Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 23:10
Pass through thy land as a river, O daughter of Tarshish: [there is] no more strength.
10. as a river ] Rather: as the Nile (as R.V.). The people of Tarshish are now as free of the land they live in as the Nile is of Egypt in the time of the annual inundation.
there is no more strength ] Render as in R.V. there is no girdle (about thee) any more. The “girdle” (cf. Psa 109:19) is supposed to be a symbol of the restraints hitherto imposed on the colonists by Tyre. But nowhere else is a man represented as hampered by his own girdle; the removal of it is rather a synonym for weakness (Job 12:21 the same root as here cf. Isa 5:27).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
10 14. The third strophe, as usually explained, deals mainly with the emancipation of the Phnician colonies from the somewhat stringent control of Tyre. But the passage presents many difficulties; and from the utter uncertainty as to the meaning of Isa 23:13 the general sense is doubtful.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Pass through thy land as a river – This verse has been very variously understood. Vitringa supposes that it means that all that held the city together – its fortifications, walls, etc., would be laid waste, and that as a river flows on without obstruction, so the inhabitants would be scattered far and near. Everything, says he, would be leveled, and the field would not be distinguishable from the city. Grotius thus renders it: Pass to some one of thy colonies; as a river flows from the fountain to the sea, so do you go to the ocean. Lowth understands it also as relating to the time of the destruction of Tyre, and to the escape which the inhabitants would then make.
Overflow thy land like a river,
O daughter of Tarshish; the mound (that kept in thy waters)
Is no more.
The Septuagint renders it, Cultivate ( Ergazon) thy land, for the ships shall no more come from Carthage ( Karchedonos) Probably the true meaning is that which refers it to the time of the siege, and to the fact that the inhabitants would seek other places when their defense was destroyed. That is, Pass through thy territories, thy dependent cities, states, colonies, and seek a refuge there; or wander there like a flowing stream.
As a river – Perhaps the allusion is to the Nile, as the word ye‘or is usually given to the Nile; or it may be to any river that flows on with a mighty current when all obstructions are removed. The idea is, that as waters flow on when the barriers are removed, so the inhabitants of Tyre would pour forth from their city. The idea is not so much that of rapidity, as it is they should go like a stream that has no dikes, barriers, or obstacles now to confine its flowing waters.
O daughter of Tarshish – Tyre; so called either because it was in some degree sustained and supplied by the commerce of Tarshish; or because its inhabitants would become the inhabitants of Tarshish, and it is so called by anticipation. The Vulgate renders this, Filia marias – Daughter of the sea. Juntos supposes that the prophet addresses those who were then in the city who were natives of Tarshish, and exhorts them to flee for safety to their own city.
There is no more strength – Margin, Girdle. The word mezach means properly a girdle Job 12:31. It is applied to that which binds or secures the body; and may be applied here perhaps to that which secured or bound the city of Tyre; that is, its fortifications, its walls, its defenses. They would all be leveled; and nothing would secure the inhabitants, as they would flow forth as waters that are pent up do, when every barrier is removed.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 10. O daughter of Tarshish] Tyre is called the daughter of Tarshish; perhaps because, Tyre being ruined, Tarshish was become the superior city, and might be considered as the metropolis of the Tyrian people; or rather because of the close connexion and perpetual intercourse between them, according to that latitude of signification in which the Hebrews use the words son and daughter to express any sort of conjunction and dependence whatever. mezach, a girdle, which collects, binds, and keeps together the loose raiment, when applied to a river, may mean a mound, mole, or artificial dam, which contains the waters and prevents them from spreading abroad. A city taken by siege and destroyed, whose walls are demolished, whose policy is dissolved, whose wealth is dissipated, whose people is scattered over the wide country, is compared to a river whose banks are broken down, and whose waters, let loose and overflowing all the neighbouring plains, are wasted and lost. This may possibly be the meaning of this very obscure verse, of which I can find no other interpretation that is at all satisfactory. – L.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Pass through the land; tarry no longer in thy own territories, but flee through them, and beyond them, into other countries, for safety and relief.
