Exposition of the Whole Bible

with them, to go elfewhere with their merchandife, fince their goods could no more be difpofed of in that city as ufual. Howl ye inhabitants of the ifle of Tyre, as in ¥. 2:or of every ifle; ‘as’ Aben Ezra, which traded here, becaufe now their commerce was at anend; fo Kimchi.. +t so PR RR y. 7. Is this your joyous city? 8c.) Which the other day looked fo gay, brifk, and chearful, thro’ the number of. its inhabitants, largenefs of trade, fulnefs of provifions, and pleafures of every kind; and now diftrefled and defolate, and no voice o: joy and gladnefs heard in it: who/e antiquity igi j ancient days, the moit ancient city in Phanicia, excepting Zidon, as Strabo™ fays; and it was in being in the days of Yofua, Fob. xix. 29. if the words there are rightly rendered; and if fo, Fofe~ phus muft be miftaken, unlefs*he fpeaks of infular Tyre, when he fays*, that from the building of Tyre, to the building of the temple (of Solomon), were two hundred and forty years, which muft fall very fhort of the times of Yofoua; fuchy feem — to be nearer the truth, who make Agenor, the father of Cadmus, to be the builder of this'city, who lived about the times of Foua.” The Lyrians in-’ deed boafted of a:ftill greater antiquity, ‘and to

| which boafts perhaps reference is here had for one of the priefts of Zyre told Herodotus *, that their city had been inhabited two thoufand: three hun?)

dred years; and Herodotus lived in the times’ of.

Artaxerxes and Xerxes, about the year‘of the world’ 3500. \ According to Sanchoniatho*, it~was inha-" bited by Hyp/uranius, who firft builded cottages of rufhes, €c. in it; but thefe things are beyond all credit; however, certain it is, that it was. a very: ancient city; it had the name of Paletyrus or old Tyre: ber own feet fall carry her afar off to Jojourn the fenfe is, that tho’ the Zyrians had. lived very delicately, and in great affluence, whilft their city” was flourifhing, yet now they fhould ‘be very’ coarfely and roughly ufed; they fhould not ride on horfes, or be drawn in carriages, but fhould’ be obliged to walk on foot, and be led or driven’ into a foreign country, Afpria or Chaldea, ot to” fome province or provinces belonging to ‘that em=— pire; where they fhould:be, not as inhabitants, but” as fojourners and ftrangers; and fhould be’ ufed, not as. freemen,, but as.captives and flaves) Gro-’ tius, by her feet, underftands the feet of her fhips, fails and oars, and mariners themfelves, by means’ of which fhe got into diftant places for fafety; and’ fo it is reported in hiftory », that the Tyrians be— ing long befieged by Nebuchadnexzar,-and having” no hopes of being delivered, prepared.a convenient” number of fhips, abandoned their city, stranfported”. themfelves, wives, children, and riches, and failed” from thence to Cyprus, Carthage, and other mari-"

time cities of their tributaries, or confederates; fo" that the Babylonians, when they took the city,” found little or nothing in it; fee Ezek: xxix, 18.""

tho’ the words will bear another fenfe, being, ac+ cording to the accents, to be read in cor with the preceding claufes, thus, Is this the foyous.

city? from the firft days of her antiquity, her feet ng t that is, by her labour and:pains, by her jo and voyages, for the fake of merchandize, which may numberof perfons to.fojourn in her®,

& Apad Hieron. in loc +: 2 Herod

¥.8. Who hath token this counfel againft Tyre, the crowning city, ec.) Which had a king over it, to whom it gave a crown; and which crowned its inhabitants with riches and plenty, and even enriched the kings of the earth, Ezek. xxvii. 33. this is faid as wondering who could lay a fcheme to deftroy fuch a city, or ever think of fucceeding in it; who could take it into his head, or how could it enter into his heart, or who could have:a heart to go about it, and ftill lefs power to effect the ruin of fuch a city, which was the queen of cities, and gave laws and crowns, riches and wealth, to others; furely no mere mortal could be concerned in this; fee Rev. xiii. 3, 4: whofe merchants are princes, either really fuch, for even princes and kings of the earth traded with her, Ezek. xxvii.) 21, 33. or they were as rich as princes in other countries were: whofe traffickers are the honourable of the earth? made rich by trafficking with her, and fo attained great honour and glory in the world; fee Rev. Xviii. 3, 15. like manner as he ftretched

