Isaiah
23:15
15 And it shall come to pass in that day [yowm], that Tyre [Tsor] shall be
forgotten [shakach] seventy [shib`iym] years [shaneh], according
to the days [yowm] of one ['echad] king [melek]: after the end
[qets] of seventy [shib`iym] years [shaneh] shall Tyre [Tsor] sing [shiyr] as an harlot [zanah]. KJV-Interlinear
15 In that day Tyre will be forgotten for
seventy years, like the days of one king. At the end of seventy years, it will
happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute: ESV
A little bit of
confusion with respect to the seventy years term being mentioned, but it is
easily cleared up as it pertains to the final days of history, which will last
only seven years.
First, Isaiah
wrote these words before the Babylonian Empire rose to power.
Second, Babylon
has been used as the symbolism of evil in the world, an evil which is ruled and
promoted by Satan.
Third, the
phrase, ‘forgotten seventy years,’ is modified by the following phrase, ‘according
to the days of one king.’
And fourth, the Bible
uses many historical examples to describe the various characteristics and
events of the final days of history.
All of that
said, now Tyre will be forgotten, which refers to the cessation of its
existence. It will cease to be a place
of importance. This means that everything
that it has come to stand for, namely the economics and the manipulation of the
economics of the world, then that human modified structure, will cease. It will collapse onto itself and in effect
destroy itself.
Seventy years,
according to the days of one king, has to be taken together, for they both
refer not only to the seventy years, but also to the typical life span of a
single king, or of a single dynasty.
This reference does
not designate a single man or woman or person, but to a king, and this passage
is very specific in that regard.
The word for
king, likewise refers to a single kingdom, or dynasty, consisting of a single
king or of a single rulership, which may consist of several kings. But in either case, it is one single rule that
is in view here.
Now Babylon is
the principle example of evil. The
duration of Babylon was seventy years when Nebuchadnezzar began his conquest in
the first year of his reign, and from there to the taking of Babylon, by Cyrus,
which was seventy years later.
After the fall
of Babylon the nations, that were taken by Babylon, would be restored to their
liberty and freedom. ‘All these
nations,’ says Jeremiah, 25:11, ‘shall serve the king of Babylon seventy
years.’ Some of them were conquered sooner, and some later; but the end of this
period was the common time of deliverance for them all.
Also, the word for
king is often times used to refer to kingdoms and visa-versa.
In Daniel the
four beasts were referred to as kingdoms but also as four great kings that would
rise up out of the earth, again referring to history. We know that those four refer to the Babylonian
Empire, the Persian Empire, the Greek Empire and then the Roman Empire. These were to become a succession of empires,
which has actually occurred in history.
Nebuchadnezzar
founded the Babylonian empire, and he was regarded as its founder, and then he was
succeeded by his son Merodach, and his grandson Belshazzar, in whose reign the
kingdom terminated, Jer. 27:7: ‘And all nations shall serve him, and his son,
and his son’s son.’ The period of seventy years is several times mentioned, as
a period during which the nations that were subject to Babylon would be
oppressed, and after that they should
be restored to their liberty, Jer. 25:11, 12; 29:10; Jer. 46:26.
This is all
historical.
The Tribulation
is still future, but it will last only seven years, and from that we know that
the number seven is often used to represent the completion of something, and in
this case it would be the completion of the Tribulation. It will all be completed during those seven
years. Also, we know that the number ten
is often used to designate perfection. For
example, a beautiful woman is often times referred to as a perfect ten. The combination of the two, are not magic nor
some secret code, but simply denote that it is God whose hand is in the
unfolding of history.
Thus the seventy
refers to the reign of a single king, also the duration of a single dynasty, and
that is what will occur in the Tribulation.
A single king and a single dynasty will run its full and complete
course, but not in seventy years, but in only seven years.
And then we have
the song of the prostitute.
The prostitute
song can refer to a couple of things.
After a major
disaster, the restoration often times occurs to the former levels of prosperity
and opulence and adornment with riches and so forth.
And so the
prostitute can refer to that restoration to prosperity but she will resume her
former habits of suggestive or questionable character. If you get the meaning here.
And the second
idea here is to the unrestrained joy and happiness that is freely and openly
displayed without embarrassment for all to see and hear, and there is no
restraint or timidness in that public display of singing or dancing and such.
And in a way
both of these concepts apply.
After the second
advent, the world will be restored to a phenomenal prosperity such has never
existed before in history. The joy and
happiness will overflow with everyone, in that new Kingdom of God. But we also know that near the end of that
1000 year reign of Christ, a huge population will arise in which many will not
believe in the Savior, and will rebel instantly when Satan is released from his
imprisonment.
Thus the super
happiness that will occur in the beginning of the Millennium will give way to a
return of the old ways with little or no effort as is the nature of unbelief.
So, history as
everyone will have known it, will disappear along with a brief but single evil
ruler, but freedom and prosperity beyond what everyone had known, will be
restored. But the answer to life is not
in disaster or in prosperity for these things can give way to evil. But the answer to life is found in faith in
Christ.
