Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 23:13
Behold the land of the Chaldeans; this people was not, [till] the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness: they set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof; [and] he brought it to ruin.
13. Every attempt to extract a meaning from the verse as it stands is beset by insuperable difficulties. Perhaps the best suggestion is that the fate of Chalda is mentioned as a warning example to Tyre: “Behold the land of the Chaldans; this people is no more; the Assyrian hath appointed it for the beasts of the wilderness, &c.” (so R.V.). This is a fairly good sense; only, “this people is no more” is hardly a possible rendering of the Hebrew. The reference is supposed to be to one (probably the last) of Sennacherib’s three conquests of Babylonia, which were certainly carried out with a thoroughness which would justify the terms of the prophecy. But is there any evidence that Babylonia was known as the “land of the Chaldans” before the rise of the Chaldan Empire? There is none in the Bible. The text is certainly in disorder, and there is little hope of recovering the original reading. Ewald’s attractive emendation of “Canaanites” for “Chaldans” fails to meet the case, for the exclamation “Behold the land of the Canaanites” surely comes too late after so much has been said of the ruin of this very land. The most acute analysis of the verse is that of Duhm, although, as is usual with this commentator, it involves an extensive manipulation of the text. To the original prophecy he assigns only the first and last clauses, and for “Chaldans” he substitutes “Chittim”: Behold the land of Chittim, he (Jehovah) hath made it a ruin” a continuation of the thought of the preceding verse. The intermediate clauses are regarded as an interpolation and are ingeniously explained as follows: “this is the people that was founded by the sea-farers (cf. Num 24:24), they erected its watch-towers, its cities and its palaces.” It seems a pity that so good a sentence should be denied to the prophet.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Behold the land of the Chaldeans – This is a very important verse, as it expresses the source from where these calamities were coming upon Tyre; and as it states some historical facts of great interest respecting the rise of Babylon. In the previous verses the prophet had foretold the certain destruction of Tyre, and had said that whoever was the agent, it was to be traced to the overruling providence of God. He here states distinctly that the agent in accomplishing all this would be the Chaldeans – a statement which fixes the time to the siege of Nebuchadnezzar, and proves that it does not refer to the conquest by Alexander the Great. A part of this verse should be read as a parenthesis, and its general sense has been well expressed by Lowth, who has followed Vitringa:
Behold the land of the Chaldeans;
This people was of no account;
(The Assyrian founded it for the inhabitants of the desert;
They raised the watch towers, they set up the palaces thereof;)
This people hath reduced her to a ruin.
Behold – Indicating that what he was about to say was something unusual, remarkable, and not to be expected in the ordinary course of events. That which was so remarkable was the fact that a people formerly so little known, would rise to such power as to be able to overturn the ancient and mighty city of Tyre.
The land of the Chaldeans – Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Chaldea or Babylonia. The names Babylon and Chaldea are often interchanged as denoting the same kingdom and people (see Isa 48:14, Isa 48:20; Jer 50:1; Jer 51:24; Eze 12:13). The sense is, Lo! the power of Chaldea shall be employed in your overthrow.
This people – The people of Babylonia or Chaldea.
Was not – Was not known; had no government or power; was a rude, nomadic, barbarous, feeble, and illiterate people. The same phrase occurs in Deu 32:21, where it also means a people unknown, rude, barbarous, wandering. That this was formerly the character of the Chaldeans is apparent from Job 1:17, where they are described as a nomadic race, having no established place of abode, and living by plunder.
Till the Assyrian – Babylon was probably founded by Nimrod (see the notes at Isa. 13), but it was long before it rose to splendor. Belus or Bel, the Assyrian, is said to have reigned at Babylon A.M. 2682, or 1322 b.c., in the time of Shamgar, judge of Israel. He was succeeded by Ninus and Semiramis, who gave the principal celebrity and splendor to the city and kingdom, and who may be said to have been its founders. They are probably referred to here.
Founded it – Semiramis reclaimed it from the waste of waters; built dikes to confine the Euphrates in the proper channel; and made it the capital of the kingdom. This is the account given by Herodotus (Hist. i.): She (Semiramis) built mounds worthy of admiration, where before the river was accustomed to spread like a sea through the whole plain.
