Isaiah 23:4

The address to the whole of the coast-land now passes into an address to the ancestral city. Isa 23:4 "Shudder, O Sidon; for the sea speaketh, the fortress of the sea, thus: I have not travailed, nor given birth, nor trained up young men, brought up maidens." The sea, or more closely considered, the fortress of the sea, i.e., the rock-island on which Neo-tyrus stood with its strong and lofty houses, lifts up its voice in lamentation. Sidon, the ancestress of Canaan, must hear with overwhelming shame how Tyre mourns the loss of her daughters, and complains that, robbed as she has been of her children, she is like a barren women. For the war to have murdered her young men and maidens, was exactly the same as if she had never given birth to them or brought them up. Who is there that does not recognise in this the language of Isaiah (compare Isa 1:2)? - Even in Egypt the fate of Phoenicia produces alarm. Isa 23:5 "When the report cometh to Egypt, they tremble at the report from Tzor." In the protasis (Isa 23:5) lemitzraim (to Egypt) the verb "cometh" is implied; the Caph in Isa 23:5 signifies simultaneousness, as in Isa 18:4 and Isa 30:19 (Ges. Thes. p. 650). The news of the fall of Tyre spreads universal terror in Egypt, because its own prosperity depended upon Tyre, which was the great market for its corn; and when such a bulwark had fallen, a similar fate awaited itself.

This chapter is concerning Tyre, an ancient wealthy city, situated upon the sea, and for many ages one of the most celebrated cities for trade and merchandise in those parts of the world. The lot of the tribe of Asher bordered upon it. See Jos 19:29, where it is called "the strong city Tyre." We seldom find it a dangerous enemy to Israel, but sometimes their faithful ally, as in the reigns of David and Solomon; for trading cities maintain their grandeur, not by the conquest of their neighbours, but by commerce with them. In this chapter is foretold, I. The lamentable desolation of Tyre, which was performed by Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldean army, about the time that they destroyed Jerusalem; and a hard task they had of it, as appears Eze 29:18, where they are said to have "served a hard service against Tyre," and yet to have no wages (Isa 23:1-14). II. The restoration of Tyre after seventy years, and the return of the Tyrians out of their captivity to their trade again (Isa 23:15-18).

23:4 Part of the great port city of Tyre was on an island. The island city was a fortress of the sea, but it fell in 332 BC. • I am childless; I have no sons or daughters: This metaphor was a judgment on Tyre’s colonial ports around the Mediterranean Sea. In the ancient world, to reach old age without having children was considered a terrible fate (see 49:21; 54:1).