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I. The city was to be taken and destroyed by the Chaldæans, who were at the time of the delivery of the prophecy an inconsiderable people. This, we think, is sufficiently implied in these words of the prophet Isaiah, (xxiii. 13:) "Behold, the land of the Chaldæans; this people was not till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness, they set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof; and he brought it to ruin.' Behold," an exclamation to show that he is going to utter something new and extraordinary; "the land of the Chaldæans," that is, Babylon and the country about Babylon; "this people was not," was of no note or eminence, "till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness," they dwelt before in tents and led a wandering life in the wilderness, till the Assyrians built Babylon for their reception. Babel or Babylon was first built by the children of men after the flood. After the dispersion of mankind, Nimrod made it the capital of his kingdom. With Nimrod it sunk again, till the Assyrians rebuilt it for the purposes here mentioned; "they set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof," and Herodotus, Ctesias, and other ancient historians agree that the kings of Assyria fortified and beautified Babylon; "and he," that is, "this people" mentioned before, the Chaldæans or Babylonians, "brought it to ruin," that is, Tyre, which is the subject of the whole prophecy. The Assyrians were at that time the great monarchs of the east; the Chaldæans were their slaves and subjects; and therefore it is the more extraordinary, that the prophet should so many years beforehand foresee the successes and conquests of the Chaldæans.

Ezekiel lived nearer the time, and he declares expressly that the city should be taken and destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, (xxvi. 7—11:) "Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people; he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground." Salmaneser king of Assyria had besieged Tyre, but without success; the Tyrians had with a few ships beaten his large fleet; but yet Nebuchadnezzar should prevail. Ezekiel not only foretold the siege, but mentions it afterwards as a past transaction, (xxix. 18:) "Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus; every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled."

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7

Menander the Ephesian translated the Phoenician annals into Greek; and Josephus asserts upon their authority, that Annales Menandri apud Josephum, Antiq. 1. 9, c. 14, § 2.

Joseph. contra Apion. l. 1. § 20 et 21.

Nebuchadnezzar besieged Tyre thirteen years when Ithobal was king there, and began the siege in the seventh year of Ithobal's reign, and that he subdued Syria and all Phoenicia. The same historian likewise observes, that Philostratus in his Indian and Phoenician histories affirms that this king (Nebuchadnezzar) besieged Tyre thirteen years, Ithobal reigning at that time in Tyre. The siege continuing so long, the soldiers must needs endure many hardships, so that hereby we better understand the justness of Ezekiel's expression, that "Nebuchadnezzar caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus; every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled:" such light doth profane history cast upon sacred. It farther appears from the Phoenician annals quoted by the same 'historian, that the Tyrians received their kings afterwards from Babylon, which plainly evinces that some of the bloodroyal must have been carried captives thither. The Phoenician annals too, as Dr. Prideaux' hath clearly shown, agree exactly with Ezekiel's account of the time and year wherein the city was taken. Tyre therefore according to the prophecies was subdued and taken by Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans: and after this we hear little more of that part of the city which stood upon the continent. It is some satisfaction that we are able to produce such authorities as we have produced, out of heathen historians, for transactions of such remote antiquity.

II. The inhabitants should pass over the Mediterranean into the islands and countries adjoining, and even there should find no quiet settlement. This is plainly signified by Isaiah, (xxiii. 6,) "Pass ye over to Tarshish," (that is, to Tartessus in Spain,) "howl ye inhabitants of the isle :" and again, (ver. 12,) "Arise, pass over to Chittim," (that is, the islands and countries bordering upon the Mediterranean;) "there also shalt thou have no rest." What the prophet delivers by way of advice, is to be understood as a prediction. Ezekiel intimates the same thing, (xxvi. 18,) "The isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure." It is well known that the Phoenicians were the best navigators of antiquity, and sent forth colonies into several parts of the world. A great scholar of the last century hath written a whole treatise of the colonies of the Phonicians, a work (as indeed all his are) of immense learning and erudition. And of all the Phoenicians the Tyrians were the most celebrated for their shipping and colonies. Tyre exceeded Tyro regnaret. Joseph. Antiq. 1. 10, c. IL,

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8 Φιλόστρατος ἐν ταῖς Ἰνδικαῖς αὐτοῦ καὶ Φοινικικαῖς ἱστορίαις, ὅτι οὗτος ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐπου § 1. λιόρκησε Τύρον ἔτη ιγ', βασιλεύοντος κατ' ἐκεῖνον τὸν καιρὸν Ἰθοβάλου τῆς Τύρου. Philostratus tam in Indicis ejus quam Phœniciis historiis, quod hic rex tredecim annos Tyrum oppugnaverit, cum illo tempore Ithobalus in

Joseph. contra Apion. 1. 1, § 21.

1 Prideaux. Connect. part 1, b. 2, Anno Nebuchadnezzar 32.

573.

