Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 23:8
Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning [city], whose merchants [are] princes, whose traders [are] the honorable of the earth?
8, 9. This is the execution of Jehovah’s purpose, and therefore irreversible.
the crowning city ] Or, the crown-giver. Tyre is rightly so-called, inasmuch as some of her colonies (Kition, Tarshish and Carthage) were ruled by kings, subject to the mother-city.
whose traffickers ] The word is probably the gentilic noun “Canaanite” which is used with the sense of “trader” in Job 41:6 [Heb. 40:30]; Pro 31:24; Zec 14:21, as the collective name “Canaan” is in older passages (Hos 12:7; Zep 1:11). It was of course from the commercial proclivities of the Phnicians themselves that the word acquired this secondary significance amongst the Hebrews. The petty trade of Palestine seems to have been largely in the hands of Tyrian dealers (Neh 13:16 ff.) and hence a Canaanite came to mean a merchant, just as a Chaldan came to mean an astrologer and a Scotchman in some parts of England meant a pedlar.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Who hath taken this counsel? – To whom is this to be traced? Is this the work of man, or is it the plan of God? – questions which would naturally arise at the contemplation of the ruin of a city so ancient and so magnificent. The object of this question is to trace it all to God; and this perhaps indicates the scope of the prophecy – to show that God reigns, and does all his pleasure ever cities and kingdoms.
The crowning city – The distributer of crowns; or the city from which dependent towns, provinces, and kingdoms had arisen. Many colonies and cities had been founded by Tyre. Tartessus in Spain, Citium in Cyprus, Carthage in Africa, and probably many other places were Phenician colonies, and derived their origin from Tyre, and were still its tributaries and dependants (compare Eze 27:33).
Whose merchants are princes – Princes trade with thee; and thus acknowledge their dependence on thee. Or, thy merchants are splendid, gorgeous, and magnificent like princes. The former, however, is probably the meaning.
Whose traffickers – ( kneaneyha, Canaanites). As the ancient inhabitants of Canaan were traffickers or merchants, the word came to denote merchants in general (see Job 41:6; Eze 17:4; Hos 12:7; Zep 1:1 l). So the word Chaldean came to mean astrologers, because they were celebrated for astrology.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 23:8
Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes
Tyre, the crowning city
The speaker cannot drop his satire: he has got accustomed to it now; he is in his best vein of mockery.
The crowning city was Tyre because she distributed crowns to the Phoenician colonies,–so to say, she kept a whole cupboard full of crowns, and took one outafter another, and gave to the little colonies that they might play at being kingdoms (Eze 27:23-25). (J. Parker, D. D.)
The ancient estimate of trade
This passage reveals to us the estimation in which merchants were held in ancient time. Tyre was celebrated for her commerce. Her traders were renowned because of their wealth. The treasure they amassed gave them rank and position. They were influential and honoured. Trade was not regarded in old time as a menial, but a noble pursuit. The ambitious entered into it as a means to gratify their ambition. It furnished them with a field in which to exercise their faculties and develop their powers. Subsequently the sword gave rank and power,–valour, and not ability, lifted men to thrones: but before the feudal age, in the ancient time, and among the older civilisations, merchants were princes, and traffickers were the honourable of the earth. (W. H. Murray.)
The origin of commerce
It is not difficult to ascertain the origin of commerce. It was born of mens necessities, and was characterised by the spirit of accommodation. Its birth dates back to the first family that existed on the earth. One had what another needed, and for it he had something to give in exchange. From this mutual need sprang trade. It was a family institution, a method by which the several members of the household could benefit themselves and each other. As families increased and population multiplied, trade enlarged the circle of its operations, became more complex and multiform in its action and agents, and at length grew to be a vast system of exchange; the means of universal accommodation by which every person in the community received and bestowed benefits, and acquired the facilities of a larger and happier life. But it still kept its original significance and family spirit. Such was the origin of trade. There was nothing selfish about it; it was not mercenary, it was benevolent and humane. Centuries later, when it had become a profession, and its agents a class among other classes, there was nothing in its parentage of which it need be ashamed, no reason why those who were engaged in it should not be called the honourable of the earth. (W. H. Murray.)
