The Burden of Trye
saiah 23. deals, as you perceive, with “the burden of Tyre.” Tyre, in the days of the prophet, was the maritime emporium of the nations—the point to which the ancient world’s trade by sea converged, as it now does to London. In consequence of her wealth and prosperity, she became proud (see Ezek. 28:1—10); therefore, her destruction was decreed, and is here foretold: “The Lord hath given a commandment against the merchant-city to destroy the stronghold thereof.”—(verse 11.) So much is plain to every one. Perhaps your difficulty is in connection with “the ships of Tarshish.” Perhaps you say, if the ships of Tarshish are the mercantile navy and war ships of Great Britain, why should they “howl” (verses 1 & 14) because of the desolation of Tyre ages ago? The answer is that the “ships of Tarshish” are not the modern ships of Britain, except in prophecies that deal with events pertaining to the modern era. The “ships of Tarshish,” in the days of Tyre, would be the ships employed to carry the metallic products of the British Islands to the markets of Tyre-—(Ezek. 27:12.) These ships would find their occupation gone when Tyre was destroyed; for their cargoes of “silver, iron, lead and tin” would be without purchasers. Consequently, there was no lack of appropriateness in prefacing the declaration of the doom of Tyre by a summons to the ships of Tarshish to “howl.” The “ships of Tarshish” of those days would, of course, be few in number as compared with the ships of Britain to-day, and their relation to the tin islands would be somewhat different. They would be owned or chartered principally by Phoenician merchants, either living in Tyre or settled in the Phoenician colony of Tartessus in Spain (modern Cadiz) at which the ships trading to the tin islands touched. In some cases, doubtless, they would be located in the southern coast of the tin (British) islands, from which the metals were exported. The ships employed would, therefore, be “the ships of Tarshish,” in the sense of being engaged in the trade with Tarshish, just as the British ships employed in the Indian trade used to be called East-Indiamen. But in these latter days, the islands of Tarshish have become the seat of a great maritime power, so that the phrase, “the ships of Tarshish” has become more than ever appropriate.
— The Christadelphian, Volume 15, 1878, Page 268
Also see Ministry of the Prophets Isaiah, Chapter 23.
Hear Now These Words 