Isaiah 23:9 - Homiletics

The fall of Tyre a warning against pride in the glories of civilization and art.

In destroying Tyre, God, we are told, "purposed to stain the pride of all glory." The word translated "glory" also signifies "beauty" ( 2 Samuel 1:19 ; Isaiah 4:2 ; Ezekiel 7:20 ); and the "glory" for which Tyro was renowned consisted, not in military reputation or governmental ability, but in wealth, commerce, and the production of beautiful objects, as garments, bowls, metal castings, and ether works of art. It was on the perfection to which she had brought the arts which aim at embodying the beautiful, that Tyre especially prided herself. Her boast was, "I am of perfect beauty" ( Ezekiel 27:3 ). By her fate we are taught—

I. THAT THE CULT OF THE BEAUTIFUL HAS ITS ESPECIAL DANGERS TO OUR MORAL NATURE . Artistic work seems to emanate so entirely from a man himself, to be so purely his own absolute creation, that it naturally raises in him an admiration of himself and an exalted conception of his own powers. How shall he not be proud of faculties that enable him to produce works which send a thrill of delight through crowds, and are recognized as possessions for all time! Again, the beautiful is so charming, so attractive, that it is apt to seem sufficient for a man, and so to absorb all his attention, and shut out all thought of higher and nobler things. In our own time the cult is actually preached as a sufficient religion, and men are asked what more they can possibly desire than to feast the eye perpetually on beautiful objects—beautiful buildings, beautiful furniture, beautiful clothes, pictures, statues, statuettes, harmonious colors, delicate textures, soft and subdued light, graceful forms, pleasing contrasts. A weak and effeminate race is produced by such a training; the robuster virtues are uncared for; men become lapped in a luxurious sensualism, and need a warning voice, like that of the prophet, to wake them from their delightful dream to life's stern realities.

II. THAT THE EXCLUSIVE CULT OF THE BEAUTIFUL PROVOKES GOD 'S ANGER AND JEALOUSY . Type is not accused of crimes. She is not a "bloody city," like Nineveh (Nab. Isaiah 3:1 ); she is not "full of lies and robbery." Her punishment does not come upon her "because of the violence" that is in her, nor for extreme arrogancy, nor for hypocrisy. Her sin seems to be in her luxury, in her softness, in her "perfect beauty" ( Ezekiel 27:11 ). She is rich, she is comely, she has things of beauty all about her, and she is content. She wants no more. The beautiful and the enjoyable satisfy her. But God is angered thereby. He will not have even the beautiful, though it is a shadow of himself, shut him out from the first place in men's thoughts. He will vindicate his own honor. He will suffer no rival near his throne. If men are so wrapt up in anything as to forget him, he will remind them of himself by some terrible judgment, which can be ascribed to none but him ( Isaiah 3:8-11 ).