Trade gave birth to our modern cities
If we would realise more fully the noble part that merchants have played in the history of the world, and the close relation that commerce has always sustained to human progress, we hare only to investigate the origin of cities and consider the forces that pushed them upward in their growth. It was trade that gave birth to our modern cities; a knot of traders beneath the wails of a castle, feeding the castle and protected by it, adding booth to booth and house to house,–so cities arose, so have they been builded. The same is true today. Commercial facilities and necessities are the forces that build our cities. They represent the material forces and results of civilisation. Each city is a hive, and ships and railways are the bees that bring honey to the hive, bringing it from all the world. They fly everywhere,–these bees with sails and wheels for wings,–their flight girdles the earth, and the rush and roar of their going and returning fill the whole air. Now, cities represent progress. In them you see the results of human invention and skill. Here the artist brings his canvas and the sculptor his marble. Hero the loom is represented by the finest fabrics, and architecture lifts the pillars of her power. In cities oratory finds her school, and eloquence her platform; music her applause, and the poet his wreath. Every city is a record, a testimony, an advertisement. In its congregated forces and results you behold the people who built it. (W. H. Murray.)
Commerce and discovery
Nor would it be well to overlook the use that God has made of commerce in relation to discoveries. The pioneers of civilisation have been ships and traders. The race has, as it were, sailed to its triumphs. (W. H. Murray.)
God in commerce
I. GODS PLAN IS TO GIVE EVERY MAN WHAT HE NEEDS PHYSICALLY, MENTALLY, AND SPIRITUALLY.
II. TO REESTABLISH THE FAMILY RELATION AMONG MEN. (W. H. Murray.)
Gods design in commerce
It is not that individuals may be enriched,–that is only an accidental result, one of the minor consequences; the realobject on the part of God, the great result to be achieved, is and will be this: that every man on the face of the whole earth may be supplied with what he needs, in body, mind, and spirit, to the end that he may stand at last clothed in the original beauty and excellence, the likeness of which has for so many ages been lost from the earth. (W. H. Murray.)
Merchants
I. MANY MERCHANTS ARE MUCH TRIED WITH LIMITED CAPITAL.
II. MANY MERCHANTS ARE TEMPTED TO OVERCARE AND ANXIETY.
III. MERCHANTS ARE TEMPTED SOMETIMES TO NEGLECT THEIR HOME DUTIES.
IV. MANY MERCHANTS ARE TEMPTED TO MAKE FINANCIAL GAIN OF MORE IMPORTANCE THAN THE SOUL. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)
The folly of reckless speculation
If ever tempted into reckless speculation, preach to your soul a sermon from the text: As a partridge sitteth on eggs and hatcheth them not, so riches got by fraud; a man shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at the end he shall be a fool. (T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D.)
Rivalry in business
Go where you will, in town or country, you will find half a dozen shops struggling for a custom that would only keep up one. And so they are forced to undersell one another; and, when they have got down the prices all they can by fair means, they are forced to get them lower by foul, and to sand the sugar, and sloeleaf the tea, and put, Satan–that prompts them on–knows what, into the bread; and then they dont thrive–they cant thrive. Gods curse must be on them. They began by trying to oust each other and eat each other up, and, while they are eating up their neighbours, their neighbours eat them up, and so they all come to ruin together. (C. Kingsley, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre? words of admiration: who and where is he that could imagine or durst attempt such a thing as this? This is the work of God, as is expressed, Isa 23:9, and not of man.
The crowning city; which was a royal city, Jer 25:22, and called a kingdom, Eze 28:2,12, and carried away the crown from all other cities, and crowned herself and her, citizens with glory and delights.
