The Prophet and His Day: Isaiah 1-39 - Free Bible Commentary

WORD AND PHRASE STUDYNASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 23:1-71The oracle concerning Tyre.Wail, O ships of Tarshish,For Tyre is destroyed, without house or harbor;It is reported to them from the land of Cyprus.2Be silent, you inhabitants of the coastland,You merchants of Sidon;Your messengers crossed the sea3And were on many waters.The grain of the Nile, the harvest of the River was her revenue;And she was the market of nations.4Be ashamed, O Sidon;For the sea speaks, the stronghold of the sea, saying,"I have neither travailed nor given birth,I have neither brought up young men nor reared virgins."5When the report reaches Egypt,They will be in anguish at the report of Tyre.6Pass over to Tarshish;Wail, O inhabitants of the coastland.7Is this your jubilant city,Whose origin is from antiquity,Whose feet used to carry her to colonize distant places?23:1 “Wail, O ships of Tarshish” “Wail” (--*, BDB 410, KB 413, Hiphil IMPERATIVE) denotes loudshrieking. It is used often in Isaiah (cf. 13:6; 14:31; 15:2,3; 16:7 [twice]; 23:1,6,14; 52:5; 65:14 and arelated term [%--*] in 15:8 [twice]). See Special Topic: Grieving Rites at 15:2-3.Note this same phrase appears in v. 14. Often a repeated phrase marks a literary unit, but here thatdoes not fit well.The ships of Tarshish were large commercial grain carriers, usually from Egypt. They became anidiom (as did “Phoenicia” and “Canaanite”) for merchants.} “Tarshish” This place name (BDB 1077) could refer to1. a city in southern Spain on the Atlantic side, which was a Phoenician colony (i.e., Tartessus,v. 7)2. the island of Sardinia (cf. Gen. 10:4)3. a city on the north African coast (Carthage was a colony of Phoenicia)4. a metaphor for a far distant port5. a type of large sea-going commercial ship6. a rival maritime nation (cf. I Kgs. 10:22)} “without house or harbor” The city of Tyre had two divisions.1. most of the houses and shops were located on the mainland coast (cf. Josh. 19:29; II Sam.24:7)228