Isa 23:7 | KingComments | STEP | The survivors have no future in Tyre. They get the urgent advice to go back to Tarshish ( ), now not to trade there, but to live there as a refugee ( ). The farewell of Tyre is final. They will leave wailing at the sight of the ruins of their beloved city. She was once such a bustling city with a rich history and a great urge to expand ( ). To awaken the conscience of the listener / reader the question is asked how the collapse of this trading empire could have happened ( ). Tyre is presented in its magnitude as “the bestower of crowns”, i.e. Tyre makes its relations powerful. Behind this we see satan, who can say to the Lord Jesus that he can give all the power and glory of the world to whom he wants ( ). The answer to the question is given immediately by Isaiah. The LORD of hosts has done it ( ). The reason is given: the pride in one’s own beauty, the boasting of one’s own abilities. Man has used the results of the well-functioning economy to greater honor and glory of himself and has not given any glory to God, Who has enabled him to do so. That pride is defiled by the LORD. He has despised all those people at the top of the power of commerce. He will also humiliate the power behind Tyre, satan, who also exalted himself on his own beauty ( ). It is a warning for us not to use what we have received from the Lord for our own honor. This applies to our physical as well as our spiritual and intellectual capacities.

‏ Isaiah 23:7

The LORD Has Done It

The survivors have no future in Tyre. They get the urgent advice to go back to Tarshish (Isa 23:1), now not to trade there, but to live there as a refugee (Isa 23:6). The farewell of Tyre is final. They will leave wailing at the sight of the ruins of their beloved city. She was once such a bustling city with a rich history and a great urge to expand (Isa 23:7).

To awaken the conscience of the listener / reader the question is asked how the collapse of this trading empire could have happened (Isa 23:8). Tyre is presented in its magnitude as “the bestower of crowns”, i.e. Tyre makes its relations powerful. Behind this we see satan, who can say to the Lord Jesus that he can give all the power and glory of the world to whom he wants (Lk 4:5-6). The answer to the question is given immediately by Isaiah. The LORD of hosts has done it (Isa 23:9). The reason is given: the pride in one’s own beauty, the boasting of one’s own abilities.

Man has used the results of the well-functioning economy to greater honor and glory of himself and has not given any glory to God, Who has enabled him to do so. That pride is defiled by the LORD. He has despised all those people at the top of the power of commerce. He will also humiliate the power behind Tyre, satan, who also exalted himself on his own beauty (Eze 28:17).

It is a warning for us not to use what we have received from the Lord for our own honor. This applies to our physical as well as our spiritual and intellectual capacities.