Whose merchants are princes; equal to princes for wealth, and power, and reputation.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. Whoanswered in Isa23:9, “The Lord of hosts.”
crowningcrown-giving;that is, the city from which dependent kingdoms had arisen, asTartessus in Spain, Citium in Cyprus, and Carthage in Africa (Eze27:33).
traffickersliterally,”Canaanites,” who were famed for commerce (compare Ho12:7, Margin).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning [city],…. Which had a king over it, to whom it gave a crown; and which crowned its inhabitants with riches and plenty, and even enriched the kings of the earth, Eze 27:33 this is said as wondering who could lay a scheme to destroy such a city, or ever think of succeeding in it; who could take it into his head, or how could it enter into his heart, or who could have a heart to go about it, and still less power to effect the ruin of such a city, which was the queen of cities, and gave laws and crowns, riches and wealth, to others; surely no mere mortal could be concerned in this; see Re 13:3:
whose merchants [are] princes; either really such, for even princes and kings of the earth traded with her, Eze 27:21 or they were as rich as princes in other countries were:
whose traffickers [are] the honourable of the earth; made rich by trafficking with her, and so attained great honour and glory in the world; see Re 18:3.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Verse 8-14: GOD, THE AUTHOR: CHALDEA, THE INSTRUMENT, OF DESTRUCTION
1. In verse 8 the question is raised: “Who planned this against Tyre?”
a. She has been the distributor of crowns!
b. Her merchants have been princes!
c. Her traders have been the most honorable men of the earth! – or so it appeared.
2. “The LORD of hosts” has planned it for a definite purpose: He will stain (pollute) the pride of her glory (Isa 2:11; Isa 2:17; Isa 5:15; Isa 13:11; Luk 1:51-52), and “bring into contempt” those whom the world honors.
3. Freed from the tyranny of Tyre, Tarshish could now profit from her own natural resources, (Verse 10).
4. The Lord is pictured as stretching out His hand over the sea -shaking kingdoms and commanding the destruction of “the merchant city”, (Verse 11).
5. No more will she rejoice triumphantly; though, in her dishonor, she seeks refuge in Chittim (Cyprus), she will find no rest there, (Verse 12).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
8. Against crowning Tyre. He adorns with this title the city which enriched many, as may be easily learned from the context; for when he calls her merchants “kings,” he plainly states that by the word crown he intended to express metaphorically the magnificence of kings. This refutes the opinion of those who refer it to other cities. The general meaning is, that she enriches her citizens as if she made them kings and princes.
Some think that the Prophet added this verse, as if he were assuming the character of one who is astonished at the destruction of Tyre, in order to strike others with amazement; as if he had said, “Is it possible that Tyre should be so speedily overthrown, where riches, and troops, and defences, and fortifications, are so abundant, and where there is so much pomp and magnificence?” and as if he suddenly stopped, as we are wont to do, when anything unexpected has occurred. But it is better to connect it with the following verse, which removes every difficulty; for in that verse the Prophet himself immediately answers his own question, by which he intended to arouse the minds of his hearers to closer attention. He might have simply said, that these things were done by the purpose of the Lord; but we are sluggish, and stupid men would have treated them with contempt. By this question, therefore, he arouses their minds, that all may know that he is not speaking about an ordinary event, and that they may consider it more carefully; for the farther the judgments of God are removed from the ordinary opinions of men, so much the more ought they to excite our astonishment.
He formerly spoke in the same manner about Egypt, when he intended to shew that the destruction of it could not be reckoned one of the ordinary changes. (Isa 19:1.) Since therefore it was incredible that Tyre could be overthrown by man, the Prophet justly infers that God is the author of its ruin. On this account he calls her the mother or nurse of kings, that he may place in a more striking light the glory of the divine judgment; for if it had been any ordinary state, its fall would have been viewed with contempt; but when it was adorned with the highest rank, who would think that this happened in any other way than by the purpose of God?
Whose merchants are princes. (109) In like manner the merchants of Venice in the present day think that they are on a level with princes, and that they are above all other men except kings; and even the factors look on men of rank as beneath them. I have been told, too, that at Antwerp there are factors who do not hesitate to lay out expenses which the wealthiest of the nobility could not support. We are wont to put questions, when no reply can be given but what we wish; and this is an indication of boldness.
