Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He predicts the destruction of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar, because the Tyrians, enemies of the Jews, rejoiced in the capture of Jerusalem: he therefore describes the disaster of Tyre from its former glory and riches. Secondly, verse 15, he predicts that Tyre will be restored after 70 years, and will return to its former merchandise and wealth. Furthermore Alcazar, Apocalypse xx, verse 1, note 4, takes Tyre to mean Pagan Rome, as if its destruction and that of paganism through conversion to Christ were described here. But this is mystical, not literal, nor the genuine sense.
Vulgate Text: Isaiah 23:1-18
1. The burden of Tyre. Howl, you ships of the sea: for the house is laid waste, from which they were accustomed to come: from the land of Kittim it was revealed to them. 2. Be silent, you who dwell in the island: the merchants of Sidon crossing the sea have filled you. 3. In many waters the seed of the Nile, the harvest of the river, were its fruits: and it became the commerce of the nations. 4. Be ashamed, Sidon: for the sea speaks, the strength of the sea, saying: I have not travailed, nor brought forth, nor nourished young men, nor raised virgins. 5. When it shall be heard in Egypt, they shall grieve when they hear of Tyre: 6. Cross over the seas, howl you who dwell in the island: 7. Is not this your city, which gloried from the days of old in its antiquity? Her own feet shall lead her afar to sojourn. 8. Who has planned this against Tyre, once crowned, whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the renowned of the earth? 9. The Lord of hosts has planned this, to bring down the pride of all glory, and to bring to disgrace all the renowned of the earth. 10. Cross your land like a river, O daughter of the sea; there is no longer a girdle for you. 11. He has stretched out His hand over the sea, He has shaken the kingdoms: the Lord has given command against Canaan, to destroy its strongholds, 12. and He said: You shall no longer continue to glory, suffering oppression, O virgin daughter of Sidon: arise, cross over to Kittim, there too there shall be no rest for you. 13. Behold the land of the Chaldeans, such a people there was not, Assyria founded it: they led its mighty into captivity, they undermined its houses, they reduced it to ruin. 14. Howl, you ships of the sea, for your stronghold is devastated. 15. And it shall be in that day: You shall be forgotten, O Tyre! for seventy years, like the days of one king: after seventy years it shall be for Tyre as the song of a harlot. 16. Take a harp, go about the city, O harlot given to oblivion: sing well, play many a song, that you may be remembered. 17. And it shall be after seventy years: The Lord shall visit Tyre, and shall bring her back to her merchandise; and she shall again play the harlot with all the kingdoms of the earth upon the face of the earth. 18. And her commerce and her merchandise shall be sanctified to the Lord: they shall not be stored up nor laid away: for her commerce shall be for those who dwell before the Lord, that they may eat to satisfaction, and be clothed even to old age.
Verse 1: The Burden of Tyre
1. THE BURDEN OF TYRE. — Note: Tyre in Hebrew and Syriac is called tsor (whence Tor, whence Tyrus), as if you were to say fortified, or narrow, or rocky, because it was situated on a rock. By Gellius and others it is called Sarra, today Suri. It is the metropolis of Phoenicia, mistress of the sea, and the emporium of the whole world because of the advantageous situation of its location; most celebrated in sacred as well as profane histories for its navigation, and consequently for its wealth, luxury and vices. To this contributed not a little the fact that the Tyrians dye cloths with the red juice of cut sea-mussels or shellfish, which is also called purple. Hence Tyrian purple has always been most famous; and purple garments themselves are called Tyrian. Hear Solinus, chapter 38: "That Tyre," he says, "was the inventor of the purple dye is certain."
