Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 23:3
And by great waters the seed of Sihor, the harvest of the river, [is] her revenue; and she is a mart of nations.
3. The easiest translation would be: and on great waters the seed of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile, ( was) her revenue, and it (i.e. her revenue) was the gain of the nations. Shihor might be a name for the Nile, as in Jer 2:18; and the meaning would be that the revenue of Tyre (or Phnicia) was derived from the sea-traffic in Egyptian grain. This was no doubt the case to some extent; but to suppose that the corn trade with Egypt was a principal source of wealth to Tyre is contrary to all the information we possess. The expression of the thought, moreover, is involved and enigmatic, and even if we call to our aid the subtle suggestion that Tyre, with no agriculture of her own, nevertheless reaped a rich harvest by her command of the sea, the idea is still unworthy of Isaiah, and of the rest of this poem.
The translation mart in E.V., instead of “gain” or “merchandise” is hardly justifiable.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And by great waters – That is, by the abundant-waters, or the overflowing of the Nile. Tyre was the mart to which the superabundant productions of Egypt were borne (see Ezek. 27)
The seed of Sihor – There can be no doubt that by Sihor here is meant the river Nile in Egypt (see Jos 13:3; 1Ch 13:5; Jer 2:18). The word shichor is derived from shachar, to be black Job 30:30, and is given to the Nile from its color when it brings down the slime or mud by which Egypt is rendered so fertile. The Greeks gave to the river the name Melas (black), and the Latins call it Melo – (Serv. ad Virg. Geor. iv. 291. It was called Siris by the Ethiopians; perhaps the same as Sihor. The upper branches of the Nile in Abyssinia all receive their names from the color of the water, and are called the White River, the Blue River, etc.
The harvest of the river – The productions caused by the overflowing of the river. Egypt was celebrated for producing grain, and Rome and Greece derived no small part of their supplies from that fertile country. It is also evident that the inhabitants of Palestine were early accustomed to go to Egypt in time of scarcity for supplies of grain (see Gen 37:25, Gen 37:28, and the history of Joseph, Gen. 4143) That the Tyrians traded with Egypt is also well known. Herodotus (ii. 112) mentions one entire quarter of the city of Memphis that was inhabited by the Tyrians.
Is her revenue – Her resources are brought from thence.
She is a mart of nations – How true this was, see Ezek. 27. No place was more favorably situated for commerce; and she had engrossed the trade nearly of all the world.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 23:3
The harvest of the river
The harvest of the river
The valley of the Nile was the field for sowing and reaping.
The ships of Tyre trafficked far and wide, and by purchase or by barter the corn supplies of Egypt were fetched in to fill the barns and granaries of the merchant city, and were thence resold with profit to many nations. The harvest of the Nile most accurately describes and stands for all the resources and the wealth of Egypt, which depend entirely upon the Nile. This river brings down from the mountains of Abyssinia a great quantity of decayed vegetable matter and rich alluvial deposit, which in flood time it spreads over the land. A failure in the rise of the Nile means famine in Egypt, and it was lately computed that one foot difference in the height of the annual flood makes a difference of 2,000,000 to the income of the country. So little in this respect have things changed since the days of Isaiah. (P. T. Bainbrigge, M. A.)
The harvest of the river
We need not, however, restrict the term to the importation of corn. The harvest of the river was the merchandise of the world, which the ships of Tarshish conveyed to the city of the isle–Tyre. The harvest of the river, then, is the commerce of the city built upon its banks. God is equally the God of the harvest of the river as He is the God of the harvest of the field, and though He made the country He ordained that men should form themselves into communities and dwell together in cities, and He has laid down laws for their guidance as members of a great society which must be followed, that order may be maintained and prosperity achieved. The merchant is as much engaged in doing Gods work as the farmer is. There may not be so much romance and poetry about his occupation. But God may be glorified in the fires as well as in the green fields and the pleasant woods. It is He who assigns to every man his proper place–implants within him a desire to do his duty in his appointed sphere of action, and so contrives that while a man does his duty and provides for his own interest and welfare, he by so doing contributes at the same time to the happiness and well-being of all. (W. Rogers, M. A.)