¥. 10. Pafs through thy land, as a river, O daughter of Tarfpifo, 8ec.| Or, of the fea, as the Vulgate Latin; meaning Tyre, which was fituated in- the fea, and did, ‘as it were, fpring from it, and was fortified by it, and fupported by thips of merchandife on it, from various places; but now being about to be deftroyed, the inhabitants of it are called upon to pafs thro’ it, and get out of it as faft as they could, even as fwiftly as a river runs, and in great abundance or multitudes. Kimchi thinks the Tyrians are bid to pafs tg the daughter of Tarfoifh, that is, to Tarfbifh itfelf, to make their efcape out of their own land, and flee thither for' fafety; this the accents will not admit of, there being an Athnach upon the word river; rather the merchants of Tarfbifh, that were in Tyre, are exhorted to depart to their own land with all poffible hafte, left they fhould be involved in its ruin, tho’ the Targum inclines to the other: fenfe, “ pafs out ‘* of thy land, as the waters of a river flee to a “* province of the fea: there is xo wiore ftrengtb; in Tyre, to defend themfelves againft the enemy, to proteét their trade, and‘ the merchants’ that traded with them; or, ‘0 more Lirdle*, about it; no more girt about with walls, ramparts, and othet fortifications, or with foldiers and fhipping, or with the fea, with which it was encompafléd, whilft an ifland, but now rio more, being joined to the continent by the enemy. Some think, becaufe girdles were a part of merchandife, Prov. xxxi. 24. that this is id to exprefs the meannefs and poverty 6f the place, that there was not fo much as a girdle left in it; rather that it was ftripped of its power and authority, of which the girdle was a fign; fee chap. 22. 21. © ohaeuak yt. 11. He ftretched out his hand over the fea, &c.J That'is, the Lord of Hofts, who had purpofed to deftroy Tyre, ftretched out his hand of power’ over it, called the fea, as in ¥. 4. becaufe fituated i it, fupported by it, and had the fovereignty of it; in out his hand ‘on the red-fea, and deftroyed Pharach and the Egyptians: in it; to which the allufion may be: he shook thé kingdoms; of Tyre and Zidon, which were both kingdoms, and diftinét ones; and alfo made other neighbouring kingdoms fhake and tremble when’ thefe fell, fearing it would be ‘their cafe next. Some underftand this of the moving of Nebuchad+ mezzar, and of the kings of the provinces under’ him, to come againft Lyre: the Lord hath given’a commandment againft the merchant city, the city of Tyre, fo famous for merchandife, that“it was the mart of nations, as in ¥. 3. or, againft Canaan, in which country Tyre and. Zidon were, being origi-" nally built and inhabited by the pofterity of Canaan, Gen. x. 15, 19: to deflroy the ftrong holds thereof; either of the mtrchant-city Iyre, whofe fortifications were ftrong, both by nature and art; or, of Canaan, whofe ftrong holds, or fortified: cities, the principal of them were Tyre and Zidon 4 fo Farchi: and if the Lord of Hofts gives a com-' mandment to deftroy it and its {trong holds, as he. did to, Nebuchadnezzar and his army, and aiter-. wards to Alexander and his, who could favé them e that is, God faid it, who gave commandment to. deftroy it. jee ' devotl y.'12. And he faid, thou Jhalt no more réjoice, &c.] Not meaning that fhe fhould never more reas Kimchi ihterprets it; when her calamity fhould come upon her, her, jovial time, her time of mirth, jollity and revelling, would be over for a time; for at the end of ‘feventy years, {He fhould take her harp and fing again,,