Secondly, Tyre was formerly four stadia distant from the mainland, according to Quintus Curtius, book IV in his Life of Alexander; but according to St. Jerome and Pliny, book V, chapter xix, 700 paces. Hence Ezekiel says it was situated in the heart, that is in the middle, of the sea. But hear Pliny: "Tyre, once an island separated from the deep sea by seven hundred paces; now connected to the mainland by the siege-works of Alexander's assault. Formerly famous for the birth of cities it founded, having given birth to Leptis, Utica, and that rival of the Roman Empire in desiring the rule of the world, Carthage; also Cadiz, which she founded beyond the bounds of the world: now, however, all its fame consists in a shellfish and purple dye."
Hence thirdly, Tyre so flourished that Venice, Paris, and Antwerp cannot be compared to it, so that if you consider the commerce of Tyre, it was the marketplace of the whole world; if its fortification, it should be called a citadel rather than a city; if its magnificence and glory, it was the queen of cities. Hence here, verse 8, it is called crowned; and Ezekiel, chapter xxviii, verse 14, compares its king to the glory and pride of the Cherubim Angel, and consequently to their fall and punishment.
Fourthly, on account of this pride and luxury, first Shalmaneser besieged it by sea; but in vain, as Josephus testifies, IX Antiquities xv; secondly, Nebuchadnezzar, after the destruction of Jerusalem, besieged and devastated it for thirteen years, so that fishermen dried their nets and seines there, says Ezekiel; for since it was situated farther from the land in the sea, he ordered an infinite multitude of the army to carry stones and embankments and fill up this strait, so that it could be attacked and conquered on foot; thirdly, Alexander the Great, not content with the embankment of Nebuchadnezzar, built another and broader one, and after seven months conquered it, and cruelly vented his rage upon the wretched citizens, crucifying two thousand, selling into slavery thirteen thousand, killing eight thousand in fighting, as Quintus Curtius relates, book IV. That ancient Tyre was so destroyed that it was never rebuilt: hence the new Tyre was called Palaetyrus, that is Old Tyre. Fourthly, about the year of Christ 1124, it was conquered by the Crusaders under the Kings of Jerusalem, but later, along with the rest of the Holy Land, was lost and seized by the Saracens, and thence by the Turks. This is confirmed by Strabo, book XVI: "Tyre has been destroyed many times," he says, "but by the enthusiasm of its inhabitants it has always risen again."
Mystically, St. Jerome on Ezekiel chapter xxviii: Nebuchadnezzar is the devil; Tyre is the proud soul overflowing with luxury, which the demon constricts, narrows, and kills. Again, St. Bernard, Sermon 10, On the Burden of Tyre: "Tyre," he says, "is interpreted as narrowness: whose burden is in the bitterness of penance, in the labor of continence, in bodily sickness. For what? Is there no burden in this bodily exercise, or in the observance of regular discipline? How could there not be labor and narrowness, where the flesh is tamed by fasting, sleep is broken by vigils, the whole natural course of life is overturned by discipline?"
SHIPS OF THE SEA. — In Hebrew, ships of Tarshish, that is of the sea; see what was said at chapter xxii. The Septuagint translates ships of Carthage, because Carthage was a colony of the Tyrians, and abounded in ships at sea, with which it carried on great commerce with Tyre and others. Hence Virgil, Aeneid I:
There was an ancient city, Tyrian colonists held it,
Carthage.
THE HOUSE IS LAID WASTE, — the city of Tyre with its houses, or the houses of the city of Tyre have been laid waste. In Hebrew literally it is: laid waste is (Tyre) from house, that is utterly, so that not even one house remains, and from coming, that is so that no merchant may henceforth come to it, which our translator rendered "from which they were accustomed to come," namely merchants and ships, to which therefore he said, "howl." So Forerius, Vatablus, Pagninus and others.
FROM THE LAND OF KITTIM IT WAS REVEALED TO THEM. — First, some take this of the destruction of Tyre accomplished by Alexander the Great, as if to say: The Tyrians first received the rumor of war from Kittim, that is from Greece: for there Alexander prepared war against them.