God the great World-Provider
When the Shah of Persia some few years ago visited this country, he was taken through the docks down the river, and while contemplating the great harvest reposing on its bosom, and witnessing the crowds of people eager to see the Eastern potentate and to do him honour, he asked a pertinent question of the nobleman who accompanied him. It was this: How are these vast multitudes fed? It is a question which showed the thoughtful intelligence of the barbarian, but it is one which few pause to ask, and which few are able to answer, because few look beyond the surface and attempt to unravel the great mystery by which we are enshrouded, and recognise the agency of the invisible One in all the affairs of men. (W. Rogers, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 3. The seed of Sihor – “The seed of the Nile”] The Nile is called here Shichor, as it is Jer 2:18, and 1Ch 13:5. It had this name from the blackness of its waters, charged with the mud which it brings down from Ethiopia when it overflows, Et viridem AEgyptum nigra fecundat arena; as it was called by the Greeks Melas, and by the Latins Melo, for the same reason. See Servius on the above line of Virgil, Georg. iv. 291. It was called Siris by the Ethiopians, by some supposed to be the same with Shichor. Egypt by its extraordinary fertility, caused by the overflowing of the Nile supplied the neighbouring nations with corn, by which branch of trade the Tyrians gained great wealth.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
By great waters; by the sea, which is very fitly called the great waters, Psa 107:23; understand, cometh, or is brought to her.
The seed of Sihor; the corn of Egypt, wherewith Egypt abounded, and furnished divers other parts of the world, whence it was called the granary of the Roman empire; which also was easily conveyed by sea from Egypt to Tyre, and thence to divers other countries. This is called seed, here, as also Hag 1:10, and elsewhere, by a usual metonymy; and the seed of Sihor, because it grew up the more abundantly because of the overflow of the river, as all sorts of authors have noted. For Sihor is nothing else but Nilus, as appears from Jer 2:18, which is called Sihor, as by the Greeks it was called Melas, from its black colour. And this and no other river seems to be that Sihor, which is so oft mentioned as one of the bounds of the land of Canaan, as Num 34:5, &c., because that land, at least in that extent which God allotted and gave it to the Israelites, though they through neglect or cowardice might not actually possess it, did reach to one of the branches of that river. And indeed, if Sihor be not Nilus, that great and neighbouring river is not named in all the Scripture, which seems very improbable.
The harvest of the river: this clause explains the former; that plentiful harvest of corn which comes from the influence and inundation of Nilus, which is emphatically called the river, as here, so also Exo 1:22; Isa 19:5; Eze 29:3,9, as Euphrates is in other texts of Scripture.
Is her revenue; is as easily procured and plentifully enjoyed by her, as if it grew in her own territories.
A mart of nations; a place to which all nations resort for traffic.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. great watersthe widewaters of the sea.
seed“grain,”or crop, as in 1Sa 8:15; Job 39:12.
Sihorliterally,”dark-colored”; applied to the Nile, as the Egyptian Jeor,and the Greek Melas, to express the “dark, turbid”colors given to its waters by the fertilizing soil which it depositsat its yearly overflow (Jer 2:18).
harvest of the riverthegrowth of the Delta; the produce due to the overflow of the Nile:Egypt was the great granary of corn in the ancient world (Gen 41:1-57;Gen 42:1-38; Gen 43:1-34).
her revenueTyrianvessels carried Egyptian produce obtained in exchange for wine, oil,glass, &c., into various lands, and so made large profits.