¥.9. The Lord of Hofts hath purpofed it, 8cc.] To deftroy Zyre; who is wonderful in counfel, capable of forming a wife fcheme, and able to put it in execution; being the Lord of armies in heaven and in earth: and his end in it was, to fain the pride of all glory; Tyre being proud of its riches, the extent of its commerce, and the multitude of its inhabitants, God was refolved, who fets himfelf againft the proud, to abafe them; to pollute the glorious things they ‘were proud of; to deal with them as with polluted things; to trample upon them: and to bring into contempt all thé bonourable of the earth, or, to make light all the beavy ones of the earth* all {uch who are top-heavy with riches and honour, God can, and fometimes does, make as light as feathers, which the wind carries away, and they fall into contempt and difgrace with their fellow-creatures; and the Lord’s thus dealing with Tyre was not merely on their account, to ftain their pride and glory, and difgrace their honourable ones; but for the fake of others alfo, that the great ones of the earth might fee and learn by this inftance of Zyre, how difpleafing to the Lord is the fin of pride; what a poor, vain, and perifhing thing, worldly honour and glory is; and what poor, weak, feeble creatures, the princes and potentates of the earth are, when the Lord takes them in hand. - {i joice, but not for a long time,

¥. 15, 16. for the words feem to be {poken, of Tyre, concerning whom the whole prophecy is; tho’ fome think Zidon is here meant, which being near, ‘fot. fered at the fame time with Tyre, or quickly after: O thow oppreffed virgin; Tyre is called a virgin, becaufe of her beauty, pride, and lafcivioufhels,. and’ becaufe never before fubdued and taken; and op prefed, becaufe ‘now deflowered, ranfacked, plun- \dered and ruined, by Nebuchadnezzar; daughter of Zidon; fome think Zidon itfelf is meant, jut oS daughter of Zion means Zion herfelt, &e, but it may be alfo. obferved,’ that fuch cities that have’ fprung from others, or have their dependence ‘on them, are called their daughters; fo we read of Sao maria and her daughters, and Sodom and her daugh— ters, Ezek: xvi. 46, 48. and fo Tyre is’ te i daughter of Zidon, -becauf it was a colony of the Zidonians'; and at firft built and fupported by them, tho’ now grown greater than its mother: arife, pas aver to Chittim; to the ifle of Cyprus, which was near them, and in which was a city called Citivm; or to Macedonia, which was called. the-land of Chittim, 1 Maccad. i. 1. or to the ifles of the Zigean and Jonian feas; or to Greece and Italy; which latter fenfe is approved by Vitringa, who thinks the iflands of Cor/ica, and Sardinia, and Sicily, are meant, which were colonies of the Tyrians; and fo in y.1, 6: there alfo fhalt thou have no reft; fince thofe countries would alfo fall into the enemies hands, either the Badylouiaus, or the Medes and Perfians, or the Romans; into whofe hands Macedonia, Carthage, and other colonies of the Zyrians fell, fo that they had no reft in any of

¥.13. Behold the land of the Chaldeans, &c.] Not Zyre, as fome think, fo called, becaufe founded by the Chaldeans, who finding it a proper place for Ships, fo they render the word T2iim, afterwards ufed, and which is fo interpreted by Farchi, built the city of Tyre; but the country called Chaldea is here meant, and the BaZylonifh empire and monatchy, particularly Badylon, the head of it: zhis people was not;,.a people, or of any great note and figure; till the Affyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wildernefs; Nimrod was the firft builder of Babel, in the land of Shinar, and from that land went forth Aur, and built Nineveh, the city Reboboth, and Calab, which were built for people that lived {cattered up and down in fields and defert places; fo that the Arians were the firft founders of Chaldea, and after it had been inhabited by the Chaldeans, it was feized upon by the Afprians, and became a province. of theirs: they, fet up the towers thereof, the towers of Babylon, not of Tyre. Jarcki intetprets it of building bulwarks againit Tyre: they raifed up the palaces; the ftately. buildings of Babylon; or razed them; fo Farchi; alfo the Targum, ‘< they deftroyed the palaces thereof:” and Le brought it to ruin; or he will do it; the paft tenfe for the future, i.e. God will bring Babylon to ruin; and therefore it need not feem ftrange that Zyre fhould be deftroyed, fince this would be the cafe of Babylon.. Sir Fohn Marfham ® interprets the words thus, “* look upon Babylon, the ** famous metropolis of the Chaldeans; the people “¢ that poffefs that city, not long ago dwelt in de- “* ferts, having no certain habitation; Nabonajjar * the Afprian brought men thither, the Scevites, *‘ (the inhabitants of Arabia Deferta; fo called, ‘* from their dwelling in tents) he fortified. the city, he raifed up towers, and built palaces; ** fuch now was this city, founded by the Aprian; “* yet God hath brought it to ruin; Babylon thall “< be deftroyed as Zyre;” and. this inftance. is brought to thew, that a city and a people more ancient and powerful than-Zyre either had been, or would be, deftroyed; and therefore need not call in queftion the truth or credibility of the. prophecy relating to Tyre; but the fenfe of: the whole, according to Vitringa, feems rather to be this: debold the land of the Chaldeans, the country they now inhabit; take notice of what is now about to, be faid; it may feem ftrange and marvellous: this people was not; not that they were. ofa late. ori- ‘ginal, for, they. were an ancient people, who de-