For them that dwell in the wilderness – Hebrew, letsiyiym – For the tsiim. This word (from tsiy or tsiyah, a waste or desert) denotes properly the inhabitants of the desert or waste places, and is applied to people in Psa 72:9; Psa 74:14; and to animals in Isa 13:21 (notes); Isa 34:14. Here it denotes, I suppose, those who had been formerly inhabitants of the deserts around Babylon – the wandering, rude, uncultivated, and predatory people, such as the Chaldeans were Job 1:17; and means that the Assyrian who founded Babylon collected this rude and predatory people, and made use of them in building the city. The same account Arrian gives respecting Philip of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great, who says, that Philip found them wandering and unsettled ( planetas kai aporous), feeding small flocks of sheep upon the mountains, that he gave them coats of mail instead of their shepherds dress, and led them from the mountain to the plain, and gave them cities to dwell in, and established them with good and wholesome laws. (Hist. Alex vii.)
They set up the towers thereof – That is, the towers in Babylon, not in Tyre (see the notes at Isa. 13) Herodotus expressly says that the Assyrians built the towers and temples of Babylon (i. 84).
And he brought it to ruin – That is, the Babylonian or Chaldean brought Tyre to ruin: to wit, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of a people formerly unknown and rude, would be employed to destroy the ancient and magnificent city of Tyre.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 13. Behold the land of the Chaldeans] This verse is extremely obscure; the obscurity arises from the ambiguity of the agents, which belong to the verbs, and of the objects expressed by the pronouns; from the change of number of the verbs, and of gender in the pronouns. The MSS. give us no assistance, and the ancient Versions very little. The Chaldee and Vulgate read samoah, in the plural number. I have followed the interpretation which, among many different ones, seemed to be most probable, that of Perizonius and Vitringa.
The Chaldeans, Chasdim, are supposed to have had their origin, and to have taken their name, from Chesed, the son of Nachor, the brother of Abraham. They were known by that name in the time of Moses, who calls Ur in Mesopotamia, from whence Abraham came, to distinguish it from other places of the same name, Ur of the Chaldeans. And Jeremiah calls them an ancient nation. This is not inconsistent with what Isaiah here says of them: “This people was not,” that is, they were of no account, (see De 32:21😉 they were not reckoned among the great and potent nations of the world till of later times; they were a rude, uncivilized, barbarous people, without laws, without settled habitations; wandering in a wide desert country ( tsiyim) and addicted to rapine like the wild Arabians. Such they are represented to have been in the time of Job, Job 1:17, and such they continued to be till Assur, some powerful king of Assyria, gathered them together, and settled them in Babylon in the neighbouring country. This probably was Ninus, whom I suppose to have lived in the time of the Judges. In this, with many eminent chronologers, I follow the authority of Herodotus, who says that the Assyrian monarchy lasted but five hundred and twenty years. Ninus got possession of Babylon from the Cuthean Arabians; the successors of Nimrod in that empire collected the Chaldeans, and settled a colony of them there to secure the possession of the city, which he and his successors greatly enlarged and ornamented. They had perhaps been useful to him in his wars, and might be likely to be farther useful in keeping under the old inhabitants of that city, and of the country belonging to it; according to the policy of the Assyrian kings, who generally brought new people into the conquered countries; see Isa 36:17; 2Kg 17:6; 2Kg 17:24. The testimony of Dicaearchus, a Greek historian contemporary with Alexander, (apud. Steph. de Urbibus, in voc. ,) in regard to the fact is remarkable, though he is mistaken in the name of the king he speaks of. He says that “a certain king of Assyria, the fourteenth in succession from Ninus, (as he might be, if Ninus is placed, as in the common chronology, eight hundred years higher than we have above set him,) named, as it is said, Chaldaeus, having gathered together and united all the people called Chaldeans, built the famous city, Babylon, upon the Euphrates.” – L.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Behold the land of the Chaldeans; you Tyrians, who think your city impregnable, cast your eyes upon the land and empire of the Chaldeans, or Babylonians; which though now it be a flourishing kingdom, and shall shortly grow far more glorious and potent, even the glory of kingdoms, as it is called, Isa 13:19, yet. shall certainly be brought to utter ruin; and therefore your presumption is most vain and unreasonable.
This people was not: the Chaldeans at first were not a people, not formed into any commonwealth or kingdom.
Till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness; till Nimrod, the head and founder of the Assyrian monarchy, built Babel, Gen 10:10, now the head of the Chaldean monarchy, which he built for those people, who then lived in tents, and were dispersed here and there in wild and waste places, that he might bring them into order, and under government, and thereby establish and promote his own empire.
They set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof; the Chaldeans being by this means brought together into a body, fell to the work of building their city, and its towers and palaces, and thereby got power and dominion over their neighbours, till at last they grew the greatest of all the monarchies that then were upon earth.
