Inspired by Isaiah 23:1 – 24:15, two friends talk over coffee about what happens when wealth becomes identity, why the whole earth eventually answers for what it’s done, and what it even means to keep praising God when everything around you is falling apart.
Tom and Ray, same corner table, same paper cups.
Ray: “Okay, so Tyre. What even was Tyre?”
Tom: “Big trading city. Like, think of it as the shipping and commerce capital of the ancient world.”
Ray: “Not an empire, just rich.”
Tom: “Really rich. Their merchants were described like princes.”
Ray: “And God just takes it out.”
Tom: “Yeah. Not because they were conquering people. Because of pride.”
Ray: “Huh. So you can get judged just for being the richest guy in the room.”
Tom: “I think it’s more like… they trusted the money. That was their whole thing.”
Ray: “Their identity.”
Tom: “Right. And then chapter 24 just goes completely global. Like, forget Tyre — now it’s the whole earth.”
Ray: “That’s where it got kind of heavy for me.”
Tom: “Same. It’s not one city or one nation anymore. Every kind of person, same judgment. Priest, servant, buyer, seller.”
Ray: “Nobody gets a pass.”
Tom: “Nope. And the reason is they broke what it calls the everlasting covenant. Like, the basic moral agreement God made with all of humanity.”
Ray: “After the flood, kind of thing.”
Tom: “Yeah. And humanity just… kept chipping away at it until it broke.”
Ray: “And the earth itself gets judged for it.”
Tom: “Staggers like a drunk, it says.”
Ray: “Man.”
Tom: “But then there’s this remnant. Like an olive tree after you beat it — a few olives still hanging on.”
Ray: “And they’re singing.”
Tom: “In the middle of all of it, yeah. Singing glory to the Righteous One.”
Ray: “I don’t know if I’d be singing.”
Tom: “Honestly, I don’t think I would either.”
Ray: “Like, everything’s wrecked, everybody’s gone, and you’re just… praising God.”
Tom: “I guess that’s what faith actually looks like when it’s real. Not when things are good.”
Ray: “Maybe. I think I’ve only really seen that in like one or two people.”
Tom: “Yeah. Most of us are more like… Isaiah in that part where he says, ‘I’m ruined, I’m ruined.’”
Ray: “Wait, Isaiah says that?”
Tom: “Yeah, even while he’s hearing the singing. He’s still shaken.”
Ray: “So even the prophet isn’t just fine with all of it.”
Tom: “Nope.”
Ray: “That’s kind of a relief, honestly.”
Tom: “Yeah.”
Ray: “You want to split a muffin or something?”
Created by Steve
God’s Word…
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Isaiah 23:1 – 24:15
An Oracle against Tyre
23 An oracle against Tyre:
Wail, ships of Tarshish,
for your haven has been destroyed.
Word has reached them from the land of Cyprus.[a]
2 Mourn, inhabitants of the coastland,
you merchants of Sidon;
your agents have crossed the sea[b]
3 on many waters.
Tyre’s revenue was the grain from Shihor—
the harvest of the Nile.
She was the merchant among the nations.
4 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.”
5 When the news reaches Egypt,
they will be in anguish over the news about Tyre.
6 Cross over to Tarshish;
wail, inhabitants of the coastland!
7 Is this your jubilant city,
whose origin was in ancient times,
whose feet have taken her
to settle far away?
8 Who planned this against Tyre,
the bestower of crowns,
whose traders are princes,
whose merchants are the honored ones of the earth?
9 The Lord of Hosts planned it,
to desecrate all its glorious beauty,
to disgrace all the honored ones of the earth.
10 Overflow[c] your land like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish;
there is no longer anything to restrain you.[d]
11 He stretched out His hand over the sea;
He made kingdoms tremble.
The Lord has commanded
that the Canaanite fortresses be destroyed.
12 He said,
“You will not rejoice anymore,
ravished young woman, daughter of Sidon.
Get up and cross over to Cyprus—
even there you will have no rest!”
13 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.
14 Wail, ships of Tarshish,
because your fortress is destroyed!
15 On that day Tyre will be forgotten for 70 years—the life span of one king. At the end of 70 years, what the song says about the prostitute will happen to Tyre:
16 Pick up your lyre,
stroll through the city,
prostitute forgotten by men.
Play skillfully,
sing many a song,
and you will be thought of again.
17 And at the end of the 70 years, the Lord will restore Tyre and she will go back into business, prostituting herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. 18 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.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 23:1 Hb Kittim
- Isaiah 23:2 DSS; MT reads Sidon, whom the seafarers have filled
- Isaiah 23:10 DSS, LXX read Work
- Isaiah 23:10 Or longer any harbor
The Earth Judged
24 Look, the Lord is stripping the earth bare
and making it desolate.
He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants:
2 people and priest alike,
servant and master,
female servant and mistress,
buyer and seller,
lender and borrower,
creditor and debtor.
3 The earth will be stripped completely bare
and will be totally plundered,
for the Lord has spoken this message.
4 The earth mourns and withers;
the world wastes away and withers;
the exalted people of the earth waste away.
5 The earth is polluted by its inhabitants,
for they have transgressed teachings,
overstepped decrees,
and broken the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore a curse has consumed the earth,
and its inhabitants have become guilty;
the earth’s inhabitants have been burned,
and only a few survive.
7 The new wine mourns;
the vine withers.
All the carousers now groan.
8 The joyful tambourines have ceased.
The noise of the jubilant has stopped.
The joyful lyre has ceased.
9 They no longer sing and drink wine;
beer is bitter to those who drink it.
10 The city of chaos is shattered;
every house is closed to entry.
11 In the streets they cry[a] for wine.
All joy grows dark;
earth’s rejoicing goes into exile.
12 Only desolation remains in the city;
its gate has collapsed in ruins.
13 For this is how it will be on earth
among the nations:
like a harvested olive tree,
like a gleaning after a grape harvest.
14 They raise their voices, they sing out;
they proclaim in the west
the majesty of the Lord.
15 Therefore, in the east honor the Lord!
In the islands of the west
honor the name of Yahweh,
the God of Israel.