Secondly and better, others take this of the destruction of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar: for this was prior to the destruction by Alexander, and closer to the times of Isaiah. So St. Thomas, Procopius, Cyril and others. And so Kittim, says St. Jerome, are the islands of Cyprus (where the city of Citium still exists, the homeland of Zeno the Stoic), and also of Italy and Macedonia: hence Alexander of Macedon is said to have gone forth from Kittim, I Maccabees chapter 1, verse 1. The meaning therefore is, as if to say: It was revealed and announced to the Tyrians from the land of the Kittians, that is from the neighboring islands and coasts, that their city had been laid waste by the Chaldeans, so that it might urge the ships on the sea to bewail the ruin of their homeland.
IT WAS REVEALED TO THEM. — The Septuagint translates: Tyre has been led captive from the land of the Kittians, that is has been transferred from its own land. For it was reckoned among the Kittians; for the Hebrew gala means both to reveal, as our translator renders it, and to migrate, as the Septuagint renders it.
Verse 2: Be Silent, You Who Dwell in the Island
2. BE SILENT, YOU WHO DWELL IN THE ISLAND, — as if to say: Be silent, O Tyrians! from grief, shame and fear, because Nebuchadnezzar has subdued and devastated you. For silence is a sign of servitude, as well as of terror and stupor.
He calls Tyre an island, because it was formerly an island: but by Nebuchadnezzar and Alexander it was made an accessible peninsula, and conquerable by foot soldiers. The Septuagint translates: to whom the inhabitants of the island have become like. For the Hebrew dom means both to be silent, and to become like, a learned man, with the letter M changed to N. For these letters alternate, as in Noph and Moph, that is Memphis.
Verse 3: The Seed of the Nile
3. IN MANY WATERS THE SEED OF THE NILE, THE HARVEST OF THE RIVER, WERE ITS FRUITS (of Tyre); AND IT BECAME THE COMMERCE OF THE NATIONS. — He calls the produce and wealth of Egypt "the seed of the Nile." For the Nile brings these to it and, as it were, sows them by its flooding, silting and fertilizing the fields, whence he calls the same the harvest of the river, namely of the Nile: for a copious flood of the Nile brings a copious harvest, as if to say: The seed and harvest of grain, which in Egypt is sown and gathered through the Nile, was brought in many waters, that is in many ships sailing the sea, to Tyre; from them the wealth and revenues of Tyre grew: and it became the commerce of the nations.
Sanchez adds that it is called the seed of the Nile, because the Nile, as well as the Indus, as Cicero testifies, carries seeds along with it, which either the wind shakes off or ripeness removes from those plants that grow on the banks, and when it floods the fields, scatters and sows them: and for this reason the Nile gives both seed and harvest to Egypt. But that seed is small and uncertain: for it is established that the Egyptians, like other nations, sow their own fields.
To Egypt therefore flowed in many waters, that is in many ships, that is in much merchandise, from Tyre and through Tyre from many nations; and conversely, Egyptian grain and other produce flowed from Egypt to Tyre and through Tyre to many nations: for just as formerly all nations with their merchandise flowed together to Tyre, so now with their wealth they flee to other nations.
Verse 4: Be Ashamed, Sidon
4. BE ASHAMED, SIDON: FOR THE SEA SPEAKS. — First, St. Jerome explains it thus: The sea, that is the merchants of the sea, say to Sidon: Be ashamed, because Tyre your daughter, upon which you heaped so many riches, has been laid waste and reduced to a wilderness. Again, be ashamed, says St. Thomas, because you did not defend your daughter Tyre from the enemy. Say therefore: I have not travailed, nor brought forth sons who would fight for my Tyre.
Secondly, and genuinely: Be ashamed, Sidon, because your colony Tyre, deserted by its own children, has been so foully and miserably devastated; for the sea speaks, indeed the very strength, citadel and pillar of the sea, namely Tyre your daughter, who enriched you, situated not in the sea but on the mainland, through maritime commerce, saying: "I have not travailed," etc., as if to say: I seemed to myself once to have borne the bravest young men and the most beautiful maidens; but now that I am bereft of all of them by the enemy, it is as if I had never borne or nourished any of them.