(109) Bogus footnote
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
b. SHAKEN
TEXT: Isa. 23:8-14
8
Who hath purposed this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honorable of the earth?
9
Jehovah of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth.
10
Pass through thy land as the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish; there is no restraint any more.
11
He hath stretched out his hand over the sea, he hath shaken the kingdoms: Jehovah hath given commandment concerning Canaan, to destroy the strongholds thereof.
12
And he said, Thou shalt no more rejoice, O thou oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon: arise, pass over to Kittim; even there shalt thou have no rest.
13
Behold, the land of the Chaldeans: this people was not; the Assyrians founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness; they set up their towers; they overthrew the palaces thereof; they made it a ruin.
14
Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for your stronghold is laid waste.
QUERIES
a.
Why the question about the author of Tyres judgment?
b.
Who were the people who were not (Isa. 23:13)?
c.
Where is Kittim?
PARAPHRASE
Who has the power to plan such a thing against Tyre, the founder of so many colonies and crowner of so many kings, whose merchants were equal in influence to princes, and whose traders were honored throughout the world. The Lord God Jehovah has planned it to desecrate the most magnificent pride and show His contempt for all the haughty greatness of proud men everywhere. Now, O people of Tarshish, you may flow over the world and trade as you like for there is no longer a restraining force in Tyre. The Lord God Jehovah stretches out His hand over the seas; He shakes the kingdoms of the earth; He is not a provincial GodHe is God of all creation and judge of all men. Therefore, He has spoken out against Phoenicia and her strongholds will be destroyed. Furthermore, He says, You will never again rejoice, O Tyre, you raped virgin, daughter of Sidon. Even if you flee to Cyprus you will find no rest. It will be the Babylonians, not the Assyrians, who will make the territory of Tyre a habitation for wild beasts! They will besiege it, tear down its palaces and make it a heap of ruins. Wail, you ships that take trade to Tarshish, your home port is destroyed!
COMMENTS
Isa. 23:8-11 AUTHOR OF JUDGMENT: HOW shall the great fall of Tyre be explained? It will be of such magnitude and so far-reaching in its consequences something beyond what the eye can see must be the cause. Tyre, market place of the world, hub of the worlds commerce, builder of colonies, destined to be reduced to almost nothing? Impossible as it appears to the human eye! Tyre became a bestower of crowns, through founding of other city-colonies such as Carthage, etc. She also built up quite an aristrocracy of merchants known throughout the world as princes-of-all-traders. It would appear nothing human or natural could so completely erase Tyres hold on the commerce of the world. The answer comes from the prophet who asked the question. The answer isJehovah of hosts hath purposed it! The Lord God of Israel is the God of all nations. He is King of all kings. He purposed it. Tyres destiny is controlled not by chance, fortune, accident, coincidence, but by the will of the Omnipotent Creator of all mankind. It is one of the main emphases of the prophets that Almighty God enthrones and dethrones earths rulers in all ages. Jehovah, in His own good time and according to His eternal wisdom and purposes, permits nations and races to flourish and diminish. He governs the ups and downs of potentates and populations according to certain standards of justice, righteousness, morality and truth. In other words, His governing principles are not capricious or frivolous. Any ruler or people or nation who will make their main concern human dignity, freedom and justice will find Gods approval. But of course, human dignity, freedom and justice cannot be built on any foundation other than truthtruth about God, His identity, His nature, His revealed will. Any nation accepting falsehood about God as a national policy will find all other national structures crumbling into ruin upon such a ruinous foundation. This was the cause for the judgment of God upon one pagan ruler and nation after another. This was the cause for the judgment of God upon Israel and Judah. They did not govern themselves according to divine principles because they denied the Divine Author of those principles. Jehovah brought Tyre down for her pride. When the successful grow proud, they grow contemptuous and corrupt. Inevitably the exploitation of human beings by one another follows pride. So God has chosen to govern the world by bringing the proud downby humiliating those who exalt themselves.