fcended from Chefed, the fon of Nabor, but for a long time of no account, that lived feattered up and down in defert places: till the Affprian founded it. for them that dwell in the wilderne/s, he drove out the Arabians from Mefopotamia, and tranflated the Chaldeans thither, who before inhabited the wildernefs: they fet up the towers thereof, they raijed up the palaces; that is, the Affrians fortified and adorned the city of Babylon, the metropolis of the country; fo Herodotus" fays the Alprian kings adorned the walls and temples of Babylon; now. behold this land of the Chaldeans, or the people that inhabit it, as poor and as low as they have been, who owe their. all to the Afyriens, even. thefe fhall bring Tyre to ruin; fo that the inftruments of the ruin of Tyre are here deferibed; which, when this prophecy was delivered, might feem improbable, the Afprians being poffeffors of monarchy. d!

¥.14. Howl, ye fhips of Tarfoifh, &c.] As im ¥.1. See the note there: for your ftrength is laid wafte,; meaning Tyre, a {trong fea-port, where their fhips were fafe, and always found vent for their goods and merchandife; and fo it was the ftrength and fupport of their country; but was now deftroyed, and therefore was matter of lamentation, and mourning.

¥.15. And it foall come to pafs in that day, &e.} When Tyre. is deftroyed, from that time forward > that Tyre fhall be forgotten seventy years; thall fo long lie in its ruin, and not be rebuilt’, it fhall be without inhabitants, and unfrequented by mens there fhall be no merchandife in it during that time; no merchants will come nigh it; fhe will be like an harlot caft off and forgotten by her lover: the term of time is the fame with that of the captivity of the Fews in Babylon, and grean part of it at leaft run out along with it; for Tye was deftroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, as Ferdfalem was, tho’ fome time after it, and was reftored when the Babylonifh empire was deftroyed, at the expiration: of feventy years: according to the days of one kings! or kingdom; the Badyloni/h kingdom, which lafted) fo long in Nebuchadnezzar’s family 5. whofe family; he himfelf, his fon, and fon’s fon, are here meant, as. Aben Ezra thinks; and feems to be the mare commonly received fenfe; tho’ Kimehi,,and others, underftand it of the days of a man, which are: feventy years, Pf: xc. 10. and fo it is added:in:the; Septuagint verfion,.as the time of a man, which perhaps was a marginal note, by way of explay

‘nation, and crept into the text. Yerchi is of -opinion king David is meant, whofe age was feventy:

years, tho’ he is.at.a lofs to give a reafon for this! his opinion; but Kimchi fuggefts one, and thatis), the. covenant which, was between Hiram king) of: ‘Tyre and David, and this is mentioned toeput-the Tyrians. in mind of the breach of ity which» hadi ‘brought defolation upon them; fome; underftand: this of the king Mefliah*: after the end of: feventy: years foall-Tyre fing as a harlot, being, ilt.and> reftored to its former ftate; as an harlot who has» been.caft off by her lovers, on account of fome: difeafe fhe has laboured under, and. thro? a-diflike: of her; but having recovered her health, makes: ufe of her arts, and this among others, to fing a: fong, in order to draw,, by her melodious voice, her lovers to her again): and. fo' Tyre being built. _ again, and out,of the hands of its: ors, and’

reftored to its former liberty, fhould. make ufe of all arts and methods to recover her trade, and draw merchants from all parts to her again. *