THE MERCHANTS OF SIDON, etc., HAVE FILLED YOU, — with their wealth and merchandise: for Tyre was near Sidon, and a colony of Sidon. St. Jerome punctuates these words differently; for he connects them with the preceding thus: "Be silent, you who dwell in the island, merchants of Sidon," as if to say: O Sidonians! mourn as well as the Tyrians, both because when Tyre is devastated trade will cease, and because from Tyre the Chaldean will proceed to you, and will devastate you likewise.
Morally, St. Ambrose, On Elijah and Fasting, chapter xxix, teaches here that the sea accuses the avarice of merchants: "This," he says, "is the voice of the wearied element (namely the sea): Be ashamed, Sidon, that is, you, O merchant, accuse my waves, when you yourself are more restless, and be ashamed as with shame, because you are not moved by danger; the winds are more modest than your desires: they have their rest, but do your pursuits of gain ever take a holiday? And when the storm is idle, the merchant is not idle."
Mystically St. Gregory, part III of the Pastoral Rule, chapter xxix: "As it were," he says, "Sidon is brought to shame by the voice of the sea, when the life of him who is seen to be dedicated to God, and as it were fortified and stable, is reproved by comparison with the life of worldly people fluctuating in this world;" and, as Thomas a Kempis says both piously and truly, book III, chapter iii:
Be ashamed, Sidon, says the sea: and if you ask the reason, hear why: for a small reward a long road is run, and for eternal life scarcely a foot is raised once from the ground by most people.
I HAVE NOT TRAVAILED. — St. Jerome thinks these are the words of Sidon bewailing its own disaster, because it has been bereft of its young men and maidens by the enemy. But others commonly and more correctly think they are the words of Tyre. Hence first, Pintus and Forerius take these as a question: Have I not, that is, have I not travailed and brought forth the bravest young men, who would fight most valiantly for me? As if to say: I did bring forth, but in vain; for they could not resist so powerful an enemy.
Secondly, Emmanuel Sa explains it thus: "I have not travailed," etc., that is, would that I had never brought forth those sons, who could save neither me nor themselves!
Thirdly, Sanchez by young men and maidens understands the daughters, that is the colonies of Tyre, such as Carthage, Utica, Gades and Tartessus, cities of Spain, which sent help to Tyre against the Chaldeans, and therefore it resisted them for the fourth year, says Megasthenes in Josephus, book X Antiquities chapter xi; but his trustworthiness is uncertain. The meaning therefore is, as if to say: Be ashamed, Sidon, because neither you, when you were the mother of Tyre, nor your grandsons and granddaughters, that is the colonies of Tyre, could save me from the hand of the Chaldeans.
Fourthly and most simply, as if to say: I am so bereft of my citizen-sons and citizen-daughters, who were captured or slain by the enemy, as if I had never borne or nourished them.
Verse 5: When It Shall Be Heard in Egypt
5. WHEN IT SHALL BE HEARD IN EGYPT, THEY SHALL GRIEVE. — Both because the Egyptians had great commerce with Tyre; they will therefore grieve at its destruction, because their profit will perish; and because they will fear that after Tyre the Chaldean will invade Egypt, as indeed happened: for God gave Egypt and its spoils to the Chaldeans as if to His ministers, as a reward for the long and troublesome siege of Tyre, as is evident from Ezekiel xxix, 19; and from his prophecy, as well as from this one, the Egyptians beforehand feared this invasion.
Verse 6: Cross Over the Seas
6. CROSS OVER THE SEAS, etc., YOU WHO DWELL IN THE ISLAND, — in Tyre. The address is to the Tyrian merchants, that in the face of impending destruction they should seek other settlements and other trading posts. That the Tyrians did this, and having boarded ships fled to Carthage and to other islands, St. Jerome teaches here from ancient histories.
