Isaiah 23:12 - Exposition

He said . Jehovah continues his threatenings. The oppressed virgin, daughter of Sidon —or rather, the oppressed virgin-daughter of Sidon— may he either. Tyre, which, according to some, was built by fugitives from Zidon, or Phoenicia generally, of which Zidon, as the "firstborn" ( Genesis 10:15 ), was a sort of mother. Pass over to Chittim (comp. Isaiah 23:6 ). Chittim (Cyprus) was a nearer refuge than Tarshish, and far more easily reached; but, on the other hand, it was much less safe. Sargon and Esarhaddon both of them exercised dominion over it; and when Abdi-Milkut, King of Sidon, fled there in the reign of the latter, the Assyrian monarch pursued him, caught him, and "cut off his head". Still, it was so often sought by princes flying from Phoenicia when attacked by Assyria, that cuneiform scholars call it "the usual refuge of the Phoenician kings". There also shalt thou have no rest . Cyprus submitted to Sargon, and again to Esarhaddon. It was included in the dominions of Asshur-bani-pal. After Nebuchadnezzar's conquest of Tyre, it was annexed by Egypt (Herod; 2.182), on the conquest of which country by Cambyses it became Persian. The Phoenicians had "no rest" there after Assyria had once found her way to the island.