¥..16. Take an harp, go about the city, &c.| As. harlots ufed to do, that by their mufic, both vocal and inftrumental, they might allure men into their company to commit fornication with them; io Tyre is directed to, or rather this is a prophecy that fhe fhould, take very artful and enfnaring methods to rfore her commerce and. merchandife+ thou. harlot that baft been forgotten; fee the note on ¥.15.: make fweet melody, or, do well by firiking *s that is, the harp.in her hand; ftrike it well with art and fkill, fo as to make melody, and give pleafure: fing many fongs; or, multiply a fong'; fing one.after another, till the: point is carried, aimed. at: ‘hat thou mayeft be remembered; men may look at thee again, and trade with thee as formerly, who had been fo long forgotten and neglected.

¥.17. And it fhall come to pafs after the end of Seventy years, &c.| When the feventy years before mentioned are ended: that the Lord will vifit Tyre; not in judgment, as before, but in mercy: and fhe foall return to ber hire; trade and merchandife; that fhall revive, and be as in times paft: and fhail commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world, upon the face of the earth; be a mart of nations again, as in ¥, 3. that is, trade and traffic with all nations of the earth, In the moft ample and public manner; this is called committing ‘fornication, in agreement with the fimile of an harlot before ufed, whereunto Zyre ts compared 3 as well as to obferve the illicit ways and methods ufed in her commerce: The Targum is, “‘ and her merchandife fhall be ** fufficient to all the kingdoms of the people, ‘¢ which are upon the face of the earth;” and fo the Septuagint, ‘‘ and fhall be a mart to all the *‘ kingdoms of the world, upon the face of the <¢ earth.” The phrafe is ufed of myftical Tyre or Babylou, and of her

Kade 134 Or, bat her merchandije, 8c. not the fame as bes | fore; ors! however, ‘not “as carried’ on. at the fame time, but nfany ages ‘after,'évén in’ the times of the gofpel; for this’ part of the prophecy refpects the convertion of the Lyrians; in thé fitt ‘ages of chriftianity; this is prophefied of elfewliere, Pf xlvv 12. and Ixxxvii. 4. and was fulfilled in the times of the apoftles, és xi. 19. arid xxi3, 4: and 46 Kimchi and Farchi fay this is’a prophecy tobe fulfilled in the days of the Meffial’™: and then the trade of this people; and what they got By: ity foould be bolinefs to the Lord's that is, devoted; at leaft, great part of it, to holy ufeés and fervite: that is, in defraying of all expences in carrying oni the worfhip of God, for the maintenance of gofpelminifters,; and for the fupply and fupport’ of the poor faints: it fhall not be treafured; nor laid ups in order to be laid out in pride and luxury's\or to be kept as ufelefs, to gratify a covetous difpofition; }or for pofterity to come: for ber merchandife fball be laid up for them that dwell before the Lord; part’o what fhould be gained by trading, at leaft; fhould be laid by for religious ufes, as is dirécted 1 Cor. xvi, 1. even for the relief of poor faints in general, who affemble together before the Lord, for the fake of his worfhip 5 and particularly for the fupport of the minifters of the gofpel; who ftand be# fore the Lord, and minifter in holy things, in “hig name, to the people: ‘to eat /ufficiently; that they may have food convenient for. them, and enough of it; or, in other words, have a fufficient tmaintenance, a comfortable fupply of food for them: felves and families, and raiment alfo; as follows: and for durable clothing s that they may’ have a fupply of clothing, and never watit a codt ‘to put upon their backs. This prophecy, as it belongs to gofpel-times, is a proof of the maintenance of gofpel- minifters, that they ought to be liberally provided for; and care fhould be taken, that they want not food and raiment, but have a fulnefS and fufficiency of both, and that which is convenient.

¥.18. And her merchandife, and her bire, &c.] for them;