As a river; swiftly, lest you be prevented; and continually, till you be all gone; and in shoals and multitudes.
O daughter of Tarshish; O Tyrus; for of her he speaks both in the foregoing and following words. And Tyrus might well be called the daughter of Tarshish, i.e. of the sea, as that word is used, Isa 23:1, and elsewhere, because it then was an island, and therefore as it were born of the sea, and nourished and brought up by it.
No more strength, Heb. no more girdle: the girdle, which strengthens the loins of a man, is put for strength, as Job 12:21; 38:3. It behoveth you, O people of Tyrus, to flee away, as I advise you; for your city is unable to defend you; your wealth, the sinews of war, is lost; your walls broken down; the sea, which, like a girdle, surrounded and defended you, is now in part filled up by your enemies, who have joined you to the main land; your former friends and allies forsake you.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10. a riverHebrew,“the river,” namely, Nile.
daughter of TarshishTyreand its inhabitants (Isa 1:8),about henceforth, owing to the ruin of Tyre, to become inhabitants ofits colony, Tartessus: they would pour forth from Tyre, aswaters flow on when the barriers are removed [LOWTH].Rather, Tarshish, or Tartessus and its inhabitants, as the phraseusually means: they had been kept in hard bondage, working in silverand lead mines near Tarshish, by the parent city (Eze26:17): but now “the bond of restraint” (for so”strength,” Margin, “girdle,” that is,bond, Ps 2:3, ought to betranslated) is removed, since Tyre is no more.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Pass through thy land as a river, O daughter of Tarshish,…. Or, “of the sea”, as the Vulgate Latin; meaning Tyre, which was situated in the sea, and did, as it were, spring from it, and was fortified by it, and supported by ships of merchandise on it, from various places; but now, being about to be destroyed, the inhabitants of it are called upon to pass through it, and get out of it as fast as they could, even as swiftly as a river runs, and in great abundance or multitudes. Kimchi thinks the Tyrians are bid to pass to the daughter of Tarshish, that is, to Tarshish itself, to make their escape out of their own land, and flee thither for safety; this the accents will not admit of, there being an “athnach” upon the word “river”; rather the merchants of Tarshish, that were in Tyre, are exhorted to depart to their own land with all possible haste, lest they should be involved in its ruin; though the Targum inclines to the other sense,
“pass out of thy land, as the waters of a river flee to a province of the sea:”
[there is] no more strength; in Tyre, to defend themselves against the enemy, to protect their trade, and the merchants that traded with them; or, “no more girdle” e; about it; no more girt about with walls, ramparts, and other fortifications, or with soldiers and shipping, or with the sea, with which it was encompassed, while an island, but now no more, being joined to the continent by the enemy. Some think, because girdles were a part of merchandise, Pr 31:24, that this is said to express the meanness and poverty of the place, that there was not so much as a girdle left in it; rather that it was stripped of its power and authority, of which the girdle was a sign; see Isa 22:21.
e “nulla est zona amplius”, Junius Tremellius, Piscator “non est cingulum amplius”, Cocceius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The consequence of the fall of Tyre is, that the colonies achieve their independence, Tartessus being mentioned by way of example. “Overflow thy land like the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish! No girdle restrains thee any longer.” The girdle ( m ezach ) is the supremacy of Tyre, which has hitherto restrained all independent action on the part of the colony. Now they no longer need to wait in the harbour for the ships of the mother city, no longer to dig in the mines as her tributaries for silver and other metals. The colonial territory is their own freehold now, and they can spread themselves over it like the Nile when it passes beyond its banks and overflows the land. Koppe has already given this as the meaning of Isa 23:10.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
10. For there is not any longer a girdle. (110) מזח ( mēzăch) is translated by some a girdle, and by others strength. Those who translate it girdle, suppose the meaning to be that Tyre will be so completely plundered, that she will not even have a girdle left; and that the allusion is to the vast wealth laid out in merchandise, for the poorest of the merchants sell girdles. But I think that Isaiah alludes to the situation of the city, which was protected on all sides by ditches, mounds, ramparts, and the sea.
