The Redeemed Brothel: God's Sovereignty Over Global Commerce Text: Isaiah 23:15-18
Introduction: The God Who Owns Wall Street
We live in an age that is drunk on commerce. Our world is run by markets, by trade, by the ceaseless pursuit of profit. And like the ancients, we are tempted to believe that this realm of economics is autonomous, that it operates by its own set of unforgiving laws, and that God, if He exists at all, is to be kept safely in the stained-glass ghetto of our personal piety, far away from the trading floor. The god of the Dow Jones is Mammon, and he does not suffer rivals gladly.
But the Word of God crashes into this secular conceit with all the subtlety of a wrecking ball. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is not the God of the gaps. He is the God of everything, and that includes the GDP of nations, the shipping lanes, the banking houses, and the stock exchanges. In this oracle against Tyre, the ancient world's paragon of mercantile prowess, Isaiah shows us that God is sovereign not only over armies and kings but also over merchants and markets. Tyre was the Hong Kong or New York City of its day, a bustling, cosmopolitan port city that grew fabulously wealthy by being the middleman for the world. She was proud, pragmatic, and utterly godless. And God promises to bring her low.
But the story does not end there, and this is where our modern sensibilities, both pious and profane, are scrambled. God's purpose in judgment is not ultimate annihilation but sovereign redirection. He humbles in order to consecrate. This passage shows us a stunning, almost scandalous, picture of redemption. God takes the globalist, materialistic, prostitute city, and after a period of discipline, He brings her back into business. But this time, her profits are tithed to the Lord. Her harlot's wages will buy fine clothes and abundant food for the priests of God.
This is a profoundly postmillennial text. It is a promise that the gospel will not just save souls in a corner, but it will advance to claim and cleanse and consecrate the very centers of worldly power and commerce. It tells us that one day, the wealth of the nations, generated through the very mechanisms our age worships, will flow into the Church of Jesus Christ. God intends to baptize the global economy. And He will do it, not by destroying commerce, but by redeeming it.
The Text
Now it will be in that day, that 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 harlot: Take your harp, walk about the city, O forgotten harlot; Pluck the strings skillfully, sing many songs, That you may be remembered. And it will be at the end of seventy years that Yahweh will visit Tyre. Then she will go back to her harlot’s wages and will play the harlot with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. And her gain and her harlot’s wages will be set apart to Yahweh; it will not be treasured up or hoarded, but her gain will become sufficient food and choice attire for those who inhabit the presence of Yahweh.
(Isaiah 23:15-18 LSB)
A Generation of Oblivion (v. 15)
The prophecy begins with a precise sentence of judgment.
"Now it will be in that day, that Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years like the days of one king..." (Isaiah 23:15)
God's judgments are never arbitrary. He is not a chaotic pagan deity throwing lightning bolts in a fit of pique. His discipline is measured, specific, and purposeful. Tyre, the city that wanted to be remembered by all for her wealth and glory, will be sentenced to the one thing she cannot bear: oblivion. She will be forgotten. For seventy years, the span of a king's life or a dynasty's rule, her economic engine will be shut down. Her ships will not fill the seas. Her merchants will not be princes. She will be a non-entity.
This seventy-year period is significant. It parallels the seventy years of Judah's captivity in Babylon. This is not a coincidence. God is showing us that He deals with pagan nations with the same sovereign hand that He deals with His covenant people. He is the Lord of all history, the one who sets the boundaries of nations and the timelines of their rise and fall. For a generation, Tyre's pride will be starved. Her sin was commercial arrogance, the belief that her prosperity was her own doing. So her punishment fits the crime perfectly. God simply turns off the tap. He demonstrates that the entire global economic system, which seemed so permanent and powerful, exists entirely by His permission. He can put the world's greatest trading power in timeout for a generation, just to make a point.
The Song of the Harlot (v. 15b-16)
After the period of forced obscurity, God Himself orchestrates Tyre's return, using a striking and earthy metaphor.
"...At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the harlot: Take your harp, walk about the city, O forgotten harlot; Pluck the strings skillfully, sing many songs, That you may be remembered." (Isaiah 23:15b-16 LSB)
This is a gritty, realistic image. An aging prostitute, having lost her clientele, refuses to fade away. She gets out her instrument, dolling herself up as best she can, and goes on a marketing campaign. She has to drum up business again. The language is blunt. Commerce, when it is divorced from the worship of the true God, is a form of harlotry. It is the selling of oneself for material gain. It is inherently promiscuous, dealing with anyone and everyone ("all the kingdoms on the face of the earth") without regard for covenant faithfulness, only for profit. Tyre's business model was fundamentally one of prostitution. She offered her services to the highest bidder, seducing nations with her goods and luxuries.
