Isa 23:2, 4, 6 | JFB | STEP | 2. Be still —"struck dumb with awe." Addressed to those already in the country, eye-witnesses of its ruin ( ); or, in contrast to the busy din of commerce once heard in Tyre; now all is hushed and still. isle —strictly applicable to New Tyre: in the sense coast, to the mainland city, Old Tyre (compare ). Zidon —of which Tyre was a colony, planted when Zidon was conquered by the Philistines of Ascalon. Zidon means a "fishing station"; this was its beginning. replenished —with wealth and an industrious population ( ). Here "Zidon," as the oldest city of Ph nicia, includes all the Ph nician towns on the strip of "coast." Thus, Eth-baal, king of Tyre [JOSEPHUS , Antiquities, 8.3,2], is called king of the Sidonians ( ); and on coins Tyre is called the metropolis of the Sidonians.

Isaiah 23:2

2. Be still—"struck dumb with awe." Addressed to those already in the country, eye-witnesses of its ruin (La 2:10); or, in contrast to the busy din of commerce once heard in Tyre; now all is hushed and still.

isle—strictly applicable to New Tyre: in the sense coast, to the mainland city, Old Tyre (compare Isa 23:6; Isa 20:6).

Zidon—of which Tyre was a colony, planted when Zidon was conquered by the Philistines of Ascalon. Zidon means a "fishing station"; this was its beginning.

replenished—with wealth and an industrious population (Eze 27:3, 8, 23). Here "Zidon," as the oldest city of Ph nicia, includes all the Ph nician towns on the strip of "coast." Thus, Eth-baal, king of Tyre [JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 8.3,2], is called king of the Sidonians (1Ki 16:31); and on coins Tyre is called the metropolis of the Sidonians.

Isaiah 23:4

4. Zidon—called on, as being the parent country of Tyre (Isa 23:12), and here equivalent to Ph nicia in general, to feel the shame (as it was esteemed in the East) of being now as childless as if she never had any. "I (no more now) travail, nor bring forth," &c. "Strength of the sea," that is, stronghold, namely, New Tyre, on a rock (as "Tyre" means) surrounded by the sea (Eze 26:4, 14-17; so Venice was called "Bride of the sea"; Zec 9:3).

Isaiah 23:6

6. Pass . . . over—Escape from Tyre to your colonies as Tarshish (compare Isa 23:12). The Tyrians fled to Carthage and elsewhere, both at the siege under Nebuchadnezzar and that under Alexander.