The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 373

the gain of I be nations," referring ''it" t.o ture until the time of Joshua. (Josh. six. the oorn which the Tyrians exported. 29), a.bout n.o. 1300. Ker own feet shall Yer. 4.-:Be thou uhamed, 0 Zidon. Zidon, oo.rry her e.fa.r oft' to sojourn .(so Lowth, 1be most e.noient e.nd venerable of the Phoo- Rosenmiiller, GQeenius, Ewald, Ke.y). Others nician cities (Gen. x. 15; Josh. xi. 8; xix. render the p!IBsago, "whose feet were wont 28; Judg. niii. 7; Justin, xviii. S, etc.), to carry her afar off to sojourn." In the is c-nlled upon to feel shame because Tyre one ce.se the coming flight and exile, in the is ce.pturc>d. The ruin of the metropolitan other the past commercial enterprise of city would be felt e.e e. disgrace by e.11 the the city, ie pointed at. leeser towns, and by Zidon <•specie.Uy. The Ver. 8.-Who hath taken thiB oounselt 11ea . . . even the strength of the sea ; Who oan have conceived the thought of rather, 1M strongho/,d of the sea-; i.e. Tyre destroying a city l\t once- so powerful e.nd herself. Tyre declares that she is child~ so conducive to the advantage of other less, has neither son nor daughter, is e.e if states? The answer is given in the next she had never travailed nor brought forth verse. The orowning oity ; i.e. " the dis- children. I travail not, etc.; rather, I haflll penser of crowns." Either to the governors not lra1:ailed, 'llOr brought forth, nor nourished of her colonies, or perhaps to the other up, etc. My children being dead or taken cities of Phamicia Proper. It is not quite from me, it is e.s if I had never borne them. clear whether the kings of those cities needed Ver. 5.-As at the report oonoerning the so.nction of Tyre to confirm them on Egypt ; rather, when the rumour shall reach their thrones, or not. The Hebrew word Egypt (see the Septuagint, the Vulgate, Ge- used must certainly be rendered "crown-- senius, Knobel, Cheyne, etc.). They shall ing," e.nd not " crowned." Whose mer- be sorely pained. The Egyptians bore no ohe.nts are prinoes. Not actually sove- great affection towards any foreign nation. reigns, but the chief men in the state- under They were a people whose charity began the king. Trafflokere; literally, Ca11a.anites. and ended at home. Bot the fall of Tyre But the ethnio no.me seems to he.ve early was always a shock to them, and was felt to acquired the secondary meaning of "tra- portend evil to themselves. The Asiatic ders" (see Prov. :uxi 24; Job xii. 6). power which was strong enough to capture Ver. 9.-The Lord of hosts hath purposed the island-fortress would be a formidable it ; rather, hath counselled it. The word is enemy to Egypt itself, and might be ex- the same e.s~hnt used in the opening clause pected at no distant date to attempt the of ver. 8. God he.a conceived the thought conquest of the Nile valley. of destroying Tyre, for the reasons whioh Ver. 6.-Paes ye over to Tarshish. The the prophet proceeds to specify : I. To advice was good, and may, perhaps, have ate.in the pride of all glory; or, of all beautv. been followed to some extent. When Sen- Not the.t "glory" or "beauty" are dis- nacherib attacked Elulaaus of Bidon (B.C. pleasing to him, or provoke his envy, as the- 701), the.t monarch fled across the sea heathen thought (Herod., vii 10, § 4), bnt (' Recor& of the Past,' vol. i p. 35), pro- the.t those who" pride" themselves on their bably to Cyprus. When Alexander finally glory e.nd beauty ofl'end him. 2. To brinl ruined Tyre, a part of the population made into oontempt all the honourable of the earth; its t:Scape on shipboard to Carthage(.A.rrian, i.e. to render contemptible those whom the 'Exp. AleL,' iL 24, § 8). .An esce.pe of the world honours, though they do not deserve kind is represented in the Assyrian sculp- honour. tures (Layard, 'Monuments of Nineveh,' Ver. 10.-Pass through thy land as e. first series, pL 71 ). river; rather, overflow thy land, a, the Nile. Ver. 7.-Is thia your joy01111 city? lite- Shake off e.11 restraint; that is, give thy rally, your joycnu one; I.e. Can this wretched deijiree free vent-be no longer cramped a.nd heap of ruins be the rich e.nd joyous Tyre? confined by the restrictions of the metro- Whose e.ntiquity is of ancient de.y1. Though polis. Tartessus is addressed, as the leading regarded e.s less ancient than Zidon (JUBtin, colony, e.nd perhaps the one most oppressed; uiiL 3), Tyre nevertheless cle.imed e. very and in her person all the colonies a.re called remote antiquity. Herodotus we.a told on to shake themselves free of the mother (a.bout B.C. 450) the.tits temple of Hercules city. There is no more strength ; rather, (Melkarth) had been built two thousand there ia no more a girdle ; ie. there is no- three hundred years previously (Herod., ii thing that need restrain you-the power of 44). Q. CurtiUB makes the city to have Tyre is gone I bten founded by .A.gencr, the father of Cad- Ver. 11.-He 1tretohed out hill he.nd over mus, who was supposed to have lived three the 118a, By " he" we mUBt understand hundrt:d. years before thu Trojan War(' Vit. "Jehovah" (see ver. 9). God has smitten Alex.,' iv. 4). It must be noted, however, 'l'yre-the great maritime power-~~stroyed on the other band, tbe.t there is no mention its dominion, and eet its subject c1t1es free. at all of Tyre in Homer, and none in Scrip- He 11hook the kingdom, ; '·"· not only Tyre, <lit, :r.xm. 1-18.] THll1 BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 373