Isaiah 23:15

Seventy years. It is difficult to give a literal application of this prophecy, for the history of Tyre is not sufficiently well known. At the present it is not possible to give any specific year when the 70 years here referred to began and when they came to an end. Some think this period was roughly parallel with the 70 years of Jewish captivity in Babylon (2 Chron. 36:21; Jer. 25:11; 29:10; Dan. 9:2; Zech. 1:12; 7:5), which began with Nebuchadnezzar’s first capture of Jerusalem and ended with the restoration and return under Cyrus and Darius of Persia. Nebuchadnezzar began his 13-year siege of Tyre shortly after his capture and destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. Tyre was again an important city during the Persian period, and was again captured by Alexander in 332 B.C. The days of one king. The word “king” is probably used here for “kingdom,” as in Dan. 2:44; 7:17; 8:21. This expression may therefore denote the period of Babylonian occupation. Shall Tyre sing as an harlot. Literally, “it will be to Tyre according to the song of the harlot.” Tyre desired commercial supremacy. She would do anything for the sake of profit. In this respect she was like the prostitute Babylon, who sold herself for gain (Isa. 47:15; Rev. 17:2; 18:3).