After the end of seventy years, the LORD will visit Tyre, and she will return to her hire, and will play the harlot with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth, establishing that judgment is not eternally permanent but gives way to a restoration characterized by the resumption of Tyre's commercial activity and its old patterns of commercial immorality. The "visiting" suggests both punishment and the beginning of restoration, a renewal of divine attention. The return to hire and the image of harlotry suggest that Tyre will resume its commercial relationships but will not have learned from judgment, instead returning to the practices that occasioned its fall. This oracle maintains the pattern in Isaiah of judgment followed by restoration, yet refuses to suggest that restoration automatically implies moral transformation.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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