ean empire: "And these nations
serve the king of Babylon 70 years. And it shall come to pass, when the
70 years are accomplished, I will visit upon the king of Babylon, and
upon that nation, saith the Lord, their iniquity." In the Commentary on
Rev. ii. 1, p. 75, 200, it was proved that, in Scripture, kings are
frequently _ideal_ persons; not individuals, but personifications of
their kingdoms. _Gesenius'_ objection, that the time of the Babylonish
dynasty, from the pretended destruction of Tyre to the destruction of
Babylon, did not last 70 years, vanishes by the remark that the Prophet
says "like the days;" that, hence, it is expressly intimated that the
70 years here, differently from what is the case in Jeremiah, are to be
considered as a _round_ designation of the time. From a comparison of
Jeremiah we learn that the Chaldean dominion will last 70 years _in
all_. Into which point of that period the destruction of Tyre is to
fall, Isaiah does not disclose. It is quite proper that in reference to
Tyre the announcement should not be so definite, in point of
chronology, as in reference to Judah. That the capture of [Pg 148] Tyre
by the Chaldeans, which is here announced, really took place, has been
more thoroughly established in my book: _De rebus Tyriorum_; and
afterwards by _Drechsler_ in his Commentary on Isaiah, and by
_Haevernick_ in his Commentary on Ezekiel.

After the end of the 70 years. Tyre is to resume her trade of whoring,
and is to carry it on to a wide extent, and with great success. "By the
image of whoredom"--so we remarked in commenting upon Rev. xiv. 8--"in
some passages of the Old Testament, that selfishness is designated
which clothes itself in the garb of love, and, under its appearance,
seeks the gratification of its own desires. In Is. xxiii. 15 ff., Tyre
is, on account of her mercantile connections, called a whore, and the
profit from trade is designated as the reward of whoredom. The point of
comparison is the endeavour to please, to feign love for the sake of
gain." Under the dominion of the Persians, Tyre again began to
flourish.

Tyre's reward of whoredom is consecrated to the Lord, and the bodily
wants of His servants are provided from it,--quite in agreement with
the words of the Apostle: [Greek: ei hemeis humin ta pneumatika
espeiramen, mega, ei emeis humon ta sarkika therisomen]; 1 Cor. ix. 11.
Converted Tyre offers, in these gifts, its thanks for the noble gift
which it received from