Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Isaiah 23:15 - 23:18
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
The Restoration of TyRev. 15. And it shall come to pass in that day, at the time when this prophecy would be fulfilled, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, the length of the Chaldean supremacy, according to the days of one king, the reference to this period being as of a time during which the lot of Tyre will be uniformly bad. After the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot, the fate of Tyre will be according to the song of the harlot, a portion of which is now quoted:
v. 16. Take an harp, or zither, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, with pleasant playing, sing many songs that thou mayest be remembered, the trade of Tyre being compared with the business of a harlot because both serve mammon and, in part, the lowest desires of the flesh. The methods of Tyre are now represented as having success.
v. 17. And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years that the Lord will visit Tyre, in mercy, to give her another opportunity to repent, and she shall turn to her hire, the gain of her trade being compared to the price of prostitution, and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth, because she would court merchants from all nations and admit any one for the sake of gain.
v. 18. And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the Lord, by a disposition of God of which probably many of the Tyrians were not aware; it shall not be treasured nor laid up, concealed for her own use; for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before the Lord, His disciples, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing, to be taken care of in the proper manner, with changes of raiment according to the custom of the time. There seems to be no doubt that this prophecy refers to the Christian era. We know that Jesus visited the neighborhood of Tyre, Mat_15:21, that Paul found disciples there, Act_21:3-6, that it afterward was a powerful Christian bishopric, its cathedral being one of the most splendid of the early days. Other phases of the prophecy concerning Tyre are given by other prophets.