Isaiah 23:1

The burden of Tyre. See on ch. 13:1. Tyre and Sidon were the chief cities of the great maritime nation of Phoenicia (see Vol. II, pp. 67-69), and this message is, therefore, one of divine judgment against Phoenicia. Tyre and Sidon were frequently the target of attack by great nations of the Near East, including Assyria and Babylon, and later by Alexander the Great. To which of these attacks does Isaiah refer? Probably all of them. Certainly the Lord had a message for Phoenicia in Isaiah’s time, and the prophecy, or “burden,” would thus include measures taken by Tiglath-pileser III, Sargon II, and Sennacherib against Tyre. But the prophecy is doubtless of a more comprehensive nature, and refers also to later times, when the judgment predicted became even more extensive, as in the days of Nebuchadnezzar and of Alexander the Great. For Ezekiel’s parallel prophecy, see Eze. 26 to 28. For parallel imagery in the book of Revelation, compare Isa. 23:2, 8, 11, 15, 17 with Rev. 17:2, 5; 18:2, 3, 5, 11, 23. See also on Isa. 47:1; Jer. 25:12; 50:1; Eze. 26:13. Ships of Tarshish. Tarshish is generally believed to have been a Phoenician colony in Spain (see on Gen. 10:4). “Ships of Tarshish,” several times mentioned in connection with Tyre, were probably refinery ships carrying metals (see on Isa. 2:16) and other goods of trade (Eze. 27:12). Here, ships on their return voyage from Tarshish are meant. Isaiah’s prophecy pictures the great ships of Tarshish laden with wealth, making their way around the Mediterranean to their home port of Tyre, and just before arriving there, finding that the city had been taken. No entering in. The ships now had no home port to which they might go. Chittim. Probably Cyprus. See on Num. 24:24. Here would be the last port of call on the voyage from Spain to Tyre, and here the crews of the homeward-bound ships would learn of the disaster that had befallen their home port.