But notice who is directing this scene. God is the one who says, "it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the harlot." After seventy years of humbling, God tells her to pick up her harp again. He is the one pushing her back onto the street corner of global trade. This is a staggering display of sovereignty. God does not just judge sin; He uses the very character of the sinner to accomplish His own redemptive purposes. He does not turn Tyre into something she is not. He doesn't make her a nation of farmers or priests. He sends her back to do what she knows how to do: trade. He is about to demonstrate that He can make a harlot's wages holy.
Divine Visitation and a Return to Business (v. 17)
The text is explicit about who is responsible for Tyre's economic recovery.
"And it will be at the end of seventy years that Yahweh will visit Tyre. Then she will go back to her harlot’s wages and will play the harlot with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth." (Isaiah 23:17 LSB)
Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel, will "visit" Tyre. This word for visit can mean a visit of judgment, but here it is a visit of restoration, albeit a qualified one. God is the one who restarts her economy. He is the prime mover. The secular historian would see shifting trade routes, new political alliances, or a change in leadership. The Bible pulls back the curtain and shows us that it is Yahweh who decides that Tyre's seventy years are up.
And what is the result of this divine visitation? She goes right back to her "harlot's wages." There is no immediate, internal moral transformation depicted here. She is still playing the harlot with all the kingdoms of the world. Her motives are likely still the same: profit, luxury, and self-aggrandizement. This is key. God's plan of redemption does not always begin by making the ungodly godly in their hearts. Often, He begins by commandeering their ungodly activities for His own holy purposes. He is so sovereign that He can use the self-interest of a pagan city to provide for His own people. He can make Mammon pay tribute to Christ.
The Consecrated Profits (v. 18)
The final verse is the stunning climax of the prophecy, where the entire purpose of this judgment and restoration is revealed.
"And her gain and her harlot’s wages will be set apart to Yahweh; it will not be treasured up or hoarded, but her gain will become sufficient food and choice attire for those who inhabit the presence of Yahweh." (Isaiah 23:18 LSB)
Here is the punchline. The money Tyre makes, her "harlot's wages," will be consecrated. It will be "set apart to Yahweh." The Hebrew word is qodesh, holy. The profits from the world's brothel are declared holy to the Lord. This is a direct fulfillment of the principle in the law that the wealth of the Canaanites was to be devoted to the Lord. But here it is not through conquest, but through commerce.
This wealth will not be hoarded in Tyre's treasuries. God will redirect the flow of capital. Instead of building more monuments to Tyre's pride, this money will provide for "those who inhabit the presence of Yahweh." In the immediate context, this refers to the priests and Levites serving in the Temple in Jerusalem. The profits of pagan globalism will buy the priests' groceries and their vestments. This is a beautiful picture of God's provision and a profound statement about economics. All wealth is ultimately God's. He is the owner, and everyone else is a steward, whether they know it or not. He can, and will, repossess and reallocate that wealth according to His good pleasure.
The Gospel Tithe
This prophecy is not just about an ancient Phoenician city. Like all of Isaiah, it finds its ultimate fulfillment in the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Tyre is a type of the world's commercial system, driven by greed and pride, yet harnessed by the sovereign God for the good of His Church.
This passage gives us a framework for a robust, optimistic eschatology. The Great Commission is not a plan for a fighting retreat. It is a mandate for global conquest. Jesus Christ has been given all authority in heaven and on earth, and that includes the earth of international finance. The prophets are clear that in the Messianic age, the wealth of the nations will flow to Zion (Isaiah 60:5, 11). The kings of the earth will bring their glory into the New Jerusalem, which is the Church (Rev. 21:24). This is what that looks like on the ground. It looks like the conversion of individuals, yes, but it also looks like the conversion of systems, cultures, and economies.
How does this happen? It happens as the gospel advances. As men and women who run businesses and financial institutions are converted, they begin to see their work not as a means of personal enrichment but as a stewardship. Their gain and their wages are set apart for the Lord. They begin to tithe, not just from their personal income, but from their corporate profits. Their gain becomes sufficient food and choice attire for the ministers of the gospel. It funds mission work, builds churches, and establishes Christian schools. The harlot's wages are laundered by grace.
This is not a call to withdraw from the world of commerce because it is "dirty." It is a call to engage it, to work within it, and to claim it for Christ. God is not anti-business; He is against business that is not for Him. This passage is a promise that the day is coming when the engine of global commerce, that great and powerful machine, will be harnessed to pull the gospel train. The song of the harlot will be redeemed, and its lyrics rewritten, until it becomes a song of praise to the God who is sovereign over all things, even the marketplace.