Tyres colonies (such as Tarshish) would be hampered in their own freedom by the mother city as long as she maintained such a strangle-hold on their economy. But when Tyre is defeated, Tarshish will be free of her restraint and will be able to expand its trade. Tarshish will be able to flow through her own territory as the Nile inundates the valley of Egypt. Isaiah emphasizes again in Isa. 23:11 that this great, world-shaking upheaval was from the hand of the Lord. God creates both weal and woe (Isa. 45:7). Evil does not befall a city unless the Lord does it (Amo. 3:6).
Isa. 23:12-14 AGENT OF JUDGE: Jehovah is the author of Tyres destiny but He usually employs human agents in carrying out both His deliverances and His judgments. When Tyres great devastation comes it will be as shocking and traumatic as a virgin ravished (raped). Even if she flees to Cyprus (Kittim) she will find no relief from the pain of her experience. But who shall ravish her? It will be the Chaldeans! The Babylonians are predicted to be Tyres assailants. When Isaiah first made the prediction of Tyres downfall the Assyrians would seem to be the most likely agents of Gods judgment but the prophet makes it clear the Chaldeans are to execute His punishment. So it was in 585 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar, emperor of Babylon, laid siege to Tyre. The siege lasted 13 years and in 572 the city was overrun. From that time her stranglehold on the worlds trade was broken. However, her citizens escaped Nebuchadnezzar and fled to the islands a mile or more off shore and formed a new colony. The Babylonians, without much of a navy, could not conquer that stronghold. So Tyre remained at least a fortress protecting any advance of conquering armies down through Phoenicia enroute to Egypt and other points south. Alexander the Great, on his way to conquer the world in 322 B.C., conquered Tyre once and for all. His conquest fulfilled the prophecies of Isaiah 23, Ezekiel 26-28, and Zechariah 9, in minute detail, as follows:
1.
He used the captured fleets of other cities and attacked the new island city by taking the ruins of the old city Its timbers and stones and casting them into the sea and building a causeway out to the island.
2.
Other neighboring cities were so frightened they opened their gates to Alexander without opposition.
3.
The old city site was scraped flat like the top of a rock and today you may go there and find fishermen spreading their nets on its ruins.
4.
There are great artesian wells there that would supply a city with water (10 million gallons daily) yet the city has never been rebuilt on the old location. Sidon, a city just a few miles from Tyre, has been destroyed and rebuilt many times over!
There remains a small city of no international significance (not on the original site) on the island. Travelers today may walk over the very causeway Alexanders armies constructed to give them access to the once proud and internationally powerful Tyre. God said it, and it was so! The mills of Gods justice may grind slowly but they grind exceedingly fine! God oft-times uses human agents to execute His judgments (Cf. Isa. 10:5-19; Isa. 44:23 to Isa. 45:7; Jer. 27:1-11).
The English translation of our text makes it appear almost as if Isaiah were looking back on an event that has already transpired. However, the use of the past tense in the Hebrew language often is what we call the prophetic perfecta past that is the equivalent of a very assured future. Tyres destiny is certainso certain it may be looked upon as having already happened. So, though the past tense is used, this whole passage should be regarded as a prophecy which tells of the future overthrow of Tyre.
QUIZ
1.
Who is the author of Tyres destiny?
2.
What are Gods principles of governing rulers and peoples?
3.
What means does God usually employ in executing His principles of human government?
4.
Tell some of the subsequent history of Tyre.
5.
What do we mean by the prophetic perfect?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(8) The crowning city.The participle is strictly transitive in its force. Tyre was the distributor of crowns to the Phnician colonies. The Vulg., however, gives crowned.
Whose merchants are princes.It is a fact worth noting in the history of language that the word for merchants here, and in Hos. 12:7; Pro. 31:24, is the same as that for Canaanite. The traffickers of the earth were pre-eminently of that race.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8, 9. Who hath taken counsel Of whose purpose come results such as these upon great Tyre? Is it possible any one can bring such things about? The irony is withering, yet solemn and stately. Jehovah, to stain the glory of man not at Tyre alone hath done it. So always.