Verse 7: Is Not This Your City?
7. IS NOT THIS YOUR CITY (Tyre) WHICH GLORIED IN ITS ANTIQUITY? — as a most ancient city that would endure forever. Tyre was older than Rome and Carthage: for Carthage was a colony of Tyre, in which Dido received Aeneas as a guest, from whom the Latins and Romans descend. Josephus, book VIII Antiquities III, asserts that Tyre was founded 240 years before the temple of Solomon. Berosus makes Tyre much more ancient, for he records that it was founded by Tyras shortly after the flood.
HER OWN FEET SHALL LEAD HER AFAR, — as if to say: The Tyrian captives will be led away, and will go on foot to Babylon.
Verse 8: Against Tyre, Once Crowned
8. AGAINST TYRE, ONCE CROWNED. — For just as a king stands above others by his royal crown, so Tyre surpassed other cities in gold, gems, purple, wealth and all merchandise, like a queen, says St. Jerome; for the crown is a symbol not only of kingship, but also of abundance of resources.
Secondly, because Tyre was situated on a rock and cliff; hence in Hebrew it is called tsor, that is rock, says Masius on Joshua xix; therefore the walls and towers of Tyre, encircling the top of its mountain, resembled a crown. So Samaria, for the same reason, is said to be crowned, chapter xxviii, verse 1.
THE RENOWNED OF THE EARTH, — of Tyre namely: for he is speaking about it. For the Tyrians were powerful, and as it were lords of sea and land. See St. Jerome, and what was said at the beginning of the chapter.
Verse 10: Cross Your Land Like a River
10. CROSS YOUR LAND LIKE A RIVER, DAUGHTER OF THE SEA, — as if to say: O Tyre! once you were a daughter of the sea, and like a vast sea (as was said at verse 4), both of waters and of wealth and peoples: now you have become a river, in Hebrew ieor, that is a small stream, which gradually flows away to lower places and diminishes, until it fails and is absorbed by the earth: for thus you too will fall from your splendor and glory; and you will pass through your land, to go to Babylon, and there you will dry up in captivity.
Otherwise also Vatablus, as if to say: Cross over and flee, O Tyre! with the greatest speed like a river, before the enemy seizes you.
DAUGHTER OF THE SEA. — Because Tyre was a dweller and inhabitant of the sea, so that it seemed to be born, raised and nurtured by the sea as by a mother, as if it were its daughter. So Athenaeus called the island of Delos a daughter of the sea, because it suddenly emerged from the sea. In a similar way Venice could be called a daughter of the sea: hence a Poet elegantly plays upon this thus:
Either Venus made for herself a lovely name from the Venetians,
Or the Venetians bear the name and omen of the goddess.
In Hebrew it is daughter of Tarshish; because Tyre belongs to that region of the Mediterranean Sea which was inhabited by Tarshish the son of Javan, Genesis chapter x, verse 4.
Again, daughter of Tarshish, that is of the Red Sea; because Tyre was a colony of those who dwelt near the Red or Erythraean Sea, namely near the Arabian Gulf, as Pliny teaches, book IV, chapter xxii; Strabo, book I; Dionysius Afer, verse 906. Hence also in Baetica, Tartessus near Gades, a city and colony of the Tyrians, was called after Tarshish.
Some think that Tarshish was a city near the Red Sea, which led a colony and founded Tyre, and therefore the Tyrians gave to their daughter, namely Carthage, the name of the route, and called it Tarshish: hence the Septuagint here and often elsewhere, and our translator, Ezekiel xxvii, 12, translates Carthage for Tarshish.
THERE IS NO LONGER A GIRDLE FOR YOU. — First, Sanchez explains it thus, as if to say: That noble emporium of Tyre will be so despoiled that not even a single girdle will remain, which is the most trifling of merchandise among dealers in second-hand goods and peddlers.
