Sun.’s Devo - Tyre and Sidon

Read: Ezekiel 27:1-28:26; Hebrews 11:17-31; Psalm 111:1-10; Proverbs 27:15-16 God told Ezekiel to sing a funeral song to Tyre, that mighty gateway to the sea, the trading center of the world. The word “Tyre” means to “distress”. There were two parts of the city. The Old Tyre was built on a Rock a half mile out to sea. The New Tyre was on land. Ships came from all over the world to trade everything from ivory tusks of elephants to wine and white wool. Tyre exported silver, iron, tin, lead, purple dye, embroidery, fine linen and jewelry. God compared Old Tyre to a ship that was going to sink. Shalmaneser, who was helped by the Phonecians besieged Tyre for five years. Then in B.C. 586-573, Nebuchadnezzar besieged it for 13 years without success. It finally fell to Alexander the Great after being sieged for only 7 months. It continued it commercial trade until the Christian era. In A.D. 1291 it was taken by the Saracens and has remained a ruin ever since. The way I see it is that the first 10 verses of Chapter 28 deals with the “prince of Tyre” which was the physical king of Tyre and the verses after that deal with the spiritual prince of Tyre who is a picture of Lucifer in Genesis. The physical leader of Tyre was Ithobal or Ithbaal II whose name implies his connection to Baal who was their supreme god. He claimed to sit on his earthly rock in the midst of the sea like God sits on his throne in heaven. This leader was a type of the king of Babylon and the Antichrist. The island of Tyre was called “the holy island” and the colonies looked to Tyre as the mother city of their religion and politics. The army that would come against them would not see them as a holy city but as a city to be conquered. The would not see the leader as a god but as a man to be killed. Lucifer was one of God’s archangels along with Gabriel and Michael. Lucifer was in the garden of Eden clothed in every precious stone. He was the might guardian who had access to God’s holy mountain and walked among the stones of fire. Evil was found in him because of his pride and was banished from the mountain of God and the stones of fire. He, like the king of Tyre was filled with pride and his wisdom was corrupted by his love of splendor. He was destroyed by fire which will be his fate in the end. He will be thrown in a lake of fire. The city of Sidon was 20 miles north of Tyre. Both were cities of wealth and prosperity. Sidon was in the land of Asher but was never subdued by the Israelites. It became a thorn in Israel’s side and when Solomon came to rule, Sidon shared its idolatrous worship of Ashtorah with Solomon bringing shame and judgment upon Israel. God would send a plague against Sidon to punish her for what she did to Israel. The people of Israel would one day live in their land again to reveal to the world the holiness of God. In Hebrews we continue God’s list of the faithful. Abraham had been told that Isaac was the child that his descendants would be counted through. But by faith, he offered Isaac reasoning that God would raise Isaac from the dead. By faith Jacob in his old age, blessed each one of his sons prophesying their future. Joseph was the youngest of his sons who would preserve the family line. He knew that their lineage would one day leave Egypt and go to their promised land in Canaan so he made them promise to take his bones and bury them there. This was a precursor of the redemption of God’s people through Jesus. It was God’s promise that he would not leave us in bondage to sin but deliver us through salvation. Moses, another type of Jesus led the people out of Egypt teaching them the principle of the cross through the act of the Passover. These men and women played their role as types that would teach us about God’s ways many years later. How important it is to live your lives for the Lord because we are all living epistles. Lord, may we live our lives not only for the here and now but for those who will come after us.