2 Bocharti Chanaan.

:

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6

Sidon in this respect, as 'Strabo testifies, and sent forth colonies into Africa and Spain unto and beyond the pillars of Hercules and Quintus Curtius saith, that her colonies were diffused almost over the whole world. The Tyrians therefore having planted colonies at Tarshish and upon the coasts of Chittim, it was natural for them, when they were pressed with dangers and difficulties at home, to fly to their friends and countrymen abroad for refuge and protection. That they really did so, St. Jerome asserts upon the authority of Assyrian histories, which are now lost and perished. We have read,' 5 saith he, 'in the histories of the Assyrians, that when the Tyrians were besieged, after they saw no hope of escaping, they went on board their ships, and fled to Carthage, or to some islands of the Ionian and Egean sea.' And in another place he saith, 'that when the Tyrians saw that the works for carrying on the siege were perfected, and the foundations of the walls were shaken by the battering of the rams, whatsoever precious things in gold, silver, clothes, and various kinds of furniture the nobility had, they put them on board their ships, and carried to the islands; so that the city being taken, Nebuchadnezzar found nothing worthy of his labour.' It must have been grievous to Nebuchadnezzar, after so long and laborious a siege, to be disappointed of the spoil of so rich a city; and therefore Ezekiel was commissioned to promise him the conquest of Egypt for his reward, (xxix. 18, 19:) "Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled: yet had he no wages, nor his army for Tyrus, for the service that he had served against it. Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey, and it shall be the wages for his army.'

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But though the Tyrians should pass over to Tarshish and to Chittim, yet even there they should find no quiet settlement, "there also shalt thou have no rest." Megasthenes,' who lived about 300 years before Christ, and was employed by Seleucus

Nicator in an embassy to the king of India, wrote afterwards a history of India, wherein he mentioned Nebuchadnezzar with great honour. This historian is quoted by several ancient authors; he is cited particularly by Strabo, Josephus, and Abydenus in Eusebius, for saying that Nebuchadnezzar surpassed Hercules in bravery and great exploits, that he subdued great part of Africa and Spain, and proceeded as far as to the pillars of Hercules. After Nebuchadnezzar had subdued Tyre and Egypt, we may suppose that he carried his arms farther westward and if he proceeded so far as Megasthenes reports, the Tyrians might well be said to "have no rest," their conqueror pursuing them from one country to another. But besides this, and after this, the Carthaginians and other colonies of the Tyrians lived in a very unsettled state. Their history is made up of little but wars and tumults, even before their three fatal wars with the Romans, in every one of which their affairs grew worse and worse. Sicily and Spain, Europe and Africa, the land and their own element, the sea, were theatres of their calamities and miseries; till at last not only the new, but old Carthage too was utterly destroyed. As the Carthaginians sprung from the Tyrians, and the Tyrians from the Sidonians, and Sidon was the first-born of Canaan, (Gen. x. 15,) so the curse upon Canaan seemeth to have pursued them to the most distant parts of the earth.

III. The city should be restored after seventy years, and return to her gain and her merchandise. This circumstance is expressly foretold by Isaiah, (xxiii. 15-17:) "And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king," or kingdom, meaning the Babylonian which was to continue seventy years: "after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot. Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten, make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered. And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the Lord will visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth." Tyre is represented as a harlot, and from thence these figures are borrowed, the plain meaning of which is, that she should lie neglected of traders and merchants for seventy years, as long as the Babylonian empire lasted, and after that she should recover her liberties and her trade, and draw in several of all nations to deal with her, and particularly the kings of the earth to buy her purples, which were worn chiefly by emperors and kings, and for which Tyre was famous above all places in the world.

Strabo, l. 15, p. 1007. Joseph. Antiq. 1. 10, c. 11, § 1. Contra Apion. 1. 1, § 20. Eu seb. Præpar. Evang. 1. 9, c. 41. U

Seventy years was the time prefixed for the duration of the Babylonian empire. So long the nations were to groan under that tyrannical yoke, though these nations were subdued some sooner, some later than others. (Jer. xxv. 11, 12:) "These nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years: And it shall come to pass when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldæans, and will make it perpetual desolations." And accordingly at the end of seventy years Cyrus and the Persians subverted the Babylonian empire, and restored the conquered nations to their liberties.

But we may compute these seventy years after another manner. Tyre was taken by Nebuchadnezzar in the thirtysecond year of his reign, and in the year 573 before Christ. Seventy years from thence will bring us down to the year 503 before Christ, and the nineteenth of Darius Hystaspis. At that time it appears from history that the Ionians had rebelled against Darius, and the Phoenicians assisted him with their fleets and consequently it is reasonable to conclude that they were now restored to their former privileges. In the succeeding reign we find that they, together with the Sidonians, furnished Xerxes with several ships for his expedition into Greece. And by the time of Alexander the Tyrians were grown to such power and greatness, that they stopped the progress of that rapid conqueror longer than any part of the Persian empire besides. But all this is to be understood of the insular Tyre; for as the old city flourished most before the time of Nebuchadnezzar, so the new city flourished most afterwards, and this is the Tyre that henceforth is so much celebrated in history.

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IV. The city should be taken and destroyed again. For when it is said by the prophets, (Isa. xxiii. 6,) "Howl ye inhabitants of the isle;" (Ezek. xxvii. 32,) "What city is like Tyrus, like the destroyed in the midst of the sea?" (xxviii. 8,) "They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas:" these expressions can imply no less than that the insular Tyre should be destroyed as well as that upon the continent; and as the one was accomplished by Nebuchadnezzar, so was the other by Alexander the Great. But the same thing may be inferred more directly from the words of Zechariah, who prophesied in the reign of Darius, (Zech. i. 1; vii. 1,) probably Darius Hystaspis, many years after the former destruction of the city, and consequently he must be understood to speak of this latter. His words are these, (ix. 3, 4,) "And Tyrus did build herself 2 Herod. l. 7, c. 89, &c. Diod. Sic. 1. 11,

9 See Prid. Connect. Part 1, b. 2, and

b 4.

1 Herod. l. 5, c.

108, &c.

c. 3.