Secondly, the Chaldean and Symmachus: there is no girdle, that is there is no strength of soldiers for you: for by a girdle they gird the sword to themselves, as if to say: You will no longer be able to resist the Chaldean.
Thirdly, "girdle" means a port: for a port girds and encircles the ships that dock in it, as if to say: There is no longer any port for you, O Tyre! because Nebuchadnezzar has blocked and closed your ports.
Verse 11: He Has Stretched Out His Hand Over the Sea
11. HE HAS STRETCHED OUT HIS HAND OVER THE SEA, HE HAS SHAKEN THE KINGDOMS: THE LORD HAS GIVEN COMMAND AGAINST CANAAN. — He alludes first to the ancient Hebrews, who expelled the Canaanites from Canaan, as if to say: Do not despise, O Tyre, the God of Israel: for He Himself once dried up the Red Sea by His hand and power, and shook all the neighboring kingdoms, especially those of the Canaanites, and struck them with great fear at the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt; He Himself also commanded the Canaanites to be destroyed.
Secondly, more properly and genuinely, by the sea and Canaan he means Tyre: for Tyre was founded and inhabited by the Canaanites; hence it was also assigned to the tribe of Asher by Joshua, chapter xix, verse 29: although the Asherites were never able to conquer and occupy it. So the Canaanite woman in the Gospel is said to have come from the borders of Tyre and Sidon. In the word Canaan he alludes to the trade of Tyre: for Canaan in Hebrew is called a merchant. Hence in Proverbs, the last chapter, verse 24, the phrase "she gave a girdle to the Canaanite" means she gave a girdle to the merchant.
Sanchez rightly notes that "to command" is a military term, and means the same as to send an army: for the generals of war command their colonels and captains to invade such a place or city, when they send them there to carry it out. So it is said in Psalm lxvii, 29: "Command, O God, Your strength;" and Isaiah x, 6: "Against the people of My fury I will command him;" and chapter xiii, verse 3: "I have commanded My sanctified ones;" and chapter xlv, 12: "I have commanded all their host;" and Amos vi, 11: "The Lord has given command, and He will strike the great house with breaches."
Verse 12: You Shall No Longer Continue to Glory
12. YOU SHALL NO LONGER CONTINUE TO GLORY (Vatablus translates: you shall no longer exult in luxury), SUFFERING OPPRESSION. — Vatablus: having suffered violence and been oppressed, namely by the Chaldean enemies. The Hebrew asac means to defraud someone of their money, right or debt, as wicked merchants do, especially when they go bankrupt, as if to say: You, O Tyrian merchants, have defrauded and despoiled your creditors; now in turn you will be despoiled by the Chaldeans.
VIRGIN DAUGHTER OF SIDON — that is, O Tyre! you were a daughter of Sidon, and a virgin, that is a noble, famous, unconquered city, which no enemy had previously been able to conquer: but now you are conquered and violated by the Chaldeans.
IN KITTIM (Cyprus) ARISE, CROSS OVER — as if to say: Flee from Tyre, and cross over from there to Cyprus: but THERE TOO THERE SHALL BE NO REST FOR YOU — for the Chaldean will pursue you even there.
Verse 13: Behold the Land of the Chaldeans
13. BEHOLD THE LAND OF THE CHALDEANS. — Namely, it will overthrow you, O Tyre! a people unmatched in strength, power and antiquity; because the Assyrians founded it, namely the land and domain of the Chaldeans, that is Babylonia: for first the Assyrians and all the nations built the tower and city of Babel, and from there Asshur went out into Assyria and founded Nineveh, Genesis x, 11.
THEY LED ITS MIGHTY INTO CAPTIVITY, — namely of Tyre. So Lyranus, as if to say: The people of the Chaldeans, though recent and formerly insignificant (for the Assyrians founded them), nevertheless have grown so mighty that they have overthrown even the Tyrians and led their mighty men into captivity.
