Isaiah 23:1 - Exposition

Howl (comp. Isaiah 13:6 , 31). The expression is common in the prophets (see Jeremiah 4:8 ; Jeremiah 25:34 , etc.: Ezekiel 21:12 ; Ezekiel 30:2 ; Joel 1:5 , Joel 1:11 , Joel 1:13 ; Zephaniah 1:11 ; Zechariah 11:2 , etc.). Ye ships of Tarshish . "Ships of Tarshish" are first mentioned in connection with the trade carried on by Solomon. Apparently, the term there designates a certain class of ship rather than those engaged in a particular trade. Here, however, Phoenician ships, actually engaged in the trade with Tartessus, may be intended. Tartessus was a very ancient Phoenician settlement in the south of Spain, beyond the Pillars of Hercules, and was the center of a most important and lucrative commerce. In the present passage the returning fleet of merchantmen is addressed, and told that the harbour to which they are hastening is closed, the city desolate. From the land of Chittim . "Chittim" here, as in Genesis 10:4 , and elsewhere generally , is probably Cyprus, whose most ancient capital was called by the Greeks Kitten (see Joseph, 'Ant. Jud,' 1.6, § 1). The name "Chittim" is not improbably a variant of "Khittim," "the Hittites," who may have been the first to colonize the island. A fleet from the Western Mediterranean would naturally touch at Cyprus on its way to Tyro, and would there learn the calamity.