And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures.
The ships of Tarshish and the pleasant pictures are seafaring trade and prized human display, including costly works of art and other things that people value and prize. They stand in the day of the Lord of hosts against everything proud and lofty and lifted up to bring it low, together with the cedars of Lebanon and the oaks of Bashan, the high mountains and lifted hills, and every high tower and fenced wall. Its result is that human loftiness and haughtiness and pride are bowed down and made low and humbled, the Lord alone is exalted in that day, and idols are utterly abolished.
That judgment belongs to the shaking of the earth when the Lord arises to shake it terribly. Then the idols of silver and gold are cast to the moles and to the bats, people go into the holes of the rocks and caves and clefts for fear of the Lord and for the glory of His majesty, and trust in man whose breath is in his nostrils is shown to be worthless. The humbling reaches all people alike, from kings and nobles to rich and poor, who will all bow when God's judgments fall, including the falling of God's plagues.
The verse gives divine certainty that the great day of the Lord is at hand and coming upon the world, to be read and understood and warned about before the judgments fall. It serves as invitation and warning to those who have had great light yet live in unbelief amid increasing warfare between good and evil that is preparing for the last great battle between the army of Satan and those who uphold the will of God. What it outlines will certainly come to pass with increased war and bloodshed and confusion of nations as each seeks to outdo the other for the benefits of possession.
The ships of Tarshish and the pleasant pictures are seafaring trade and prized human display, including costly works of art and other things that people value and prize. They stand in the day of the Lord of hosts against everything proud and lofty and lifted up to bring it low, together with the cedars of Lebanon and the oaks of Bashan, the high mountains and lifted hills, and every high tower and fenced wall. Its result is that human loftiness and haughtiness and pride are bowed down and made low and humbled, the Lord alone is exalted in that day, and idols are utterly abolished.
That judgment belongs to the shaking of the earth when the Lord arises to shake it terribly. Then the idols of silver and gold are cast to the moles and to the bats, people go into the holes of the rocks and caves and clefts for fear of the Lord and for the glory of His majesty, and trust in man whose breath is in his nostrils is shown to be worthless. The humbling reaches all people alike, from kings and nobles to rich and poor, who will all bow when God's judgments fall, including the falling of God's plagues.
The verse gives divine certainty that the great day of the Lord is at hand and coming upon the world, to be read and understood and warned about before the judgments fall. It serves as invitation and warning to those who have had great light yet live in unbelief amid increasing warfare between good and evil that is preparing for the last great battle between the army of Satan and those who uphold the will of God. What it outlines will certainly come to pass with increased war and bloodshed and confusion of nations as each seeks to outdo the other for the benefits of possession.