Isa
23:4
4 Be thou ashamed [buwsh], O Zidon [Tsiydown]: for
the sea [yam] hath spoken ['amar], even the strength [ma`owz]
of the sea [yam], saying ['amar], I travail [chuwl] not, nor
bring forth children [yalad], neither do I
nourish up [gadal] young men [bachuwr], nor bring up [ruwm]
virgins [bathuwlah]. KJV-Interlinear
4 Be ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea has
spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying: “I have neither labored nor given
birth, I have neither reared young men nor brought up young women.” ESV
Sidon is the
older city to the north of Tyre. Tyre
was the powerful economic city and seaport built up on a small island just off
shore from the mainland, seemingly impregnable and indestructible. It was wealthy and known the world over,
representing the economies of the world known the world over. But more than just economies, it is the
managed economies the world over, as by then the entire world will be in a
managed state.
Sidon is the
mother, as it were, of the daughter called Tyre. Sidon was the model foundation of commerce
upon which the city of Tyre was built.
Just as the commerce of today is the result of the commerce of yesterday
or of the last century, but having been built upon the endless innovations that
have occurred along the way.
And now the
former is to lament the latter. Sidon is to grieve over Tyre. The foundation of commerce is to grieve over
the latter systems of commerce, since the latter is destroyed, bringing down
with it, all of the fundamental economics that preceded it.
Therefore, Sidon
grieves, and then the seas, out of which the economic empire of Tyre arose, now
speak to its own demise.
Neither labored,
or birthed, nor reared offspring. And that
is the final epitaph of Tyre.
It based all of
its wealth and prosperity on the former fundamentals of commerce, but did not
innovate any of them. It misused the
former principles and mismanaged and therefore produced a false sense of an economic
system, that did not grow, but instead crashed not only itself, but the whole economic
system worldwide.
Remember that
this prophecy is directed at the end times.
During those
final seven years, the manipulation of economics will be so great that the
whole system will crash.
Recall, from our
Revelation study, the massive inflation, massive famines, massive starvation, poor
business to extremes, regulations and laws requiring worship of the anti-christ
before receiving a license to buy or sell or engage in any form of trade or
business.
And here we are
receiving an in depth description of those times and their results.
But know one
more thing, too, nothing in government occurs overnight, but occurs over long
periods of time. And so, the seven year
period of the Tribulation is far too short for everything to happen solely
within that time frame.
It will be a crashing
era, not a developing era.
Many of the
false concepts of the Tribulation will have their origins in our dispensation
and obviously will be in existence prior to the rapture. We can see many examples in the world right
now. Examples that will become more and
more common, as time goes on.
They will just
be taken to extreme, extremes during the Tribulation, and thus crash the whole
system.
