Isaiah 23:5

Copyright Ó 2014 J. Neely

Isa 23:5

http://www.dailybiblestudy.org

5 As at the report [shema`] concerning Egypt [Mitsrayim], so shall they be sorely pained [chuwl] at the report [shema`] of Tyre [Tsor].   KJV-Interlinear

5 When the report comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish over the report about Tyre.   ESV

In chapter 19, we studied the prophecy concerning Egypt and the many calamities that were going to fall on that region.  Remember, all of these prophecies are referring to the final days of history and therefore they are interconnected.

They are not independent of each other.

Now, since this verse refers to the calamities of Egypt, and then the calamities concerning Tyre, then it is reasonable to presume that this is the chronological order in which they will occur.

During the Tribulation, everything is not going to collapse simultaneously.  There is going to be a logical order to the collapse, and these two prophecies are interconnected in that Egypt will suffer major problems that will leave the world in dismay, and then Tyre will subsequently suffer hardships.

And we know that these geographical regions are symbolic of the economies of the world, their resources and the causes pertaining to their prosperity and to their calamity.

So, given that sequence, after studying chapter 19, which you can review anytime online, then we know that the natural flow of the weather, its impact on the region and on its economy, the loss of resources, increased unemployment, decline is business and so forth, will all be beyond the control of people.

No one can control the weather.  No one can control the harvest.  No one can control the economy.  No one can control employment.

And therefore, the point is, that God controls all, and when God is rejected, then the benefit of that control is lost.

Simply said, if you reject Gods help then He does not give it.

Then, you have to realize on your own that without God, you are really helpless.  And unfortunately, too many people have to take the hard road before they realize the obvious.

Isaiah 23:4

Copyright Ó 2014 J. Neely

Isa 23:4

http://www.dailybiblestudy.org

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.