He; the Lord, who is expressed before, and is frequently designed in Scripture by this indefinite pronoun he, as hath been many times observed; whereby he insinuates the true reason why neither the Chaldeans nor the Tyrians should be able to stand, because the Almighty God was engaged against them. Brought it to ruin; will infallibly bring that great empire to ruin. He speaks of a future thing as if it were already past, as the prophets use to do. The Chaldeans shall now return to their first nothing, and become no people again.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. BeholdCalling attentionto the fact, so humiliating to Tyre, that a people of yesterday, likethe Chaldees, should destroy the most ancient of cities, Tyre.
was nothad noexistence as a recognized nation; the Chaldees were previously but arude, predatory people (Job 1:17).
Assyrian founded itTheChaldees (“them that dwell in the wilderness”) lived anomadic life in the mountains of Armenia originally (Arphaxad, in Ge10:22, refers to such a region of Assyria near Armenia), northand east of Assyria proper. Some may have settled in Mesopotamia andBabylonia very early and given origin to the astrologers calledChaldees in later times. But most of the people had beentransferred only a little before the time of this prophecy from theiroriginal seats in the north to Mesopotamia, and soon afterwards toSouth Babylonia. “Founded it,” means “assigned it(the land) to them who had (heretofore) dwelt in the wilderness”as a permanent settlement (so in Ps104:8) [MAURER]. Itwas the Assyrian policy to infuse into their own population of theplain the fresh blood of hardy mountaineers, for the sake ofrecruiting their armies. Ultimately the Chaldees, by their powerfulpriest-caste, gained the supremacy and established the later orChaldean empire. HORSLEYrefers it to Tyre, founded by an Assyrian race.
towers thereofnamely,of Babylon, whose towers, HERODOTUSsays, were “set up” by the Assyrians [BARNES].Rather, “The Chaldees set up their siege-towers“against Tyre, made for the attack of high walls, from which thebesiegers hurled missiles, as depicted in the Assyrian sculptures [G.V. SMITH].
raised uprather, “Theylay bare,” namely, the foundations of “her (Tyre’s)palaces,” that is, utterly overthrew them (Ps137:7).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Behold the land of the Chaldeans,…. Not Tyre, as some think, so called, because founded by the Chaldeans, who finding it a proper place for “ships”, so they render the word “tziim”, afterward used, and which is so interpreted by Jarchi, built the city of Tyre; but the country called Chaldea is here meant, and the Babylonish empire and monarchy, particularly Babylon, the head of it:
this people was not; a people, or of any great note and figure:
[till] the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness; Nimrod was the first builder of Babel, in the land of Shinar, and from that land went forth Ashur, and built Nineveh, the city Rehoboth, and Calah, which were built for people that lived scattered up and down in fields and desert places; so that the Assyrians were the first founders of Chaldea; and after it had been inhabited by the Chaldeans, it was seized upon by the Assyrians, and became a province of theirs:
they set up the towers thereof; the towers of Babylon, not of Tyre. Jarchi interprets it of building bulwarks against Tyre:
they raised up the palaces thereof; the stately buildings of Babylon; or razed them; so Jarchi; also the Targum,
“they destroyed the palaces thereof:”
[and] he brought it to ruin: or he will do it; the past tense for the future, i.e. God will bring Babylon to ruin; and therefore it need not seem strange that Tyre should be destroyed, since this would be the case of Babylon. Sir John Marsham g interprets the words thus,
“look upon Babylon, the famous metropolis of the Chaldeans; the people, that possess that city, not along ago dwelt in deserts, having no certain habitation; Nabonassar the Assyrian brought men thither, the Scenites (the inhabitants of Arabia Deserta, so called from their dwelling in tents); he fortified the city, he raised up towers, and built palaces; such now was this city, founded by the Assyrian; yet God hath brought it to ruin; Babylon shall be destroyed as Tyre;”
and this instance is brought to show that a city and a people, more ancient and powerful than Tyre, either had been or would be destroyed; and therefore need not call in question the truth or credibility of the prophecy relating to Tyre; but the sense of the whole, according to Vitringa, seems rather to be this: “behold the land of the Chaldeans”; the country they now inhabit; take notice of what is now about to be said; it may seem strange and marvellous: “this people was not”; not that they were of a late original, for they were an ancient people, who descended from Chesed, the son of Nahor, but for a long time of no account, that lived scattered up and down in desert places: till “the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness”; he drove out the Arabians from Mesopotamia, and translated the Chaldeans thither, who before inhabited the wilderness: “they set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces”; that is, the Assyrians fortified and adorned the city of Babylon, the metropolis of the country; so Herodotus h says the Assyrian 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 Assyrians, even these “shall bring” Tyre “to ruin”; so that the instruments of the ruin of Tyre are here described; which, when this prophecy was delivered, might seem improbable, the Assyrians being possessors of monarchy.
