Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/5_100_p.lzh/5_131.TXT

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daughter of Zidon, because it was a colony of the Zi-
doninns f; and at first built and supported by them,
though now grown greater than its mother: arise, pass
over to Chittim; to the isle of Cyprus, which was near
them, and in which was a city called Citium; or to
Macedonia, which was called the land of Chittim, '1
Mace. i. 1. or to the isles of the AEgean and Ionian
seas; or to Greece and Italy; which latter sense is
approved by Vitringa, who thinks the islands of Cor-
sick, and Sardinia, and Sicily, are meant, which were
colonies of the Tyrians; and so in ver. 1, 6: there also
$halt thou have no rest; since those countries would
also fall into the.enemy's hands, either the Babylo-
nians, or the Medes and Persians,. or the Roamus; into
whose hands Macedonia, Carthage, and other colonies
of the Tyrians fell, so that they had no rest in any of
them.
Ver. 13. Behold the land of the Chaldeans, &c.] Not
Tyre, as some think, so called, because founded by
the Chaldeans, who finding it a proper place for ships,
so they render the w.ord tziim, afterward used, and
which is so interpreted by Jarchi, built the city of
Tyre; but the country called Chaldea is here meant,
and the Babylonish empire and monarchy,. particularly
Babylon, the head of it: this perle was not; a people,
or of any great note and figure: till the Assyrianfounded
it for them that dwell in the wilderness; Nimrod was
the first builder of Babel, in the land of Shinar, and
from that land went forth Ashur, and built Nineveh,
the city Rehoboth, and Calah, which were built for
dpeople that lived scattered up and down in fields and
esert places; so that .the Assyrians were the first
founders of Chaldea; and after it had been inhabited
by the Chaldeans, it was seized upon by the Assyrians,
and became a province of theirs: they set up the towers
thereof; the towers of Babylon, not of Tyre. Jarchi
interprets it of building bulwarks against Tyre: theSt
raised up the palaces; the stately buildings of Babylon;
or razed them; so Jarchi; also the Targum," they de-
'' stroyed the palaces thereof:" and he brought it. to
ruin: or he will do it; the past tense for the future,
i.e. God will bring Babylon to ruin; and therefore it
need not seem strange that Tyre should be destroyed,
since this would be the case of Babylon. Sir John
Marsham {g} interprets the words thus, "look upon Ba-
"bylon, the famous metropolis of the Chaldeans; the
"people, that possess that city, not along ago dwelt in
"deserts, having no certain habitation; Nabonassar
"the Assyrian brought men thither, the Seenites (the
"inhabitants of Arabia Deserta, so called from their
"dwelling in tents); he fortitled the city, he raised up
"towers, and built palaces; such now was this city,
"founded by the AsSyrian; yet God hath brought it
"to ruin; Babylon shall be destroyed as Tyre ;" and
this instance is brought to shew that a city and a people,
more ancient and powerful than Tyre, either had been
or would be destroyed; and therefore need not call in
question the truth or credibility of the prophecy re=
lating to Tyre; but the sense of the whole, according
to Vitringa, seems rather to be this: behold the land
of the Chaldeans; the country they now inhabit; take
notice of what is now about. to be said; it may seem
strange and 'marvelIons: this people was not; not that
they were of a late original, for they were an ancient
people, who descended from Chesed, the son of 'Nahor,
but for a long time of no account, that lived scattered
up and down in desert places: till the Assyrianfounded
it for them that dwell in the wilderness; he drove out
the Arabians from MesOpotamia, and translated the
Chaldeans thither, who before inhabited the wilder-
ness: they] set up the towers thereof, they raised up the
palaces; that is, the Assyrians fortitled and adorned
the city of Babylon, the metropolis of the country; so
Herodotus {h} say-s the Assyrian kings adorned the walls
and temples of Babylon; now behold this land of the
Chaldeans, or the people that inhabit it, as poor and as
low aS they have been, who owe their all to the Assv-
rians, even these shall bring Tyre to ruin; so that the
instruments of the ruin of Tyre are here described;
which, when this prophecy was delivered, might
seem improbable, the Assyrians being possessors of
monarchy.
Ver. 14. Howl, Ste ships of Tarshish, &c.] As in
ver. 1. See the note there: .for Stour strength is laid
waste; meaning Tyre, a strong seaport, where their
ships Were safe, and always found vent for their goods
and merchandise; and so it was the strength and sup-
port of their cotintry; but was now destroyed, and
therefore was matter of lamentation and mourning.
Ver. 15. And it ,shall come to pass in that daSt, &c.]
When Tyre is destroyed, froth that time forward: that
Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years; shall so long lie
in its ruin, and not be rebuilt; it shall be without in-
habitants, and unfrequented by men; there shall be no
merchandise in it during that time; no merchants will
come high it; she will be like a harlot cast off and
forgotten by her 1over : the term of time is the same
with that of the captivity of the Jews-in Babylon, and
great part of it at least run out along with it; for Tyre
was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, as Jerusalem was,
though some time after it, and was restored when the
Babylonish empire was destroyed, at the expiration of
seventy years: according to the days of one king; or
kingdom, the Babylonish kingdom, which lasted so
long in Nebuchadnezzar's family; whose family, he
himself, his son, and son's son, are here meant, as Aben
Ezra thinks; and seems to be the more commonly re-
ceived sense; though Kimchi and others understand
it of the days of a man, which are seventy years, Psal.
xc. 1o. and so it is added in the Septuagint version, as
the time of a man; which perhaps was a marginal note,
way of explanation, and crept into the text. Jarchi
s of opinion King David is meant, wl,ose age was se-
venty years, though he is at a loss to give a reason for
this his opinion; but Kimehi suggests one, and that is,
the covenant which was between Hiram king of Tyre
and David; and this is mentioned to put the Tyrians
in mind of the breach of it, which had brought desola-
tion upon them; some understand this of the King
Messiah i: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing

{f} Justin ex Trogo, I. 18. c. 3.
{g} Canon. Chronic. Egypt, &c. p. 509. Ed. 4t0.   ?
{h} Clio, sive I. 1. c. 184.
{i} T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 99. 1. Yalkut Simeoni in Psal. lxxii. fol.
112.2.