Isaiah 23

— her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn.] He speaks of Tyre, as of a delicate woman forced to travel on foot into foreign countries. See chap. xlvii. 2; and note on chap. iii. 17. W. Lowth.

Ver. 1. Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty.] The same Hebrew word is in this chapter rendered either earth or land; and “the world,” ver. 4, means the same thing; the Israelitish world. See note on chap. xiii. 11. W. Lowth, Bp. Lowth.

Isaiah 23:3

3. — by great waters the seed of Sihor, &c.] An old English translation renders this more clearly, “the seed of Nilus, growing by the abundance of waters, &c.” W. Lowth. The Nile is here called Sihor, (as 1 Chron. xiii. 5; Jer. ii. 18,) from the blackness of its waters charged with the mud, which it brings down from Ethiopia when it overflows; see note on Gen. xv. 18. Egypt by its extraordinary fertility, caused by this overflowing, supplied the neighbouring nations with corn; by which branch of trade the Tyrians gained great wealth. Bp. Louth. Ezekiel, as it were commenting upon these words of Isaiah, “the mart of nations,” recounts (chap. xxvii.) the various nations whose commodities were brought to Tyre, and were bought and sold by the Tyrians. It was, as is well known, the most celebrated place in the world for its trade and navigation, the seat of commerce, and the centre of riches. Bp. Newton.

Isaiah 23:4

4. — the sea hath spoken,—saying, I travail not, &c.] Tyre is here introduced bemoaning her desolate condition, that she is become as though she never had any children or inhabitants. W. Lowth. Zidon, as the mother city, (see ver. 12,) is supposed to be deeply afflicted with the calamity of her daughter. Bp. Lowth. 5. As at the report concerning Egypt, so shall they be sorely pained at the report of Tyre.] The destruction of Tyre here spoken of being prior to that calamity of Egypt which is usually joined with it in the Prophets; see Ezek. xxix. 18, 19; others render this verse thus; “As soon as the report of Tyre shall come to Egypt, they shall be in great pain;” namely, because of the export of their corn: see note on ver. 3. W. Lowth.

Isaiah 23:6

6. Pass ye over] What the Prophet delivers by way of advice is to be understood as a prediction; and St. Jerome asserts, upon the authority of Assyrian histories now lost, that the Tyrians, when they were besieged by Nebuchadnezzar, and saw no hope of escaping, fled to Carthage, or some islands of the Ionian and Ægean sea. Here the Prophet bids them pass to Tarshish, that is, Tartessus in Spain; and (ver. 12,) to Chittim, the S The miserable overthrow of Tyre. Before CHRIST about 715. afar off. polite. creasing a merchantman. Canaan. strengths.

Isaiah 23:9

9.— to stain the pride of all glory.] Not long before the delivery of this prophecy, the Tyrians had beat the fleets of Shalmaneser with a very inferior force, and held out five years against his siege, when he died; they grew very insolent upon such success, and to this pride of theirs this prophecy of Isaiah may more particularly refer. Dean Prudeaux, Dr. Wells.

Isaiah 23:10

10. Pass through thy land as a river.] A city, taken by siege, and destroyed, whose walls are demolished, whose policy is dissolved, whose wealth is dissipated, whose people is scattered over the wide country, is here compared to a river, whose banks are broken down, and its waters, let loose, and overflowing all the neighbouring plains, are wasted and lost. A “girdle,” which collects, binds, and keeps together the loose raiment, when applied to a river, may mean a mound, mole, or artificial dam, which contains the waters, and prevents them from spreading abroad. Bp. Lowth. See the marginal reading.

— O daughter of Tarshish? Tyre is, at ver. 12, called “daughter of Zion,” being, as tradition says, a colony from that ancient city; and here (though it might seem natural for a similar reason to call Tarshish “daughter of Tyre”) is termed “daughter of Tarshish;” perhaps because, Tyre being runned, Tarshish was become the superior city, and might be considered as the metropolis of the Tyrian people; or rather, because of the close connexion and perpetual intercourse between them, according to the latitude of signification, in which the Hebrews use the words “son” and “daughter,” to express any sort of conjunction or dependence whatever. Vitringa, Bp. Lowth.

Isaiah 23:12

12.— there also shalt thou have no rest.] After Nebu-

chadnezzar had subdued Tyre and Egypt, we may suppose, as Megasthenes reports, that he carried his arms farther westward; so that, their conqueror thus pursuing them, the Tyrians might well be said to have no rest: however this might be, in aftertimes the Carthaginians, and other colonies with which the Tyrians on this occasion incorporated, (see note on ver. 6,) were continually in a very unsettled tumultuous state. Bp. Newton.

Isaiah 23:13

13. Behold the land of the Chaldeans; &c.] The prophet begins here with an exclamation, importing that something new and unexpected is about to follow; which is, not that the predicted overthrow of Tyre should be brought about, as any one might have supposed, by the Assyrians, who were the ruling power in Asia at the time when the prophecy was delivered; but that the people of the Chaldeans, at that period comparatively inconsiderable, fixed originally, from a straggling life, in their place of residence by the Assyrians, and indebted to them for all their improvements after, that “he,” namely, this people, should “bring Tyre to ruin.” Vitringa.

Isaiah 23:15

15.— according to the days of one king.] The word “king” is put here for kingdom, as Dan. vii. 17; viii. 20. The destruction of Tyre was some time after that of Jerusalem; but Jeremiah seems (chap. xxv. 11, 12,) to confine the subjection of all the countries which Nebuchadnezzar conquered to seventy years; some of them were subdued sooner, some later, but the end of that period was the common term for the liberation of them all. Nebuchadnezzar began his conquests in the first year of his reign; from thence to the taking of Babylon by Cyrus are the seventy years; and these limit the duration of the Babylonish monarchy. W. Lowth, Bp. Lowth.

15—17.— after the end of seventy years &c.] Tyre is represented as an harlot, and from thence these figures are taken; the meaning is, that she should recover her liberties and trade, and draw in all nations to deal with her. Bp. Newton. According to the prophecy, the seventy years being expired, we find that the Tyrians were restored to their former privileges, and allowed a king of their own. This favour seems to have been granted them by Darius Hystaspes, in consideration of their usefulness to him in his naval wars: they soon recovered their former prosperity, traffick, power, and

The doleful judgments of God upon the land. Before CHRIST about 715.

city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered.

Isaiah 23:18

18. And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the Lord: &c.] The Prophet speaks here not of what the Tyrians would do immediately on their restitution, but some time after, in the days of the Messiah. So that this is a prophecy concerning the conversion of the Tyrians to the true religion, of the accomplishment of which something is said in Acts xxi. 3—5; and more in other authors. Poole.

Tyre, after its second destruction by Alexander, again recovered its ancient trade and grandeur. It became early Christian with the rest of the neighbouring countries: St. Paul himself found many Christians there. It suffered much in Diocletian’s persecution. It was an archbishopric under the patriarchate of Jerusalem, with fourteen bishopricks under its jurisdiction. Bp. Lowth.

Chap. XXIV. The subject of this chapter some refer to the desolation caused by the invasion of Shalmaneser; others by that of Nebuchadnezzar; and others to the destruction of the city and nation by the Romans. Perhaps it may have a view to all the three great desolations of the country; the Prophet chiefly employs general images, such as set forth the greatness and universality of the ruin to be brought on, involving all orders and degrees of men, changing entirely the face of things, and destroying the whole polity, both religious and civil. Bp. Lowth. The prophecy takes in many very distant views, no one prior period of time setting a bound to the prospect: we may extend it to every age, from the time of its delivery to the very end of the

with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him.