Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/5_100_p.lzh/5_130.TXT

Text File | 1994-08-08 | 7KB | 127 lines

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
or' cities, and gave laws and crowns, riches and wealth,
to others; surely no mere mortal could be concerned
in this; see Rev. xiii. 3, 4: whose merchants are princes;
either really such, for even princes and kings of the
earth tradedwith her, Ezek. xxvii. 21, 33. or they were
as rich as princes in other countries were: whose traf-
..tickers are the honourable of the earth; made rich by
trafficking with her, and so attained great honour and
glory in the world; see Rev. xviii. 3, 15.
Ver. 9. The Lord .of hosts hath purposed it, &c.] To
ttcstroy Tyre; who is wonderful in counsel, capable of
forming a wise scheme, and able to put it in execution;
being the Lord of armies in heaven and in earth: and
iris end in it was, to stain the pride of all glory ; Tyre
being proud of its riches, the extent ef its commerce,
and the multitude of its inhabitants, God was resolved,
who sets himself against the proud, to abase them; to
pollute the glorious things they were proud of; to deal
with them as with polluted things; to trample upon
them: and to bring into contempt all the honourable of
the earth: or, to make light all the heavy ones of the
earth d; all such, who are top-heavy with riches and
honour, God can, and sometimes does, make as light
as feathers, which the wind carries away, and they
fall into contempt and disgrace with their fellow-crea-
tures; and the Lord's thus dealing with Tyre was not
merely on their account, to stain their pride and glory,
and disgrace their honourable ones; but for the sake
of others also, that the great ones of the earth might
see and learn, by this instance of Tyre, how displeasing
to the Lord is the sin of pride; what a poor, vain, and
perishing thing, worldly honour and glory is; and
what poor, weak, feeble creatures, the princes and po-
tentates of the earth are, when the Lord takes them in
hand.
Ver. 10. Pass thro.ugh thy land as a river, O. daughter
of Tarshish, &c.] Or, of the sea, as the Vulgate Latin;
meaning Tyre, which was situated in the sea, and did,
as it were, spring from it, and was fortitled by it, and
supported by ships of merchandise on it, from various
hlaces; but now, being about to be destroyed, the in-
abitants of Stare called upon to pass through it, and
get out of it as fast as they could, even as swiftly as a
river runs, and in great abundance or multitudes.
Kimchi thinks the Tyrians are bid to pass to the daugh-
ter of Tarshish, that is, to Tarshish itself, to make their
escape out of their own land, and flee thither for
safety; this the accents will not admit of, there being
an athnach upon the word river; rather the merchants
of Tarshish, that were in Tyre, are exhorted to depart
to their own !and with all possible haste, lest they
should be involved in its ruin; though the Targum in-
clines to the other sense," pass out of thy land, as the
"waters of a river flee to a province of the sea :" there
is no more strength; in Tyre, to defend themselves
s, gainst the enemy, to protect their trade, and the met-
chants that traded with them; or, no more girdle {};
about it; no more girt about with walls, ramparts, and
other fortifications, or with soldiers and shipping, or
with the sea, with which it was encompassed, whilst
an island. but now no more, being joined to the con-
tinent by the enemy. Some think, because girdles
were a part of merchandise, Prov. xxxi. 24, that this
is said to express the meanness and poverty of the
place, that there was not so much as a girdle left in it;
rather that it was stripped of its power and authority,
of which the girdle was a sign; see ch. xxii. 21.
Ver. 11. He stretched out his hand over the sea, &c.]
That is, the Lord of hosts, who had purposed to destroy
Tyre, stretched out his hand of power over it, called
the sea, as in yet. 4. because situated in it, supported
it, and had the sovereignty of it; in like manner as
stretched out his hand on the Red sea, and de-
stroyed Pharaoh and the Egyptians in it; to which the
allusion may be: he shook the kingdoms; of Tyre and
Zidon, which were both kingdoms, and distinct ones;
and also made other neighbouring kingdoms shake and
tremble when these fell, fearlug it would be their case
next. Some understand this of the moving of Ne-
buchadnezzar, and of the kings of the provinces under
him, to come against Tyre: the Lord hath given a com-
mandment against the merchant city; the city of Tyre,
so famous for merchandise, that itwas the mart of
nations, as in ver. 3. or against Canaan, in which coun-
try Tyre and Zidon were, being originally built and
inhabited by the posterity of Canaan, Gen. x. 15, 19:
to destroy the strong holds thereof; either of the mer-
chant-city Tyre, whose fortifications were strong, both
by nature and art; or of Canaan, whose strong holds,
or fortSfled cities, the principal of them were Tyre and
Zidon; so Jarchi: and if the Lord of hosts gives a
commandment to destroy it and. its strong holds, as be
did to Nebuchadnezzar and his army, and afterwards
to Aiexander and his, who could save them ? that is,
God said it, who gave commandment to destroy it.
Ver. 12. And he said, thou shalt no more rejoice,
&c.] Not meaning that she should never more rejoice,
but not for a long time, as Kimchi interprets it; when
her calamity should come upon her, her jovial time,
her time of mirth, jollity, and revelling, would be over
for a time; for, at the end of seventy years, she should
take her harp, and sing again, ver. 15, 1G. for the
words seem to be spoken of Tyre, concerning whom
the whole prophecy is; though some think Zidon is
here meant, which, being near, suffered at-the same
time with Tyre, or quickly after: 0 thou oppressed
virgin! Tyre is called a virgin, because of her beauty,
pride, and lasciviousness, and because never before
subdued and taken: and oppressed, because now
flowered, ransacked, plundered, and ruined, by Ne-
buchadnezzar: daughter ofZidon: some think Zidon
itself is meant, just as daughter of Zion means Zion
herself, &c.; but it may be also observed, that such cities
that have sprung from others, or have their dependence
on them, are calied their daughters; so we read of Sa-
maria and her daughters, and Sodom and her daugh-
ters, Ezek. xvi. 46, 48. and so Tyre is called the

{d} \^Ura ydbkn lk lqhl\^.
{e} \^dwe xzm Nya\^ nulla est zona amplius, Junius & Tremellius,
Piscator; non est cingulum amplius, Cocceius.