Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 23:14
Howl, ye ships of Tarshish: for your strength is laid waste.
14. The poem closes as it began with an apostrophe to the ships of Tarshish.
your strength) your strong-hold (R.V. as in Isa 23:4).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Howl … Isa 23:1.
For your strength – That which has been your support and strength; to wit, Tyre (compare Eze 26:15-18).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 14. Howl, ye ships] The Prophet Ezekiel hath enlarged upon this part of the same subject with great force and elegance: –
“Thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH concerning Tyre: –
At the sound of thy fall, at the cry of the wounded,
At the great slaughter in the midst of thee, shall
not the islands tremble?
And shall not all the princes of the sea descend from
their thrones,
And lay aside their robes, and strip off their embroidered
garments?
They shall clothe themselves with trembling, they shall
sit on the ground;
They shall tremble every moment, they shall be astonished
at thee.
And they shall utter a lamentation over thee, and shall say
unto thee:
How art thou lost, thou that wast inhabited from the seas!
The renowned city, that was strong in the sea, she and her
inhabitants!
That struck with terror all her neighbours!
Now shall the coasts tremble in the day of thy fall,
And the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy
departure.”
Eze 26:15-18.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Your strength; the city of Tyre, where you found safety and wealth.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14. strengthstronghold(compare Eze 26:15-18).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Howl, ye ships of Tarshish,…. As in Isa 23:1.
[See comments on Isa 23:1]:
for your strength is laid waste; meaning Tyre, a strong seaport, where their ships were safe, and always found vent for their goods and merchandise; and so it was the strength and support of their country; but was now destroyed, and therefore was matter of lamentation and mourning.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
14. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish. He repeats what he formerly said; for the Cilicians, on account of their vicinity, constantly traded with the inhabitants of Tyre. He bids their ships howl, because, when that harbour is shut up, the merchants will be struck with amazement at not having their ordinary intercourse. He calls that harbour which they visited, their strength, not only because it was a place of resort that might be relied on, but because there was no other way in which their voyages could yield profit.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(14) Howl, ye ships of Tarshish: for your Strength is laid waste.The prophecy of woe ends as it began in Isa. 23:1. The strength is the fortress of Tyre.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
14, 15. Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years Shall be of comparatively no account as an object for re-conquest. “Seventy years” is a compact series of decades, denoting at least a full long time; possibly, the figure here is a symbol for the period of a strong dynasty. Prophetic vision takes in things as wholes, be they as to periods longer or shorter. Historically there was nothing to hinder Tyre going on in her commerce, in unostentatious ways, under the Persian rule, till Alexander arose, some two hundred years later than Nebuchadnezzar. Alexander then attacked Tyre, but completed the ruin of her and her commerce more by establishing a great commercial rival, the city of Alexandria, in the western delta of the Nile, B.C. 332, than by his mere conquest of the city.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 23:14 Howl, ye ships of Tarshish: for your strength is laid waste.
Ver. 14. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish. ] He concludeth this prophecy of Tyre’s downfall as he began. Isa 23:1 The inhabitants of Tarshish, or Tarsus in Cilicia, were great ship masters; they sent a navy of a hundred ships to Xerxes when he went against Greece.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 23:1, Isa 23:6, Eze 27:25-30, Rev 18:11-19
Reciprocal: Isa 23:10 – no more Eze 27:12 – General Rev 18:17 – And every
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
23:14 Howl, ye ships of Tarshish: for your {s} strength is laid waste.
(s) That is, Tyrus by whom you are enriched.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
This repeated call to the ships of Tarshish, to wail, concludes Isaiah’s announcement of Tyre’s destruction, forming an inclusio with Isa 23:1. Even though Tyre’s demise would give Tarshish more control, Tarshish would suffer because Tyre determined the prosperity of the Mediterranean world. The ships of Tarshish would have no port to enter at Tyre (Isa 23:1), and they would have no security for their enterprise (Isa 23:14). How foolish it would be, then, for the Jerusalemites to pin their hopes on Tyre.
As in the previous chapter, Isaiah gave a sign that what he had predicted about Tyre’s destruction would indeed happen (cf. Isa 22:15-25). It would experience a brief revival in the near future. Looking into the far distant future, the prophet also announced the conversion of Tyre into a place of holiness to the Lord (cf. Isa 19:16-25).