The honourable Solid men and families, as society calls them, sooner or later come down.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 23:8-10. Who hath taken this counsel, &c. The prophet here informs us of the great executor of this judgment, namely, God himself. To do this the more elegantly, he introduces a chorus of men, astonished at this unexpected fate of so glorious a city, and inquiring into the author and causes of it; to which the prophet replies, not only declaring the efficient, but also the final cause of this great and strange event: subjoining afterwards, Isa 23:10 an apostrophe to the Tyrians themselves, expressive of the greatness of their calamity. The reader will observe a fine gradation both in the question and the answer. This counsel is taken not only against Tyre, a fortified city, founded on a rock, and defended by the sea, but against Tyre the crowning city, the city which as it were wore a crown among the rest; the royal Tyre, as an ancient writer calls it; excelling in power and glory: whose merchants were princes. Tyre was the most celebrated place in the world for its trade and navigation; the seat of commerce, and the centre of riches; and therefore it is called the mart of nations; Isa 23:6. Ezekiel, commenting upon these words, (chap. 27.) recounts the various nations whose commodities were brought to Tyre, and bought and sold by the Tyrians. It was in this wealthy and flourishing condition when the prophets foretold its destruction; particularly Isaiah, even 125 years at least before it was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. The prophet in his reply shews that the counsel was taken by one well equal to the task; the Lord of Hosts: and the reasons which moved him to this counsel, he tells us, were, the pride of this people, and their consequent vices: so Ezekiel censures the pride of the king of Tyre, in arrogating to himself divine honours. He then adds an apostrophe to Tyre; Pass, O Tyre, through thy land; that is to say, as well through Tyre itself as the country subject to it, heretofore excellently fortified, and every way properly defended: and now, behold the same nation, without a girdle; i.e. every where loosed, dissolved, and broken; and pass it like a river, plain, and level with the ground, without fortifications, or any mode of defence: for, as a river flowing gently along, as a plain superficies, in which there is nothing to stop your course, if you pass over it in a boat; so your land, plundered and laid desolate by the enemy, its fortifications levelled with the ground, will supply you with a plain and even superficies, that you may pass over it like a river, without any opposition; for there is no girdle, no strength or fortress, remaining. The prophet here elegantly calls Tyre the daughter of Tarshish or Tartessus, because, though heretofore the people thereof were indebted to Tyre, yet upon the destruction of this city, Tartessus, Gades, or Carthage, should be looked upon as the metropolis of the Tyrian nation. Tartessus should henceforth be considered as another Tyre. All the honourable of the earth, at the end of the 9th verse, would more properly be rendered, All the honourable of the land. See Vitringa; who reads the 10th verse, Pass over thy land as over a river, O daughter of Tarshish: there is no binding any more.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
There is hardly a passage in the whole prophecy of Isaiah more full and comprehensive than what is contained in these verses, to set forth man’s nothingness, and the Lord’s all-sufficiency. The Prophet puts forth the subject in the form of a question; as if speaking after the manner of men, nothing can be competent to overthrow a people, whose very merchants are princes. Yes, saith the Prophet, answering his own question; the Lord of Hosts, who razed Tyre, can and will destroy it. Reader, take home the precious instruction, from the history of nations in their rise and fall, to your own individual instance, in all the circumstances of life, and learn from it that solemn truth of Jesus, in the interesting question he put, and which answers itself: what is a man profited though he gain the whole world, if he lose his own soul? Mar 8:36 ; Luk 12:16-21 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 23:8 Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning [city], whose merchants [are] princes, whose traffickers [are] the honourable of the earth?
Ver. 8. The crowning city. ] Heb., The crowning or crowned: a city of kings, a as Cyneas once said of Rome, This is a style better befitting heaven and the crowned saints there.
Whose merchants are princes.
a Vidi civitatem regum. See the state of kings.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 23:8-11
8Who has planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,
Whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth?
9The LORD of hosts has planned it, to defile the pride of all beauty,
To despise all the honored of the earth.
10Overflow your land like the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish,
There is no more restraint.
11He has stretched His hand out over the sea,
He has made the kingdoms tremble;
The LORD has given a command concerning Canaan to demolish its strongholds.
