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.

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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 2 of the colonies of the Phoenicians, 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. 11, δι.

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

9 Joseph. contra Apion. 1. 1, § 21. Prideaux. Connect. part 1, b. 2, Anno Nebuchadnezzar 32.

573.

2 Bocharti Chanaan.

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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,'' 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.'

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

3 Αἱ δὲ εἰς Λιβύην καὶ τὴν Ἰβηρίαν, ἀποι κίαι, μέχρι καὶ ἔξω στηλῶν, τὴν Τύρον πλέον ἐξυμνοῦσι μᾶλλον. Colonie tamen in Africam et Hispaniam usque, ad loca extra columnas deducta, Tyrum plurimum celebraverunt. Strabo, 1. 16, p. 1097.

4 Coloniæ certe ejus pene orbe toto diffusæ sunt. Quint. Curt. 1. 4, c. 4.

Legimus in historiis Assyriorum, obsessos Tyrios, postquam nullam spem evadendi videbant, conscensis navibus fugisse Carthaginem, seu ad alias Ionii Ægeique maris insulas.' Hieron. in Is. 23, 6.

66 Quod quum viderent Tyrii jam jamque perfectum, et percussione arietum murorum fundamenta quaterentur, quicquid pretiosum in auro, argento, vestibusque, et varia supellectili nobilitas habuit, impositum navibus ad insulas asportavit; ita ut capta urbe, nihil dignum labore suo inveniret Nabuchodonosor.' Idem in Ezek, c. 29.

* Arrian. de Exped. Alex. 1. 5, c. 6. Ejusdem Hist. Ind. c. 5. Voss. de Hist. Græc. 1. 1, c. 11. Prid. Connect. part 1, b. 8, Anno 298. Ptolemy Soter. 7.

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.

and re

III. The city should be restored after seventy years, turn 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.

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

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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.

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 See Prid. Connect. Part 1, b. 2, and 2 Herod. 1. 7, c. 89, &c. Diod Sic. 1. 11, b. 4. Herod. 1. 5, c. 108, &c.

c. 3.

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a strong hold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets. Behold the Lord will cast her out, and he will smite her power in the sea, and she shall be devoured with fire." It is very true "that Tyrus did build herself a strong hold" for her situation was very strong in an island, and besides the sea to defend her she was fortified with a wall of 150 feet in height, and of a proportionable thickness." She heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets," being the most celebrated place in the world for trade and riches, "the mart of nations," as she is called, conveying the commodities of the east to the west, and of the west to the east. But yet, "Behold the Lord will cast her out, and he will smite her power in the sea, and she shall be devoured with fire." Ezekiel had likewise foretold that the city should be consumed with fire, (xxviii. 18:) "I will bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon. the earth, in the sight of all them that behold thee." And accordingly Alexander besieged, and took, and set the city on fire. The ruins of old Tyre contributed much to the taking of the new city: for5 with the stones and timber and rubbish of the old city Alexander built a bank or causey from the continent to the island, thereby literally fulfilling the words of the prophet Ezekiel, (xxvi. 12,) "They shall lay thy stones and thy timber, and thy dust in the midst of the water." He was seven months in completing this work, but the time and labour were well employed, for by means hereof he was enabled to storm and take the city.

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As in the former siege the inhabitants, according to the prophecies, fled over the Mediterranean to the islands and countries adjoining, so they did likewise in this latter siege; for Diodorus Siculus and Quintus Curtius both testify that they sent their wives and children to Carthage; and upon the taking of the place the Sidonians' secretly conveyed away fifteen thousand more in their ships. Happy were they who thus escaped, for of those who remained behind, the conqueror slew eight thousand in the storming and taking of the city; he caused two thousand afterwards cruelly to be crucified, and thirty thousand he sold for slaves. They had before sold some

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σαντο. Liberos et uxores cum senio confectis Carthaginem transportare decernunt. Téos δὲ, τῶν τέκνων καὶ γυναικῶν μέρος μὲν ἔφθασαν ὑπεκθέμενοι πρὸς τοὺς Καρχηδονίους. Tandem deponenda quadam apud Carthaginenses liberorum et uxorum parte (hostem) antever tunt. Diod. Sic. 1. 17, c. 41. 'Conjuges liberosque devehendos Carthaginem traderunt. Quint. Curt. 1. 4, c. 3.

"Quint. Curt. 1. 4, c. 4.

8 Arrian, 1. 2, c. 24. Quint. Curt. ibid.