 23. It probably is a reference to the destruction of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians because he does speak of the Chaldeans in verse 13 this people was not but at the time that Isaiah was writing the Babylonians were not really a powerful nation at all.

They had been conquered by the Assyrians and were vassals to the Assyrians and they were not considered a world power. And yet he speaks of Babylon's power that shall rise. So the burden of Tyre. How ye the ships of Tarshish.

Tarshish is this community that was established on the area of Spain by the people of Tyre for it is laid waste there is no house no entering in from the land of Chittim. It is revealed to them now when Tyre finally fell of course their navy was out continuing with the merchandising and the trading on the Mediterranean.

Chittim is the area it was one of the major ports in Cyprus and thus in returning to Tyre they would stop in Cyprus. And as they are coming back they receive the reports there in Cyprus in Chittim the fact that it has fallen that the city of Tyre no longer exists that it has been destroyed and so the howling there's no home to go to.

As they are returning back to Tyre there's nothing there it's fallen it has been taken so it is laid waste there's no house no entering in. Be still ye inhabitants of the coast thou whom the merchants of Sidon that pass over the sea have replenished and so the coastlands of Phoenicia including Sidon and wealthy area because of the merchandising over the entire Mediterranean and by the great waters the seed of Syhor.

Syhor is the river Nile and the Nile Delta that very fertile area where so much grain was grown. Now the ships of Phoenicia or Tyre would take the grain from Egypt and they would of course buy it in Egypt and sell it around the Mediterranean and Egypt supplied much of the food for the people of the Mediterranean.

And so he is talking about the problems in Egypt as the result of the destruction of Tyre and thus the demise of the Phoenician Navy. And by the great waters the seed of Syhor the harvest of the river river Nile is her revenue and she is the mart of the nation or the marketplace for the nations.

Be thou ashamed. O Sidon the sister city of Tyre 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.

And so the wasted of the city no more children no more young men virgins no more marrying. And so forth as at the report concerning Egypt so shall they be sorely pained at the report of Tyre. So pass ye over to Tarshish howl ye inhabitants of the coast.

It was a blow to all of the coastal cities of the Mediterranean when this great merchant navy was actually destroyed because of this mother city being destroyed. Is this your joyous city whose antiquity is of ancient days.

As we mentioned Tyre is one of the ancient cities of the world. Her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn. Who hath taken this council against Tyre the crowning city whose merchants are princes and whose traffickers are the honorable men of the earth.

Pride, Judgment, and the Lord’s Sovereignty

He asks the question who has taken this council to destroy her. And he answers in verse 9. The lord of host has purposed it. So the destruction actually comes from the lord to stain the pride of all glory and to bring in contempt all of the honorable of the earth.

The bible tells us that pride cometh before destruction a haughty spirit before the fall. The bible tells us that there are six things that god hates. Ye seven are an abomination unto him. And one thing that is abominable to god is the pride of man the pride of people being lifted up with pride.

And god hates that. And god has set himself against the proud humble thyself in the sight of the lord. The scripture says. And he will lift you up. But the proud he said he will abase. And so because of the pride of these people because they were trusting in their own strength in their own wisdom in their own power the lord allowed them to be brought down.

Pride is a dangerous thing for an individual it is a dangerous thing for a nation. And so because of that pride god will bring them into contempt. Pass through thy land as a river. Oh daughter of tarshish there is no more strength.

He stretched out his hand over the sea. He shook the kingdoms. The lord has given a commandment against the merchant city to destroy the strongholds thereof. And so it's as though the lord commanded the babylonians to come and to destroy this city.

And he said thou shalt no more rejoice o thou oppressed virgin daughter of zion. Arise and pass over to chittim. And many of the people did escape and move to cyprus when tyre fell. But there also you will have no rest.

And in some of the earlier sieges under shalmaneser when they fled to cyprus he pursued them there they would have no rest. Behold the land of the chaldeans the babylonians. This people was not at the time that isaiah wrote they weren't really powerful at all 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. So he's talking about the chaldeans or the babylonians bringing it to ruin. How these ships of tarshish. For your strength is laid waste.

The Meaning of the Seventy Years

It shall come to pass in that day that tires shall be forgotten for 70 years according to the days of one king. And after the end of 70 years shall tires sing as a harlot. Now 70 years is often used in the bible as a indeterminate type of a number.

And it's a figurative kind of a number that just speaks of an indeterminate number. You remember when peter feeling that he was really growing in grace getting the message of forgiveness beginning to understand how important it is to have a forgiving spirit thinking that he was maybe stretching it a bit but impressing the other disciples.

No doubt said lord how often shall i forgive my brother for the same offense. Seven times. And i'm sure peter thought he was stretching it but it would impress the other guys. You know peter actually thinks he can forgive a guy seven times for the same thing.

Man that guy's really growing in grace. And the lord turned to him and said no peter 70 times seven. The 70 being an indeterminate number the lord isn't saying 490 times and then wail on him. You know what the lord is indicating is that forgiveness is not a matter of mathematics.

It's a matter of spirit. And we are to have a forgiving spirit. But 70 is often used in the scriptures as an indeterminate period of time. So there is really nothing historically that would help us to understand this 70 years that the prophet is talking.

About master chuck smith will return with a.

Few closing comments but first i'd like to remind you that today's message is available in its unedited form on cassette or cd. Simply write or call and ask for ordering details on tape or cd number c 3252.

Again that's tape or cd number c 3252. Well as the holiday season is approaching we'd like to bring to your attention a very helpful resource for families. Knowing it's the time of year when families gather together undoubtedly one of the most glaring signs that our society is in trouble is the breakdown of the family unit.

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Walking in the Light and Storing Up Eternal Treasure

Closing comments here is pastor chuck. So again dark days. Oh yes but there's.

Light on the other side the lord always brings you into the hope of the light never leaves you in the darkness. Only the world does that. Looking at the world today it's dark and i don't see any light for the world or in the world apart from jesus christ the glorious light of the world.

May we walk in his light. Father we thank you again tonight that you have given to us the score whereby we can follow the events and we can see where they end. And lord we pray that we might oh god put our lives and our values in things that are eternal.

May we not be caught up lord in this temporal world that is going to perish but may we lord in this invest and lay up our treasures in heaven.

Eternal treasures in jesus name we pray. This program is sponsored by the word.

For today the radio ministry of calvary chapel costa mesa california.