Isa 23:8-12 This strophe is united by the use of the VERB planned (lit. advised or purposed, BDB 419, KB 421, Qal PERFECT, cf. Isa 23:8-9; Isa 14:24; Isa 14:26-27; Isa 19:12; Isa 19:17). There is an intentionality behind history-YHWH! The kingdoms of this world make their plans (Isa 23:8), but the God of creation also makes His (Isa 23:9).
Isa 23:8
NASB, NRSVthe bestower of crowns
NKJV, PESHITTAthe crowning city
TEVthe imperial city
NJBwho used to hand out crowns
REBthe city with crowns in its gifts
The VERB (BDB 742, KB 815, Hiphil PARTICIPLE) means to crown. It could refer to
1. crown bestower (NASB, NRSV, NJB, REB)
2. crown wearer (TEV, NKJV, Peshitta)
Isa 23:10 The rival maritime empire of Tarshish is invited to expand and overflow because of the destruction of Phoenicia.
An alternate understanding of the phrase is in the Septuagint, Till your land; for no more ships come out of Carthage. This is followed by the REB, Take to the tillage of your fields, you people of Tarshish; for your market is lost. Your trading days are over, just settle down and farm your own land.
Isa 23:11 He has stretched His hand out over the sea See note at Isa 14:26.
He has made the kingdoms tremble The VERB (BDB 919, KB 1182, Hiphil PERFECT) is used of YHWH shaking several things.
1. mountains, Isa 5:25
2. heavens, Isa 13:13
3. Sheol, Isa 14:9
4. sea, Isa 23:11
5. YHWH Himself, Isa 28:21
6. those who feel secure, Isa 32:10-11
7. nations, Isa 64:2
and once of Judah as she opposes YHWH in Isa. Isa 37:29.
Canaan This could refer to Tyre as the only good fortress/harbor on the Canaanite coast or Canaan as a way of referring to the merchant kingdom of Phoenicia.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
crowning = crown-giver: i.e. conferring crowns on other Phoenician cities.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Who hath: Deu 29:24-28, Jer 50:44, Jer 50:45, Rev 18:8
the crowning: Eze 28:2-6, Eze 28:12-18
merchants: Isa 10:8, Isa 36:9
Reciprocal: Gen 34:19 – honourable Psa 107:40 – poureth Isa 23:3 – she is Eze 26:12 – thy merchandise Eze 26:17 – strong Eze 27:3 – a merchant Eze 28:5 – and by Eze 28:7 – I will Zec 9:3 – heaped Rev 18:18 – What Rev 18:23 – thy merchants
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 23:8-9. Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre? Words of admiration. Who, and where, is he that could imagine, or durst attempt such a thing as this? This is the work of God, and not of man. The crowning city Which was a royal city, and carried away the crown from all other cities: whose merchants are princes Equal to princes for wealth, and power, and reputation. The Lord of hosts hath purposed it This is the Lords own doing; to stain the pride of all glory Gods design is, by this example, to abase the pride of all the potentates of the earth, that they may see how weak they are when he sets himself against them.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
23:8 Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the {m} crowning [city], whose merchants [are] princes, whose traders [are] the honourable of the earth?
(m) Who makes her merchants like princes.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Why had Tyre perished? When Tyre founded colonies, she set up rulers over them-bestowed crowns. Princes and the honored of the earth ended up serving Tyre’s ends. Thus this ancient city had tremendous power and influence.
"The reference [to the earth, or land, Heb. ha’res] is to Palestine-Lebanon, extending to the Euphrates in the northeast and to the ’River of Egypt’ and beyond to Egypt in the south. All this ’land’ was served by Tyre’s commerce and, accordingly, it treated Tyre with deference. All the ’land’ envied Tyre’s wealth and imitated her styles." [Note: Watts, p. 307.]
The reason for Tyre’s death was the plan of the Lord Almighty. He desired to humble the proud and to humiliate the admired. He wanted to show the transitory nature of human glory and the folly of depending on such glory. God does not object when worthy people receive the credit due them. What He opposes is pride that seeks to live independent of Himself.