Ver. 1. The burden] i.e. The bitter and burdensome prophecy. [See Trapp on “Mal 1:1”] In the land of Hadrach] Better, on the land of Hadrach; because Messiah is chad, sharp, to the nations, but rach, gentle, to the Israelites; whereby is meant, not thy land, O Immanuel, or O Messiah (as Jerome, after Rabbi Benaiah), nor a country that is near or lying round about another country, as Junius and Danaeus expound the Syrian word; but either a province or a city of some note in Syria, not far from Damascus. Diodati maketh it to be an idol of the Syrians, which represented the sun; from which the country took its name, as Isaiah 8:8 Jer 48:46 Ho 10:5. And Damacus] The metropolis of Syria, built, say some, in the place where Cain slew Abel; and there hence called Damesech, or a bag of blood; a great scourge to Israel; chiefly famous for Saint Paul’s conversion there, and his rapture into the third heaven, during that three days’ darkness, Acts 9:9 cf. 2Co 12:2. Shall be the rest thereof] sc. Of that bitter burden which shall here abide, and be set upon its own base, as Zechariah 5:11. See a like expression John 3:36, the wrath of God abideth upon an unbeliever, tanquam trabali clavo fixa; he can neither avert nor avoid it. When the eyes of man, &c.] That is, of other men, the Gentiles also, who as yet are carnal, and walk as men, shall be toward the Lord, lifted up in prayer and confident expectation of mercy. See Psalms 122:2.
Ver. 2. And Hamath also shall border thereby] i.e. Shall share in the same punishment with Damascus, and fare the worse for its neighbourhood. Though it be very wise] And think to outwit the enemy, to be too hard for him that way, as Midian was for Israel, by his wiles rather than by his wars, Numbers 25:18. God taketh these wizards in their own craft, δρασσομενος, 1 Corinthians 3:19, πανουργια, as beasts in a toil, and makes very fools of them, notwithstanding their many fetches; specially when they boast of their wit, as Tyre did, Ezekiel 28:3,4, &c., and trust in it, Proverbs 3:5. The Phoenicians and Tyrians were wont to boast that they first found out the use of letters, &c. Sure it is that by much trading by sea they were growing cunning and crafty merchants, to defraud others; and this they coloured with the name of wisdom. Wise they were in their generation, Luke 16:8; but so is the fox, the serpent, and the devil; who when he was but young outwitted our first parents. And we are still sensible of his sleights, and not ignorant of his wiles, his methods, and his stratagems.
Ver. 3. And Tyrus did build herself a stronghold] Thor did build herself Matsor; an elegance not to be translated (such as are many in the Old Testament, but especially in Isaiah). It is as if it should be said, A stronghold (such as Tyre, which was naturally fortified) did build itself a stronghold, sc. by the industry and diligence of men; so that she might seem impregnable; yet all should not do. Alexander, after seven months’ siege, took it, and destroyed it. And heaped up silver as dust] Pulverizavit argentum quasi pulverem. She had money enough (by means of her long and great trade with all the world, Ezekiel 27), and so might hire what soldiers she pleased for her defence. The sinews of war were not wanting to her. She heaped up her hoards as it were to heaven; her magazines were full fraught. The word here rendered heaped up signifieth to comport and gather in money, as men do grain into barns and granaries, Exodus 8:10 Ps 39:7. But riches avail not in the day of wrath. And Tyre converted, leaves laying up and treasuring, and falls to feeding and clothing God’s saints, Isaiah 23:18.
Ver. 4. Behold, the Lord will cast her out] Or, impoverish her, as some render it; that is, for her money. God can soon let her blood in the vena cava, cavities of her veins, called Marsupium; and make her nudam tanquam ex mari. bare just as out of the sea, And then for her munitions, He will smite her power in the sea] She was seated in an island, upon munitions of rocks; the sea was to her instead of a threefold wall and ditch. She was better fortified than Venice is; which yet hath flourished above nine hundred years, and was never in the enemy’s hands; whence she hath for her motto, Intacta manet. It remains intact. But Tyre was taken by Nebuchadnezzar, as his wages; and afterwards by Alexander, who never held anything impossible that he undertook, however unlikely it were to be effected. He found means to fill up the sea with stones, trees, and rubbish, where it divided Tyre from the continent; and made himself master of it. And she shall be devoured with fire] Though seated in the heart of the sea, Ezekiel 28:2, and had motted up herself against God’s fire. Nothing shall quench the fire that he kindleth.
Ver. 5. Ashkelon shall see it and fear] For, iam proximus ardet Ucalegon, her next neighbour’s house was now on fire; and she might well fear she should be dashed at least with the tail of that overflowing storm that had swept away Tyre. The sword was now in commission; it was riding circuit, Ezekiel 14:17, and God had given it a special charge against Ashkelon, and against the sea shore; there he had appointed it, Jeremiah 47:6,7. Now Ashkelon, Gaza, and Ekron were situated all along the sea coast, southward of Tyre and Sidon. All these were bitter enemies to the Church; and were therefore destroyed by Alexander the Great, that man of God’s hand. Gaza also shall see it, and be very sorrowful] Like a travailing woman, as Isaiah 26:17,18, where the same word is used; her heart shall ache and quake within her; she shall have sore throes and throbs. And Ekron; for her expectation shall be ashamed] Her hope hath abused her, her confidence is cut off, her countenance is covered with confusion. She looked that Tyre should have been a bulwark to her: or at least a refuge, if need were, but now she seeth her expectation shamed: “The expectation of the wicked shall perish.” They look out of the window with Sisera’s mother, and say, “Have they not sped? have they not divided the prey,” &c.? But what saith the Church? “So let thine enemies perish, O Lord,” Judges 5:30,31. And the king shall perish from Gaza] Rex, id est, Regulus; The King, it is Regulus. for there were five princes of the Philistines; each great city having a prince over it. The Prince of Gaza that is here designed to destruction may very well be that Betis, whom Darius, the last King of Persia, had set over Gaza. He having kept out Alexander for two months, was at length taken up by him together with the city, and put to a cruel death, as Curtius testifieth. And Ashkelon shall not be inhabited] It was so wasted by war and depopulated that it became cottages for shepherds and folds for sheep. See Zephaniah 2:4,6. Howbeit after this it was reinhabited; for that bloody Herod that slew the infants was born there, being surnamed Ascalonita; and at this day it is a strong garrison of the Saracens. Saladin pulled down the walls of it; but our Richard I set them up again, as Adrichomius telleth us out of Gul. Tyrius.