Isaiah 23:6-14

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 23:7

Whose antiquity is of ancient days "Whose antiquity is of the earliest date" - Justin, in the passage above quoted, had dated the building of Tyre at a certain number of years before the taking of Troy; but the number is lost in the present copies. Tyre, though not so old as Sidon, was yet of very high antiquity: it was a strong city even in the time of Joshua. It is called צר מבצר עיר ir mibtsar tsor , "the city of the fortress of Sor," Joshua 19:29 . Interpreters raise difficulties... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 23:10

O daughter of Tarshish - Tyre is called the daughter of Tarshish; perhaps because, Tyre being ruined, Tarshish was become the superior city, and might be considered as the metropolis of the Tyrian people; or rather because of the close connection and perpetual intercourse between them, according to that latitude of signification in which the Hebrews use the words son and daughter to express any sort of conjunction and dependence whatever. מזח mezach , a girdle, which collects, binds, and... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 23:13

Behold the land of the Chaldeans - This verse is extremely obscure; the obscurity arises from the ambiguity of the agents, which belong to the verbs, and of the objects expressed by the pronouns; from the change of number of the verbs, and of gender in the pronouns. The MSS. give us no assistance, and the ancient Versions very little. The Chaldee and Vulgate read שמוה samoah , in the plural number. I have followed the interpretation which, among many different ones, seemed to be most... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 23:14

Howl, ye shops - The Prophet Ezekiel hath enlarged upon this part of the same subject with great force and elegance: - "Thus saith the Lord Jehovah concerning Tyre: - At the sound of thy fall, at the cry of the wounded, At the great slaughter in the midst of thee, shall not the islands tremble? And shall not all the princes of the sea descend from their thrones, And lay aside their robes, and strip off their embroidered garments? They shall clothe themselves with trembling, they... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 23:1-14

THE BURDEN OF TYRE . We hero reach the last of the "burdens"—the concluding chapter of the series of denunciatory prophecies which commenced with Isaiah 13:1-22 . It is an elegy "in three stanzas, or strophes" (Cheyne)—the first extending from Isaiah 13:1 to Isaiah 13:5 ; the second, thence to Isaiah 13:9 ; and the third from Isaiah 13:10 to Isaiah 13:14 . An undertone of sadness, and even of commiseration, prevails throughout it, the prophet viewing Tyre as a... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 23:1-15

Aspects of Divine judgment. I. ITS CERTAINTY . 1. The duration of time is no guarantee against its coming; Tyre was a " joyous city, whose antiquity was of ancient days" ( Isaiah 23:7 ), but judgment would fall upon her in God's chosen time. Both men and nations are apt to think that long continuance in comfort is a sufficient pledge that it will never be disturbed; duration begets a false sense of security. If men could only see things as they are, they would perceive that... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 23:1-18

The fall of Tyre. I. THE ANCIENT FAME OF TYRO . Consecrated to Melkarth, the principal god of the city, the temple on the island, the supposed site of the ancient city, is said by Arrian to have been the most ancient within the memory of man. Ezekiel speaks of Tyre as "in the midst of the seas" ( Ezekiel 27:25 , Ezekiel 27:26 ). The Tyrians were closely connected with the Zidonians, those famous "hewers of timber" ( 1 Kings 5:6 ). And perhaps the Zidonians of Homer include... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 23:6

Pass ye over to Tarshish . The advice was good, and may, perhaps, have been followed to some extent. When Sennacherib attacked Elulaeus of Sidon, that monarch fled across the sea, probably to Cyprus. When Alexander finally ruined Tyre, a part of the population made its escape on shipboard to Carthage (Arrian,' Exp. Alex.,' 2.24, § 8). An escape of the kind is represented in the Assyrian sculptures (Layard, 'Monuments of Nineveh,' first series, pl. 7l). read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 23:7

Is this your joyous city ? literally, your joyous one ; i.e. Can this wretched heap of ruins be the rich and joyous Tyre? Whose antiquity is of ancient days. Though regarded as less ancient than Zidon (Justin, 18.3), Tyro nevertheless claimed a very remote antiquity. Herodotus was told that its temple of Hercules (Melkarth) had been built two thousand three hundred years previously (Herod; 2.44). Q. Curtius makes the city to have been founded by Agenor, the father of Cadmus, who was... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 23:8

Who hath taken this counsel ? Who can have conceived the thought of destroying a city at once so powerful and so conducive to the advantage of other states? The answer is given in the next verse. The crowning city ; i.e. "the dispenser of crowns." Either to the governors of her colonies, or perhaps to the other cities of Phoenicia Proper. It is not quite clear whether the kings of those cities needed the sanction of Tyro to confirm them on their thrones, or not. The Hebrew word used... read more

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