Isaiah 23:9

9 It was the purpose of the Lord of armies to put pride to shame, to make sport of the glory of those who are honoured in the earth.

Isaiah 23:9 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 23:9

The Lord of hosts hath purposed it
To destroy Tyre; who is wonderful in counsel, capable of forming a wise scheme, and able to put it in execution; being the Lord of armies in heaven and in earth: and his end in it was,

to stain the pride of all glory;
Tyre being proud of its riches, the extent of its commerce, and the multitude of its inhabitants, God was resolved, who sets himself against the proud, to abase them; to pollute the glorious things they were proud of; to deal with them as with polluted things; to trample upon them:

[and] to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth:
or, "to make light all the heavy ones of the earth" F4; all such, who are top heavy with riches and honour, God can, and sometimes does, make as light as feathers, which the wind carries away, and they fall into contempt and disgrace with their fellow creatures; and the Lord's thus dealing with Tyre was not merely on their account, to stain their pride and glory, and disgrace their honourable ones; but for the sake of others also, that the great ones of the earth might see and learn, by this instance of Tyre, how displeasing to the Lord is the sin of pride; what a poor, vain, and perishing thing, worldly honour and glory is; and what poor, weak, feeble creatures, the princes and potentates of the earth are, when the Lord takes them in hand.


FOOTNOTES:

F4 (Ura ydbkn lk lqhl) .

Isaiah 23:9 In-Context

7 Is this the town which was full of joy, whose start goes back to times long past, whose wanderings took her into far-off countries?
8 By whom was this purposed against Tyre, the crowning town, whose traders are chiefs, whose business men are honoured in the land?
9 It was the purpose of the Lord of armies to put pride to shame, to make sport of the glory of those who are honoured in the earth.
10 Let your land be worked with the plough, O daughter of Tarshish; there is no longer any harbour.
11 His hand is stretched out over the sea, the kingdoms are shaking: the Lord has given orders about Canaan, to make waste its strong places.
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