g Canon. Chronic. Egypt, &c. p. 509. Ed. 4to. h Clio, sive l. 1. c. 184.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The prophet now proceeds to describe the fate of Phoenicia. “Behold the Chaldean land: this people that has not been ( Asshur – it hath prepared the same for desert beasts) – they set up their siege-towers, destroy the palaces of Kena’an, make it a heap of ruins. Mourn, he ships of Tarshish: for your fortress is laid waste.” The general meaning of Isa 23:13, as the text now runs, is that the Chaldeans have destroyed Kenaean , and in fact Tyre. (they set up) points to the plural idea of “this people,” and ( chethib ) to the singular idea of the same; on the other hand, the feminine suffixes relate to Tyre. “They (the Chaldeans) have laid bare the palaces ( ‘armenoth , from ‘armoneth ) of Tyre,” i.e., have thrown them down, or burned them down to their very foundations ( , from = , Psa 137:7, like in Jer 51:58); it (the Chaldean people) has made her (Tyre) a heap of rubbish. So far the text is clear, and there is no ground for hesitation. But the question arises, whether in the words Asshur is the subject or the object. In the former case the prophet points to the land of the Chaldeans, for the purpose of describing the instruments of divine wrath; and having called them “a nation which has not been” ( ), explains this by saying that Asshur first founded the land which the Chaldeans now inhabit for them, i.e., wild hordes (Psa 72:9); or better still (as tziyyim can hardly signify mountain hordes), that Asshur has made it (this nation, fem., as in Jer 8:5; Exo 5:16) into dwellers in steppes (Knobel), which could not be conceived of in any other way than that Asshur settled the Chaldeans, who inhabited the northern mountains, in the present so-called land of Chaldea, and thus made the Chaldeans into a people, i.e., a settled, cultivated people, and a people bent on conquest and taking part in the history of the world (according to Knobel, primarily as a component part of the Assyrian army). But this view, which we meet with even in Calvin, is exposed to a grave difficulty. It is by no means improbable, indeed, that the Chaldeans, who were descendants of Nahor, according to Gen 22:22, and therefore of Semitic descent,
(Note: Arpachshad (Gen 10:22), probably the ancestor of the oldest Chaldeans, was also Semitic, whether his name is equivalent to Armachshad (the Chaldean high-land) or not. Arrapachitis rings like Albagh, the name of the table-land between the lake of Urmia and that of Van, according to which shad was the common Armenian termination for names of places.)
came down from the mountains which bound Armenia, Media, and Assyria, having been forced out by the primitive migration of the Arians from west to east; although the more modern hypothesis, which represents them as a people of Tatar descent, and as mixing among the Shemites of the countries of the Euphrates and Tigris, has no historical support whatever, the very reverse being the case, according to Gen 10, since Babylon was of non-Semitic or Cushite origin, and therefore the land of Chaldea, as only a portion of Babylonia (Strabo, xvi. 1, 6), was the land of the Shemites. But the idea that the Assyrians brought them down from the mountains into the lowlands, though not under Ninus and Semiramis,
(Note: The same view is held by Oppert, though he regards the Casdim as the primitive Turanian (Tatar) inhabitants of Shinar, and supposes this passage to relate to their subjugation by the Semitic Assyrians.)
as Vitringa supposes, but about the time of Shalmanassar (Ges., Hitzig, Knobel, and others),
(Note: For an impartial examination of this migration or transplantation hypothesis, which is intimately connected with the Scythian hypothesis, see M. V. Niebuhr’s Geschichte Assurs und Babels seit Phul (1857, pp. 152-154). Rawlinson ( Monarchies, i. 71-74) decidedly rejects the latter as at variance with the testimonies of Scripture, of Berosus, and of the monuments.)
is pure imagination, and merely an inference drawn from this passage. For this reason I have tried to give a different interpretation to the clause in my Com. on Habakkuk (p. 22), viz., “Asshur – it has assigned the same to the beasts of the desert.” That Asshur may be used not only pre-eminently, but directly, for Nineveh (like Kenaan for Tzor), admits of no dispute, since even at the present day the ruins are called Arab. ‘l – atur , and this is probably a name applied to Nineveh in the arrow-headed writings also (Layard, Nineveh and its Remains).