(110) Bogus footnote
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(10) Pass through thy land as a river . . .The word for river is that used in Isa. 23:3 with special reference to the Nile. Here the inundation of the Nile gives special force to the comparison. The daughter of Tarshish (i.e., Tarshish itself) is to spread and overflow in independent action. The colonies of Tyre are no longer subject to her, paying tribute or custom duties as she might ordain. There is no strength, no girdle now to restrain them, no limit such as Tyre had imposed on their commerce or colonisation. It is significant that Cyprus revolted about this time, and that the Phnician colonies took part in attacking the mother city under Sennacherib (Jos. Ant. ix. 14. 2).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
10. Pass through as a river As freely as a river flows, overflows, and rushes, so let the population go hence.
Daughter of Tarshish Dependent, henceforth, on the colonies for existence and a home.
No more strength Girdle is the word a figure of strength. No more home girding of the loins or fortifications. The cincture of beauty and strength is gone from Tyre.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Here we are brought acquainted with the means the Lord will make use of, for the overthrow of Tyre. The Chaldeans shall be the Lord’s instruments; and what adds to the aggravation of Tyre’s sorrow, to humble her pride still more, is, that she shall be brought down by a power, which, like a mushroom that springs up in a night, was nothing in the days of Tyre’s grandeur. The Chaldeans were not, until the Assyrian founded the nation: it was but a wilderness. Reader, it is distressing to the proud, both of empires and individual persons, to be brought low; but when the Lord makes use of contemptible instruments to humble them; this is humbling indeed. And is it not so now? In the contentions of nations do we not see it? In the bringing down the lofty looks of a sinner, is it not done frequently by humbling providences, such as sickness, poverty, and the like? See a beautiful illustration, Jer 31:18-20 . And another, Luk 15:13-19 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 23:10 Pass through thy land as a river, O daughter of Tarshish: [there is] no more strength.
Ver. 10. Pass through the land as a river, ] i.e., Hastily: a Abi praeceps, pack up and begone with all speed, be there never so many of you here at Tyre.
There is no more strength.
a Indefinenter et cito. – Jun.
O daughter: Isa 23:12
no more: Isa 23:14, 1Sa 28:20, Job 12:21, Lam 1:6, Hag 2:22, Rom 5:6
strength: Heb. girdle, Psa 18:32
Reciprocal: 1Ki 10:22 – Tharshish 2Ki 19:21 – the daughter Job 24:18 – swift Isa 23:6 – Pass Eze 26:18 – at thy Eze 27:12 – General Jon 1:3 – Tarshish
Isa 23:10. Pass through thy land Tarry no longer in thy own territories, but flee through them, into other countries, for safety and relief. As a river Swiftly, lest you be prevented; continually, till you be all gone, and in shoals and multitudes. O daughter of Tarshish Tyre is here called the daughter of Tarshish, because it was enriched and increased by trade to that place: or, rather, as Bishop Lowth supposes, because of the close connection and perpetual intercourse between the two cities, according to that latitude of signification in which the Hebrews used the word son and daughter, to express any sort of conjunction and dependance whatever. There is no more strength Or, no more a girdle, as in the margin: the girdle which strengthens the loins of a man being here put for strength, as frequently elsewhere, as if he had said, It behooves you, O Tyrians, to flee away, as I advise, for your city is unable to defend you; your wealth, the sinews of war, is lost; your walls are broken down; and your former friends and allies have forsaken you.
23:10 Pass through thy land as a river, O {n} daughter of Tarshish: [there is] no more strength.
(n) Your strength will no more serve you: therefore flee to other countries for comfort.
Tarshish could now expand freely, as the Nile overflowed Egypt, because God had removed her main competitor, Tyre.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)