Secondly, others refer "its" to Assyria and its capital, namely Nineveh, as if to say: The Chaldeans captured the mighty of the Assyrians and Nineveh. For Isaiah, lest the Tyrians should marvel at the destruction of their own city, so powerful, magnificent and wealthy, sets before them the destruction of the Assyrians and Nineveh, which was greater and more powerful than Tyre. So Vatablus. For Nineveh was captured and destroyed before Tyre, in the time of Sardanapalus by Arbaces the Mede and Belesis the Babylonian.
Thirdly, plainly and simply, "its," namely of the land of the Chaldeans. Therefore explain this whole verse thus, as if to say: It is no wonder that you must be devastated, O Tyre! although a famous city, because the land of the Chaldeans must likewise be devastated, namely Babylon, to which no city or people was comparable, founded by the Assyrians, far more august and powerful than you. So Forerius, who thinks the destruction of Babylon by Alexander the Great is noted here: for he first captured Tyre, then also captured and destroyed Babylon.
Some modern Chronologists, in order to show that the destruction of Babylon was prior to the destruction of Tyre, which Isaiah seems here to imply, when he proposes this very thing to the Tyrians as an example and mirror, think that Babylon was captured in the time of Judith, by Nebuchadnezzar conquering Arphaxad.
For "into captivity" the Hebrew is letsiim, which Forerius translates as ships, namely "they led away its mighty," that is into captivity; the Zurich version translates, who inhabited desert places; which Vatablus explains, as if to say: The Assyrians built cities in Chaldea for those who previously dwelt in the desert under tents. For tsia means a dry, desert, barren place: hence tsiim is used for ships, because in the sea they stand out as something dry, says Forerius.
Verse 15: You Shall Be Forgotten, O Tyre
15. YOU SHALL BE FORGOTTEN, O TYRE, FOR SEVENTY YEARS. — For seventy years you will remain devastated and desolate; then you will be rebuilt, as is evident from II Esdras xiii, 16, and from the fact that afterwards Alexander the Great again conquered Tyre. By whom and how Tyre was restored, neither sacred nor profane history relates: for that Tyre was destroyed long after the destruction of Jerusalem, and therefore the Tyrians did not return with the Jews from Babylon, but long afterwards.
You will say: Ezekiel xxvi, 14, says to Tyre: "You shall not be rebuilt any more." Leo a Castro responds that this is true, because after 70 years not the same but another Tyre was built in another place: hence the former was called Palaetyrus, that is Old Tyre. But that both Tyre and Palaetyrus existed before Nebuchadnezzar under Shalmaneser, Josephus teaches, book IX Antiquities chapter xv.
Secondly, others respond: "You shall not be rebuilt any more," namely in such and so great glory as you previously had; and this is true.
LIKE THE DAYS OF ONE KING, — as long as a man usually lives, especially one who lives joyfully and liberally, such as a king, that is 70 years; for this is the age and life of man, Psalm lxxxix, 10. He alludes to the most famous king David, who lived 70 years.
AFTER SEVENTY YEARS IT SHALL BE FOR TYRE AS THE SONG OF A HARLOT, — as if to say: Again after 70 years Tyre by the display, show and proclamation of its merchandise will attract merchants to itself, just as a harlot attracts lovers by her alluring song.