mart (Eze27:3). No city was more favorably situated for commerce.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And by great waters the seed of Sihor,…. Sihor is the river Nile in Egypt; it had its name from the black colour of its waters, as in Jer 2:18 hence called by the Greeks Melas, and by the Latins Melo: the “seed” of it intends what was sown and grew upon the banks of it, or was nourished by the overflow of this river throughout the land, and includes corn, flax, paper, c. with which Egypt abounded and when this is said to be “by great waters”, the meaning either is, that it grew by great waters, the waters of the Nile, and through the influence of them; or that it came by great waters to Tyre; that is, by the waters of the sea, the Mediterranean Sea:
the harvest of the river [is] her revenue; this clause is the same with the former, and serves to explain it; the river is the river Nile, the harvest is the seed that was sown and grew by it, and which at the proper season, when ripe, was gathered from it, and carried in ships to Tyre, with which that city was supplied and enriched, as if it had been its own produce:
and she is a mart of nations; Tyre was a city to which all nations traded, it was a mart for them all, and where they brought their wares to sell, and always found a market for them, here they had vent. The twenty seventh chapter of Ezekiel Eze 27:1 is a proper commentary on this clause.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
3. And by great waters. He intimates that the riches of Tyre will not prevent it from being destroyed; and therefore he extols its wealth, in order that the judgment of God may be more manifest, and that all may know that it was no ordinary calamity that befel it; and the more unexpected it was, the more evidently would it appear to be the work of God.
The seed of the Nile. (105) By an elegant expression he describes the wealth of Tyre; for since the Nile supplied it with wheat and other necessaries of life, and since a great quantity of corn was brought to it out of Egypt, he says that it had fields and sowing on the course of the Nile, just as the inhabitants of Venice say that their harvest is on the sea, because they have nothing that grows at home, but all that is necessary for food is brought to them by commerce. The Prophet speaks of the inhabitants of Tyre in the same manner; for it might be thought incredible that they whom the Nile so freely and abundantly supplied should be in want of food. He shews that this will be a vain boast, because they will be in want of all things; and these things, as we have already said, are described by Isaiah, that all may more fully acknowledge the avenging hand of God.
(105) Bogus footnote
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(3) By great waters the seed of Sihor . . .Sihor (the dark river) is as in Jer. 2:18, a Hebrew name for the Nile. The corn-trade with Egypt (Eze. 27:7, adds the linen-trade) was naturally a chief branch of Tyrian commerce. Practically, indeed, as the Egyptians had no timber to build ships, and, for the most part, hated the sea, their navy consisted of Phnicians. Tyre practically reaped the harvest that sprang from the inundation of the Nile. For mart, read gain. The great waters are those of the great sea, i.e., of the Mediterranean.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. By great waters Across the sea to Egypt. The grain of the Nile land (called here Sihor, black, the black deposits of yearly fertile mud) is Tyre’s revenue. Egypt was the great emporium of the nations.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 23:3 And by great waters the seed of Sihor, the harvest of the river, [is] her revenue; and she is a mart of nations.
Ver. 3. And by great waters the seed of Sihor, ] i.e., Of Nile, by the overflowing whereof Egypt is made exceeding fertile, being styled the “granary of the world.” Tyre was much enriched by its store thereto transported through the midland sea, called here great waters.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
seed: or, grain.
Sihor = the black river, the Nile (compare Jer 2:18).
harvest. Egypt was the field, the Phoenician coast its granary.
river. Reference to Pentateuch. See note on Isa 7:18. “River” is here put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Adjunct), for the country (Egypt) through which it passes.
she is a mart of nations: or, it became merchandise for the nations.
mart = gain resulting from merchandise, as in Isa 23:18 (Isa 45:14. Pro 3:14; Pro 31:18).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Sihor: 1Ch 13:5, Jer 2:18
the harvest: Isa 32:20, Deu 11:10
she is: Isa 23:8, Eze 27:33, Eze 28:4, Joe 3:5, Rev 18:11-13
Reciprocal: Isa 23:11 – against the merchant city Eze 28:5 – and by
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
23:3 And by great waters the {g} seed of Sihor, the harvest of the river, [is] her revenue; and she is a merchandise of nations.
(g) Meaning, the corn of Egypt which was fed by the overflowing of the Nile.