The word tziyyim is commonly applied to beasts of the wilderness (e.g., Isa 13:21), and for (used of Nineveh in Zep 2:13-14) may be explained in accordance with Psa 104:8. The form of the parenthetical clause, however, would be like that of the concluding clause of Amo 1:11. But what makes me distrustful even of this view is not a doctrinal ground (Winer, Real Wrterbuch, i. 218), but one taken from Isaiah’s own prophecy. Isaiah undoubtedly sees a Chaldean empire behind the Assyrian; but this would be the only passage in which he prophesied (and that quite by the way) how the imperial power would pass from the latter to the former. It was the task of Nahum and Zephaniah to draw this connecting line. It is true that this argument is not sufficient to outweigh the objections that can be brought against the other view, which makes the text declare a fact that is never mentioned anywhere else; but it is important nevertheless. For this reason it is possible, indeed, that Ewald’s conjecture is a right one, and that the original reading of the text was . Read in this manner, the first clause runs thus: “Behold the land of the Canaaneans: this people has come to nothing; Asshur has prepared it (their land) for the beasts of the desert.” It is true that generally means not to exist, or not to have been (Oba 1:16); but there are also cases in which is used as a kind of substantive (cf., Jer 33:25), and the words mean to become or to have become nothing (Job 6:21; Eze 21:32, and possibly also Isa 15:6). Such an alteration of the text is not favoured, indeed, by any of the ancient versions. For our own part, we still abide by the explanation we have given in the Commentary on Habakkuk, not so much for this reason, as because the seventy years mentioned afterwards are a decisive proof that the prophet had the Chaldeans and not Asshur in view, as the instruments employed in executing the judgment upon Tyre. The prophet points out the Chaldeans – that nation which (although of primeval antiquity, Jer 5:15) had not yet shown itself as a conqueror of the world (cf., Hab 1:6), having been hitherto subject to the Assyrians; but which had now gained the mastery after having first of all destroyed Asshur, i.e., Nineveh
(Note: This destruction of Nineveh was really such an one as could be called yesor l’ziyyim (a preparation for beasts of the desert), for it has been ever since a heap of ruins, which the earth gradually swallowed up; so that when Xenophon went past it, he was not even told that these were the ruins of the ancient Ninus. On the later buildings erected upon the ruins, see Marcus v. Niebuhr, p. 203.)
(namely, with the Medo-Babylonian army under Nabopolassar, the founder of the Neo-Babylonian empire, in 606 b.c.) – as the destroyers of the palaces of Tyre. With the appeal to the ships of Tarshish to pour out their lamentation, the prophecy returns in Isa 23:14 to the opening words in Isa 23:1. According to Isa 23:4, the fortress here is insular Tyre. As the prophecy thus closes itself by completing the circle, Isa 23:15-18 might appear to be a later addition. This is no more the case, however, here, than in the last part of chapter 19. Those critics, indeed, who do not acknowledge any special prophecies that are not vaticinia post eventum , are obliged to assign Isa 23:15-18 to the Persian era.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
13. Behold, the land of the Chaldeans. He now confirms by an example what he predicted about the taking of Tyre; for those things could scarcely obtain credit, especially among the inhabitants of Tyre, who thought that they were very far from such ruin. I am aware that this passage is explained in various ways, but I shall not spend time in refuting the opinions of others. It will be enough if I shall state, as far as I am able to form a judgment of it, the Prophet’s real meaning.
The people of the Chaldeans was not; that is, they had no name; for, if we inquire into their origin, they were descended from the Assyrians, as is evident from Gen 10:11. He therefore says truly, that they were not at first a nation, but were concealed under the name of another, so that they did not form a separate body.
Ashur founded it for the inhabitants of the wilderness. The words which we have rendered “inhabitants of the wilderness” others translate ships, but we do not approve of that exposition. What we at first stated is preferable, namely, that the Assyrians gave a settled condition to the Chaldeans, who formerly led a wandering life in the deserts under skins, (113) but were collected into cities, and trained to higher civilization, by the Assyrians. This is also the meaning of the word עוררו ( gnōrĕrū,) namely, that they erected and built cities; for we cannot agree with those who render it “to destroy.” (114) What happened?