Note: Isaiah calls the commerce of Tyre harlotry: conversely St. John, Apocalypse xviii, 3, calls harlotry, that is the idolatry of Babylon, that is of Rome in the end of the world when it will be pagan, commerce. For thus he says: "And the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her; and the merchants of the earth have been made rich from the power" (that is, from the abundance: for this is what the Hebrew chel means, to which corresponds the Greek dynamis, and the Latin virtus or potentia) "of her luxury." Tyre, therefore, and Babylon, that is pagan Rome, are represented by Isaiah and St. John as a harlot for three reasons: first, because Tyre and Babylon prostituted their city, their commerce, and their provisions to all comers, just as a harlot does; secondly, because Tyre and Babylon worshipped idols; thirdly, a tavern-keeper, who intoxicates all with her delights and wine. The reason is that the Hebrew zona means a female tavern-keeper, who prostitutes both her house and provisions, and herself or her wares; or who handles merchandise, keeps a tavern, feasts, lives wantonly; or who earns, whether by prepared food as a tavern-keeper, or by displayed merchandise as a trader, or by bodily prostitution as a harlot, who is called par excellence a meretrix; although the name is common to all who earn and gain.
Leo a Castro adds that those flattering enticements and praises of merchants by which they commend and push their merchandise can be called the song of a harlot. And Forerius: "You see," he says, "that trade is compared to harlotry; for the concupiscence of the flesh and of riches have the greatest similarity between them." And Isidore Clarius: The display, he says, of wealth and merchandise is called a song and harp; but trade is called fornication.
Verse 16: Take a Harp
16. TAKE A HARP, — as if to say: As a harlot employs harps, songs and all allurements to entice young men, so Tyre will employ all enticements and invitations to call back merchandise and merchants to itself and its fairs.
Verse 17: She Shall Play the Harlot with All the Kingdoms
17. SHE SHALL PLAY THE HARLOT WITH ALL THE KINGDOMS. — That is, she will make commercial agreements and trade with all nations, and will receive them in hospitality: for this is what the Hebrew zun and zono means.
Verse 18: Her Commerce Shall Be Sanctified to the Lord
18. AND HER COMMERCE AND HER MERCHANDISE SHALL BE SANCTIFIED TO THE LORD. — First, Sanchez: Sanctified, he says, that is polluted and abominable to the Lord; for they are the wages of a harlot, about which it is decreed in Deuteronomy xxiii, 18: "You shall not offer the hire of a brothel, etc., because it is an abomination." Hence it follows, they shall not be stored up, that is these offerings of the harlot will not be accepted, to be stored in the temple. So "to sanctify" is taken by antiphrasis.
Secondly, the same Sanchez takes these words in their proper sense, and thinks this refers to the Maccabees, by whom the Tyrians were defeated, and the captured booty was dedicated to God, as Josephus relates, book XII Antiquities chapter xii; and I Maccabees xi, 59, says that Jonathan ruled from the borders of Tyre to the border of Egypt. Hence the Septuagint translates: Her commerce and her merchandise shall be holy to the Lord: it shall not be gathered for themselves, but for those who dwell before the Lord.
Thirdly, St. Jerome thinks that after the restoration of Jerusalem and the temple, the Tyrians entered into an alliance with the Jews, and often sent gifts for the expenses of the temple, and this is gathered from I Chronicles xxii, 4, and Zechariah xiv, 16.
Fourthly and most perfectly, these things were fulfilled in the time of Christ, says St. Jerome; for to Him as liberator and consoler, the Prophet flies away as is his custom from the sorrowful disaster, as if to say: The Tyrians will be converted to Christ and to Christians, and then they will consecrate their riches to the Lord, nor will they greedily hoard them, but her commerce, that is her profit, will go to the temple of God and to its ministers and to the poor, or from it they will procure food unto (that is up to) satisfaction, and they will be clothed even unto old age, that is with good and durable garments, lasting many years and even to old age. Vatablus translates: for their covering, that is so that they may be clothed in respectable and decent clothing.
You will say: These are the profits of a harlot; therefore they are abominable to God.
I respond: they are the profits of a harlot, that is of a trader, as was said. Secondly, they are the profits of one who was formerly a harlot, that is an idolater: but now through Christ she has been made chaste and a virgin, in the faith and worship of the true God, of whom the Apostle says: "I have espoused you to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ," hence her offering, formerly displeasing, is now pleasing and acceptable to God.