Conclusion of Her Pride Will Be Profaned

Isaiah continues Jehovah's condemnation of Tyre:  "Cross over your land like the Nile River, O daughter of Tarshish.  There is no shipyard any longer.  His hand he has stretched out over the sea;  he has caused kingdoms to be agitated.  Jehovah himself has given a command against Phoenicia, to annihilate her strongholds.  And he says:  "You must never again exult, O oppressed one, the virgin daughter of Sidon.  Get up, cross over to Kittim itself.  Event here it will not be restful for you.' " -Isaiah 23:10-12.

Why is Tyre called the daughter of Tarshish"?  Perhaps because after the defeat of Tyre, Tarshish will be the more powerful of the two.  The inhabitants of ruined Tyre will be scattered  like a river in a flood, its banks broken down and its waters overflowing into all the neighboring plains.  Isaiah's message to the "daughter of Tarshish"  underscores the severity of what will happen to Tyre. Jehovah himself stretches out his hand and gives the command.  No one can alter the outcome. 

Isaiah also speaks of Tyre as "the virgin daughter of Sidon," indicating that she has not previously been seized and ravished by foreign conquerors and still enjoys an un-subdued state.  (Compare 2 Kings 19:21; Isaiah 47:1; Jeremiah 46:11)  Now, though, she is to be annihilated, and like refugees, some of her residents  will cross over to the Phoenician colony of Kittim.  Nevertheless, having lost their economic power, they will find no rest there. 

Next time: The Chaldeans Will Despoil Her

From the Book Isaiah's Prophecy Light for all Mankind, 2000