He brought it to ruin. That is, to use a common expression, “The daughter has devoured the mother;” for the Assyrian monarchy was overturned by the Chaldeans, though it was more powerful and flourishing than all the others. It will be said, what has this to do with Tyre? We answer, it is because Tyre will be overthrown by the Assyrians and Chaldeans. Since therefore the Chaldeans, who formerly were no people, could conquer the Assyrians and subject them to their power, why should we wonder if both united should conquer Tyre? Since the Lord gave such a display of his power in the case of the Assyrians, why should Tyre rely on her riches? She will undoubtedly be made to feel the hand of God, and her power will be of no avail to her.
(113) Bogus footnote
(114) Bogus footnote
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(13) Behold, the land of the Chaldeans.Heb., land of Kasdim. The prophet points to the destruction of one power that had resisted Assyria as an example of what Tyre might expect. The Assyrian inscriptions record the conquests referred to. Sargon relates his victory over the perverse and rebellious Chaldans, who had rebelled under Merdach-baladan (Records of the Past, vii. 41, 45). Towns were pillaged, 80,570 men carried away captive from a single city. Sennacherib (ibid., p. 59) boasts of having plundered Babylon itself, and all the strong cities and castles of the land of the Chaldans; and again, of having crushed another revolt under Suzab the Babylonian (ibid., i. 47-49). The words that follow on this survey are better rendered: This people is no more: Asshur appointeth it for the desert beasts. They set up their towers, they destroy its palaces. The towers are those of the Assyrian besiegers attacking Babylon; the palaces, those of the attacked. The words have, however, often been interpreted as pointing to the origin and migration of the Chaldans, as having had scarcely any national existence till Assyria had brought them into the plains of the Euphrates. The English version seems based upon this interpretation of the passage. It is obvious, however, that such a fragment of ethnological history does not cohere well with the context, and gives a less satisfactory meaning. It is doubtful, too, whether the supposed history itself rests on any adequate evidence.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
13. Behold Something important to be said.
Land of the Chaldeans Originally these were wild tribes in the mountains of Armenia. (Gesenius.)
Was not Had no existence as an organized nation.
Till the Assyrian founded it That is, transplanted colonies of them on the plains of Babylonia. If this be the meaning, the event was in the very earliest days of Assyrian power and conquest, and remnants of those ancient tribes have survived to this day under the name of Koords. Xenophon, in his Anabasis, says these primitive tribes followed a nomadic life in Armenia. By some they are held to be of Cushite origin.
Set up towers raised palaces They established, or were blended in with, Babylonian civilization, and became, under Nebuchadnezzar, warriors to set up siege “towers” in Tyre and to destroy her “palaces.”
He The Chaldean general and army. Though the results of that siege are not historically known, this verse declares the city crippled, and for the time being destroyed; destroyed beyond immediate regain of her old prestige.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 23:13-14. Behold the land of the Chaldeans, &c The prophet in these words sets forth the instrumental cause of the destruction of Tyre, which should subserve the God of Israel in the execution of this singular judgment; and, as this was a very striking and extraordinary matter, he introduces it with a Behold. At the delivery of this prophesy the Chaldeans were an inconsiderable people: This people was not, says the prophet, of any note or eminence, till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness; they dwelt before in tents, and led a wandering life in the wilderness, till the Assyrians built Babylon for their reception; they set up the towers thereof, they raised the palaces thereof. Herodotus, Ctesias, and other ancient historians, agree that the kings of Assyria fortified and beautified Babylon; and he, that is, this people,the Chaldeans and Babylonians, brought it to ruin; that is, Tyre, which is the subject of the whole prophesy. The Assyrians were at that time the great monarchs of the east; the Chaldeans were their subjects and slaves; and therefore it is the more extraordinary that the prophet should so many years before-hand foresee the successes and conquests of the Chaldeans. The verse may be rendered thus; Behold, the land of the Chaldeans. (This people was of no account: the Assyrian founded it for them that inhabit desarts; they set up in towers, they raised its palaces;) that land bringeth her [Tyre] to ruin. He subjoins an apostrophe, not, as before, to the Tyrian merchants and principal inhabitants, but to the mariners, who are called to howling for the fall of that city, whence alone they derived their strength and fortune. See Rev 18:17 and Vitringa.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Isa 23:13 Behold the land of the Chaldeans; this people was not, [till] the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness: they set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof; [and] he brought it to ruin.
