‘Wail, O ships of Tarshish, For your stronghold is destroyed.” (V.14)
Over the last 10 chapters, Isaiah recorded the coming judgment of God against Israel’s various neighbors. In this section, the final judgment is against the principal city of Phoenicia (Tarshish), whose ships were famous in the Mediterranean world.
Tarshish was a pagan, idol-worshipping nation that practiced human sacrifice to their god Baal. King Ahab and his wife Jezebel had brought priests of Baal into Israel, resulting in the dramatic confrontation on Mount Caramel with the prophet Elijah (1 Kings 18). Here in Isaiah 23, God was warning Phoenicia (Tarshish) to repent. They refused and history records that they were overrun by Assyria in 738 BC, and then completely destroyed in 332 BC by Alexander the Great.
God had pointed out again and again to His people the foolishness of placing their hope in idol-worshiping pagan nations, rather than placing their hope in Him, the only true God. And, as a result of taking their eyes off their Savior, they became consumed with the circumstances of life that surrounded them.
O how often do the same thing - panic and start looking for another source of help because we don’t think God is going to come through. In these times where some are trying to completely change our culture back to the days of Sodom and Gamora, better to heed the warning given through Isaiah to Tarshish, repent! Or the end result will be the same, total destruction.
The Truth: “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:32)
Over the last 10 chapters, Isaiah recorded the coming judgment of God against Israel’s various neighbors. In this section, the final judgment is against the principal city of Phoenicia (Tarshish), whose ships were famous in the Mediterranean world.
Tarshish was a pagan, idol-worshipping nation that practiced human sacrifice to their god Baal. King Ahab and his wife Jezebel had brought priests of Baal into Israel, resulting in the dramatic confrontation on Mount Caramel with the prophet Elijah (1 Kings 18). Here in Isaiah 23, God was warning Phoenicia (Tarshish) to repent. They refused and history records that they were overrun by Assyria in 738 BC, and then completely destroyed in 332 BC by Alexander the Great.
God had pointed out again and again to His people the foolishness of placing their hope in idol-worshiping pagan nations, rather than placing their hope in Him, the only true God. And, as a result of taking their eyes off their Savior, they became consumed with the circumstances of life that surrounded them.
O how often do the same thing - panic and start looking for another source of help because we don’t think God is going to come through. In these times where some are trying to completely change our culture back to the days of Sodom and Gamora, better to heed the warning given through Isaiah to Tarshish, repent! Or the end result will be the same, total destruction.
The Truth: “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:32)
