One of the messages that God gave Isaiah was one for the city of Tyre. This daily devotional looks at how the world looks at commerce as opposed doing business God’s way.
Nuggets
- God uses us to provide for His creation.
- God expects us to have His character, not the world’s.
- His kingdom work is most important.
Devotions in the Isaiah’s Message from Sovereign God series
Hmmm. This is our Sunday Morning Bible Study passage????
Hmmmmmmm. Let’s dig in.
Let's Put It into Context
“A pronouncement concerning Tyre: Wail, ships of Tarshish, for your haven has been destroyed. Word has reached them from the land of Cyprus. Mourn, inhabitants of the coastland, you merchants of Sidon; your agents have crossed the sea over deep water. Tyre’s revenue was the grain from Shihor — the harvest of the Nile. She was the merchant among the nations. Be ashamed, Sidon, the stronghold of the sea, for the sea has spoken: ‘I have not been in labor or given birth. I have not raised young men or brought up young women.’ When the news reaches Egypt, they will be in anguish over the news about Tyre. Cross over to Tarshish; wail, inhabitants of the coastland! Is this your jubilant city, whose origin was in ancient times, whose feet have taken her to reside far away?” (Isa. 23: 1-7 CSB)
Chapter 23 of Isaiah is a pronouncement against Tyre, an important Phoenician city. When it is talking about the ships of Tarshish, it is taking about a place in Spain.
Parker stated that the references to merchants were referring to the Canaanites. He contended that the terms were interchangeable.
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God gave Isaiah the message that Tyre was going to be destroyed. They practices of buying and selling had caused them to rely on themselves.
The harvest of the Nile was purchased and resold, according to Bainbrigge, and “… most accurately describes and stands for all the resources and the wealth of Egypt, which depend entirely upon the Nile.”
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When it talks about the sea has spoken, it is saying the Creator of the sea has spoken. It speaks not only through its violent storms, but also through its vastness and grandeur.
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What Is God’s Purpose for Commerce?
“Who planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose traders are princes, whose merchants are the honored ones of the earth? The Lord of Armies planned it, to desecrate all its glorious beauty, to disgrace all the honored ones of the earth. Overflow your land like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish; there is no longer anything to restrain you. He stretched out his hand over the sea; he made kingdoms tremble. The Lord has commanded that the Canaanite fortresses be destroyed. He said, ‘You will not celebrate anymore, ravished young woman, daughter of Sidon. Get up and cross over to Cyprus — even there you will have no rest!’” (Isa. 23: 8-12 CSB)
Isaiah spoke sarcastically about Tyre bestowing crowns on others. Parker wrote, “The crowning city was Tyre because she distributed crowns to the Phoenician colonies, — so to say, she kept a whole cupboard full of crowns, and took one out after another, and gave to the little colonies that they might play at being kingdoms.”
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This passage shows us the respect that merchants enjoyed. A family institution, merchants were generally wealthy back then.
We have to think about God’s purpose for commerce. It is not so we can become merchants (or businessmen and women today) and become rich.
God uses us to provide for His creation. We talked in the last devotion how God can and does use believers and non-believers alike to accomplish His Will. We also said we are all given different gifts — and different levels of gifts.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
Can Our Wealth Save Us from God’s Wrath?
“Look at the land of the Chaldeans — a people who no longer exist. Assyria destined it for desert creatures. They set up their siege towers and stripped its palaces. They made it a ruin. Wail, ships of Tarshish, because your fortress is destroyed!” (Isa. 23: 13-14 CSB)
The Chaldeans lived in central and southeastern Mesopotamia. We would know the area as Iraq, close to the Iran border.
Chaldea no longer is a nation. It was assimilated into Babylon.
This was used as an example for Tyre. What is that telling us? Our wealth won’t save us from God’s wrath. Our position in society won’t save us from God’s wrath.
God expects us to have His character, not the world’s. If we don’t, we will suffer the consequences.
What Resources Does God Use to Provide for His Children?
“On that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years — the life span of one king. At the end of seventy years, what the song says about the prostitute will happen to Tyre: Pick up your lyre, stroll through the city, you forgotten prostitute. Play skillfully, sing many a song so that you will be remembered. And at the end of the seventy years, the Lord will restore Tyre and she will go back into business, prostituting herself with all the kingdoms of the world throughout the earth. But her profits and wages will be dedicated to the Lord. They will not be stored or saved, for her profit will go to those who live in the Lord’s presence, to provide them with ample food and sacred clothing” (Isa. 23: 15-18 CSB)
Okay. That is clear as mud. “On that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years — the life span of one king …” (Isa. 23: 15 CSB).
Strachey explained the meaning as “the round number here, as elsewhere, indicates an indefinite, though considerable time, and that the prophet either farther limits this by a phrase equivalent to ‘for about a whole generation,’ or else implies that the seventy years — the long time of oblivion — shall be as monotonous, and perhaps as short to look back upon, as those of a single reign.”
Okay, got that? Now explain it to me.
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I think what it is saying is that 70 is usually considered representative of infinite. But then Isaiah limits the infinite.
Isaiah’s message is that, though Tyre will be desolate, God will breathe life into it again. But even better than that — the city will be fulfilling God’s purpose. Driver wrote, “After seventy years of enforced retirement and quiescence, Tyre will resume her previous activity, but with the significant change, that her gains will now be consecrated to Jehovah, supplying food and stately clothing to the people of Israel who dwell in His immediate presence.”
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It sorta sounds like Tyre will be regenerated. But verse 17 says Tyre will go back to business as usual.
That doesn’t mean God can’t and won’t use worldview things to provide for His children.
What I think this is saying is His kingdom work is most important. Our commerce should be used to support that, not just so we can get rich. World things are always subordinate to God things.
Making the Connections
Don’t get me wrong. God is not against commerce. He is against commercialism.
God wants us to have access to provisions. He knows we have to eat and have clothes.
What God wants is those commercial activities to be to His honor and glory.
- “A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight” (Prov. 11: 1 ESV).
- “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men” (Col. 3: 23 ESV)
- “You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired servant shall not remain with you all night until the morning” (Lev. 19: 13 ESV).
- “A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich” (Prov. 10: 4 ESV).
- “Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it” (Prov. 13: 11 ESV).
- “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going” (Ecc. 9: 10 ESV).
I think sometimes today, though, we equate any business with being commercialistic. The educational institution I worked at would always be accused of having hidden profit. Instead, 98% of the budget was salaries.
We can’t assume all business operate under commercialism principles. We have to evaluate each company on the principles under which it operates.
How Do We Apply This?
I love what the Homilist wrote. It was written, “So now, God is as truly in the market as in the temple, and as truly demands worship at the stall of the one, as at the altar of the other.”
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We can’t relegate God to Sunday mornings only. Not even Sunday mornings, Sunday nights, and Wednesday nights.
God wants to be our priority 24/7/365.
Heavenly Father. Lord, there are passages in Your Word that we struggle to understand. Help us to learn what we are to know. May we conduct all of our business the way You desire. Amen.
What do you think?
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