Ver. 13. Behold the land of the Chaldeans, ] q.d., The Chaldees were once no such considerable people, but lay hid under the grandeur of the Assyrian monarchy, which did set them up. Howbeit in time the Assyrians at length were devoured by the Chaldees, Nineveh by Babylon; Filia devoravit matrem, as the proverb is. And why may not the like be done to Tyre? Others make this to be the prophet’s speech to the Chaldees, Behold, O land of the Chaldees! This people, of Tyre, was not, however they boast of their antiquity, till the Assyrians, those monarchs of the world, founded it, Ut esset statio carinis, to be a fit place for shipping, or for barbarians. See 2Ki 17:24 . Down with it, therefore; bring it to vastity. a
a Calvin.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 23:13-18
13Behold, the land of the Chaldeans-this is the people which was not; Assyria appointed it for desert creatures-they erected their siege towers, they stripped its palaces, they made it a ruin.
14Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
For your stronghold is destroyed.
15Now in that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years like the days of one king. At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the harlot:
16Take your harp, walk about the city,
O forgotten harlot;
Pluck the strings skillfully, sing many songs,
That you may be remembered.
17It will come about at the end of seventy years that the LORD will visit Tyre. Then she will go back to her harlot’s wages and will play the harlot with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. 18Her gain and her harlot’s wages will be set apart to the LORD; it will not be stored up or hoarded, but her gain will become sufficient food and choice attire for those who dwell in the presence of the LORD.
Isa 23:13 the land of the Chaldeans This seems to refer to the destruction of Babylon (not Neo-Babylon) by Assyria (cf. chapters 13-14). There are two Babylons mentioned in the Prophets.
1. small semi-autonomous region close to the mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that rebelled against Assyria and was invaded and their capital Babylon destroyed by Sargon II (722-705 B.C.), who took the Babylonian throne name King of Babylon. Then it would refer to the Babylonian kings
a. Merodach-baladan, reigned 721-710 and again 703-702 B.C. (He sent messengers to Hezekiah in 712 B.C., cf. 2Ki 20:12-21; Isaiah 39)
b. Shamash-shum-ukim, son of Esarhaddon, 681-669 B.C. and rival brother to Ashurbanipal [669-633 B.C.] who was made king of Assyria
2. a new (i.e., new) Babylon appeared on the scene in 626 B.C. with the rise of Nabopolassor (626-605 B.C.), the father of Nebuchadnezzar II (605-562 B.C.). Nabopolassor was instrumental in the fall of Asshur (one Assyrian capital) in 614 B.C. and Nineveh (the main Assyrian capital) in 612 B.C. (see of Brief Historical Survey of the Powers of Mesopotamia in Appendix Three).
it Does this refer to the Chaldean capital Babylon or Sidon/Tyre? In context it refers to Babylon destroyed by Sargon II in 710 or Sennacherib in 689 B.C. Tyre would look like Babylon. Assyria, Neo-Babylon, and Alexander the Great are coming!!!
for desert creatures This term (BDB 850 II) denotes wild desert animals of some kind. It has the added connotation of being inhabited by the demonic (cf. NIDOTTE, vol. 3, p. 79, and NEB, REB translations).
Isa 23:15 for seventy years The time designation appears here and in Isa 23:17. It seems to allude to a complete time (from 7 x 10, see Special Topic: SYMBOLIC NUMBERS IN SCRIPTURE ). Notice some of its usages in Scripture.
1. revenge, Gen 4:24
2. age of Terah when Abram was born, Gen 11:26
3. seventy in Jacob’s family moved to Egypt, Exo 1:5
4. seventy elders during the Wilderness Wandering Period, Exo 24:1; Exo 24:9; Num 11:16; Num 11:24-25 (also Eze 8:11)
5. number of Abimelech’s brothers who were killed, Jdg 9:56
6. expected life span, Psa 90:10 (double is a special blessing from God, Job 42:16)
7. the plague of YHWH killed 70,000, 2Sa 24:15; 1Ch 21:14
8. Ahab’s seventy sons, 2Ki 10:1; 2Ki 10:6-7
9. seventy year judgment
a. Judah in Babylon, Jer 25:11; Dan 9:2; Zec 7:5
b. Tyre, Isa 23:15
10. Jesus sent out seventy, Luk 10:1; Luk 10:17
11. forgiveness 70 times 7, Mat 18:22
like the days of one king This phrase designates the expected reign of a monarch. Seventy years was the time span for a normal life, but here it refers to a very long reign, which probably shows the symbolic nature of the round number.
