Isaiah 22
DOYLY— Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste.] See note at 1 Kings xxii. 48. The destruction of such a mart as Tyre must have been a great loss to all merchant adventurers. W. Lowth. Concerning Chittim, see the note on Numb. xxiv. 24.
Isaiah 22:23
- — I will fasten him as a nail &c.] See Ezra ix. 8; Ecclus. xiv. 24; Ezek. xv. 3. Where the way of life and houses are more simple, it is necessary to furnish the inside of the several apartments with sets of nails, or large pegs, to dispose of and hang up the moveables in common use. They do not drive these into the Eastern walls, which are too hard if of brick, if of clay too mouldering, but fix them in as they are building. Eliakim is considered a principal stake of this sort, for the support of all vessels destined for common or sacred uses; that is, as the principal support of the whole civil and ecclesiastical polity: the nail, mentioned ver. 25, is of course to be understood of Shebna. Bp. Lowth, Sir J. Chardin. Chap. XXIII. ver. 1. The burden of Tyre.] This prophecy may best be understood of Nebuchadnezzar’s laying siege to Tyre, and taking it. The word “isle” is used in other texts for a maritime place; see note on chap. xi. 11; and, ver. 4, Tyre is called “the sea, the strength of the sea,” because the inhabitants were strong at sea, and looked upon it as their proper element. W. Louth. VOL. II. waste, so that there is no house, no entering in: from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them.