Isa 23:17-18 The riches of Phoenicia will flow to God’s restored people (note also Isa 18:7; Isa 45:14, which denote similar actions). Phoenicia will not respond to the witness of Israel, but will remain pagan (i.e., Ba’al worship).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
this people was not = a people that were no people (i.e. Assyria). Tyre boasted antiquity (Isa 23:7), Assyria was their object-lesson and warning.
and: or, but.
He. God.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
land: Isa 13:19, Gen 11:28, Gen 11:31, Job 1:17, Hab 1:6, Act 7:4
the Assyrian: Gen 2:14, Gen 10:10, Gen 10:11, Gen 11:9, 2Ki 17:24, 2Ki 20:12, 2Ch 33:11, Ezr 4:9, Ezr 4:10, Dan 4:30
for them: Psa 72:9
and he: Eze 26:7-21, Eze 29:18
Reciprocal: Isa 25:2 – For Isa 39:1 – king Jer 50:1 – the land Jer 50:12 – the hindermost Eze 23:23 – the Chaldeans
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 23:13. Behold the land of the Chaldeans, &c. This verse, in which there is much obscurity, will admit of different interpretations. One adopted by Dr. Lightfoot and some others, is to this purpose. Behold, how easily the land of the Chaldeans was destroyed by the Assyrians, though their own hands founded it, set up the tower of Babylon, and raised up its palaces; yet he, the Assyrian, brought it to ruin: the king of Assyria having lately taken Babylon, and made it tributary to the Assyrian empire. Another and more probable interpretation is thus stated by Poole, and adopted by Lowth: You Tyrians, who think your city impregnable, cast your eyes upon the land and empire of the Chaldeans, or Babylonians; which though now it be a flourishing kingdom, and shall shortly become more glorious and potent, yet shall certainly be brought to utter ruin: and therefore your presumption is unreasonable and vain. The last clause especially, in the original, , he hath placed, or appointed, it for ruin, seems evidently to favour this interpretation. Bishop Newton, however, (with whom Bishop Lowth, Dr. Waterland, and many others agree,) understands the prophet as speaking in this clause, not of the ruin of Babylon, but of Tyre. He therefore interprets the verse thus: Behold An exclamation, that he is going to utter something new and extraordinary; the land of the Chaldeans That is, Babylon, and the country about Babylon; this people was not Was of no note or eminence; till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness They dwelt before in tents, and led a wandering life in the wilderness, till the Assyrians built Babylon for their reception. They set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof Herodotus, Ctesias, and other ancient historians agree, that the kings of Assyria fortified and beautified Babylon; and he That is, this people, (as Bishop Lowth renders it,) mentioned before, the Chaldeans or Babylonians, brought it to ruin That is, Tyre, which is the subject of the whole prophecy. The Assyrians were at that time the great monarchs of the East; the Chaldeans were their slaves and subjects; and therefore it is the more extraordinary that the prophet should, so many years beforehand, foresee the successes and conquests of the Chaldeans.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
23:13 Behold the land of the Chaldeans; this people was not, [till] the {q} Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness: they set up its towers, they raised up its palaces; [and] he {r} brought it to ruin.
(q) The Chaldeans who dwelt in tents in the wilderness were gathered by the Assyrians into cities.
(r) The people of the Chaldeans destroyed the Assyrians: by which the prophet means that seeing the Chaldaeans were able to overcome the Assyrians who were so great a nation, much more will these two nations of Chaldea and Assyria be able to overthrow Tyrus.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Tyrians would not find rest because the Assyrians would take revenge on any nation that gave them sanctuary.
God’s agent in the destruction of Tyre was first Assyria, then Babylonia, and finally Greece. Tiglath-pileser of Assyria set up a military governor in Tyre in 738 B.C., and his successors imposed escalating restraints on the city because it stubbornly resisted foreign control. Alexander the Great finally wiped the city into the sea in 332 B.C., leaving it uninhabitable. Here Isaiah pointed to Assyria as the power God would use to cut back the influence of Tyre. Tyre came under attack at least five times from Isaiah’s day until its end. It’s invaders were Sennacherib (705-701 B.C.), Esarhaddon (679-671 B.C.), Nebuchadnezzar (585-573 B.C.), Artaxerxes III Ochus (343 B.C.), and Alexander (332 B.C.). Assyria had already done to the Chaldeans what the prophet foretold it would do to Tyre. Sargon II attacked Babylon in 710 B.C., and Sennacherib destroyed it in 689 B.C.